MAK-NEWS 16/11/95 (M.I.L.S.)

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

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 16 November 1995

[01] MACEDONIA OFFICIALLY ADMITTED IN PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE

Yesterday Macedonia was officially accepted in 'Partnership for Peace' as its 27th member state. Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski signed the document with the name 'Republic of Macedonia', while the Italian Ambassador, the Acting Secretary General of NATO, Sergio Balanzino, signed the document with the temporal reference FYROM.

Ambassador Balanzino addressed to the present officials saying that Macedonia develops its independence through relating to international institutions. Pointing out the conflict in Bosnia which threats the whole region, Balanzino stressed the role of NATO in the attempt to put an end to the war, and added that the presence of the Macedonian Prime Minister at the ceremony is a true sign of hope for the region. Considering Macedonia's partnership in the organization, Balanzino stated he was certain that the membership will be strong and efficient based on the individual program for Macedonia.

Prime Minister Crvenkovski reiterated the Macedonian support to the 'Partnership for Peace' once supported by a special declaration in the Macedonian Parliament. Crvenkovski supported the NATO strategy which is in expansion through the program 'Partnership for Peace'.

The importance of Macedonian membership in the organization was stressed by Prime Minister Crvenkovski for the statements for MTV and A1 TV. "I do not doubt that it is a very important event for Macedonia and I think that this membership will eventually lead to wider cooperation with NATO. If we remind of our political course on reforms, integration in European institutions, established a few years ago, now we can be certain that the course comes to its realization. We had much to go through to prove that our intentions are real, and the last few weeks there were many pleasant moments for Macedonia such as the admittance in OSCE, in the Council of Europe, and today, the admittance in 'Partnership for Peace'. Collective security systems are much more important for smaller countries. We will fulfill all obligations for the partnership and we will have active participation in initiatives in the framework of the program," stated Crvenkovski.

In conclusion Crvenkovski announced soon dialogue between Macedonia and the EU for association of Macedonia in EU structures.

[02] PENTAGON GREETS MACEDONIAN MEMBERSHIP

The admittance of Macedonia in 'Partnership for Peace' was highly evaluated at the talks between the Macedonian Parliament Internal Commission President, Ljupco Popovski, and the General Rupert Osterhaver in Pentagon. They both expressed satisfaction on the development of defense relations between Macedonia and the US. They also talked on the present political and security situation in Macedonia and the region.

[03] A TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN MACEDONIA AND THE EU

The European Foreign Commissioner, Hans van den Broek at the session of the European Commission in Strasbourg was obliged to prepare the Accord for trade between the EU and Macedonia. As Macedonian TV reports, the draft will be announced today, and will be accepted at the forthcoming meeting of the Foreign Ministers of EU member states in Brussels next Monday.

[04] PRESIDENT GLIGOROV WILL SOON RETURN TO HIS DUTIES

President Gligorov will soon be able to fulfill his duties.

The announcement of President's office says President Gligorov has successfully recovered after the assassination attempt and has begun to fulfill some of the usual duties.

The public will be informed about the come-back, the announcement says, while A1 TV stated that President will be back in ten days.

Meantime Macedonian TV reported that President's first meeting will be with the US Defense Secretary, William Perry who will soon visit Macedonia.

[05] PARLIAMENT SHOULD CONSIDER DEPUTIES' SUGGESTIONS

After the two-day debate on the proposed Law on Higher Education, Macedonian Parliament obliged the Government to take into consideration deputies' suggestions on the Law.

At the debate yesterday, majority of deputies voted for the Government proposal on the Law, while 9 Albanian deputies voted against, and 2 sustained from voting.

Considering the 9th article which says that higher education may be only in Macedonian language, the Albanian deputy Shaquiri stated that Albanian patience in Macedonia comes to an end. The deputy Sefedin Haruni metaphorically described Macedonians and Albanians as two separate shores, and stated that the latter may turn to other forms of organization.

However, said Haruni, all problems and misunderstandings will be resolved.

The Education Minister, Emilija Simoska addressing to deputies stated that the Law is aimed to reform education system, not to resolve the present inter ethnic problems, and expressed disappointment on the debate. Simoska pointed out that the proposed Law has equal and even higher standards of those in international conventions.

