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MILS NEWS 16/05/96Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 16 May 1996[01] GREATER EU ENGAGEMENT ON KOSOVO ISSUEMacedonian President Kiro Gligorov and the delegation of the FR Germany Parliament, led by Eberhard Brecht, discussed yesterday in Skopje the positions of Macedonia regarding the implementation of the Dayton Accord for Bosnia and the situation in Kosovo. As Macedonian media reported, Gligorov was informed on the initiative of the German Parliament to intercede for a greater EU engagement in finding a solution for Kosovo.German delegation was also received by the Macedonian Parliament President Tito Petkovski and Prime Minister, Branko Crvenkovski, where they expressed a satisfaction with the development of the democratic relations and with the realisation of the economic reforms in Macedonia. It is expected that a Macedonian parliamentary delegation will soon pay a visit to FR Germany. [02] MACEDONIA WANTS EXTENTION OF UNPREDEP MANDATEMacedonian Foreign Affairs Ministry announced that Macedonia had formally asked the UN Secretary General, Boutros Boutros Ghali, to extend the mandate of UNPREDEP forces in the country for at least one more year. The reasons stated in a letter were: the unstable situation in the region after the Dayton Accord; the insecurity of the Macedonian border with Kosovo province in FR Yugoslavia; the tension due to the Greek-Turkish dispute; and the fact that the process of formation of the Macedonian Army had still not been accomplished.[03] MACEDONIA - OBSERVER AT NATO PARLIAMENTThe Plenary session of the North Atlantic Parliament, which will be held from today to May 20 in Athens, will be attended by deputies of 16 NATO member countries and by representatives of 10 countries-observers, including the Republic of Macedonia. 'Makpress' reported that deputies of several international organisations would also participate at the session.[04] MACEDONIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT JOINT THE EUROPEAN ASSOCIATIONThe Constitutional Court of Macedonia was accepted as a joint member in the European Constitutional Courts Association under the constitutional name of Macedonia.The event took place at the recent Conference of constitutional courts in Budapest and it is expected that Macedonian Constitutional Court will become a full member of the Association at the next annual session. [05] SUCCESSFUL TALKS WITH THE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT FUND OF THE COUNCIL OF EUROPEVice President of the Macedonian Government Jane Miljoski, who led the Macedonian delegation to the negotiations with the Social Development Fund of the CoE in Paris, informed the public that the problem of the remaining Macedonian debts to this Fund was successfully resolved. He said the record taken during the talks would be presented to the Macedonian government and to the Board of Directors of the Fund. It suggests solutions for the remaining debts problem, which should bring to a signing of an Agreement on the issue.[06] SPECIAL STATUS OF THE 'PROHOR PCHINSKI' MONASTERY?Macedonian media reminded these days that the 30 days term for Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia to form expert teams on the border detailing had passed. Macedonian Foreign Ministry sources say that theMacedonian and Yugoslav teams had already been formed, but FR Yugoslavia had still not ratified the Agreement on Normalisation of The Relations with Macedonia.A-1 Television claimed that the Prohor Pchinski Monastery would be a priority for the Macedonian party, as it is one of the symbols of the Macedonian sovereignty. According to the station, the minimum acceptable for Macedonia would be to give the monastery a special status. [07] SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH DOES NOT CHANGE ITS ATTITUDE'The mutual recognition of Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia will not change the attitude of the Serbian Orthodox Church about the one-side proclaimed autocephalousness of the Ohrid Archbishopy,' stated Archbishop of Vranje Pahomije for Belgrade daily 'Nasa Borba' yesterday. He, also being a Serbian Church administrator for Macedonia, said that his Church would not bring any decision about the Macedonian Orthodox Church at the May meeting, and that the issue would be 'frozen' till the next meeting in Istanbul. Pahomije also stressed that the autocephalousness is realised on the basis of the canonnic right, and has nothing to do with state decisions.