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MILS: News from the FYROM, 97-07-03Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 03 July, 1997[01] PM CRVENKOVSKI IN BELGRADE - EMPHASIS ON ECONOMIC RELATIONSYesterday Macedonian PM Branko Crvenkovski commenced his two-day-long official visit to FR Yugoslavia, together with: Economy Minister Boris Rikalovski, Education Minister Sofija Todorova, Economic Chamber Chairman Dushan Petrevski and a larger group of Macedonian businessmen. In the beginning of his visit Crvenkovski stated that priority would be given to discussing economic relations and business - while his Yugoslav counterpart Kontikj denoted this visit a reflection of Macedonia's commitment to advance an all-inclusive cooperation regime between both countries, which is also an objective of the Yugoslav side.MTV reports that official talks conducted so far were marked by the statement of PM Kontikj that bilateral relations on a political and economic level were improving. In terms of determining the joint border between Yugoslavia and Macedonia both Prime Ministers agreed that this was not a substantial bilateral issue, though certain political entities within both countries abused the matter for political purposes and the spreading of false information. Throughout talks the Yugoslav side also requested Macedonian support within international institutions, as regards the implementation of transport corridors No. 10 and No. 6. In addition to this both sides agreed that key importance is to be attributed to bilateral economic cooperation, i.e. to the signing of several remaining treaties representing the basis for cooperation and addressing the occurring difficulties within financial transactions conducted via third countries, as well as the complicated transport regime burdening goods trade. The Macedonian PM Branko Crvenkovski has also been received by Serb President Slobodan Miloshevkj in Belgrade yesterday. Both statesmen assessed during this meeting that bilateral relations and cooperation are developing successfully. In this context the Cabinet of President Miloshevikj informed that both sides have exhibited an equal interest in an egalitarian integration into regional and wider (European) integration projects. Another key issue brought up was the necessity of cooperating within the domains of agriculture industry and the joint emerging on markets in B & H. It is also expected that several bilateral treaties will be signed during the visit of PM Crvenkovski to Belgrade, such as the: consular convention, the agreement suspending the visa regime, an education cooperation treaty, agreements outlining cooperation with regards to sports, culture and science and technology. Several meetings between businessmen have also been scheduled. [02] CONSULTATIONS WITH SIR ARTHUR WATTS ON SUCCESSION-ISSUEA-1 TV reports that within the latest round of bilateral talks with the successor states of the Former Yugoslav Federation, mediator Sir Arthur Watts had paid a two-day visit to Macedonia. The purpose of his stay had been to discuss the amendments to the revised version of the Memorandum of Understanding with Macedonian Government representatives. These alterations had have been proposed by the former constituent states, and Sir Watts has been acquainted with the Macedonian views on these changes. Negotiations among all stakeholders on the succession to Federal assets, on grounds of the working text of the Memorandum, are to continue after the tour of Sir Arthur Watts through the remaining four former constituents.[03] FORENSIC INVESTIGATION: `TAT' LIABILITIES AMOUNT TO 111.994 MILLION DM, AND ASSETS TO 53.470 MILLION DMMs. Slobodanka Bakovska, Investigative Judge at the Elementary Court of Bitola, revealed that judiciary investigations into the `TAT' case had been completed while the entire case file has been forwarded to the DA. Bakovska evaluated the conducted judiciary investigation as highly-professional. Findings reveal that the bank's assets amount to 53 470 000 DM, while liabilities totalled 111 994 000 DM. This created a balance deficit of 58 524 000 DM, while another 8 900 000 DM had in personal income tax had been embezzled by the bank. The overall value of `TAT' mortgages has been assessed to total 35 million DM.As far as investigations were concerned, Judge Bakovska informed that the `TAT' banking scandal has been investigated completely. Thus the next step was to be initiated by the Public Prosecutor of Macedonia. Another interesting fact is that findings conducted by the judiciary differ from those of the NBM by 16.5 million DM with regards to the bank's assets (judiciary: 53.47 million DM; NBM: 37 million DM), and by 17.3 million DM with respect to the bank's liabilities (judiciary: 111.99 million