Deputies also expressed the need of Deputy Questions to the Government, but it was postponed for the next week as most of the Ministers were not present at the session.

[06] ITALIAN LOAN FOR THE PRIVATE SECTOR

The Chief of the Department for Cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries, Antonio Bandini, is in a three- day visit of Macedonia with the representatives of the Italian Ministry of Finances and the Rome bank 'Mediocredit'.

The delegation had several meetings with representatives from Macedonian Ministries in order to acknowledge them with the plan of the Italian Government to approve special loans for Macedonia, the realization of the Italian financial aid and the Italian contribution in the European initiative for financial aid to the countries of former Yugoslavia.

At the talks, which were also attended by the Italian Ambassador, Augustino Troni, several issues were reviewed concerning the realization of Italian aid for Macedonia and the possible projects that will be taken into consideration after the crediting. As it was said, the Italian loan will be used for development of small companies. The loan is conditioned by low interest rates and a grace period of 20 years.

[07] AVOIDING OF DOUBLE TAXATION

Representatives of Macedonian Development ministry had a meeting with officials from the Swedish Finance Ministry in Stockholm yesterday. Both Ministries reached an agreement on avoiding of double taxation.

The Accord is a result of the enlarged economic cooperation between the two countries in the last 15 months after the opening of the Swedish Embassy in Macedonia.

[08] AGREEMENT FOR COOPERATION BETWEEN UNIVERSITIES IN SOFIA AND SKOPJE

Delegations from Skopje and Sofia Universities, St. Cyril and Methodius and the Hazel-technical University, arranged an agreement for cooperation in forest, agricultural and veterinarian sciences. The agreement was signed in Macedonian and Bulgarian language and both delegations expressed pleasure on the agreement which will lead to closer cooperation after a period of status-quo.

[09] REPRESENTATIVES OF GREEK RED CROSS VISIT MACEDONIA

A delegation of the Greek Red Cross led by its Secretary General, the Admiral Golphinos Petmezes and the President of the International Red Cross Council, Ion Tesmazoglou., are in a visit of Macedonia. The delegation visited the holiday camp 'Star Doiran' and had talks with Macedonian representatives on the preserving of the Doiran Lake. The Greek delegation will be received today by the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Iliaz Sabriu.

[10] MACEDONIANS ARE PRO-WESTERN

According to the telephone poll of 1200 persons done by 'Data Pres' for 'Nova Makedonija', on whether Macedonia is closer to Eastern or Western Europe, 49,83% of the polled answered they already see Macedonia in Europe, while 42,83% stated that the future of Macedonia is in West Europe.

29,67% of the polled stated that Macedonia is closer to Eastern Europe.

On the question whether Macedonia should join NATO, 60% answered Macedonia should be a member of the Alliance, while 23,50% were against. 16,50% had no opinion on the issue.

49% of the polled consider Macedonia ready to join the EU.

The Macedonian foreign policy was evaluated as independent by 28,33%.25,67% consider it pro-American, 13,33% pro- European, 8,67 Balkan and 18,67% have no opinion.

Considering the social structure of the polled 33,17% are employees in state sector while private owners are only 2,83%. The national structure is the following: 73,17% of the polled are Macedonians, 20,50% Albanians, 3,00% Serbs, 0,50% Turks and Vlachs, 0,83% Roms and 1,50% others.

[11] THE DEADLINE ON THE START OF THE GAS LINE AGAIN POSTPONED

The deadline on the start of the gas line expired yesterday.

The project has been constructed for several years.

According to information from 'Makpetrol' the gas line is technically ready to start, yet the procedure on the approval of the line is still going on.

Most of the plants and factories are not yet ready to connect with the line except 'Evropa' from Skopje, since the credits from the European Bank and finances from the national budget have not arrived.

It is not clear why the line has not started considering that 'Makpetrol' and the Government have invested over 50 million$ for the project.

It is expected that the State Commission will approve the line, yet it will be able to start after 3 or 4 months.

[12] MACEDONIAN BASKETBALL AND FOOTBALL REPRESENTATIONS DEFEATED

On the 4th competition of the qualifications for the European Championship in basketball, Macedonian representation was defeated by the Hungarian one with 82:80.

Macedonian football representation was defeated last night by the Spanish representation with 3:0. The day before yesterday Macedonian Youth representation was also defeated by the Spanish one with 4:0.