[08] SIGNATURES IN THE PARLIAMENT TODAY'The forms with individual requests for scheduling a referendum on early elections, that were being checked at the Statistics Institute, will be submitted to the Macedonian Parliament today,' stated Macedonian Justice Minister Vlado Popovski for A-1 Television yesterday. He said the documentation is expected to be completed at the Ministry of Justice till 10 a.m. today, and then brought to the Parliament. He also announced a press conference for 1 o'clock P.M., when the results from the checking of the forms would be presented.[09] DRAFT-LAW ON PUBLIC ROADSFollowing the request of the Liberals, yesterday's 45th session of the Macedonian Parliament was interrupted immediately before the voting for the Law on Public Roads.The Draft-Law was previously presented by the Minister of Transport Dimitar Buzlevski, who said it was drafted according to the European standards and it anticipated establishing of a public enterprise, which would preserve and protect the public roads. The MPs objected that the Law gives too much authorizations to the Government, and neglects the role of the Parliament, that more money should be planned for the local roads, and that the 15 years concession term is too short. The Parliament yesterday ratified the mandate of Rizvan Suleimani from PDP, and President Tito Petkovski informed that the Commission on Mandate Issues had withdrawn the suggestion to deprive Arben Dzaferi of his mandate. Today's issue of 'Vecer' daily informs that the final decision about the returning of Dzaferi to the Parliament will be made by the Central Committee of PDPA these days. [10] CHOKREVSKI'S STATEMENTS STILL DISTURB THE PUBLICA group of 50 journalists handed a protest declaration to Parliament President Tito Petkovski yesterday. The declarations reads that it is required from Minister Chokrevski to apologize publicly for his recent statements about the situation in the Macedonian journalism. He was also asked to realize the announced 'offensive against the journalists', but against those related to the police.Meanwhile, Liberals had announced an interpellation of Chokrevski, and yesterday they proposed two variants for it to be realized. The first would be to submit it to the Parliament today, signed by all MPs of the Liberal Party, and the second would be to have it carried out during the following days with the necessary number of signatures. Meanwhile, the Editorial Staff of 'Dnevnik' daily announced that they were discontinuing their membership at the Association of Journalists, since it had not reacted on time to Chokrevski's statements and did not protect the rights of Macedonian journalists. [11] UNEMPLOYMENT JEOPARDIZES THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTAccording to Risto Ivanov, former Macedonian Minister of Economy and currently a Vice President of the Liberal Party, the unemployment in Macedonia is a threat for the economic development of the country. He also pointed out that the average salary of DM 200 and the DM 70 lower social help discourage the citizens to look for a job.Ivanov presented this at the international seminar 'Employment and Unemployment', which is being held in Skopje, in organisation of the International Federation of the Liberal and Radical Youth. Ivanov also said that the Macedonian Government was forcing a policy of social programmes, which is followed by high taxes, and the final result is that one employed person supports five unemployed. 'The Liberal Party suggests the forcing of the competitiveness of firms and reducing of the taxes, which would create conditions to open new job positions,' stressed Ivanov. [12] MANY DIFFICULTIES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST BRUCELLOSIS5,000 people infected with brucellosis had been registered in Macedonia last year, and their number had increased significantly in the first three months this year in comparison with the same period last year. These data were presented at yesterday's meeting of the Sheep Raising Association and Veterinary Administration representatives.It was emphasized that 30% of the infected are children. The disease is mostly spread through non-pasteurized and not boiled milk, which was the reason for the Macedonian Government to ban the sale of unripened cheese and of cheese made from non-pasteurized milk. The ban, which was brought at the end of 1995, will be difficult to carried out, because there are no conditions at the sheepfolds to pasteurize the milk. The dairy industry also lacks conditions for that, and the fact that 80% of the cattle is in the private sector, and that cheese is being sold at open air markets, additionally complicates the situation. There are two methods in the world for the protection from this disease: by killing the ill animals and vaccination of the cattle. In that case, the lamb meet must not be exported, which directly influences the exporters. The Sheep Raising Association suggested forming an operational programme by which technical and financial problems would be solved regarding the brucellosis, and asked for a financial help from the Government. [13] RADIATION IN SKOPJE IS NOT INCREASEDAccording to today's issue of 'Dnevnik', the rumours about the increased radiation in the air had been the main subject of the talks in Skopje two days ago. These speculations were denied yesterday by Kojche Cvetkovski, a Sanitary and Health Inspector with the Radiology Protection Sector, who said the measuring was performed daily and no increased radioactivity of the air, water or land had been noticed.