MAK-NEWS 10/05/95 (M.I.L.S.)
From: "Demetrios E. Paneras" <dep@bu.edu>
CONTENTS
[01] V-DAY CELEBRATED IN MOSCOW
[02] SKOPJE CELEBRATES V-DAY
[03] BULGARIA "LIBERATOR OF NEIGHBORS"
[04] OSCE MEDIATORS TO VISIT SKOPJE AND ATHENS
[05] MACEDONIA AND SINGAPORE ESTABLISH RELATIONS
[06] TRANSPORTATION AGREEMENT WITH FRANCE
[07] CYPRUS AND MACEDONIA QUESTIONS MOST URGENT
[08] GEORGE SOROS VISITS SKOPJE
[09] GOVERNMENT BRIEFS
[10] IMF APPROVES STAND-BY ARRANGEMENT WITH MACEDONIA
[11] ALITI ADDRESSES SOLDIERS IN ALBANIAN
[12] 1.8 MILLION DEUTSCHMARKS STOLEN
[13] "LEB I SOL" AND "BEFORE THE RAIN" ATTRACT LONDON AUDIENCE
[14] MAY OPERA EVENINGS OPEN
[15] KURBAN BAIRAM
[16] HUMANITARIAN BRIEFS
[17] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: STRATEGY FOR QUICKER REFORMS (Vecher, 3 may 1995)
M I L S N E W S
Skopje, 10 May 1995
[01] V-DAY CELEBRATED IN MOSCOW
The primary celebration of the world's victory over fascism
took place in Moscow yesterday, with two ceremonies: parade
of war veterans and cadets through the Moscow Red Square and
the revealing of the monument complex on Poklonaya Gora.
Macedonian President Gligorov attended both celebrations
along with 50 other presidents.
During his stay in Moscow, Gligorov informally met with
Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin, UN Secretary
General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Croatian President Franjo
Tudjman, Slovenian President Milan Kucan, as well as with
foreign ministers of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, Irfan
Ljubljancic and Vladislav Jovanovic. In the afternoon, he
received a group of reporters to answer questions concerning
the situation in the region.
The previous day, during the celebration in Paris, Gligorov
met with the newly elected French President Jacques Chirac.
Congratulating Chirac on his election, Gligorov expressed
the hope that cooperation between Macedonia and France will
continue in the future. In Paris, Gligorov also met with the
president of the French Parliament.
[02] SKOPJE CELEBRATES V-DAY
The primary ceremony on the occasion of the Victory Day in
Skopje took place by the city's recreational lake Treska.
The meeting was attended by several thousand citizens,
representatives of war veterans, Parliament President Andov,
representatives of the Orthodox, Muslim and Catholic
religious communities, foreign diplomats, UNPREDEP officials
and others. The introductory speech was given by Prime
Minister Branko Crvenkovski. Underlining Macedonia's
contribution to the victory over fascism, Crvenkovski
expressed gratitude to the "generation which sacrificed to
enable the Macedonian people to feel proud." Crvenkovski
also sent a message to all neighbors, saying "we should all
turn to the future and forget at least for a moment our
mythologies and passions, cease digging for bones of our
ancestors and fighting about something achieved by other
generations, far behind us. We are expected to create
something new and to fulfill our historical duties."
[03] BULGARIA "LIBERATOR OF NEIGHBORS"
As part of yesterday's celebration of the Victory Day in
Sofia, Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Pavlov said among
other things, "in the Second World War, Bulgaria helped in
the liberation of Macedonia and Serbia... The history will
always remember the heroic deeds of Bulgarian soldiers near
Nis, Stracin, Kumanovo..."
Fascist symbols appeared on the walls of several buildings
in Sofia the same morning, Makpres reports.
[04] OSCE MEDIATORS TO VISIT SKOPJE AND ATHENS
Makfaks cites media in Greece as claiming OSCE Chairman-in-
Office Laslo Kovac will shortly send mediators to Skopje and
Athens to help in the search for a solution for the Greek-
Macedonian dispute. Kovac reportedly explained this adding
that the admission of Macedonia into the OSCE would be of
wide importance to the entire region. The conservative paper
Kathimerini writes that the Greek Foreign Minister Papoulias
said in Budapest that the problem with Macedonia is a
difficult one, as a number of articles in the Macedonian
Constitution are opposed to the OSCE principles.
[05] MACEDONIA AND SINGAPORE ESTABLISH RELATIONS
Expressing a mutual desire for strengthening and developing
bilateral relations, the governments of Macedonia and
Singapore established diplomatic relations, the Foreign
Ministry has informed.
