MAK-NEWS 08/08/95 (M.I.L.S.)

From: MILS - Skopje <mils@ITL.MK>

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 8 August, 1995

[01] SUHARTO SENDS PERSONAL MESSAGE TO GLIGOROV

Macedonian Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski received yesterday the Indonesian special envoy Ambassador Nana Sutresna, who delivered a personal message of his president Suharto for President Kiro Gligorov.

They also discussed the latest development of events in Croatia and Bosnia, as well as Macedonian-Indonesian relations.

[02] HANDZISKI MET SOKALSKI AND ENGSTROM

Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Handziski received yesterday Chief of UNPREDEP Mission in Macedonia Henri Sokalski and Commander-in-chief of UN Peacekeeping Troops Juha Engstrom. They discussed the current security situation in the region in the light of the latest events in Croatia and Bosnia. They all agreed that these events will considerably affect security in the entire region and should be permanently followed and analyzed at frequent meetings.

[03] MACEDONIAN PARLIAMENT TO HOLD URGENT SESSION?

Due to the latest events in former Yugoslavia and their potential implications on the situation in Macedonia, Democratic Party of Macedonia's parliament deputy Tomislav Stojanovski suggested an urgent session of the Macedonian Parliament. The session would inform MP's of the newly emerged situation and the possible danger for peace and security in Macedonia.

[04] GOVERNMENT SESSION

At its yesterday session, the Macedonian Government discussed the program for crime and organized crime prevention, illegal trade and abuse of drugs, corruption in the administration and money laundering. Cabinet members also went over changes in the laws on trade and economic crime.

[05] MACEDONIAN RADIO COMMENTS ON CRIME INCREASE

'Lacking precise information, we have to conclude that, along with the ongoing transformation of the Ministry of the Interior, the crime in Macedonia is in constant increase,' Macedonian Radio commented yesterday the latest government Crime Prevention Program.

'An army of small time underage thieves, recruited by 'bosses', will steal almost any sum of money and, mainly due to social reasons, will readily become criminals in spite of the great degree of risk to get caught. Again lacking official information, we conclude that the latest fashion in the capitol and throughout the entire country are racketeers, body-guards and parallel and registered detective agencies providing security services, apparently ignoring the state police in their mutual clashes over city territories. Unofficial reports also speak of armed conflicts already in the game or in preparation. Again unofficially, drug trafficking has enormously spread all over the country, enabling young people to get hold of it quite easily as it is sold in the form of ice cream. And yet, the police will reveal and confiscate only small packages incidentally, only to have some results to present to the public.

We have been invited to attend a promotion of police horses and dogs, acts of signing protocols, promotion of the first police general, and a press-conference entitled 'In a Successful Action, Police Returns Money Stolen in the Robbery of the Century' (the one in Gevgelija); but we did not really need any larger transparency in informing on this case, as the Gevgelija rumors in due time informed that the money had been placed by someone in the yard of the main suspect, who later on tried to commit a suicide. We do have information on this specific case, but the official and unofficial ones differ widely, the truth being hidden 'in the interest of the investigation'. Police are also silent on other large-scale robberies, such as the case in Kumanovo. Lacking official information for a third time, we also conclude that Macedonian students are selling the Macedonian nationality to Bulgarian and Albanian buyers at a price of 200 Deutsche marks per person. And no one seems concerned enough to stop them.

It remains to be seen whether the program for prevention of crime, drug trafficking, corruption and money laundering, currently discussed by the cabinet, will provide an answer to all these open questions,' the Radio concluded.

[06] POLICE REVEALS OVER 300 KG OF HEROIN OVER PAST 4 YEARS

The Skopje daily Nova Makedonija writes that the Ministry of the Interior has revealed and confiscated more than 300 kilos of heroin, 65.7 kilos of raw opium and 57.3 kilos of marihuana over the past 4 years. During the same period, the police discovered 55 heroin-smuggling groups working on the so-called 'Balkan Route' smuggling channel between the Middle East and Western Europe.

[07] NUMBER OF WELFARE USERS INCREASES

At present, there are 57,000 households in Macedonia registered as users of social welfare, which is paid out with a two-months delay. This year, the number of welfare users is the largest ever, and the state has set aside budget funds for meeting the needs of 60,000 households in the country.

[08] ONLY AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS REMAIN ON OPEN MARKETS

'Article 6 of the Trade Act must be respected and the sale of agricultural products on open markets in the country is solely legal,' said ministers of economy and city planning, Risto Ivanov and Jorgo Shundovski during yesterday's talks with market sellers of non-agricultural products. The Administrative Committee of the sellers' organization requested a permission for non-agricultural products to be sold at the same location as before until the state provides other adequate places, or until the Trade Act has been changed. They even stated readiness to participate with own finances in providing selling space. Faik Abdi, leader of the Party for Complete Emancipation of Romas (PCER) said the ban on sale of non-agricultural products on open markets will only add to the existing social tension and further widen the social gap between citizens, warning that the budget funds will not be able to cover for all affected by the ban.

