MAK-NEWS 27/10/95 (M.I.C.)

From: "M.I.C." <mic@ITL.MK>

Macedonian Information Centre Directory

CONTENTS

SKOPJE, OCTOBER 27, 1995 (MIC)

[01] INTER-STATE TRANSPORTATION REGULATED

The goods exchange and TRANSPORTATION between Skopje and Athens is carried out normally since Wednesday, from a formal aspect as well, the conservative newspaper "Katimerini" claimed yesterday, Makpress reports.

The Greek Finance Ministry, as it is stated, delivered all the necessary documents and instructions for transit, import and export of goods from Macedonia and the treatment of passengers, to the Customs Administration in Salonika on Wednesday. The seal which is used for this purpose says "recognized by Greece as FYROM."

The reloading of 6,000 tones of zinc concentrate for the Veles smeltery should have also been done yesterday in the Salonika port. Macedonian wagon-cistern also arrived in Salonika on Wednesday, to take over the blocked petrol, while representatives of the "Skopje" Refinery have already made contact with the oil company "Jet Oil" to renew the old deals.

Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias and the Ambassador to the UN Hristos Zaharikis came to an agreement at their Wednesday meeting in Athens on the "tactics of the Greek Government in the course of the dialogue Athens-Skopje." News about this meeting was published yesterday by the central Greek newspapers, together with various assumptions and speculations about the "compromise name" and the lasting period of the "dialogue."

[02] LAW ON LOCAL SELF-MANAGEMENT ADOPTED

The Macedonian Parliament adopted the Law on local self-management yesterday. 83 MPs from SDAM, LP and SPM were in favour of the law, two MPs - Tomislav Stojanovski (DPM) and Hisen Ramadani (independent) abstained from voting, and eight - six from PDP and two independent MPs (Mersel Biljali and Abduljadi Vejseli) were against. Directly before the voting, the representatives of PDPA and NDP indignantly walked out of the parliamentary hall, because, as Sali Ramadani explained, their dissatisfaction with the text of the law and the attitude of the Government and the other MPs toward their demands.

Following the voting, the vice-president of Parliament Tito Petkovski noted: "The adoption of this Law rounds off five years of hard work of this government, as well as those from the previous mandate. It rounds off the political system of the Republic of Macedonia and creates the possibility to proceed with the second local elections in the Republic of Macedonia."

Before the voting, the coordinator of the PDP parliamentary group Ismet Ramadani explained that his associates will not be giving their "yes" vote because "the Law does not met our expectations." Despite the obvious step forward that has been made by the Government, nonetheless, they feel that certain important questions regarding the authorizations and use of languages, have not been accepted.

Upon leaving the parliamentary hall, on behalf of the "party of five" from PDPA and NDP, Sali Ramadani called on his "copatriots, i.e. (PDP MPs) not only not to vote in favour of this Law, but to walk out of the hall together with them, to withdraw their ministers and other officials, and to break off the fictional coalition." Ismet Ramadani (PDP) had only this to say: "I'm not accepting any lectures about my party from immature boys in politics."

[03] VLADO POPOVSKI: "WE'VE TAKEN CARE OF A VERY COMPLICATED MATTER"

"I feel, in a way, satisfied, since I've finished a very good and complicated matter in one of the most complex and delicate laws, which also regulates a very sensitive matter. The parliamentary debate has shown that this is a very delicate matter, where the interests of the local communities and the state, and the interethnic relations in the Republic of Macedonia are balanced out. I feel we have set a standard way, or to put it differently, a moderate norm that can present the basis for the development of the local self-management, for democratization of the state authority, a certain delegation of the authority of the local self-management and for the future development of the interethnic relations."

When asked to comment the fact that one more systematic law has been adopted without the votes of the representatives of the Albanians, minister Popovski said:

"Ask them. But, in any event, it's a fact that the representatives of the Albanians in Macedonia took an active, consistent and constructive part in this Law, as well as all systematic laws for which they did not vote from the start (from the first phases of the draft-texts) up to the act of voting itself. Only they can explain their absence from the act of voting. I can assume that it is connected with certain political, to put it in such a way, a political marketing account. But, that's only my assumption. Maybe it's not correct."

[04] MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT: STABILIZATION IN SET PARAMETERS

At yesterday's session, which was presided over by Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia reviewed and accepted the Analysis for the realization of the macroeconomic policy of the Republic of Macedonia in 1995. The successful implementation of the macroeconomic policy, as the Government assessed, is a result of the global plan which is satisfactory and within the set framework. The established process of economic stabilization is maintained within the set parameters, and the achievements in certain regions are even better than expected. The intensity of the price increases has dropped considerably, the stability of the rate of the denar is maintained, and an increase in the foreign currency reserves has been realized.

However, the anticipated results in the real sector have not been realized, despite the somewhat more favorable external conditions and the reduced inflation. This applies in particular to the industrial production, which, instead of the expected increase of 0.7%, is still in the zone of high negative rates, which is chiefly the result of the lost markets for the sale of basic raw material products.

In adopting the Analysis for the realization of the macroeconomic policy in 1995, the Government also determined the main directions which will serve as a basis for the preparation of the development policy in 1996.

At yesterday's session, the Government also determined the Proposal for amendments and supplements to the budget of the Republic of Macedonia for 1995.

The general assessment is that the financial stabilization which started even before last year, and has been maintained within the determined Program for 1995, is considerably better in some fields than expected. However, as the Government concluded, the development of events in the first 8 months are a reason to carry out a revision of the determined Program for 1995, which also implies an adaptation of the nominal framework which was imposed from the considerably lower rate of inflation of 8% up to the end of the year, instead of the projected 18%.

Thus, according to the Proposal for amendments and supplements to the Budget of the Republic of Macedonia for this year, instead of the planned 51 billion and 100 million denars, it is determined at 43.833.568.461 denars, which presents a difference of 7 billion and 367 thousand denars.

[05] 160 DEM TO ENTER GREECE BY CAR

From yesterday morning, the Greek border authorities on the Macedonian-Greek border points started charging border insurance for motor vehicles. 160 DEM are charged for cars (25,000 drachmas), and 500 DEM (80,000 drachmas) for cargo vehicles. The Macedonian border authorities have not been given an explanation for this measure.

Otherwise, in accordance with the Protocol for international insurance and green cards, from Wednesday, Greek citizens are not charged border insurance for their motor vehicles.

[06] LAW ON ENTERPRISES SUPPLEMENTED

The Commission on economy of the Macedonian Parliament gave a green light to the adoption of the Law on supplements to the Law on enterprises. The need to adopt the supplements was explained by the Minister of Finance Jane Miljovski, who noted, among the rest, that some 80,000 enterprises are registered in the country at the moment, of which 45,000 have not reported any employees, which is making the job of the competent organs to control their work very difficult. For these reasons, it is proposed for the enterprises to have at least one more employee, beside the director or representative of the company.

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