At the EU summit in Cannes, French President Jacque Chirac did raise the Macedonian question after all, media in Macedonia report. Speaking of Macedonia, Chirac said that this small country, placed in the middle of the war-troubled Balkans, is facing strong opposition from its neighbor Greece due to flag and terminology problems. He asked the Greek Prime Minister Papandreou to lift the Greek-imposed embargo on Macedonia in order to help Macedonia's economic development and also to have Greece play a positive role in the region.
Papandreou said that the request from all country members to have the embargo lifted is a pressure on his country from the greater European powers. He accused the EU of cynicism, speaking with irony of the solidarity it shows toward its members. Papandreou called on to the entire Greek nation and all political parties to unite in the defense of Greece's national interests.
The Greek government's spokesman, Evangelos Venizelos, said there was no need to raise the question as the issue is placed under the authority and good-faith efforts of UN mediator Syrus Vance. He added that everything now depends on the willingness of Skopje to make concessions. Following the end of the summit, Chirac held a press- conference and again spoke of the Macedonian issue, concluding that efforts failed to persuade Greece to lift its embargo and enable President Gligorov to sit at the negotiating table in New York. He added that Macedonia is among the poorest countries in Europe, a country that has attempted to strengthen its democracy even though the embargo is endangering its very survival and that Greece is blocking all potential EU aid for Macedonia at a time when it needs it most. Macedonia should at least be a member of the OSCE, Chirac said.
A1 Television quotes the Belgrade TV station, Beta, as saying that Chirac announced in Cannes a new initiative to have Vance organize a meeting of representatives of Athens and Skopje, in New York, to try to find solutions to the name and flag issues.
At an urgent and secret meeting in Neapol last weekend, as published by several Bulgarian newspapers, US Commanding Officer Admiral Smith summoned the American ambassadors from 6 Balkan states (Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia) to discuss the danger of a spill- over of the Bosnian war. The papers, however, comment that the real topic discussed were American strategic interests in the region. Kosovo and Macedonia were also brought up. US ambassadors to Turkey, Greece and Romania were not invited as, according to the formal explanation, they do not directly border on the conflict zone.
The Sofia daily, Duma, writes that Bulgaria, while maintaining its position of being out of the danger zone, is concerned with a possible spread of the Yugoslav conflict. Another Sofia paper, The Standard, adds that the Americans are also worried by the strong European orientation of the former socialist countries and the growing influence of Russia.
At the request of A1 Television, the US Information Service in Macedonia confirmed that the Neapol meeting had been initiated by Admiral Smith. The chief of the US mission in Skopje did attend the meeting, it was said, but there was nothing secret or urgent about it. Such discussions will, from now on, take place periodically and the Information Service will not comment on the contents in future.
The US State Department spokesman Nicholas Barns said that the mission of UNPREDEP in Macedonia is aimed at observing and informing of potential incidents along the northern border of Macedonia with Serbia. The presence of US troops there, according to him, is at the same time a stabilizing factor and a warning against possible Serbian adventures in the region. We are convinced, he said, that the UN mission in Macedonia is an instrument that will help the realization of one of the primary goals in the Balkans and that is to prevent the war spreading. Speaking about relations between Albanians and Macedonians, Barns said there certainly are ethnic problems in the basic conflict within Macedonia itself. But, he added, it is also true that, at the beginning of the Balkan crisis, Serbia probably had, and still has, territorial ambitions towards the largest part of the former Yugoslavia.
The republics of Macedonia and Azerbaidzan yesterday established diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level. The protocol was signed by ambassadors Trajan Petrovski and Memed Aliev at the Azerbaidzanian embassy in Ankara. Later, at a press-conference, the two ambassadors spoke of possibilities to establish closer relations between the two countries.
As invited by the chairman of the Council of Europe's Ministerial Committee, Macedonian Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski arrived today on a two-day official visit to Strasbourg to attend the ceremonial opening of the new building of the European Court of Justice. Crvenkovski is expected to make contacts with top officials of other Council member countries.
Yesterday Macedonian Parliament President received Unal Marasli, the newly appointed ambassador of Turkey in Macedonia. They exchanged ideas on issues concerning the bilateral cooperation and inter-parliamentary relations. Both politicians concluded that Macedonia is a stability factor in the region.
Yesterday Macedonian Minister of Agriculture Ivan Angelov, currently on a working visit to Albania for several days, met with his Albanian counterpart and host, Hasan Halili. They discussed protection of the Ohrid and Prespa lakes and supplying several Macedonian villages with drinking water from springs in Albania. They agreed to a need for signing a convention in the field of veterinary medicine and scientific cooperation between the two ministries.
