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MILS NEWS 96-08-28Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 28 August, 1996[01] REACTION TO YURI TRUSHIN'S STATEMENTSStatements made by Charge d' Affaires Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Macedonia Yuri Trushin for the 'Super Radio' in Ohrid about signing of a Russian- Macedonian Agreement on Military Cooperation and obtaining of modern Russian weapons for the Macedonian Army provoked Macedonian Defense Ministry to clear them up to the public. This reaction was reported by all local media.As alleged, the procedure regarding the Agreement on Military Cooperation was not completed with the Cooperation Protocol during the visit of the Russian military delegation to Macedonia. The Protocol signed said that the offered Russian Draft Agreement would be examined. The Agreement was, according to Macedonian Defense Ministry announcement, similar to already signed agreements with other countries and was not disputable in the aspect of acceptability, but it was planned to be signed after the embargo on export and import of weapons, imposed on Macedonia by the UN, would be lifted. The media said that Assistant of the Russian Military Attach, to Macedonia, Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Strishkov informed the International Cooperation Department of Macedonian Defense Ministry (on August 19) that Russian Defense Ministry had included an official visit of Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Handziski to Moscow in its programme, which was planned to take place till the end of 1996. Macedonian party, on the other hand, informed Russian Defense Ministry that the visit would be possible at the beginning of 1997, when an Agreement, similar to the others signed with 'Partnership for Peace' programme member countries, might be signed. Unofficially, some of the media reported that a pressure had been made on Macedonian Defense Ministry to buy weapons from Russia, such was the case during the visit of Russian military delegation to Macedonia last May. According to Macedonian Television, it was about armored troop carriers, which Macedonian Armed Forces intended to supply till the end of the year. [02] MACEDONIAN-YUGOSLAV CUSTOMS COOPERATION HARMONIZEDExpert groups of the Republic of Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia, who were negotiating the Agreement on Bilateral Trade in Macedonian Ministry of Economic during the last two days harmonized the part referring to customs cooperation. Information Secretariat announced that the two countries would cooperate in the field of customs and trade relations, and Customs Administrations would exchange their experience in the applying of regulations in order to alleviate the transport. The final text of the Agreement is reaching its end, according to the information, and the next round of talks had been scheduled for September 6.A-1 Television, on the other hand, reported an unofficial information that the Agreement would be harmonized before FR Yugoslav Prime Minister Radoje Kontic pays a visit to Macedonia on 3 and 4 September. As alleged, before his visit, the diplomatic-expert teams of the two countries should also meet to discuss the border line establishing. According to the information, Macedonian Foreign Ministry had accepted the Macedonian platform about the open issues referring to the border, and the Government should discuss it at its next session on Monday. [03] AMBASSADOR MILOSAVLEVSKI IN BELGRADE FROM TODAYThe first Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to FR Yugoslavia Slavko Milosavlevski is expected to leave to his duty for Belgrade today, Macedonian media reported. He was received yesterday by Macedonian Foreign Affairs Minister Ljubomir Frchkovski, and they concluded that there were perspectives for the relations and cooperation between Macedonia and FRY to be developed in all fields, which would be in the interest of both countries.Ambassador Milosavlevski is a famous Macedonian publicist, professor at the University, a politician and one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party of Macedonia. [04] BOSNIAN PRIME MINISTER MURATOVIC IN MACEDONIAFollowing the invitation of Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski, President of the Government of Bosnia- Herzegovina Hasan Muratovic will come for a two days visit to Macedonia tomorrow, Macedonian Television reported. The guest will have meetings with Crvenkovski, Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov and Parliament President Tito Petkovski. Bosnian Prime Minister will pay a visit to the Macedonian Economic Chamber and to construction companies.