[14] ANOTHER MEMBER OF THE MACEDONIAN OLYMPIC 'CREW'Macedonian athlete Robert Kjosev has become the ninth member of the Macedonian Olympic team for the Olympic Games in Atlanta this summer. Previously a member of the athletic club 'Rabotnicki', presently studying in the USA, had fulfilled the Olympic norm in a 110 metres race (with 14.12 seconds) at an athlete meeting in the States.MILS SUPPLEMENT[15] 'Context of The Conspiratorial Visit'('Dnevnik', 16 May 1996)Macedonian Ministry of Defense did not announce, till yesterday late afternoon, any new information regarding the visit paid to Skopje by the high Russian military delegation, led by Colonel Pavlovic Victor Evgenevic, the Head of the International Relations and Cooperation Department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. Defense Ministry did not previously inform the public about the visit, but public found that out from the information of 'Dnevnik' published the day before yesterday, obtained from sources close to the Russian Embassy in Skopje. Macedonian Minister of Defense Blagoj Hanjiski received the Russian delegation the day before yesterday. Russian representative to Skopje Jurij Petrovic Trushin, who also attended the meeting, confirmed the Russian resistance to the spreading of NATO to Macedonia in his interview for 'Dnevnik'. He also repeated the Russian stands in the interview he gave for the Macedonian Television. Trushin positively commented on the meeting of Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov and Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Evgenij Primakov in Bucharest, adding that there was a possibility for Primakov to visit Skopje, following the Macedonian invitation. Sources of the Macedonian Foreign Ministry, on the other hand, unofficially announced yesterday that Primakov was neither formally nor directly invited to Macedonia, and that he openly and firmly presented the well-known Russian opposing to the presence of NATO in the region. The interviews, the unofficial information of the diplomatic sources in Skopje about the delegation (including those that the delegation was supposed to visit two industrial-military objects in Macedonia, which was neither confirmed nor denied), gave the visit an unnecessary publicity that overcomes its real importance, claimed unofficial governmental sources. The observers relate the visit to the forthcoming deciding on the UNPREDEP mandate in Macedonia by the UN Security Council. Namely, according to unofficial diplomatic sources in Skopje, Russia opposes to the further extension of the mandate and suggests only 70 - 100 civil monitors to be engaged. It is not expected, however, from Moscow to put a veto on the expected UN approval to extend the mandate. The same sources say that Macedonia might require presence of American troops out of the UNPREDEP forces, especially in case the Security Council decides to withdraw the peace forces from the country. Ministry of Defense increased the doubts about the visit by announcing that at the meeting of Minister Hanjiski with the Russian delegation 'the need to institutionalize the cooperation in the field of defense between the two Ministries, especially in the frames of the Partnership for Peace Programme, was emphasized'. It is not clear whether this part of the announcement maybe confirms the unofficial information of 'Dnevnik' that some kind of an Agreement might be signed by the Russian delegation and the Macedonian Defense Ministry. Governmental sources unofficially comment on the visit by saying that it can not be outside what is 'anticipated by the Partnership for Peace Programme'. 'Dnevnik' finds out that there is a possibility for a press conference to be held on Friday, when the visit is to end. Maybe the public will then be better informed about the talks with the Russian military representatives and the consequences of the visit. Because the wider political context and the intentions of Macedonia to associate with NATO as soon as possible have to be taken into account. (end)mils news 16 May, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |