MAK-NEWS 26/10/95 (M.I.L.S.)

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

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 26 October 1995

[01] MACEDONIA INTERIOR MINISTER RESIGNS

Macedonian Minister of Internal Affairs, Ljubomir Frckovski, said on today's press conference that he has informed the Prime Minister, Branko Crvenkovski, of his wish to resign. He explained that Macedonian Police was not following the normal security procedure and did not have any prior information leading to the assassination attempt.

He stressed that the attempt was organized by a multinational business-financial company in a neighboring country, whose expert entered Macedonia on 28 of September, 1995 and prepared the bomb. He also mentioned that same Macedonian citizens might have been involved.

It remains unclear whether the Prime Minister will accept his resignation at this stage of the investigation.

[02] GERMANY WANTS STABLE MACEDONIA

Germany is interested in the political and economic stability of Macedonia as well as its reform policy.

There is a possibility of direct financial aid for the Macedonian Government investments of the public sector.

This was announced yesterday by the German Minister of Development, Karl Spranger, at the meeting with the Macedonian Ambassador in Bonn, Srgjan Kerim. The Macedonian Ambassador handed the letter of the Macedonian Prime Minister, Branko Crvenkovski, which says that Macedonia has interests in German investments in the projects for railway construction toward Bulgaria, the land-reclamation system 'Lisice', the project of protection of the Ohrid Lake as well as other investments in public sector. The German Minister expressed hope that there would be certain finances in the 1996 annual budget. He also said that Germany will insist in the EU to allow finances for Macedonia in the framework of the aid for eastern and central Europe for economic recovery and realization of reforms.

The German aid for Macedonia has been realized through PHARE, but as the German Minister stated, the future aid will be transferred through bilateral cooperation with Macedonia.

[03] SPECULATIONS IN ATHENS ON ALLEGED TALKS ON THE NAME ISSUE

The meetings of Cyrus Vance with the Greek Ambassador, Zaharakis, and with the Macedonian Parliament President, Stojan Andov are evaluated in Athens as preliminary talks considering the name issue. The Greek press reports that both delegations agreed to speed up the dialogue. The daily, Ta Nea, reports that Washington is satisfied and insists on quick solution of the problem. Cyrus Vance during the preliminary talks did not propose his solution for a compromise name, but he said he would propose the name 'New Macedonia' if the parties do not reach a compromise.

[04] THE CORRIDOR EAST-WEST IS A SUBJECT OF GREEK COMPLAINTS

The Greek Government commented on the agreement on the East-West corridor. As A1 TV reports, high officials in the Greek government attempted to minimize the accord signed in New York. The Greek President Konstantinos Stefanopoulos said Greece should speed up the construction of the parallel highway on the Greek soil- Via Egnatia. The Spokesman, Telemakos Kitiris, stated that the accord does not have any political nor financial support in the European Union.

A1 TV reminds that at the Pan-European Conference held in Greece last year the aforementioned project had been included in the European strategy for the next 20 years.

[05] ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE MACEDONIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY ON THE STATEMENT OF THE AUSTRALIAN MINISTER MACMILLAN

Concerning the statement of the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia about the establishment of diplomatic relations between Macedonia and Australia, The Macedonian foreign ministry announced the following: "During the talks of the Macedonian Ministry with the Australian authorities on establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, Macedonian Government has always had a principal position that the bilateral relations between both countries should not be disturbed by relations with third countries. The involvement of other countries in the bilateral relations, in this case Greece, is unacceptable as Greece and Macedonia successfully resolve their problems with bilateral talks".

[06] ABOUT FIFTY AMENDMENTS PROPOSED ON THE LAW FOR SELF-MANAGEMENT

The Macedonian Assembly continued the session on the Law for local self-management yesterday. Many amendments were proposed but only a few were adopted. At the beginning, the Minister for Justice, Vlado Popovski stated that it is not true that the Government does not accept proposed amendments. The proposed Law suffered many changes through the Parliament Commissions, said Popovski.

Some of the proposed amendments yesterday were accepted by voting or by agreement with the Minister. The 19th article of the Law has been rearranged and it will provide initiatives for the local management units to choose officials in the local units of the Ministries.

The amendment was proposed by Mersim Buljali and Abduladi Veselji from PDP. Also the 40th article has been rearranged by the following amendment: A member of the Council must resign if he leaves the political party which proposed his candidacy during the elections. This was proposed by Ismet Ramadani, Meljam Teiri and Sefedin Haruni, also from PDP. The amendment on the 41st article was also accepted which provides a 4 year mandate of the President of the Council instead of 2. The amendment was proposed by Zoran Sapuric, Ace Kocevski and Slobodan Najdovski. The session was delayed as the Parties PDP/NDP needed consultations. It will continue today.

[07] THE LAW ON POLITICAL PARTIES-CONSTITUTIONAL

The Constitutional Court of Macedonia announced that the Law on political parties is in order of the Constitution and it does not limit the freedom of political associations. The Law has been challenged because it says that parties need at least 500 members in order to be registered. The Court refuses to change the law saying that the proposed number does not limit political associations but it is a part of the registration procedure.

