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MILS NEWS 04/06/96Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 04 June 1996[01] USA - MACEDONIA DEFENSE COOPERATION ON A HIGHER LEVELThe Governments of the USA and the Republic of Macedonia signed an Agreement on Regulation of The Status of NATO and 'Partnership for Peace' Forces, yesterday in Skopje. The Agreement regulates the participation of the American and other NATO forces in maneuvers on the territory of Macedonia, and participation of Macedonian forces in the maneuvers within the 'Partnership for Peace Programme' on other territories. The Agreement also anticipates a possibility for the US soldiers to remain in Macedonia after the new mandate of UNPREDEP is terminated. According to A-1 Television, Russia will definitely put a veto on a next extension of the UNPREDEP Mission mandate in Macedonia.According to Victor Comras, Head of the US Embassy in Skopje, the Agreement includes the presence of the American military forces in Macedonia out of the UN mandate. These forces are composed of the military troops, the American experts included in the 'Partnership for Peace' Programme, the US helicopter troops that cooperate with UNPREDEP, and all other US personel assigned to Macedonia by other military bilateral programmes. Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Hanjiski said yesterday that after the Agreement is ratified by the Macedonian Parliament, scheduled for today' session, and the instruments are deposited at the US State Department, the bilateral cooperation in the field of security and defense between the two countries will be raised on a significantly higher level. Meanwhile, at its session yesterday, Macedonian Government urgently passed the Proposal for Ratification of the Agreement on Regulation of The Status of NATO and 'Partnership for Peace' Forces and suggested that it is included in today's Agenda of the Parliament session. [02] MACEDONIAN DELEGATION AT NATO MEETINGTwo-day ministerial meeting of the North Atlantic Council for Cooperation, which began yesterday in Berlin, is being attended by a Macedonian delegation led by Foreign Minister Ljubomir Frchkovski. The main subject discussed is going to be the reform of the Alliance structures, in order to adjust to the post cold war conditions. The influence of the 'Partnership for Peace' Programme on the regional cooperation, as well as the experiences from the cooperation and dialogues with the countries clearly interested in NATO membership, are also going to be discussed.[03] 'HABITAT 2' CONFERENCE OPENEDThe international Conference 'Habitat 2', focusing on the harmonizing of living standards in settlements, began yesterday in Istanbul. The opening speeches were made by the UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali and Turkish President Suleiman Demirel, who was elected Chairman of the Conference.The Macedonian delegation attending the Conference is being led by Minister of Works and Ecology Jorgo Shundovski, who is going to present Macedonian views. [04] MACEDONIAN REPRESENTATIVES AT THE WEU PARLIAMENT SESSIONMacedonian Parliament delegation, led by the MP Zoran Shapuric, is participating at the session of the West- European Union Parliamentary Assembly, that began in Paris yesterday. At the session, which will last till June 6, the implementation of the Dayton Accord and peace process in Bosnia will be discussed.[05] MARKING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF UNESCOOn the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of UNESCO, a Conference on 'Education, Science and Culture at The Doorway of The 21st Century'. of the Inter-Parliamentarian Union began yesterday in Paris, attended by two members of the Macedonian Parliament - Jovan Lazarov and Zekjir Kadriu.[06] MACEDONIA AGAIN ACCUSED OF BEING UNYIELDINGGreek Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos, speaking at a meeting of Greek emigrants in Canada, again accused Macedonian leadership of being unyielding about the name issue, reported Macedonian Radio yesterday. This is happening immediately before the new round of Macedonian - Greek talks in UN.[07] JANEZ DRNOVSHEK IN MACEDONIA TOMORROWSlovenian Prime Minister Janez Drnovshek is expected to arrive in Macedonia tomorrow to discuss the global bilateral cooperation with his hosts. It was announced that several Agreements would be signed, mostly in the economy sphere.[08] CONFERENCE ON MACEDONIAN - ITALIAN RELATIONSMacedonian - Italian relations in a European context are the subject of discussion of the conference that began at the University 'St. Cyril and Methodius' in Skopje yesterday.The meeting is being realized cooperatively by the Universities of Skopje and Bologna. [09] SIX MORE SEATS IN THE PARLIAMENT FOR BERISHADemocratic Party of the Albanian President Sali Berisha won six more seats in the Parliament on the second voting round the day before yesterday. Macedonian media reported that this party will thus have 101 seats in the Parliament of 140 members. 55% of the voters participated in the second voting round, less than in the first one, when their number was 85%.[10] POLITICAL SYSTEM COMMISSION ALSO AGAINST EARLY ELECTIONSMacedonian Parliament Commission for Political System decided yesterday that there were neither constitutional bases nor political reasons to schedule a referendum on early parliamentarian elections.A discussion preceded this, during which the initiators representatives, Gjorgji Naumov (VMRO - DPMNE) and Slavko Petrov (Democratic Party), repeated the already known stands, this time pointing out the question: Is scheduling early elections a separate issue, which the Parliament is in charge of in the context of Constitutional entries, or the Parliament is incompetent to decide about early elections issue? Risto Masev said that the initiators had not offered any solutions for a better future of Macedonia, while Hisen Ramadani said the Initiative was not backed by a political programme. The Commission adopted the report on the work of Macedonian Radio and Television in 1995, submitted by the General Manager Melpomeni Korneti. The report read that the work of MRTV was being burdened by the lack of regulations in the broadcasting and by the unpaid bils of the consumers since 1993. In her report, Ms. Kornetti recomended the Parliament to support introducing the principle of the West European countries, i.e. making the