DM; NBM: 94.7 million DM). [04] PARLIAMENT TO DISCUSS FLAG-BILL TODAYTowards the close of the 70th session of the Macedonian Parliament, MPs merely adopted the agenda for the 71st session yesterday and then readjourned any further discussion for today. The 23 points on the agenda include debates on the Government proposals outlining the use of the national seal, the national flag and the national anthem of the Republic of Macedonia; as well as the displaying of flags through which ethnicities choose to express their ethnic identity.In the aftermath of the most recent proposal which has been causing considerable attention among the public, around 20 amendments have been submitted to the Parliament - mainly by the factions of the PDP, PDPA/NDP and the LDP, in addition to several municipalities (e.g. Gostivar, Zajas, Oslomej, Shipkovica, etc.). Other items on today's session agenda include discussing Government proposals on altering and completing the Act on Financial Transactions and Accounting, the Act on Retirement Pension and Disabilities Insurance and on proposed nominations for the offices of the Ombudsman (Branko Naumovski, the Chief National Administrative Inspector) and the Chairperson of the Religious Communities Commission (Vlado Naumovski, currently a Minister without a portfolio). [05] ANONYMOUS WARNING ON BOMB AT THE PARLIAMENTThe Macedonian Radio reports that yesterday the Macedonian Parliament readjourned the session for today since the police received a bomb-threat regarding the Parliament. This - the above mentioned source reveals - was followed by a thorough search of the building. Parliamentary Chairman Tito Petkovski, it is being reported, completed the adopting of the agenda for the next session upon learning of the disturbing news, and then closed the session without providing any justification - while announcing that MPs would resume work at 10 h in the morning today. The Macedonian Radio adds that the Parliament building has been searched until late night hours. Official police data are being expected.[06] SKOPJE CITY COUNCIL BLOCKED, CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DEBATING CONTENTIOUS DECISIONSOut of a total of 18 contentious acts passed by the City Council of Skopje, the Constitutional Court of Macedonia has commenced the examining of 9 yesterday, while 7 acts have been discarded as outside the Court's jurisdiction. Two more acts have not been subjected to investigation as they are in compliance with the Local Self-Government Act. The main reason for the Court to analyze these nine acts lies in the fact that they have been passed in conditions when a quorum had not been secured. These acts include the Statute of the City, the decisions appointing directors and members of public enterprises and rulings on the establishing of statute, budget and monitoring commissions.Ergo the temporary Government order suspending the implementation of these acts still remains binding - in spite of their being scrutinized by the Constitutional Court. This means that the City Council of Skopje remains side-lined in the future. Yesterday's session of the Constitutional Court also resulted in the suspending of two decisions passed by the (at that time) Pedagogical Academy of Skopje in 1994 and 1995, regulating the use of minority languages in instruction i.e. during the training of pre-school and elementary education teachers. This intervention actually confirms a recently noticed attitude exhibited by the Constitutional Court which failed to commence the reviewing of the contentious PF-Bill. This - in the opinion of the Court - would mean that the language-issue is to be exclusively addressed via law, as has been the case. In addition to this the Constitutional Court denies the University any autonomy and authority in this respect i.e. as regards regulating the use of languages through its own acts. [07] OFFICE OF TURKISH `ZHIRAAT' BANK IN SKOPJE THIS YEARNBM Governor Ljube Trpevski and representatives of the Turkish `Zhiraat' Bank have discussed the possibilities of opening a branch of this bank in Macedonia as early as this year. During negotiations Governor Trpevski stressed that the presence of this bank in Macedonia would be of particular importance to the development of bilateral relations between countries whose political relations are already on an enviable level.Besides this, as MTV reports, the Ankara-based `Zhiraat' Bank possesses assets worth app. 12 billion dollars, in addition to 7 branches abroad and 1 300 banks in Turkey employing a total of 36 000. The bank which is most likely to be established by the end of this year owns around 22 million DM in capital. It is to facilitate the implementation of Turkish investments in Macedonia, the forming of joints ventures and the supporting