[05] MINISTER FITI: 'RETURNING THE CONFISCATED PROPERTIES BY ISSUING CERTIFICATES''We do not have a moral right not to pass the Law on Denationalization. It is being prepared and basic solutions will not be in the form of returning cash to the former owners, as Macedonia has an internal debt of over $1 billion and about that much an external debt. So the most probable solutions will be to have certificates issued by the state, which would be replaceable for real estates. The principle will be to return the property if it has not been changed too much, or to give the right for a state owned capital to be bought with the certificates (which would be a participation in the transformation of enterprises). The Law on Denationalization should be passed till the end of this or at the beginning of the next year.' According to Macedonian Radio, this was said by Macedonian Minister of Finance Taki Fiti at the Parliament session yesterday.The session of the Parliament was marked by questions of the MPs, which mostly referred to agriculture, roads, problems in education and employment, etc. Government representatives answered to most of them, but a part was left to be replied in written. The Parliament yesterday passed the report of the Government regarding the reasons which brought to an outburst of the foot-and-mouth-disease in Macedonia and the measures taken for its elimination. The next session was scheduled for tomorrow. [06] REVIEW OF LAWS REFERRING TO THE LOCAL SELF GOVERNMENTMinister of Justice of the Republic of Macedonia Vlado Popovski yesterday informed the press that Macedonian Government had suspended the decision of the Town Assembly of Tetovo to organize a referendum on dividing of Tetovo area into five municipalities and had accepted the proposed Laws on Territorial Dividing, on Local Elections, on Electoral Lists, on Voting Identity Cards and on Pre- Electoral Campaign. Local media reported that Minister Popovski said the Government would initiate a procedure for establishing the Constitutionality of the decision of Tetovo Town Assembly within 15 days.Popovski underlined that the Law on Local Elections had not been changed in the second phase, but some parts had been elaborated and filled in. He stated the remarks made by some parties about this Law were a beginning of their campaigns. The Law establishes a proportional system for the elections of Councils members, a majority system for elections for mayors, a quota of 10% of votes necessary to enter the second round, etc. About the Law on Electoral Lists and IDs, Popovski said it would go in one phase, as it is not expected to provoke opposing. Its essential framework is the unique electoral list, which would be in competence of the state administration. Electoral lists will be published and available for 15 days, while the voting identity cards would not be used at these local elections, due to the short term. The new Law on Territorial Dividing of the Republic of Macedonia establishes 120 municipalities, and the Government had accepted most of the remarks of Albanians in Macedonia, so that changes were made in the areas of Tetovo, Gostivar, Struga and Kichevo and a new municipality Zhitosha had been formed. The Law on Pre-Electoral Campaign is expected to be passed in about two months, until when, according to Popovski, the part of the Law on Local Elections referring to this matter will be in force, which will be applied before the Local Elections. Minister of Justice concluded with the information that six new laws are being prepared and should be passed till September 15, by which the regulations for local self government should be accomplished. [07] PRIVATIZATION WITH ELEMENTS OF INVALIDITY AND CRUELTY'The Privatization, which was supposed to be a sacred matter for the workers and citizens in Macedonia, was given the elements of invalidity and cruelty, to which the rackets, the Privatization Agency and the court contributed mostly,' President of the Independent Trade Unions Blagoja Ivanovski said at a press conference yesterday. As 'Vecer' daily reported, Ivanovski said the Unions would use all democratic means to destroy racket as a legal para-police in Macedonia.The Independent Unions had already sent a request to governmental institutions to have those para-police formations dismissed and to declare Macedonian police the only institution which would protect the public law and order. In case the Government refuses to do so, Independent Unions will form their own security organization. At the press conference, examples of deceived interests of workers had been presented, as well as efforts for their protection in the enterprises 'Tehnika' - Skopje, 'Trans Balkan' - Gevgelija, 'Zem Promet' - Skopje, and 'Erdzelija' - Sveti Nikole. The case of 'Staklarnica' Skopje was given the greatest publicity, i.e. to the 50 workers who have started a hunger strike in front of the Government yesterday. It was said that the Association of Self-Supporting Mothers with over 2,000 members has also joined the Independent Trade Unions. [08] 'NEW COMMUNISTS' OF MACEDONIA THREATENED SOUTH KOREA!The New Communist Party of Macedonia, seated in Gostivar, sent a letter full of threats to the Embassy of South Korea in Belgrade recently, about which many agencies had reported. The Secretary General of this party Trifun Andreevski stated for A-1 Television that they had not threatened with using bombs or other weapons, but with a severe attack on South Korean economic interests in Macedonia and wider. According to Andreevski, Macedonia is full with products from this country, which has big interests here, but that is no good for Macedonia. He also said that Greek Communist Party, at its 15th Congress in Athens, had initiated a petition by which 'Slovene states' opposed to the presence of Americans and NATO on these territories.New Communist Party leader said for 'Nova Makedonija' that his party was supported by the Communist Parties of Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Moldova, etc. 