MAK-NEWS 01/06/95 (M.I.L.S.)

From: "Demetrios E. Paneras" <dep@bu.edu>

CONTENTS

  • [01] CRVENKOVSKI - CHI CHEN TALKS

  • [02] RUSSIAN-MACEDONIAN RELATIONS DEEPEN

  • [03] TALKS WITH GREECE TO START?

  • [04] EVERT CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT AND PASOK

  • [05] PERRY MEETS ARSENIS IN WASHINGTON D.C.

  • [06] BERISA AND ARENS TALK RIGHTS OF ALBANIANS IN MACEDONIA

  • [07] GOVERNMENT PRESENTS VIEW ON BOSNIA SITUATION

  • [08] BRITISH PM's MEET COMMITTEE MEMBERS

  • [09] SESSION ON CRIME PREVENTION

  • [10] SOCIALISTS TO ATTEND MEETING IN GREECE

  • [11] RETAIL PRICES WENT DOWN IN MAY

  • [12] DEMOCRATS TO HOLD PROTEST GATHERING

  • [13] "SERBS WILL MOVE OUT, ALBANIANS WILL MOVE IN," SERBS SAY

  • [14] SKOPJE DRAMA THEATER PERFORMS IN ISTANBUL

  • [15] CONTRACT BETWEEN PALLAIR AND MAT CONCLUDED

  • [16] CULTURAL EVENT TONIGHT

  • [17] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: LABYRINTHS IN PARLIAMENT WORKING REGULATIONS (Nova Makedonija, 1 June 1995)

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    M I L S N E W S

    Skopje, 1 June 1995

    [01] CRVENKOVSKI - CHI CHEN TALKS

    Yesterday in China Macedonian Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski began official talks with Chien Chi Chen, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of China. In attendance was Vladimir Petkovski, ambassador of Macedonia to China. Both sides concluded that bilateral cooperation is developing at a satisfactory pace. The Chinese minister underlined his country's interest in seeing the Balkan crisis resolved and he pointed out the role and importance of Macedonia in the development of peace and stability in the region. Chi Chen spoke highly of Macedonia's foreign policy and stressed his government's support for ongoing reforms within Macedonia. The two ministers signed a protocol on cooperation between the foreign ministries. Yesterday at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade Minister Crvenkovski signed another agreement on trade and economic cooperation and at the Ministry of Culture he signed an agreement on cultural links. Crvenkovski invited his Chinese counterpart to pay a visit to Macedonia. Next Monday, June 5, Crvenkovski will visit Tokyo as invited by Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs.

    [02] RUSSIAN-MACEDONIAN RELATIONS DEEPEN

    Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski received Stanislav Smirnov, president of the Trade and Industrial Chamber of the Russian Federation. They discussed possible ways to widen and improve bilateral cooperation, as well as possible joint appearance in third markets. A need was pointed out for legal regulations to overcome payment operations and tax policy problems. Both sides agreed to form a working council to follow the current economic situation in both countries.

    [03] TALKS WITH GREECE TO START?

    Macedonian Radio reports that the most popular Greek TV station, Mega, announced two days ago that negotiations between Athens and Skopje would begin in about 10 days at the UN's main office in New York. Citing unknown diplomatic sources in New York and Washington, the television claims a so-called transition agreement is to be signed in New York to confirm that Macedonia will erase the disputed symbol from its flag, that Greece will lift the embargo on Macedonia, and that a free flow of goods and passengers will be re-established. According to Mega this is a direct result of the recent talks between President Gligorov and mediators Nimitz and Vance in Rome. After these talks Gligorov said he would not insist on a lift of the embargo prior to the beginning of talks. At the same time Mega reports that Gligorov informed the US State Department two days ago that Nimitz and Vance had probably misunderstood him in Rome. Meantime, in an interview with Radio Skopje, Matthew Nimitz refuted news on an exact date of talks having been determined in Rome. A1 Television, however, cites TV Mega as assuring that Gligorov's new tactics will not prevent Vance from summoning both sides to talks very soon. Nevertheless, as the TV station points out, he first of all wants to complete negotiations on the so-called transition agreement, the realization of which was interrupted at the point on how to refer to Macedonia and whether Greece will accept Macedonia as a legal successor of the former Yugoslavia. In regard to this news item, Macedonian government's spokesman Djuner Ismail explained that talks between Gligorov, Vance and Nimitz in Rome were aimed at creating an atmosphere for negotiations. But, he said, Macedonia's standpoints remain clear on the issue - the Government is ready to negotiate but not under an embargo.