of small and medium size businesses. [08] MACEDONIAN BUSINESSES OWE ALMOST 900 MILLION DM LOANED FUNDSThe Macedonian business sector owes banks nearly 900 million DM (23.6 billion denars), obtained via credits from domestic financial institutions - `Nova Makedonija' reports. The daily further adds that as much as 19.6 billion denars (726.5 million DM) of this sum fall off to accrued interest rates, while merely 3.9 billion denars (148 million DM) were actual loans. The interest rates to the latter accordingly vary between 11 and 20% per annum. The Government - as it has been registered within the Macedonian Economy Chamber - will be forced to address this issue very quickly, as otherwise the transformation of the banking system would find itself shelved and eventually stifled.[09] DECISION ON POLICE STRIKE AFTER 8TH JULYYesterday representatives of the Macedonian Police Trade Union entered negotiations with top officials within the Ministry of the Interior as regards the addressing of contentious issues, which have been threatening to bring about a strike - the Macedonian Radio reports. It has further been revealed during yesterday's press conference, that the Union membership completed its voting on a strike on 28th June. Due to pressure exerted on the Trade Union leadership with respect to the membership's freedom of expression only 4 495 of a total of 8 200 members cast their votes. Of these 4 412 were in favour of a strike, 75 voted against and 8 questionnaires had to be discarded as invalid.The voting has still not been conducted in certain organisation units, but the Trade Union Presidium nevertheless concluded on its 30th June session that the membership was ready to enter a strike. At the same session the Trade Union leadership received an invitation by the Ministry of the Interior to discuss contentious issues. In spite of the fact that no concrete results have been achieved during round one, the Police Trade Union decided to postpone any strikes until 8th July, the date scheduled for round 2 of negotiations with Ministry representatives. [10] PROJECT TO REVIVE LAKE DOJRANYesterday was marked by the presentation of the international inter-disciplinary project on the revitalization of Lake Dojran. In addition to ecologists of Macedonia, representatives of the Ministries concerned with environmental protection, water resource management, science and development - the event was also attended by the Ambassador of Great Britain to Macedonia H.E. Amb. Mark Dickinson and representatives of the World Bank, PHARE and the University of Hull. The receding water level at Lake Dojran and the threat this poses to the littoral zone has entailed the collapse of tourism in the area, while the drastic reduction in fishing affects the population rate - where some of the conclusions aired during the event.The proposed projects also makes provisions for the compiling of a linear model on the dynamics of the lake in differing climatic conditions, along with an analysis of the hydrological features of the spring area, the determining of changes within the plankton sphere, etc. This would be followed by the devising of approaches on the complete revitalization of the lake. `Vecher' reports that the Government of Great Britain has offered 10 000 pounds in financial support to aid the implementation of this project so far. MILS SUPPLEMENT[11] `The Draft-Bill on Minority Flags'(`Vecher' - 2nd July 1997)Article 1 This act of law regulates the utilization of flags through which those affiliated to an ethnicity within the Republic of Macedonia express their identity and ethnic traits. Article 2 Those affiliated to an ethnicity within the Republic of Macedonia possess the right to utilize a flag in order to express their identity and ethnic traits. The reference `flag' quoted in paragraph 1 of this article denotes a flag chosen by members of a certain ethnicities, or a flag that has already been used for the purpose of stating their identity and ethnic traits. Article 3 Those affiliated to an ethnicity cited in Article 2 of this act of law possess the aforesaid right on celebrating private occasions or staging cultural, athletic and other events. Article 4 The flag defined in Article 2 may not be hoisted in front and within objects of: - the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia, the President of the Republic of Macedonia, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, public administration facilities, the judiciary, the District Attorney's Office of the Republic of Macedonia, the Constitutional Court of Macedonia and the National Bank of the Republic of Macedonia; - the facilities and units of local self-government; - public services, public institutions and enterprises established by the Republic i.e. the unit