There are 300-350,000 people (mainly former employees in the Skopje steel works and 'Slavia' and other companies, let off as surplus labor) engaged in such activities on open marketplaces throughout Macedonia.

Minister of Economy Ivanov answered that the law must be fully respected and can be changed only by a parliament decision. He reminded that market sellers have not submitted applications for new selling space for such products.

Minister of City Planning Shundovski said the three- months dead line given to market sellers have been wasted and the only possible solution now would be small shops within an enclosed space or large open markets at which products will be sold one day in the week.

Meantime, about 200 sellers of non-agricultural products of Bitola protested yesterday in front of the City Hall, demanding either permission to continue selling at open markets or a new location to sell their goods every day. A similar protest was also reported in Prilep.

[09] FESTIVAL OF ALBANIAN FOLKLORE IN STRUGA

Starting tomorrow, a traditional Festival of Albanian Folklore in Macedonia will take place in Struga, until August 11. The Festival will be attended by 16 amateur folk- dancing groups from Macedonia, consisting of 420 participants, such as composers, dancers, choreographers, instrumentalists and singers.

[10] AVIOIMPEKS CHANGES FLIGHT DESTINATIONS

The air company Avioimpeks informed its passengers that, starting today, the company will fly on the Skopje- Ljubljana-Skopje route, instead of Skopje-Pula-Zagreb- Skopje, as before. The company will organize bus transportation from the Ljubljana airport to Zagreb and Pula.

[11] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: WHAT TO DO WHILE WAITING?

by Prof. Dr. Vladimir Kandikjan

(Puls, 4 August 1995)

Due to the professional orientation (or, perhaps, obsession) of the author of this text, an analysis of the EU-Macedonian economic relations will be given priority in this article. Of course, not ignoring the notorious fact that no economic process, and especially not ones that are part of integration processes, take place in a political vacuum; meaning, the different interests of political factors play an extremely significant role in the determination of economic phenomena, as well as of the dynamics, intensity and effects of integration processes.

The European community, or Union, has had a dual stance toward the aspirations of its eastern neighbors, ever since the very beginning of the major events in Eastern and Central Europe at the end of the 80's and the beginning of the 90's. Having in mind its economic and political interests, the Union encouraged processes of deep political and economic reforms in these countries. Probably the best illustration of the potentials for future development of relations between the EU and countries in transition, is the fact that the entire trade of the Union with those countries hardly reached the level of, for instance, the EU-Sweden economic exchange. The improvement of democracy in Eastern Europe, on the other hand, is definitely in the interest of the European Union, as it will only strengthen the security of the latter.

Contrary to its principally positive approach to the changes in Eastern Europe, the EU clearly told its eastern neighbors not to expect quick admission to the Union. At a speech in the Euro Parliament, the German Chancellor Helmut Kohl expressed this by the following choice of words:

'We must not encourage false hopes for our partners. They will have to consolidate their economies before their membership applications can be even discussed.' This attitude of the Union primarily comes as a result of the large 'gap between economies in the Eastern European countries and the European Union' (as Jacque Dellor put it).

In addition, there is the need for deeper and complete institutional and other essential changes in the Union itself, such as the project for a complete monetary and economic unity, as well as expansion of the Union, to begin with admission of countries that already meet all the strict admission criteria, i.e., countries like Austria, Finland, Norway and Sweden. And, finally, the delay in integrating ex-socialist countries into the Union enables the latter to closely follow and constantly evaluate any progress shown in fundamental changes of these countries' political systems and economies, before deciding to possibly admit any of them as full members.

Therefore, the immediate answer of the Union was to approve and provide adequate technical, economic and financial aid to these countries, on a bilateral basis at the beginning and multilaterally later on, through the PHARE program. EU experts came up with several ways to carry out the cooperation, including technical aid in structural adaptation, general and professional training projects, aid in environmental protection, cooperation in an abundance of fields such as agriculture, tourism, financial services, small and medium-sized companies, privatization, banking and insurance, transportation, joint investment, education, science and technology. An indeed impressive and full of variety global list of fields to cooperate in; naturally, individual cooperation with each separate country was designed and specifically adopted to the situation in them.

The degree of progress in stabilizing the economy, carrying out reforms in both the political and economic sectors, the pace and intensity of institutional and legislation adaptation, but also the economic and political interests of the EU are the factors that apparently place Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic closest to a full EU membership, against all other countries in transition. These three countries are followed by Slovenia, Slovackia, Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic countries, ex-members of the former Soviet Union. Somewhere at the bottom of this waiting list are Macedonia, the rest of the European ex-Soviet confederate members, and Albania.

(to be continued)

(end)

mils-news 8 August '95