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MILS NEWS 96-10-03Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 03 October, 1996[01] 'MAKPRESS': EU MAKES THE REGIONAL APPROACH POLICY CONCRETEYesterday in Brussels, the European Commission accepted development principles of relations with south-eastern European countries, including Albania and all former Yugoslav republics, except for Slovenia. According to 'Makpress' agency, this made concrete the policy of regional approach by the EU, which had provoked mainly negative reactions in Macedonia. In context of that, EU Commissioner Hans van den Broek had stated that Macedonia had already agreed on its relations with the Union, which changed its position, although it is also one of the former Yugoslav republics. According to him, Macedonia would have had higher-level relations with the EU if the dispute with Greece had not existed.[02] THE LAW ON DENATIONALIZATION TILL THE END OF THE NEXT YEARTo be given the first installment of the recently approved SAL-credit by the World Bank ($45 million worth and intended for structural adjustment), Macedonia will have to fulfill the following conditions: to have 880 enterprises of the so- called commercial sector fully privatized, to have 20 agricultural enterprises with submitted privatization programmes, to have the Law on Agriculture Privatization passed, and to have at least 40 of the former enterprises with greatest losses also privatized. According to 'Nova Makedonija' daily, this was agreed in Washington by the WB Mission and the Macedonian delegation. The conditions set for the second installment to be given are: completed privatization of 1.150 enterprises of the commercial sector; privatization of 70 agriculture enterprises and of 110 legal subjects of the total 123; passing the Law on Denationalization. This Law was supposed to be passed as a condition for the second installment of the FESAK credit to be given, but it was postponed on request of the Macedonian Government. It was agreed in Washington, to have the Law on Denationalization passed till the end of the next year.Besides these negotiations, Macedonian representatives at the annual World Bank - IMF meeting had had a number of bilateral contacts with London Creditors Club representatives, A-1 Television reported, adding that negotiations between Macedonia and this Club would start at mid October in New York. The information also said that Macedonia would most probably follow the Croatian and Slovenian model, according to the IMF formula. [03] MACEDONIA INCLUDED IN SLOVENIAN DISPUTE WITH FRENCH BANKSTahir Kadriu, a high official at Macedonian Foreign Ministry and a coordinator of the Group for Succession of former SFRY property had stated that Macedonia, being an equal successor of the former federation property, had joined Slovenia in the charges brought against French banks in which former SFRY assets have been deposited. 'Makfax' agency quoted Kadriu's statement that the four former Yugoslav republics, and current successors, had agreed always to defend each others' interests.[04] BELGRADE: NO CUSTOMS EXPENSES IN MACEDONIAN-FR YUGOSLAV GOODS TURNOVER FROM 8 OCTOBER'Sitel' Television reported an announcement of the Yugoslav Secretariat for Information which said that turnover of goods between FR Yugoslavia and the Republic of Macedonia would be carried out without customs expenses and additional customs payments for goods produced in these two countries, starting from 7 October, 1996. This means that the bilateral Agreement on Trade, signed during the FR Yugoslav Prime Minister Kontic's visit to Macedonia, will be applied in practice from 8 October.[05] COOPERATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN MACEDONIAN AND SERBIAN ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES AND ARTSPresidents of the Macedonian and Serbian Academies of Sciences and Arts signed an Agreement on Cooperation in Belgrade yesterday. Macedonian media reported that the Agreements anticipates a cooperation in all fields of science. Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts President Ksente Bogoev had stated that signing of this document was not a fresh start of the bilateral cooperation, since it had never been canceled, but was an act of removing all the eventual formal obstacles for it.