of local self-government and other public facilities, companies, associations and organisations. Article 5 At units of local self-government where those affiliated to one ethnicity constitute the majority of the population, on days legally determined as holidays in the Republic of Macedonia, it is allowed to display the flag through which the members of this ethnicity express their identity and ethnic traits in addition to the National Flag in front of local self-government institutions. Article 6 The fine between 50 000 to 200 000 denars will be imposed on any legal entity choosing to display the flag defined in Article 2 contrary to provisions listed in Article 4. For a violation of paragraph 1 of this article, a fine between 30 000 to 50 000 denars will be imposed and a prison term form 30 to 90 days of the offender or its custodian. Article 7 This act of law becomes legally binding with its eighth day since its publication in the `Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia.' `An Unacceptable, Anti-National Bill' Ivan Toshevski, UN Human Rights Expert: `Within international legal instruments there never have been, nor will it be possible to derive the reference `ethnic minority flag'. The flag is a symbol of the country's sovereignty and should a number of citizens be allowed - particularly by law - to utilize the flag as a symbol of their ethnic identity, sovereignty and identity - those of the state would find themselves challenged.' Ljubomir Cuculovski, Ph.D. in Philosophy: `Flags have always been a national symbol, denoting the affiliation towards a particular country. Thus current events and the draft-bill embody something contrary to both theory and practice as - I would like to stress this once again - flags possess a national but by no means an ethnic character.' Mihajlo Minovski, Ph.D. in History: `The most substantial weakness of the draft-bill on minority flags, in my opinion, lies in the fact that it will practically allow the use of another country's national flag. I consider this unacceptable since it entails the denial of sovereignty or the introduction of a condominium.' Orde Ivanovski, Ph.D. in History: `It is an unprecedented case throughout the world that flags of other countries should be unfurled next to the National Flag which does not only symbolize the state, but also its sovereignty and international identity. This also represents the recognizing of a parallel sovereignty.' Ilija Acevski, Ph.D. in Sociology: `The bill will legalize - though in an indirect manner - the utilization of foreign flags. By hoisting these, even in front of institutions of local self-government, it will occur that the national sovereignty of some states will expand on foreign territory.' Ivan Katardzhiev, Ph.D. in History: `I do not think that a solution based on displaying minority flags on holidays and at municipalities where a certain ethnicity constitutes the majority implies a type of regionalization. Should these flags be used on an everyday basis, however, this would inevitably be the case. Following this kind of reasoning, it may appear logical to `break in' the public by exhibiting them in front of municipalities first, whereas later on they may become a common sight in front of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia. This again, represents nothing else but a request for federalization.' Blazhe Ristevski, Academician: `The Government may by no means allow the enactment of such an anti-national act of law via Parliamentary processing. It needs to be aware of its own historical responsibility towards this people and future generations. The hoisting of a flag symbolizing a neighbouring country will automatically landmark the long-beheld vision of a `Greater Albania.' Gjorgji Marjanovikj, Ph.D. at Law: `In those countries truly governed by law, any individual assault upon either the national seal, the national anthem or the flag would be considered high-treason, i.e. one of the most gravitating criminal offenses against the country. In none of these countries Mr. Arben Dzhaferi would have remained out of prison after that notorious act of taking down the Macedonian flag from in front of the Municipality building of Tetovo, of practically trampling all over it while the tune of a neghbouring state's anthem was audible in the background.' Bozhna Gagovska, Ph.D. at Law: `The National Flag is a symbol of the state and the symbolical means of it employed in the state. The sovereignty of a state embodies the highest form of public governance on a certain territory in terms of its domestic bounds, intolerant of competition posed by any other shape of rule.' (end.)mils news 03 July, 1997Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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