The Senate of the University St. Cyrill and Methodius of Skopje held a session yesterday to confirm the decision of the university management to elevate the pedagogical academies in Skopje and Stip to a level of pedagogical universities.
However, the information presented by the Committee - a working group in charge of analysis of the proposed higher education law and consisting of 4 university and 3 ministry of education officials - brought about a bitter debate. University officials asked that the University dissociates from the proposed draft-law and insists that the procedure for its passing be stopped. They said the text presented was not the same as the one drafted by the Committee but is a new solution created, 'as it seems', over night. Analyzing the proposed text, university professors said the composers had no idea what is going on at the university and how it functions.
Professor Vladimir Mitkov, member of the Committee, pointed out several differences regarding the name of the law, university autonomy and the use of Macedonian and languages of minorities. He also stressed that several additions to the law, previously agreed on, were not included in the draft presented. Professor Nikola Matevski, also a Committee member, said that the procedure of bringing the law, democratic at first, turned into something quite different in the end. As the work of the university professors is completely ignored, he suggested that they all resign from their positions in the Committee. Almost all members of the Senate agreed that the previously guaranteed autonomy of the university was somewhat bigger than the newly offered one. The pompously announced autonomy, they said, is in fact a model of a university over which the state wishes to have strict control. They also underlined numerous unresolved questions regarding financing, management and appointment of rectors and deans. A dilemma was raised whether to act aggressively and demand that the government stops the procedure of passing the law, or to publicly appeal to parliamentarians to prevent this and form a new committee to come up with a final version acceptable for all sides.
The Senate concluded that the University did not participate in drafting the higher education law offered by the Ministry of Education. There are essential objections to it, it was said, and the integral text cannot be given a green light until separate points of it are discussed among universities in the country. The Senate emphasized that the laws on higher education and on science ought to be passed in a package. In the end the Senate appealed to Parliament to stop the procedure and prepare a new version that will include university views, explaining all provisions that would not be acceptable to the University.
Minister of Education Emilija Simoska expressed surprise with the Senate's conclusion, reminding that representatives of both universities in the country participated in the preparation of the law. She explained that, since the moment a law enters a government procedure, i.e., once government agencies start stating opinion on a draft-law, university officials can no longer participate in the final completion of the regulation. Until that moment however, the text is prepared through joint work, she assured.
The Macedonia Parliament yesterday began its 21st session, passing the laws on expropriation, communal taxes, monitoring of education, profit tax and a proposal to issue a law on awarding medals. MP's appointed Tome Nenovski as Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Macedonia. Parliament also discussed the report on the process of transformation of capital, submitted by the Privatization Agency. The Agency was criticized for failing to present a clear picture on progress so far, for lacking data on chosen models of privatization and for the percentages set aside for the pension fund. All in all, it was said, the entire process is not sufficiently transparent. Some even said that privatization is slowed down by certain individuals and groups and is carried out secretly with political blessings of the coalition partners in the government. MP's said the privatization process must be preceded by passing essential laws such as ones regulating obligations, mortgages and prevention of monopoly relations.
Due to a lack of quorum, parliamentarians did not vote on the work of the Agency. Before the break initiated by the Liberals, the party coordinator said they will not state an opinion on the Agency's report, suggesting that it be sent back for additional clarification and submitted to parliament again sometime in September. The continuation of the session is yet to be announced.
At a session of the Executive Committee of the Macedonia Chamber of Commerce, a manager of a private company said all managers in the country are facing the same problems. If the state wants its stabilization program and reforms to succeed, it was concluded, it must give priority to production and exports. The practice, however, is far from this, participants complained. The physical scope of industrial production continues to fall, decreasing by 16.5 per cent in the first 4 months against last year's production rate. Liquidity of companies is also worsened; by 30 April inclusive, liabilities amounted to a total of 3.7 billion Denars which resulted in 2,148 blocked accounts of companies employing over 30,300 workers. Yet, they said, the constant decrease in production is not followed by lifting some of the burdens on production; on the contrary, Chamber President Dushan Petrevski said, the state's income based on taxes has increased by 14 per cent in the first 4 months as compared to the same period last year. Whereas it is the practice of western countries to strongly stimulate exports to eastern countries, the production in Macedonia is still not stimulated by any measures. The government must set measures and adapt the exchange rate of the Denar, thus motivating those who earn net foreign currency profits.
A book titled "On Macedonian Human Rights", written by Kole Mangov, was promoted by the Macedonian Minister of Justice Vlado Popovski in Skopje yesterday. The book resolutely recommends a struggle against any form of discrimination and is a significant work in the field of human rights.