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MILS: News from the FYROM, 96-11-26Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 26th November 1996[01] THE MINISTER POPOVSKI - THE THESIS OF THE OPPOSITION ARE INCORRECT`The idea that 20 to 30% of the citizens are not registered in the electoral lists is completely incorrect and presents a marketing attack for political purposes of the speakers i.e. the party critics that create a totally wrong impression'. As it is reported by the Macedonian Radio this was the statement given by the Macedonian Justice Minister, Vlado Popovski at yesterday's press conference and he also stressed that the number of the people not registered in the electoral lists is 1,14% (17.063) out of which 10.000 people are not Macedonian citizens and possessed old identification cards issued by SRM or SFRY while the rest were not recorded in the lists. According to the Minister Popovski another reason for not registering the citizens in the electoral lists are the identification cards with old addresses and other administrative mistakes. Due to all these reasons and parameters, according to the Minister the number of unregistered citizens if by far smaller than the one which the opposition wants to present and impose on the foreign observers. `The chaos is present only within the heads of the the opposition spokesmen', assessed the Minister Popovski, pointing out, in that context, the spokesmen of the Democrat Party, Jovan Manasievski, whose thesis `are either half truths or total untruths'. Speaking of the `half truths and untruths' printed in the papers, i.e. of the placing of streets and buildings within the region of municipalities which they do not belong to, the Minister emphasized that in that context one case has been registered ( in Skopje on the street `Prvomajska' electoral post No. 80 in the electoral posts 101 and 103) and it is presumed that this was done on purpose certain with political motives by a person from the Statistics Institute.In the function of realization of the citizen rights before the courts, yesterday the Minister pointed out that out of 133 appeals to the High Court of Appeal 68 appeals have been accepted while 65 have been rejected as ungrounded. The Minister Popovski yesterday assessed that the regularity of these elections is much grater than the one of 1994 and to this largely contributed the Law for local self management i.e. the locking of the electoral lists after the checking so as not to have any other interventions in them. Popovski stressed that all the misunderstandings will be overcome next year with the issuing of electoral identity cards which will include complete information with a fixed electoral post which will exclude all the 'nebulosity' that appeared on these year's elections. [02] LJUPCHO GEORGIEVSKI - IN THE SECOND ROUND OF ELECTIONS THE GOVERNMENT WILL BE TOTALLY DEFEATED`The citizens of the Macedonian Republic for the first time in the first round of the local elections have decidedly voted for VMRO-DPMNE and the coalition partners because they have seen the politics made by the SDSM as a catastrophic one, especially in the field of economy'. This was pointed out among other by the leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Ljupcho Georgievski, at the meeting held yesterday in the newly formed municipality Kosel. Georgievski assessed that the governing party governed for 6 years in Macedonia although they had the support of only 10% of the citizens, and it will totally defeated in the second round of the local elections which will lead to pre-term elections.[03] VMRO-DP - AN OPTIMAL CHOICE OF THE MACEDONIAN ELECTORATEAccording to the leader of the VMRO-DP Party, Vladimir Golubovski, the Macedonian electoral body has made an optimal choice, and the results of the first round are good form a democratic aspect because in the future the problems within the economic and social sphere will be solved with a balanced politic situation by which the state will only benefit. at the press conference Golubovski stated that the results of the opposition parties elections do not give them the right to interpret them as a possibility for pre-term elections but they also do not give the right to the leading parties to strengthen their positions. According to the leader of VMRO-DP there is no blockage in the political system that will approve the pre-term elections and the Government should be allowed to conclude the projects already started.According to Golubovski his party is pleased with the 9 won councilor positions considering that it entered only 14 councilor lists and 22 mayor lists. [04] ENCLOSURE OF THE INDEPENDENT AND AUTONOMOUS SYNDICATEThe Union of the Macedonian Independent and Autonomous Syndicate has called on its members to take participation in the local elections according to their conscience and their estimations of the economic interests solution, this was written in the weekly `Makedonsko Sonce'. As it is cited, this Syndicate has enclosed itself from the Macedonian Syndicate Alliance due to different political pressures and has openly joined the side of the current government.[05] THE SUCCESSION NEGOTIATIONS SOON WITHIN THE EU COMPETENCYIn the last round of bilateral meetings of the former YU - republics with the mediator Arthur Watts upon the issue of the former SFRY succession an agreement has been made about the principle by which the division of the former federation estate will be initiated, reports the A-1 Television.According to the information from Brussels the first elements of the division would be the archives, the diplomatic - consular agencies of the former SFRY and its gold reserves. The rest which is closely related to the disputable definition of the estate would be left for further solution when the negotiations would eventually go within the EU competency. On the basis of this suggestion on the 3rd and 4th December there should be another round of negotiations held in London and the diplomatic sources estimate that the successors of the former SFRY will have to stay at the meeting until the final document of the London conference for the former Yugoslavia is accepted. According to the A-1 Television the group of four successors has accepted the suggestion of Arthur Watts but the Yugoslav part insists on a package solution of the problem. [06] THE GOVERNMENT ABOUT THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF THE CANDIDACY FOR THE SECURITY COUNCILThe Macedonian Government, according to an official announcement of the session, yesterday adopted the information in relation to the candidacy of the Macedonian Republic for a temporary member of the Security Council in the UN for the period 1998_99. According to the assessments of the Government, not considering the final results, the entering itself in the process of candidacy in the country already generates heterogeneous accomplishments which will reach their culmination at the moment of the voting at the 52nd session of the UN General Assembly in November next year. As accomplishments for Macedonia there will be the affirmation of the state and its foreign politics in global frames and establishing of diplomatic relations with a great number of countries. At yesterday's session it was decided by the Foreign Affair Ministry that an acting body should be formed in order to coordinate the activities with the other ministries which will be performing in relation with the Macedonian candidacy for a temporary member in the UN Security Council.Yesterday the government accepted the project -the national Report for human development in the year of 1997, which through the UNDP will be incorporated within the UN program for human development in Central and Eastern Europe. Also yesterday the government gave the information on the degree of credit line utilization for the small and medium sized firms, approved by the European Bank for development. By this the Macedonian National Bank is commissioned to make an inspection of the process connected with the gaining of these credits and the way of procuring their repayment. [07] THE MACEDONIAN PROPOSITION FOR LENGTHENING THE CORRIDORAt the meeting In Sofia of the traffic ministers from the Central European initiative countries and the countries from the Black Sea co-operation a special attention was given to the priority transport corridors, report the Macedonian media. It is cited that by the proposition of the Macedonian delegation the corridor Drach - Skopje-Burgas will be lengthened to Novorusija. The Macedonian delegation elaborated that the corridor should be covering the cited regions because in that way a more efficient connection with the countries of the south - eastern and those from the eastern Europe will be provided. The Macedonian delegation also emphasized the necessity of elaborating the custom rules and the activities of the border crossings as a condition for normal trafficking.[08] THE SKOPJE AIRPORT WILL BE OPENED ON THE 6TH DECEMBERThe Skopje airport, according to the latest announcements from the Head Office of the civilian air transport, will be opened for transport on 6th December this year. Thus after being closed for two and a half months in which period the traffic was moved to the Ohrid airport, the main air station in this country will be prepared for normal functioning for the Christmas and New Year's holidays.As it is reported by the media, in the course if the following year the feasibility - plan for building of the cargo-airport in Strumica should be completed. This was agreed upon at yesterday's meeting between the Macedonian Minister for Traffic, Dimitar Buzlevski and the president of the Administration Committee of the Turkish company `Burch' which is interested in building the airport. `Paler Macedonian' has pressed charges against the manager of the Public firm `Macedonia', Aleksandar Cepeljugin and against the manager of the Head Office of the civilian air transport, Goran Pavlovski, and there is also an announcement that they will press charges against the Traffic and Connections Minister, Dimitar Buzlevski. In the letter to the manager of `Macedonia' the manager of `Paler', Vanja Bitoljanu assesses that `Paler' is not equally treated as opposed to the `Interimpeks - Avioimpeks' air company which has presented an illegal bank guarantee. [09] THE CONSULTING CENTRE IN THE AGRICULTURE HAS STARTED WORKINGWithin the frames of the Privatization Agency in Skopje these days has started to work the Consulting Centre in the agriculture, reports A -1 Television. The center will offer free services for agriculture firms which are about to be privatized. The services will cover: help in elaborating the business - plans, strategic planing, finance management and marketing etc.In the establishing of the Centre participated the Macedonian Agency for privatization and the World bank, while the Japan Government appears as the financier. The Center is equipped with 4 international experts who will offer help in the preparing of requests for financial help from foreign institutions. The consultants appealed for a quick announcement of the agriculture firms which want to use the services of this centre because the autonomous presentation of plans for these firms will be possible until the next year on 30th April. [10] IN SEPTEMBER ONE FIFTH OF THE WORKERS DID NOT RECEIVE THEIR SALARYIn September this year 20,9% of the workers of the total number of employed in Macedonia did not receive their salary. In the economy activities without salaries remained 27% of the workers, and in the non-economy activities 2,5% it is stated in the Statistics Institute.Lowest salaries at an average were those in the building construction - 6.740 denars, while the highest were in the finance-technical and other services with 12.350 denars. The average salaries in September compared to the last year's salaries are higher for 3,4%. In the economy that increase is for 4% , while in the non-economy it is 0,9%. The trade employers receives higher salaries for 9% and the employers in the finance-technical and other services received lower salaries for 6,6%. The September salaries compared to those in last year's month show an increase in he economy activities for 1,8% and in the non-economy activities they show a decrease for 0,6%. Compared to last year's September, this September the best improvement is shown in the salaries of the trade workers - with 6% increase while the worst one