[06] EU: AUTONOMY OF KOSOVO WITHIN FRY BORDERSA-1 Television reported that the EU had required for Kosovo to be given a wide autonomy within FR Yugoslav borders and that Belgrade officials were sent a message to constructively contribute to the efforts for keeping the peace and stability in the region.Meanwhile, Albanian President Sali Berisha, after the talks with Croatian Prime Minister Zlatko Matesha in Tirana, had pointed out the joining of former Yugoslav republics and of their neighbours to NATO as a possible way for Kosovo issue and the crisis in the region to be solved. Also, Albanian Parliament President Piotr Arbnori had said that 'Kosovo had never been an internal matter of Serbia, but of Yugoslavia, and Albania would further require for it to be solved in such a context. [07] OPENING OF MACEDONIAN DIPLOMATIC OFFICES IN CANADA GREETED'Canadian Government welcomes the decision of Macedonian Government to open diplomatic-consular representative offices in Canada, since it would contribute to the spreading of bilateral relations and cooperation,' Canadian Vice Foreign Minister Gordon Smith had said during the meeting with Macedonian Assistant Foreign Minister Jordan Veselinov in Ottawa. According to Macedonian Radio, Smith had also said that his Government was prepared to alleviate and support the process of Macedonian diplomatic establishing in the country. Veselinov had asked for a Canadian support of Macedonian candidacy for a temporal membership in the UN Security Council.[08] 0.3% INFLATION IN SEPTEMBERMacedonian Statistics Institute announced that the inflation in Macedonia had been 0.3% higher in September than in August 1996, due to the increased prices of agriculture products of 11.4%. The prices of industrial-food products had also increased for 0.6%, while those of beverages had been 0.8% lower.Costs of living in September had been 0.5% higher than in August. According to the Institute, they had increased due to the 1.8% higher food expenses, to the 0.9% higher transport and phone_mail expenses, to the 0.6% higher home furnishings expenses and to the 0.2% higher fuel expenses. [09] UNICEF: HIGHEST RATE OF INFANT MORTALITY IN MACEDONIA AND ALBANIAIn 1994, Macedonia had a 22.3% rate of infant mortality (which was 28.8% less than in 1981), and the only European country with a higher rate was Albania. 'Dnevnik' daily reported this as a part of the report made by UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellami. The report further read that current rate of infant mortality in Macedonia was 33 to 1,000 newly-born children, while 0.12 of 1,000 mothers die during giving births. UNICEF report also underlined that although mother's milk should be the only food for infants till they are six months old, only 20% of mothers in Macedonia nursed their children for longer than three months.[10] AGENDA OF THE NEXT PARLIAMENT SESSION DISCUSSEDMacedonian Parliamentarians yesterday met for one hour only, during which they managed to accept only a part of the Agenda planned for the 54th Parliament session. Local media reported that Veljo Tantarov and Faik Abdi had withdrawn their previously submitted proposals for passing a law on returning the properties to the Macedonian Orthodox Church and for changing the Law on Trade, explaining that the Government would present its own proposals for those issues.The MPs also rejected the suggestions of Liberal Party members for introducing urgent changes in the Law on Local Elections and for an information to be prepared by the Government on the investigation of the assassination attempt on President Gligorov. Minister for Justice Vlado Popovski stated that part of the changes proposed by the Liberals for the Law on Local Elections had already been included in it. As for the information on the above mentioned investigation, Vice Prime Minister Bekjir Zhuta replied that the period from the latest information prepared till now was too short, and that there were not many news to be included in the new one. The 54th session continues today by voting for the Agenda, which should include the proposed regulations for representing the candidates of local elections in the media and the Draft Laws on Lawsuit and on Notary Public Working. [11] STATE ELECTORAL COMMISSION PREPARED FOR LOCAL ELECTIONSAll the necessary activities that State Electoral Commission was supposed to accomplish prior to local elections have been completed in time. It means that the application forms for nomination procedures have been made and issued, and that municipal electoral commissions, as well as that of the city of Skopje, have been appointed. According to 'Nova Makedonija' daily, this was announced at a press conference of the State Electoral Commission yesterday.They had also presented the proposed electoral commissions members and their deputies, according to a parity of political parties participation. During the necessary checking whether those proposed were citizens of the respective municipalities and whether they were entitled to the right to vote, the Commission had found a small number of them who did not fulfill those conditions. The