    [04] EVERT CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT AND PASOK

    Differences between Skopje and Athens ought to be resolved on the basis of a "large package", including the name issue, Miltiades Evert, leader of the opposition New Democracy Party, said in Athens yesterday. At yesterday's meeting with the party's parliamentary group devoted to the "Skopje issue", Evert bitterly criticized the Greek Government and the ruling PASOK party, saying they had lost their compass for foreign policy. Constantin Mitsotakis also strongly suggested that the negotiations package includes the name, adding that no consensus is possible among parties in Greece concerning talks with Skopje.

    [05] PERRY MEETS ARSENIS IN WASHINGTON D.C.

    The US Secretary of Defense William Perry met his Greek counterpart Gerasimos Arsenis in Washington two days ago . Among other things they discussed the Bosnian situation, Athens-Skopje relations and possible deployment of headquarters for quick intervention units in Greece.

    [06] BERISA AND ARENS TALK RIGHTS OF ALBANIANS IN MACEDONIA

    In Tirana, two days ago, Albanian President Sali Berisa met Gert Arens, coordinator for minority issues for the Conference on Former Yugoslavia, A1 television reports. They conferred on the rights and liberties of Albanians in Macedonia. Berisa said he supported a dialogue between the political parties of Albanians and authorities in Macedonia, as part of efforts to solve the problems of ethnic Albanians in education and the lack of Albanians employed in state administration. Radio Tirana says Arens informed Berisa of efforts by the International Committee to secure guarantees for basic human rights and the liberties of Albanians in Macedonia.

    [07] GOVERNMENT PRESENTS VIEW ON BOSNIA SITUATION

    Djuner Ismail, spokesman for the Macedonian Government, yesterday stated the country's official stance on the situation in Bosna-Herzegovina. As a member of the UN, he said, the Republic of Macedonia resolutely condemns the act of taking UN peace keepers as hostages by Bosnian Serbs, especially as the mandate of the UN soldiers is such that they are disabled to answer to such terrorist activities. With acts like this Bosnian Serbs leave no space whatsoever for any diplomatic solution to the crisis. Macedonia has always insisted on diplomatic ways to resolve armed conflicts and believes it is high time to make the effort and enable diplomacy to act.

    [08] BRITISH PM's MEET COMMITTEE MEMBERS

    Members of the British parliament, already three days into an official visit in Macedonia, met yesterday with members of the Committee for Labor and Social Policy. Problems in both countries were discussed including the main one for Macedonia, unemployment, and for Great Britain, the drug problem. The British delegation later met with the Committee for Ecology, Youth and Sports to exchange ideas on ecology protection, implementation of European conventions and organizing youth life and sports. The British also met with their counterparts in the Committee for Foreign relations where they were informed of Macedonia's relations with neighboring countries - of the Greek-imposed embargo, the absence of diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia, of Bulgaria's refusal to recognize the Macedonian nation and of the current relations with Albania. The delegates from Britain particularly pointed to the issue of ethnic problems in Macedonia, assuring the future of Macedonia depends on resolving the problems.

    [09] SESSION ON CRIME PREVENTION

    A Macedonian delegation, led by Minister of the Interior Ljubomir Frckovski, is currently in Vienna to attend the fourth session of the Committee for Prevention of Crime and Criminal Justice. One of the basic goals of the session is to widen cooperation and strengthen UN programs for crime prevention. Minister Frckovski is expected to make several bilateral contacts.

    [10] SOCIALISTS TO ATTEND MEETING IN GREECE

    A delegation of the Socialist Party of Macedonia, consisting of Dr. Mikhail Levenski and Jovan Peikovski, will take part in the planned meeting of socialist, social democratic and left progressive forces in the Balkans and several European countries, to be held in Athens on June 4-6.

    [11] RETAIL PRICES WENT DOWN IN MAY

    A deflation of 0.9 per cent in retail prices in Macedonia was registered in the past month, mainly as a result of the 13 per cent increase in prices of agricultural products. Even despite this, living expenditure went up by 0.1 per cent.

    [12] DEMOCRATS TO HOLD PROTEST GATHERING

    At a press-conference yesterday the Democratic Party announced a protest gathering, entitled "Stop for the Dishonest and Illegal Privatization", for next Thursday at the Universal Hall in Skopje. The gathering is envisaged as a political means for opposing the "utterly discredited privatization process and ways of political regulation of dissatisfaction among citizens." The participants will be addressed by several private businessmen, a representative of the Association for Denationalization and the Democratic Party leader Petar Goshev.

    [13] "SERBS WILL MOVE OUT, ALBANIANS WILL MOVE IN," SERBS SAY

    The Democratic Party of Serbs in Macedonia informed reporters of the intention of a large portion of Serbs in Macedonia to move out of the country and into Yugoslavia. The main reason stated was "the authorities refusal to grant Serbs Macedonian citizenship, despite their meeting all legal requirements." Furthermore, it was said, Macedonian police have frequently visited the homes of Serbs and the number of Serbs thrown out of work is increasing. The party says they possess information on a large number of Albanians from Kosovo planning to settle in Macedonia. The party leader Dragisha Miletic said the authorities in Macedonia are nothing but American servants.

