MILS NEWS 28/03/96

From: "M.I.L.S." <mils@MILS.SPIC.ORG.MK>

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 28 March 1996

[01] 'CRAN MONTANA FORUM' AWARD IN APRIL

[02] ROUND TABLE ON BALKAN MINORITIES

Max van Der Stoel yesterday also met with Macedonian Foreign Minister, Ljubomir Frchkovski, and discussed the issues regarding the education of the minorities in Macedonia.

Frchkovski informed his guest on the efforts made to improve the participation of the minorities in the public administration of the country. The High Commissioner presented an initiative of OSCE to organize, on ministerial level, a round table discussions on the Balkan minorities.

In the talks he had with the Internal Affairs Minister, Tomislav Chokrevski, the need to improve of the police training was stressed, and the need for increasing the percentage of Albanians in the police force of the country.

Max Van Der Stoel and the Minister of Education, Sofia Todorova, emphasised the need for the Law on Higher Education to be adopted by the Macedonian Parliament, as soon as possible.

[03] BERISHA - 'ALBANIANS ARE FOR STABILITY OF MACEDONIA'

[04] CREDIT FOR MACEDONIA FROM SWITZERLAND

[05] THREATS AND PRESSURES FOR SIGNATURES?

SDSM, continued the announcement, fully supports the right to civil initiative, guaranteed by the Constitution, but intercedes for it to be realised within the legal institutions and in accordance with the clearly defined procedure.

'This are precisely the reasons for this Party to initiate the passing of the Laws on the issue, which is of greatest importance for the development of the democracy and for the rule of the law. And all this at a time when Macedonia is gainning a full international support for its course of internal and foreign policy, for the stability, for the development of the democracy, for the reforms and for the good relations between the nations', ends the announcement.

[06] ANDOV - 'CITIZENS DO NOT TRUST THIS GOVERNMENT'

Those initiatives are: 1) to release the Parliament; 2) to from a Commission which would deal with the results of the investigation about the assassination attempt on President Gligorov, with the finance section of the Law on Health, and with the information on the security of the citizens and their properties, due to the increased number of violent acts without clear motives. Andov added, in case these initiatives are blocked, it will become a practice in Macedonia 'the political structure to be changed by intrigues and dirty games'. He also said that 'citizens do not trust this newly formed political group of the government, because it was formed by cheating the citizens'.

The proposed Law on Referendum was characterized by Andov as a tactical move of the government to discourage the action of collecting signatures, and he added that it should have been passed long time ago. He pointed out that the international position of this government, especially regarding the relation with the EU, was evidently worsened.

He said it was also obvious that the relations with the neighbours were in a slowdown, which was another proof of 'this government's incapability for being politically successful'. Andov said the Liberals should be consulted for successful results to be reached on the international scene, and that the President of the International Affairs Committee should be a Liberal.

[07] SUFFICIENT NUMBER OF SIGNATURES TILL TODAY

He ended with stressing the fact that all the claims of Minister Popovski and Premier Crvenkovski against the initiative would have been dropped off if the initiative would have been organised for a referendum on prohibiting the construction of nuclear power stations in Macedonia.

The information presented by VMRO - DPMNE and DP were that 9 000 signatures had already been collected in Titov Veles, 4 500 in Tetovo (where 10 000 are expected), while a necessity appeared to engage a bigger number of party activists in the action on the territory of Skopje, due to the great reaction of the citizens.

[08] GOSHEV - 'INTRODUCTION TO A CHAOS'

[09] SIGNATURES COLLECTING IS REGULATED WITH THE NORMS IN EFFECT

Aneta Jovevska from the Institute for Sociology, Political and Juridical Research said that in case the government annuls this initiative, it would have to do the same with the mandate of all 100 members of the Parliament, whose election was based on 100 signatures collected from citizens.

[10] UNITED BALKAN PAGING NET

[11] FOOTBALL PLAYERS WON, TENNIS PLAYERS LOST

Macedonian National Tennis Team (women) yesterday lost from the selection of Luxembourg with 2:1, at the second round of the Tennis Cup in Israel.

MILS SUPPLEMENT

[12] Why Did Europe Change Its Mind?