[08] MACEDONIAN DELEGATION AT THE CEREMONIAL ASSEMBLY OF FAO

The Ministry of Agriculture held a press conference which informed that a delegation led by the Minister Ivan Angelov left for Quebec, Canada, to participate at the jubilee session of the FAO on occurrence of its 50th anniversary. The Macedonian delegation had an active participation at the session and other delegations were informed about the Macedonian food production, its possibilities in the production and its sufficient products that may be found at the world market. The Macedonian delegation emphasized the project of village revitalization which had been supported by international institutions.

The Macedonian delegation had many bilateral meetings.

[09] THE 'DAYS OF MACEDONIAN RADIO' HAVE STARTED

The 20th 'Days of Macedonian Radio' started yesterday in the tourist resort Oteshevo. This year's host is Radio Resen. The conference was opened by the Minister of Traffic and Communication, Dimitar Buzlevski. With-in the framework of the conference, the director of the Macedonian Radio and TV, Melpomeni Korneti, has opened the exhibit "Fifty years of Radio and Television through images".

[10] FRENCH HONORARY CONSUL IN BITOLA

The first honorary consul of the French Republic in Macedonia has been placed in Bitola. The credentials were handed by the French Ambassador, Patrik Chrismant at the ceremony in the French Cultural Center. Honorary Consul will be Kaliopa Filasija Silinovic. It is expected that the consular mission in Bitola will grant visas and have other activities.

[11] ADMITTANCE AT THE BLACK-SEA CONVENTION

The Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was informed yesterday by the Turkish Embassy in Skopje that Macedonia has been admitted at the Black-Sea Convention for Cooperation in cultural, educational, science and information fields.

This association was formed in 1993 by the Governments of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaidjan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia. The Convention was established in Istanbul and Turkey is its headquarters.

[12] "DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ALBANIANS CONTINUES"

The party magazine of the Republican Party of Albania reports about a meeting between the leader of NDP, Iljaz Halimi, and the leader of the Albanian republican Party, Sabri Godo, in Tirana.

According to the magazine, the leaders talked about the position of Albanians in Macedonia. Sabri Godo has stated that Macedonia does not fulfill the 'minimal rights of the minorities'. He argued for better coordination between the Albanian political parties and readjusting the policy toward Macedonia. Halimi stated that the position of the Albanians according to the Constitution of 1991 is unenviable and they are treated as a minority with no right to be a Constitutional people.

MILS SUPPLEMENT

[13] NON-RESIDENCE OR FRAILTIES

(Nova Makedonija, 26 October 1995)

Macedonia and Australia have established diplomatic relations after five years of bilateral relations. The act is evaluated by the two countries as an inevitable step to strengthen the mutual relations on a higher level. The Australian Prime Minister, Garret Evans, after the announcement of the decision to establish diplomatic relations with Macedonia, emphasized the Macedonian contribution to the peace in the Balkans and evaluated the Macedonian policy as " a bridge between both countries and their people". The Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia, MacMallan stated that "this important step will provide direct cooperation between both countries". The decision was also supported by the Australian opposition.

This decision of the Australian Government surprised some of the domicile politicians, but there were no reactions from the Greek community.

Yet, most of the Macedonians are surprised. The Australian Government did not accept residential status of the ambassadors which means that meanwhile the consular work will be done by 'flying ambassadors' i.e. with 'periodical visits of the diplomats of the two countries.' Macmillan says that until Skopje and Athens solve the name problem, ambassadors will have non- residential status.

The Australians probably know what they are doing, but viewed from Skopje's perspective or, as they say, slavo- Macedonian, this status of the ambassadors leads to some conclusions. First of all, the non-residential status of the embassies expresses the Australian political frailties toward a segment of its society, the Greek, and resistance toward another, the Macedonian. It definitely implies that the Australian policy toward Macedonia is inconsistent by means of respecting the international documents for human rights.

But, as always, it could be worse. Canada, for example, as a multicultural country with a large Macedonian community, showed reserves about establishing normal relations with Macedonia. Since Macedonia proclaimed its independence, Canada avoided any official contacts with Macedonian authorities except contacts of the Macedonian Parliament with the Canadian at the meeting of OSCE in Canada. The agreement between Gligorov and Malrouni about mutual recognition in 1992 has not come to force.

There would be nothing new if we conclude that every foreign policy has domicile pragmatical reasons to act as it does. In the case of Canada, the reason is Quebec i.e., its powerful Greek community. But this country also has a Macedonian Community and it is obliged to respect its rights and the national pride of its citizens.

Nobody gets disappointed when the great countries take care about their primary national interests or the pragmatical needs. Yet, it is strange that countries that have need to secure their stability and sovereignty, do not have understanding or support for similar problems of a small country, such as Republic of Macedonia.

Unfortunately, Macedonia established its independence and sovereignty without support from Australia and Canada.

The power, either states or powerful people, is called by Russians- "silni mira vsego" which means might is right.

The expression just implies: nobody can deal with them! When we talk about the Russians, we should mention that Russia does not have a large Greek or Macedonian community, and yet it still has not sent an Ambassador to Macedonia. What keeps Russia from sending an Ambassador to Macedonia when it first recognized Macedonia as independent state with its legal name?

(end)

mils news 26 October '95