families tax-payers (which are about 500,000 in Macedonia) and putting the money in a separate fund. She also suggested a separate Law on the Macedonian Radio and Television to be passed. [11] MACEDONIA JOINED ESASMacedonian Government on its yesterday's session decided to have Macedonia joined the European Conference on Civil Aviation (ESAS), seated in Paris.The information on the economic cooperation activities between Macedonian and Slovenia were also adopted, and the Agreement on Gradual Establishing of Free Trade Principle between these two countries till 2,000 was prepared. [12] HUNGER STRIKE CALLED OFFAfter the talks they had with Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski, the leaders of the Union of Macedonian Independent and Autonomous Trade Unions yesterday called off the eight-days hunger strike in front of the government building. Media reported that Crvenkovski had promised the strikers that he would recommend the Electrical Company of Macedonia to alleviate the payment of unpaid electricity bills for the socially endangered families.The strike was endorsed with requests for a moratorium on payments of electricity, water and TV bills for the socially endangered families, as well as with requests for a minimum social aid of 5,000 denars and minimum salary of 10,000 denars. MILS SUPPLEMENT[13] 'Who Is Breaking The Accord?'('Nova Makedonija', 04 June 1996)New threats about imposing economic blockades are coming from the south. First, the government in Athens announced through their Foreign Minister Theodoros Pangalos that they would start 'discouraging' Greek entrepreneurs' intentions to invest in Macedonia. Now, Greek papers are zealously working out the subject: since Macedonia is refusing to change its name, Greece is going to punish it. We have witnessed so many similar threats (and realizations) of blockades during the last few years, that nobody seems to be much disturbed now. One can almost certainly predict the moment when some Greek politician is going to talk about the 'Macedonian issue' and when the Greek press is going to pour out a string of hostile texts against our country. It happens regularly before each round of the Macedonian - Greek discussions about the name dispute, such as the forthcoming in New York; or, always when Greek politicians realize that they have lost the battle with the small country of Macedonia; or, whenever it is necessary to show 'firmness' in the defense of the Greek 'national interests' (such as before the forthcoming congress of PASOK). The latest threats with a 'controlled straining of relations', as defined by Pangalos, or with 'a controlled blockade', as described by the press, however, deserve to be paid an attention to. Among other things, because they are the first explicit threats addressed to Macedonia after the Interim Accord signed last September. And because they are coming in a period of a successful improvement of the bilateral relations. The southern neighbour is justifying its threats again by accusing us with 'unyielding' in the name dispute, i.e. with an alleged breaking of the Accord. Is the Accord really being broken and by whom? Let's begin from Macedonia and its 'unyielding stand'. As a reminding, this issue is regulated in the Article 5 of the Interim Accord, where there is not a single word about the changing of the name. It reads that both parties involved 'will continue the negotiations under patronage of the UN Secretary General', in order to 'reach an agreement on the differences' about the name. The second paragraph of the Article obliges both parties to 'cooperate, despite their stands' on the issue. Republic of Macedonia is not making the insultive addressing as 'Skopje Republic' by Greece an obstacle in the relations. And it is regularly sending its Ambassador to New York, i.e. is participating in the efforts of the UN representative Cyrus Vance and of both countries to find a 'solution for the differences' about the name issue. On the contrary, Greece is breaking Article 5 of the Accord by asking the name to be changed and by threatening with 'straining' of the relations with Macedonia, although the Article obliges it to cooperate despite the differences. With its insisting on having the name of the country changed, and, consequently, on making Macedonian people to give up their identity, Greece is breaking Article 3 of the Accord, which says that both parties 'are going to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence' of the other party. Macedonian President Gligorov, answering a question in this context at a meeting in Paris, described the obligations stated in the Accord and the realistic acting of Greece as following: how can Greece claim that it is interested in the preserving of our integrity if it is asking from us to give up our identity? Finally, the intended straining of the relations is directly opposite to the Article 8: 'The parties are going to restrain from any kind of preventing the flow of people and goods between their territories'. How much are the threats realistic, and can Greece really live without the Interim Accord, as Pangalos stated recently? Greek politicians had already showed a disrespect towards all the rules of civilized relations between countries, not only with Macedonia. Therefore, everything is possible, even a new blockade. In that case, our country would have nothing else to do than to prove that it can also live without the Interim Accord and the Greek businessmen. If that is the price of preserving the territorial integrity of the Republic of Macedonia and the national identity of the Macedonian people, which we managed to defend to date, we are going to pay it. But what will Greece have from that? Nothing more than a shame in the eyes of the world and than leaving the Macedonian market, which is obviously interesting for Greek entrepreneurs, to some other foreign businessmen, less depending on the politics. But the EU and the USA will face new problems if that happens, as they had offered their help to both sides to develop their relations. Therefore, it could be more practical both for Macedonia and Greece, as neighbours, and for the European Union and the USA, as guarantees, not to wait for the eventual realization of the Greek threats, but to realize the promised help. (end)mils news 04 June, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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