'The actions are based on the uniting of the two Koreas and liberation of all people who fought for that in 1956 and 1957, and who are now in prison, as American hostages,' said Andreevski. According to 'Nova Makedonija', the 'performance' of this unknown party in Macedonia is inspired by the pledge Macedonia to be under the influence of Russia and by the disagreement with the possibility for Macedonia to join NATO. Agency 'Beta' reported that the Embassy of South Korea had been surprised by the letter, but that measures had been taken, as it was considered possible for this party to be connected to North Korea and the most radical left wing in Seoul. MILS SUPPLEMENT[09] 'Offer Is Rich, Choice Is Ours' - Part 1('Vecer', 24 August, 1996)The transition to the market economy system in Macedonia seriously damaged the Pensions fund and made the functioning of the current obligatory pension insurance system a problem. Therefore, the issue of its 'recovering' and looking for alternatives with a kind of a private pension system became a must. The first more dramatic change took place when the new Law on Pensions was passed in 1994, which introduced restrictions in the conditions for obtaining pensions. Within this framework, Macedonia is getting a technical assistance from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), through its contractor Carana Corporation, which prepared an analysis of specific and relevant characteristics of pension systems in 12 countries, which might be applied in Macedonia, to which pension system a special attention was paid. The crucial characteristics of the Macedonian pension system are: purpose (theoretically speaking - a full pension for all employees with a full length of service); sponsor (the state); choice (obligatory participation, although the fee payments are being avoided); those included (theoretically all the employed, in practice - not everybody from the private sector); those who should pay the fees (the employers mainly, plus a contribution from the state obtained from taxes); financing (pay-as-you-go method, according to which the pensions are paid after the fees are collected); those who are taking a risk (theoretically, the state takes it all, but in practice the pensioners are taking a part of it because of the delay of pensions); the one who guarantees (there is not a formal system of guarantees); kinds of pensions (established pension with a guaranteed minimum pension); level that replaces the salary and an earning included (theoretically, the level is 80% of the average earnings during the service) and indexing (the pensions are harmonized with the rise of salaries in non- production sector). What could or not be applied from the other countries systems? The new voluntary private pension system of the CZECH REPUBLIC from 1994 is an acceptable kind of an additional pension programme for Macedonia. Its main characteristics are: additional savings for individuals, which is the purpose of the system; sponsors are the banks with a participation of individuals; the choice is a voluntary one, so that individuals and companies that register their employees can be included; pension fee is paid by individuals with a subvention of the state (companies can also pay the fees for their employees); the method is financing in advance; the risk is taken by an individual; nobody guarantees anything; the pension is based on accumulated contributions plus the subvention of the state plus investments income. In order to apply such a system in Macedonia, it would be necessary to have financial institutions which would play the role of sponsors of pension funds and investment managers, as well as potential investments and a good regulation system that would protect the investors from any kind of deceit. For a start, greater part of the money could be invested abroad in order to bring a larger profit, and a smaller one in Macedonian privatized industries. The voluntarily nature of the system makes it acceptable for our country and if a maximum level of earning for an obligatory payment of fees is fixed, the voluntary contributions might be applied to the part above the maximum level. This appears to be the most acceptable system for Macedonia. CANADA has a two-layer pension system (Old People Security and Canadian Pensions Plan), which is also acceptable for Macedonia. It would combine elements of welfare protection for everybody and the pensions in connection with earnings. State pension in Canada is 50% of the total pensions, which is considered a reasonable figure for our country. Pension system of SINGAPORE, known as the concept of CPF (Central Fund for providing future means) might also be useful: it would be interesting to consider in which way this country of about 2.9 million inhabitants has used the economic development means, although it still makes enough money for pensions for all. However, one must remember that they needed 40 years to have the accounts of all individuals well financed, and Macedonia does not have so much time. A universal pension system, that gives same pensions to all inhabitants, is applied in HOLLAND, which is also a possible solution for Macedonia, but it would require great changes of Macedonian pension system, especially in the field of its purpose. The industrial pension plans is a concept that functions well in Holland from historical reasons, but it would not be good for Macedonia where strong industrial associations do not exist. Regarding the strict conditions for a person in Macedonia to be given a pension for disabled people, it should be considered whether these people could be pre-qualified. (to be continued)mils news 28 August, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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