MILS SUPPLEMENT:

[13] The Union against the Union

(DELO, 10 November 1995)

The day after the assassination attempt, when it was still not clear whether the President would survive, Stojan Andov "settled" in Gligorov's office. The Montenegrin magazine 'Monitor' reported that Stojan Andov had called Defense Minister, Blagoj Handziski to submit a report which was refused by the latter. 'Delo' could not find out whether this information is correct, yet it found out that Andov immediately demanded keys from Gligorov's desk where practically all documentation is kept, but he did not get it. Also, Andov scheduled a meeting with Prime Minister, Branko Crvenkovski in President's office, but Crvenkovski refused to meet Andov since the President is still on his duties.

All of that mentioned above shows the differences between the coalition partners and the forthcoming disaster of the coalition, especially now when the non-parliamentary opposition is not coordinated.

The last few years there is a silent dispute between the Social-democratic Union (SDSM) and the Liberal Party (LP).

They struggle on domination of ministries, especially in the one for Internal Affairs, domination in public corporations and wealthy private firms and finally a struggle on domination in state media, the Macedonian TV and "Nova Makedonija". They almost had disputes about the President's place, yet the struggle calmed down since President Gligorov announced he would soon return to his duties.

Stojan Andov, according to foreign and domicile analysts, is probably the most shrewd politician in the country. Step by step he got almost to the top, and maybe he will get to it, certainly without any support by SDSM. Nevertheless, nothing is predictable in politics.

Andov practically got to the position of Parliament President quite easily after he "cleaned" the Liberal Party of possible competitors. After the first parliamentary elections, Andov got to the position of Parliament President and left SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE to fight on President's place and the Government. While SDSM and VMRO-DPMNE had disputes which continued after the inauguration of President and Government, Andov formed a strong lobby of directors of the most profitable Macedonian companies.

Andov got the two most important Ministries, the Foreign one and the Economy.

The last two years everything was about these two ministries. The Foreign Ministry led by the Liberal Stevo Crvenkovski did everything but foreign politics, since international affairs of Macedonia were handled by others while the Minister was there when a signature was needed. He then goes to Parliament to have a speech and a self-praise.

The Foreign and the Economy Ministries were actually bases for Macedonian business. They issued permits for import, made decisions on who would get contingents, etc., and nothing could be resolved by legal means.

Many companies had to become 'Liberal' in order to get certain import permits such as the 'Mitkomerc' which imported oil with personal permission of the Economy Minister Risto Ivanov. The owner of the company is the deputy and the Liberal Dragan Mitevski.

It is well known that Macedonian economy has collapsed.

Despite that, some companies make huge profits with not always legal transactions. This mainly refers to business with tobacco, oil, Coca-Cola, beer, coffee and the gambling.

All of these businesses are conducted by people from the Liberal Party or close to them. Most of these people have interests in politics in order to gain more profits. Media is also dependent on these people as it cannot survive without financial support an donations of the companies.

Now we can be certain that Liberals rule with the state media since the Government decided not to finance publications of "Nova Makedonija". The Macedonian Radio and TV is led by a person very close to Andov who actually has the information monopoly in the country. This monopoly will be used to eliminate competition by SDSM and probably a penetration into SDSM structures through SDSM party members who are closer to Andov than to Crvenkovski.

Crvenkovski at the moment hopes for the quick recovery of President Gligorov who may consolidate relations between the coalition partners.

For the amateur observer there is one thing that is still not clear; the political options of both parties considering Macedonian position as an independent state. Is it true that Andov and his colleagues are 'pro-Yugoslav' while Crvenkovski and his social-democrats are really 'pro- Macedonian' ? Do they care about the future of Macedonia or they care about the profits and personal power? Are they in connection with those who tried to restructure the Government (not change it ) after the assassination attempt on President Gligorov?

It is not less important that Macedonia as a society faces disturbance of the political balance. After the elections, the unstable balance between position and opposition was additionally disturbed. Now the balance between coalition partners created by Gligorov is quite violated. If the political balance is a condition for a democratic and calm development of Macedonia, then it is quite easy that the balance be disturbed by absolute domination of one party. In long terms, it is a disaster.

(end)

mils news 16 November '95