('Nova Makedonija', 27 March 1996)

According to unofficial and brief information obtained so far, the so-called 'evolution clause', which further opened the doors for Macedonia to the Union, has been rather weakened and put only in the first Article of the draft Accord. It had been replaced by the so-called 'regional approach' of the Union towards Macedonia. It means that, despite all the opposite claims coming from Brussels, Europe is pushing Macedonia in a basket with countries from the region (either former Yugoslav or Balkan countries), and setting it as a condition for a future, eventual, group joining to the EU. And not to mention the clause about respecting the minorities' and human rights, as if Macedonia had not already passed that exam before its joining of OSCE and the Council of Europe. Union is practically treating Macedonia in the same way as Serbia and Croatia, countries that were included in the war and that still haven't made a start on their way to political and economy transformations, which are said to be the main conditions for the joining to the EU.

What were the reasons for changing the attitude in Brussels, in such an unfavourable direction for Macedonia? The explanation we have heard these days that 'changes have happened in Macedonia, and not in the Union', might have some piece of truth in it, but it is not enough. The internal political changes in Macedonia did not bring to any changes in its foreign policy, nor its determination to continue with the reforms started and to achieve the democratic and market standards of the Union member countries. Therefore, the reason should be looked for in Brussels - as a symbol of the European bureaucracy for each of its members separately and for all of them together, as political factors on the continent. Only till yesterday, Macedonia was for all of them an example of the only former Yugoslav republic which became independent in a peaceful way; an example of a multi-cultural community, which confirms that different ethnic entities can leave together; a kind of an 'economy miracle' that managed to survive despite the impossible conditions, and even to begin the economy reforms; and, finally, an example of a country which preserved the peace in the southern Balkans by preserving the peace inside the country. Something very big must have happened in the last several months, which has changed the situation from its roots; for all those 'epithets' to lose their strength and for the attitude of the Union towards Macedonia to change from the former great interest in preserving its stability to the current almost nonexistent interest for the Balkans. Has something bigger happened in this part of the world than the Dayton Accord and the threats of the bloody hostility in Bosnia? Is it possible that the EU, despite all that is happening in Bosnia and despite the fragile peace, believes that the danger threatening from the Balkans is past already? Is it possible that it has lost its interest and that it will 'wash its hands' from the responsibility for this unpleasant part of the continent, and that it will again fall in its self- content richness and egoism? Because, their new 'greatest invention' for a group approach of the Union towards all Balkan countries can be explained only by that egoism. It would mean that Brussels will carelessly leave the development of the region to the tempo dictated by the slowest Balkan player, i.e. to Serbia. And without giving a thought to the tragic consequences that might happen not only to the nations in the region, but also to the wider European territory.

As for Macedonia, the first warning sign that something was changing in Brussels was the recent news from Rome that our country was excluded from the so-called 'Marshal's Plan' for the reconstruction of the territories damaged by the war in former Yugoslavia. Although Macedonia was not literally demolished, it was indirectly damaged both by the war and by the international embargo on Serbia and the one-sided blockade from Greece. All this initiated the idea presented by the Macedonian leadership for reconstruction of Macedonia, known as the 'mini-Marshal's Plan'. The first to show interest in it was Germany. German Foreign Minister Claus Kinkel than publicly presented the plan together with his French counterpart Herve de Charette. The EU showed interest in it afterwards, and gradually spread it to the territory of all former Yugoslavia. At the end, only the cars of the train were left, without the locomotive, i.e.

Macedonia. That should have been a reason enough for the Macedonian diplomacy to make an offensive to the European capitals and investigate the reasons for the change, as well as to lobby a support in, at least so far, friendly countries.

It seems that that time has been lost, and the Macedonian delegation, led by vice Premier Jane Miljoski, will sit at the negotiating table in this unfavourable atmosphere. They will be faced by an administrator of the European Commission with authorities only as much as written on the papers in front of him. How long will these unequal negotiations last and what will they result with? And is Macedonia in the position to take a position of a 'not interested' party in cooperation and association with the Union and to stop the negotiations, if it comes out that the EU is not ready to offer better conditions? The negotiations can last forever, as far as the Union is concerned - it is not in a rush. But we are. And what can we say about the eventual canceling of the negotiations - we have enough unfavourable examples of countries that need nobody else and refuse to 'associate' with others in our closest neighbourhood.

(end)

mils news 28 March 1996