is shown in the salaries of the health and social care workers who received a decrease of 21, 4% . [11] THE ELECTIONS INFLUENCE THE FOREIGN CURRENCY MARKETFor the last few days the Deutch mark has shown a certain growth in the exchange offices in the country and now 1 DEM is sold for 27,6 denars in relation to the previous rate of exchange of 27,4 denars for 1 DEM. The vise-governor of the Macedonian national Bank, Tome Nenovski, as it is reported by the Macedonian Television, concerning this stated that on the exchange market there are no dramatic changes, and that the situation will soon be stabilized. The denar rate of exchange according to Nenovski will continue to be stable within the frames of the current level.The Macedonian Television yesterday reported the estimation of certain bank experts that there is no need of intervention in the foreign currency market, i.e. that such movements within the foreign currency rate exchange of the denar are to be expected during the elections. It is also estimated that in this period of the elections there are attempts to make profit with speculations and to artificially increase the demand while at the same time the money mass is strictly controlled by the National bank while the monetary credit policy is continuing to be restrictive. MILS SUPPLEMENT[12] `UNPREDEP Mandate Should Be Prolonged'(`Vecher' - 23rd & 24th November 1996)In his report to the Security Council, UN Secretary Butros Butros-Ghali suggested the prolonging of the UNPREDEP mandate (expiring on 30th November) for another 6 months - which should be paralelled by the gradual reduction of the military component to the total of app. 300 troops of all branches by 1st April 1997. This proposal of the Secretary-General of this global organisation is part of an ellaborate report submitted to the Council on 19th November. Apart from describing the structure, force and mandate of the UNPREDEP mission, the report also delves into the activities of other UN organisations, agencies and programmes present in Macedonia. Ghali has - in addition to this - provided his own perspective on the country's development, and indicated the main threats to its stability. Peace and stability in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) are linked to the overall situation in the region - stresses Butros-Ghali in this report. Although the signing of the Dayton Agreement represents a considerable contribution towards improvement, it remains undoubted that political and military presence of the international community in Ex-Yugoslavia will depend on the particularities of the situation in order to fortify peace and security. The initial concept on assigning the preventive UN depolyment to FYROM was the stifling of conflicts in the remaining regions of Former Yugoslavia. Recent developments in this area, as well as the increased international rating of FYROM, obscured this principal mission, however. Falling back on previous statements, Ghali emphasised that the prime threat to stability in the country were internal political tensions. UNPREPDEP has therefore devoted particular attention to the strengthening of dialogue between political factors, and supported the monitoring of human rights and inter-ethnic relations. With regards to the development of conditions throughout the past mandate of UNPREDEP, Secretary-General Ghali stressed in his report to the Council that Macedonia's relations towards its neighbours have improved considerably, in spite of issues where progress is still rather slow. In coonection to this he emphasizes several factors due to which the presence of peacekeeping forces in Macedonia remain a prerequisite. There has been no relevant progress regarding the border demarcation towards rump Yugoslavia, even after the meeting of the Joint Border Committee. As is the case with some issues concerning Greece and FYROM. Negotiations, however, are to be resumed under the auspices of Special-Envoy Cyrus Vance, as all stakeholders agreed to meet again in December during the last session in New York on 6th November. The precise date has not been determined yet, but will be to the convenience of both sides. Inter-ethnic tensions continue to dominate the domestic political scene. The Government has announced its findings concerning an affirmative policy approach on minority rights which have been positive, particularly in terms of minority language instruction - including the tertiary education level. The current quota system covers the enrollment of ethnic minority students depending on its proportional presence within the overall population of the country. Government data also indicates an increased presence of minorities in its own structures and services, though political parties representing ethnic Albanians do not agree with such estimates of the current situation. Thus they are demanding an improvement of the Albanians' political status and the recognition of the `Tetovo University' through political action and public demonstration. They are also requesting the release of all political prisoners including the rectorate of the above named university. Prior to local elections on 17th November opposition parties expressed their concerns with regards to possible electorate manipulations, i.e. the number of the latter. Some parties have assessed the preparations as well as the actual election procedures as inadequate. Nevertheless, even in spite of all doubts most major political parties staged an active campaign - including those which boycotted round 2 of the parliamentary elections held two years ago... and after all - with the exception of a few incidents - round 1 of these elections went on rather normally. In the end the Secretary-General informed the Council that he would continue to monitor the status of the deployment's development, and that he would consult other UN agencies and other similar organisations on the sustainability modalities of international support for Macedonia. `On these grounds,' concluded Ghali, `I will recommend the kind of international presence to be ratified from June `97 onwards'. (end)mils news 26th November, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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