MAK-NEWS 10/11/95 (M.I.L.S.)

From: "M.I.L.S." <mils@ITL.MK>

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 10 November 1995

[01] MACEDONIA HAS BEEN OFFICIALLY PROMOTED AS A MEMBER OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

Macedonia has been officially promoted as a member of the Council of Europe yesterday. In that occasion the Macedonian national flag has been hanged up and the anthems of Macedonia and Europe were played.

Macedonia as the 38th member of the Council is simultaneously a member of the 15 Conventions of the Council in the fields of education, sports, culture, youth, etc.

"Macedonian people have two great aims: independence and democracy. These aims were fulfilled during the last four years through the referendum for independence, parliamentary elections, the new Constitution and changes in legislature.

We succeeded in establishing democratic society, yet there are many other things to be completed in the system according to European standards" said Crvenkovski at the ceremony.

Minister Crvenkovski expressed gratitude for the good wishes for President Gligorov.

The President of the Assembly of the Council, Miguel Martinez, during his speech referred to Macedonia with its Constitutional name.

The Commissioner Hans van den Broek evaluated the admittance as a new era in the Macedonian history and expressed hope that Macedonia will soon strengthen the relations with the EU.

The Bulgarian Foreign Minister, Georgi Pirinski, for 'Nova Makedonija' stated that Macedonia's acceptance in the Council of Europe is of great importance for Bulgaria, which will contribute to peace and stability in the region.

[02] MACEDONIA SOON IN THE 'PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE'

Macedonia will soon be a member of 'Partnership for Peace'.

As Macedonian Radio reports, the acceptance of Macedonia has been discussed at the session of the Political Committee of NATO. The Committee adopted a declaration which recommends Macedonia's admittance in the organization. It is expected that member states will ratify the declaration today. It practically means that if members do not have any objections on the admittance, Macedonia will soon be a member of the organization.

According to information of the Alliance, Macedonia will be officially admitted in 'Partnership for Peace' by the end of the year or in the beginning of next year, considering the fact that the recommendation is signed by all member states.

This was also confirmed by the US Defense Secretary, William Perry. Macedonia will be a second Country member from former Yugoslavia.

[03] MACEDONIAN-US MANEUVER 'FRIENDLY JUMP' ENDED

Yesterday representatives from Macedonian and the US Army completed the maneuver, 'Friendly Jump'. The Macedonian Defense Minister, Blagoj Handziski, was present at the maneuver as well as representatives from the US Embassy in Macedonia. This is a fist Macedonian-US maneuver coordinated by the Macedonian Defense Ministry and the US Army Office in Skopje.

Special Units of 'Fort Karson' from Colorado, US, were also present at the activity and made final arrangements for Macedonian-US Army activities which will start in March next year.

[04] CONTINGENTS FOR MACEDONIAN TEXTILE PRODUCTS

50% of the Macedonian-German economy cooperation is in the field of textile industry. Businessmen of both countries met in the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce and stated that Germany is Macedonia's most important partner in textile industry. Last year the goods exchange ranged to 333 million dollars, of which 145 million are exports.

Both delegations expressed the need of expanding the cooperation between the two countries.

The meeting was also attended by representative of the German Ministry of Economy, Mrs. Tile and the Acting Ambassador of Germany in Macedonia, dr., Dietrich Pol.

[05] TALKS ON THE NAME ISSUE

According to Athens News Agency, the Greek Foreign Ministry said today that there would soon be developments on the issue of the name of Macedonia.

Spokesman Costas Bikas made the statement when asked if the ministry was "concerned" by the delay in the talks on the name issue between Athens and Skopje.

"The issue of the talks on the name is one in which there is interest from all sides. Both on the part of the special mediator Cyrus Vance and the two interested parties, " Bikas added.

[06] PRESIDENT GLIGOROV WILL MEET WILLIAM PERRY

As 'Vecer' reports, according to information of Greek News Agency, the US Defense Secretary, William Perry, will meet Gligorov soon. He will be the first foreign official that will be received by President Gligorov after the attempt on his life.

[07] THE CHIEF OF UNPREDEP MEETS MINISTER SABRIU

Social Policy and Labor Minister Iliaz Sabriu met the chief of UNPREDEP, Henric Sokalsky. They had talks on the issues of social cooperation. They both expressed the need of a wider cooperation between the Ministry and UNPREDEP.

[08] SUPPORT FOR THE EUROPEAN OPTION

Macedonian Parliament President, Stojan Andov had a meeting with the Austrian Ambassador in Macedonia, Kurt Sparlinger.

They both agreed that the admittance of Macedonia in the Council of Europe completes Macedonian membership in European institutions. In conclusion Andov asked for support by Austria on the coming agreement between Macedonia and the EU as well as the admittance in 'Partnership for Peace'.

[09] ECONOMIC COOPERATION RESTRICTED BY AN AGREEMENT

Greece is ready to financially aid Macedonia, after the name issue is resolved. This was stated by the Undersecretary in the Greek Economy Ministry, Ioanis Anthopoulos, 'Makfaks' reports. "Macedonia is faced by a great economic crisis and the Greek Economy Ministry will equally cooperate with Skopje and other countries of former Yugoslavia", added Anthopoulos.

[10] A SESSION OF THE LIBERAL PARTY ON THE CURRENT SITUATION

The Council of the liberal Party of Macedonia held a session on the current situation in the country. In the notification it concluded that Macedonia preserved the peace and stability after the assassination attempt on President Gligorov.

The Council highly evaluated the role of its President Andov who strongly supports Gligorov's policy. It said that Andov, as a Parliament President, insisted on the adoption of all inevitable declarations for the normalization of relations between Greece and Macedonia. In that sense the Council mentioned the contribution of Macedonian Foreign Minister, Stevo Crvenkovski.

The party emphasized the successful functioning of the Parliamentary coalition that will have to work more on prevention of organized crime and other social problems.

Liberals also expressed hope that the investigation for the attempt will lead to the assassins.

In the notification, the party comments on the statements of George Soros for 'Nova Makedonija', saying that Soross unsubstantially attacked the policy of President Gligorov.

According to the party, Soross tried to pit the Government against President Gligorov. The Council stated that the Liberal Party dissociates from such an attempt. "Ministers who choose between Soross and Gligorov should resign", the party concluded.

[11] ONLY TWO OR THREE COMPANIES WITH LOSSES WILL SURVIVE

The period of one year given to the 23 companies with finance losses comes to its end. As A1 TV reports, the test has been passed by only two or three companies which means they can enter the process of privatization in the beginning of next year. The rest will go bankrupt which does not mean a complete closing but a division into smaller companies which will be privatized.

The World Bank expressed satisfaction on reconstruction of companies with financial losses, especially the resolving of over employment.

According to statistic data there are 353.970 employees in Macedonia while the number of persons who look for a job is 222.804 which is 2,2 % more compared to July. Average salary in August was 8.739 denars and the industrial products' prices raised for 2,2 %. The general raise of prizes is 0,7%. According to the data, the industrial production in Macedonia is lowered for 13,8 % compared to last year.

[12] PRESS CONFERENCE OF PDPA AND NDP

"Macedonian Parliament succeeded to exclude the political Parties of Albanians in meetings with foreign delegations that have contacts with Parliamentary groups", stated PDPA and NDP at the press conference yesterday. That's why the two parties formed a united Parliamentary group. The reasons for such an unification is the recent visit of the delegation of the Council of Europe which had meetings only with the parties in the Government, the parties stated.

The parties' representatives spoke only in Albanian and journalists left the conference. The organizers of the conference evaluated journalists' protest as a boycott of the conference.

[13] SOME MACEDONIAN POLITICAL PARTIES ARE FINANCED WITH ILLEGAL CAPITAL

VMRO-SMD held a press conference on the issue of illegal financing from Serbia. The Vice President of the party stated that a non-parliamentary opposition party has connections with the illegal capital.

Many firms have been formed to finance certain political parties and one of the opposition non-parliamentary parties is financed by 'Serbo-communist' money, added Tomislav Stojanovski, the party's president. The party stated that all claims were also confirmed by an Ambassador from a country of the EU, but it did not announce Ambassador's name.

[14] SEVERAL PUBLICATIONS PROMOTED

Two important publications on Macedonian history were promoted yesterday. The first one, "Macedonia after its division in 1912/13 and 1915", written by Gligor Todorovski, was published by 'Matica Makedonska'. The second one 'ASNOM- 50 years of Macedonian state" was published by the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts (MANU).

Also the publishing house "DETSKA RADOST" promoted the translation of "The Isle of the Previous Day" written by Umberto Eko, a great Italian writer.

MILS SUPPLEMENT:

[15] A REVIEW TO DENATIONALIZATION

("Numbers and letters", 'PULS', 10 November '95)

The Law on denationalization that is to be adopted soon will provide returning of private property that had been confiscated from 1945 to 1968. Many of the former owners, primarily their successors have appealed to institutions.

Private property had been confiscated with many regulations in the period from 1945 to 1968. First regulation that dealt with confiscation was the Law on agriculture reform adopted in 1945. According to information from the Finance Ministry the Law provided confiscation of 74.081 hectares of agricultural and forest property. 37.000 of the total was agricultural property, 16.000 hectares was forest properties and 21.000 hectares was pastures properties. The aforementioned Law confiscated 285 buildings, 169 office buildings, 127 tractors, 74 coaches, 300 goats, etc.

A similar Law has been adopted in 1953 and rearranged in 1965. This Law confiscated private land and granted it to agriculture organizations. It confiscated 12.526 hectares of land while 6.340 hectares were expropriated.

105 companies have been confiscated and 505 business buildings (with the capital and the equipment), hotels, restaurants, mills, etc. All of that was confiscated after the adoption of the Law on nationalization from 1946 to 1949 which is one of the most problematic issues.

Further nationalization was done after the adoption of the Law on nationalization of hired buildings and civil engineering land during the period from 1958 to 1959. Many hired buildings, apartments and business buildings have been nationalized. 735 apartments and 653 office buildings were nationalized, and were granted to 2.800 families. The nationalization of herds of cattle, according to the former owners is one of the greatest plunder by the state in 1948.

In conclusion, we should say that there won't be winners and losers, but certainly there will be satisfied and unsatisfied of the Law on denationalization as some will success nationalized property, some will not.

(end)

mils news 10 November '95