[06] TRANSPORTATION AGREEMENT WITH FRANCE
During a recent visit to Paris, a delegation of the
Macedonian Ministry of Transportation met with officials of
the French Ministry of Transportation and Tourism to discuss
transportation of passengers and goods between the two
countries. The two sides agreed upon a text of a draft-
agreement and prepared protocols on transportation. They
decided to issue 1,500 transportation certificates for 1995,
along with an additional 100 certificates for transit trips.
[07] CYPRUS AND MACEDONIA QUESTIONS MOST URGENT
In an interview with the Greek paper Ethnos, Nova Makedonija
writes, the US Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs
Richard Holbrooke spoke of the Greek-Macedonian problem.
Speaking of Greece's problems with neighboring countries,
Holbrooke said the US is determined to get involved in
resolving the Cyprus and Macedonia issues, as the most
urgent ones in the region. The solution, he said, would have
to be acceptable for both sides. "Matters", Holbrooke said,
"are in the middle of a very sensitive diplomatic procedure"
and in the hands of secret diplomacy. Holbrooke still
mentioned that the US has not established full diplomatic
ties with Macedonia due to problems with the "name, embargo
and flag".
[08] GEORGE SOROS VISITS SKOPJE
Macedonian Parliament President yesterday received George
Soros, founder of the Foundation Soros, who has arrived in a
working visit to Macedonia. They exchanged ideas on current
economic and political issues in the country and the wider
region. Andov spoke of the economic situation in Macedonia,
expressing gratitude for Soros' understanding and aid to
Macedonia, as well as for his support for the admission of
Macedonia into the international community.
The Open Society Institute yesterday promoted the book "Why
I am for Democracy", written by George Soros.
[09] GOVERNMENT BRIEFS
At a session Monday the Macedonian Government discussed and
approved several proposals for initiating laws to regulate
ratification of agreements, platforms and conventions with
the governments of China, Albania, France, Germany and
Turkey. Cabinet members also adopted regulations for opening
representative offices of foreign entities in Macedonia,
determined the proposal for a law to obtain a $14 million
credit from the International Association for Development to
carry out the Social reforms and Technical Aid Project.
[10] IMF APPROVES STAND-BY ARRANGEMENT WITH MACEDONIA
The IMF Board of Directors approved on May 5th a stand-by
arrangement to provide new finances for and to raise the
rating of Macedonia in the international capital market. The
arrangement provides some $55 million to be sent to
Macedonia in 5 installments, commencing with this month and
ending in the first quarter of 1996. Several criteria have
to be fulfilled for its realization, however, including
restrictive fiscal policy, consistent monetary policy of
banks and stable exchange rate of the Denar. The arrangement
is to be broken off should only one of the conditions not be
met.
Among other things, the arrangement will enable Macedonia to
start negotiations for settling its $250 million debt to the
Paris Club.
[11] ALITI ADDRESSES SOLDIERS IN ALBANIAN
During the Tetovo celebration of the Victory Day, the
township assembly's president Shakir Aliti addressed
soldiers in the Albanian language. VMRO-DPMNE bitterly
reacted on this, asking "What state and whose army did Aliti
address?", the Skopje paper Vecher writes.
[12] 1.8 MILLION DEUTSCHMARKS STOLEN
Unofficial sources inform 1.8 million Deutschmarks has been
stolen from the safe of the exchange office of Stopanska
Banka at the border-crossing of Bogorodica, at the
Macedonian-Greek border. The theft was discovered by the
clerk in charge of the safe. Investigation is underway.
[13] "LEB I SOL" AND "BEFORE THE RAIN" ATTRACT LONDON AUDIENCE
As part of last Sunday's celebration of the V-Day in London,
the Macedonian rock band "Leb i Sol" attracted interest as
they performed during the final ceremony. The audience in
London was also attracted by the premiere of director Milco
Mancevski's "Before the Rain".
[14] MAY OPERA EVENINGS OPEN
The international May 24th Opera Evenings in Skopje was open
yesterday at the Macedonian National Theater. The
celebration will last until May 31 and will include
performances by about 20 soloists and conductors of several
European countries.
[15] KURBAN BAIRAM
On the occasion of the great Muslim holiday Kurban Bairam,
Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov sent best wishes to Hadzi
Suleiman Efendi Redzepi, president of the Islamic Community
in Macedonia.
Tomorrow is declared a holiday for Macedonian citizens of
Islamic religion.
[16] HUMANITARIAN BRIEFS
A delegation of the humanitarian organization "Johantar
Unifal Hilfe" of Germany visited Macedonia to deliver
humanitarian aid of 16 tons of medicines, blankets and toys.
The Macedonian Red Cross will distribute the aid to health
and social organizations throughout the country.
[17] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: STRATEGY FOR QUICKER REFORMS
(Vecher, 3 may 1995)
Political changes, unlike economic ones, are only rarely
mentioned by politicians at public appearances. It is a
fact, however, that these changes are mutually intermingled
and that outstanding analysts in Eastern and Central Europe
consider changes in politics to be much more significant.