    [14] SKOPJE DRAMA THEATER PERFORMS IN ISTANBUL

    As part of the renowned world drama festival in Istanbul, Turkey, the Skopje Drama Theater performed two days ago the show "Starting With the First Breath" by Danilo Kocevski. Due to the great interest among the audience, the Skopje Theater performed twice at the national Theater in Istanbul. Besides the Macedonians, performers from Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Greece and the host country are also attending the festival.

    [15] CONTRACT BETWEEN PALLAIR AND MAT CONCLUDED

    Macedonian air companies Pallair Macedonia and Macedonian Air Transportation (MAT) yesterday signed an agreement for the joint transportation of goods and passengers to and from Macedonia. The agreement should provide high quality transportation, a stable time table, better economic exploitation of planes, a considerable decrease in expenditure and reduced losses. In other words, starting from yesterday, Pallair and MAT have common flights, time table, flight numbers and a common plane on the routes Skopje-Zurich, Skopje-Dusseldorf, Skopje-Hamburg and Skopje- Berlin. They announced the possibility that the third air company, Makedonija-Avioimpeks, might join the agreement in the near future.

    [16] CULTURAL EVENT TONIGHT

    The French Cultural Center in cooperation with the Youth Cultural Center of Skopje have organized a concert featuring traditional Irish music by the group Hempson. Tonight's concert will start at 8:30pm at the Youth Cultural Center. This group will also perform in the village of Dolneni this Saturday during the Dolneni folk festival which lasts all weekend.

    [17] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: LABYRINTHS IN PARLIAMENT WORKING REGULATIONS

    (Nova Makedonija, 1 June 1995)

    After almost three long years wandering through the parliamentary labyrinths of the Working Regulations of the Macedonian Parliament, the committee finally obtained the go ahead this week for submitting a procedure for approval, thus improving their chances for adoption in the near future. The last version of these long-expected regulations was relatively quickly processed at a session of the parliament committee in charge of such issues. The next step will be determining the text, to be followed by gathering signatures from the parliament members proposing the regulations. After this there should be no problems with following the procedural phases. Still, this small parliament by-law, as expected, stirred spirits and passions in parliament. PDP deputies are highly dissatisfied with the proposed text. They will not agree with the new fifth article which does not allow for the use of the languages of minorities in parliament debates, a possibility which otherwise exists in the current working regulations. To be true, this right was only symbolic and never made use of. The fact that the same right is not included in the new text, according to PDP deputies, is an unexpected and irresponsible move by the most responsible leading structures in the country. The very change in this "language provision" is, for PDP parliamentarians, solid proof of an intention of Macedonian authorities to wipe out the Albanian language from official use and to deprive this minority group of a right they used to enjoy. Macedonian parties, on the other hand, sought a different solution for the use of languages in parliament in the Constitution itself. According to them, this highest legal postulate is the basis for everything, including the use of languages. Unlike the parties of Albanians, the Macedonian ones cite article 7 of the Constitution which sets the Macedonian language as the sole official one in the country. As the parliament is a state body, parliamentarians will be obliged to address the public in the state in the only official language, i.e., in Macedonian. According to those supporting the text, it is exactly this constitutional provision that resolves the question of what languages shall be used in parliament. True the former working regulations did allow the use of languages of the minorities, but it had been developed under different circumstances and under a different constitutional concept. Still, the loss of existing rights is always experienced as a loss of a democratic achievement. Their lost right to address parliament in their native language shows Albanians that the state is not ready to give any concessions whatsoever. The PDP deputies' demand to keep the "symbolic right to the use of a language, which is essential for the further development of events", seems to indicate their future behavior in politics. This may easily end up in their walking out of the halls of parliament. The option is no secret, especially as it has been announced, and the definite decision, as PDP leaders say, is to be made as things progress. Yet this would raise the question of the purpose of having political parties which are out of the political system. The move may be an exclusive one, but it would probably not be a very wise one. Be as it may, the regulations are in fact probably the first in a series of future dissatisfactions encountered by the Albanians in Macedonia. A period of procedural debates on many crucial system laws is yet to come (to include the judiciary and local self-government) which will touch sensitive spheres in ethnic relations, the right to use a minority language being one of them. It remains to be seen what the ethnic Albanians' attitude toward the issue will be like and whether those legal regulations will also be adopted without making any concessions.

    (end)

    mils-news 1 June '95

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