The issue was recently raised again after a long period,
this time from the parliament floor and by the Liberals, who
insisted on an urgent platform by the Government to, as they
said, "initiate a system of precisely determining which law
means what in the practice and enable coordination of all
moves and measures."
Reminding that it is a usual practice to have such platforms
when a cabinet consists of coalition partners, Liberals
expressed dissatisfaction with the dynamics of the changes
so far. In this context, Mrs. Gordana Siljanovska, member of
the Liberal Party's Executive Committee and minister in the
previous cabinet, notes, "It is necessary that this
Government prepare a strategy so that it convinces us that
it will first regulate its own reform course from the legal
aspect, before it starts carrying it out." The platform that
the Government ought to adopt, Siljanovska says, "should
specify the completion of the reforms in terms of a
determined period of time and undertake actions to convince
the ordinary citizen, regardless of their economic status,
that, if not today, then in 5 years the strategy will result
in changes.
The platform should, of course, be worked out with joint
consultations. The Liberals will insist that it precisely
deal with the privatization, administration, organization
of trade unions, electoral laws, judiciary and local self-
government.
"The process of privatization is already begun and the law
must be respected. If the privatization is a 'conditio sine
qua non' of the entire democratization, then it is of
extreme importance to know for certain whether legal
regulations are respected and how the privatization is
carried out. Now, several political subjects point out that
the Privatization Agency is facing problems in interpreting
the law. I must point out that what we lack is a
parliamentary commission in charge of control over the
privatization, which is a practice everywhere else," she
says.
The state administration, one of the key elements in
privatization processes, is still not regulated in
Macedonia. Liberals point to an article by a serious analyst
in a last February edition of "The Wall Street Journal", as
saying that Macedonia is probably a country with the least
reformed administration of all countries currently in
transition. "No change can be carried out if you have an
administration which constantly presents obstacles; the
practice has shown that it is exactly the administration
which is the main prohibitor of changes," Siljanovska
stresses, adding "what we need is a fundamental
reorganization of the administration. The Liberals will
firmly insist on bringing laws to regulate positions in the
administration. The Government continues with the practice
of employing personnel through its commission, and it should
in fact announce open competitions. If Macedonia does tend
toward democracy, it would be quite natural to expect
another, even an opposition party, to maybe gain power.
Meaning that, if you now employ people who are your
followers and loyal to you on a party basis, they are bound
to be all dismissed once a different party comes to power.
Besides, the lack of a law on state administrators has
resulted in the fact that there are now matters no ministry
will accept as their responsibility; there is a vacuum in
covering all relevant issues," Siljanovska comments.
The Liberals raised the major part of these questions even
during the previous mandate, but, they explain, no answers
could be found because there existed no balance of power.
That is why solutions are often forced out by pressure and
tensions. Latest examples of this are the current strikes
which, by the way, are also still not regulated by law.
"It is simply impossible to work under some old regulations
in which numerous situations are not addressed. No one
denies the right of trade unions to associate themselves
with certain parties (in England, they are connected with
the Labor Party, in the US they regularly support the
Democrats), but all this has to be carried out in an
institutionalized manner instead of in the streets and with
sheets of papers submitted to the Government. The Government
has to be aware that, when it has already initiated a law on
transformation of ownership, it cannot be implemented
without regulating the sphere of trade union acting, since
these two always go together," Siljanovska points out.
According to her, the first major step to be undertaken by
any Government upon gaining power, is to create a legal
framework for fair elections. The old laws failed to provide
this. This package of laws must be brought also because of
the current vacuum in local elections, Siljanovska explains,
underlining that the package should consist of separate laws
for elections of parliament and at local levels. Electoral
laws, she says, are closely connected to laws on local self-
government, and the latter with the laws on territorial
division of the country.
What is exceptionally important for the reforms at this
moment, Siljanovska assures, is to regulate civilian
organizations. The sphere of civil initiatives is not
regulated and therefore no one has differentiated between an
association of foreign currency bank clients and a women's
association, for instance. This sphere is of key importance
in building democratic political culture, she says, and
therefore a law to regulate it is indeed essential.
The Liberals raised the question of a joint platform on
political changes much earlier, but to no avail. Soon, they
say, they will raise the problem again. It is a general
impression that political changes are just beginning.
"Despite all," Siljanovska says, "the changes must begin and
the current Government is surely able to at least create the
basic framework with the majority of votes it has.
Otherwise, suspicions that the Government is only supporting
the current status quo will grow even stronger. This is a
second mandate of a political government and it must be
directed toward stabilizing and consolidating certain legal
solutions."
(end)
mils-news 10 May '95
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