Commission also found that 46 municipal electoral commissions were not completed, despite the proposals of the political parties. Commissions Presidents, following the instructions of the State Commission, had appointed 121 members to complete the commissions. As for the participation of political parties, it was informed that each party which had submitted a proposal had been given a position of a member or a deputy in the commissions. [12] 'DNEVNIK': SP PRESIDENT CRITICIZED THE GOVERNMENT'The Government has been getting us into debts unnecessarily, the credit money are not invested in the economy, and the privatization project is also vague.Ministers are interested only in employing of their relatives,' Socialist Party President Ljubisav Ivanov - Dzingo had said yesterday at a meeting with businessmen in Prilep. According to 'Dnevnik' daily, Ivanov had presented the same objections to the work of the Government (although his party is a governmental coalition member) at a press conference the day before yesterday. He stated at that occasion that 'the Socialist Party would participate at the local elections independently in order to check its rating among the people'. [13] VMRO-MNDS: VMRO-DPMNE AND DP SOLD THEMSELVES'VMRO-MNDS disagrees with the coalition of VMRO-DPMNE and DP, and thinks that only the ruling Social Democratic Alliance could win something from it. These two parties betrayed their electorate at the latest elections and sold themselves for a low price,' VMRO - Macedonian National Democratic Alliance President Tomislav Stefkovski had said at a press conference yesterday. According to 'Dnevnik' daily, Stefkovski had also said that those who had 'privatized' VMRO-DPMNE had to leave from it, adding that his party had always thought of the current VMRO-DPMNE leadership as of a pro-Serbian fraction.'Dnevnik' also read that Head of the VMRO-DPMNE Branch Committee in Debar, Gjorgji Ilievski, had said that they were negotiating an eventual coalition with PDP for the local elections in this town. Further on, it read that Liberal and Socialist Parties branches in Center Zhupa (Debar area) would join their candidates for councils members and mayors. MILS SUPPLEMENT[14] 'An Event with Many Unknown Details'('Vecer', 3 October, 1996)Today, exactly one year after the assassination attempt on President Kiro Gligorov, it has still not been cleared up, and many are wondering if it will ever be. Intended firstly and foremostly against the Head of the State, but indirectly also against the internal political stability of Macedonia, the well-organized terrorist attack is still a secret for the investigation. The explosion of the car-bomb on 3 October last year in front of the 'Bristol' hotel in Skopje, was, fortunately, not a successful one. Although badly injured, President Gligorov survived the assassination attempt and continued his work, and Macedonia maintained its internal stability. Unfortunately, two other persons were killed. Immediately after the terrorist attack, Macedonian Internal Affairs Ministry had started an investigation on it, the greatest one in its history. During the first days of it, it was given an assistance by many police and anti-terrorist experts from abroad. That was, however, not enough to trace those involved in the attack. Twenty days later, at the only press conference he held on that occasion, then Internal Affairs Minister Ljubomir Frchkovski presented the first details of investigation results to the public. He explained that there were people at three levels directly involved in the assassination attempt: the initiators, the organizers and the performers. He said that 'a multi-national financial-economic group, seated in one of the neighbouring countries, had been involved in the organization of the attack; that a member of it, whose name was known to the police, had come to Macedonia and made the explosive which was used; and that he was helped by performers from our country'. This was the only statement by which details were revealed, and it provoked many journalistic investigations and speculations about several financial groups in the neighbouring countries. However, the investigation never either denied or confirmed any of them. Simultaneously, all possible traces were checked in the country in order to find at least one of the performers. Several hundred people were questioned and interrogated, and some were even arrested. Objects and cars were checked, but no concrete results were presented in public. The mosaic of those information brought to a possible direct performer of the assassination attempt, whose photo-robot was made. However, it also gave no results. The two actions of searching houses and cars in several suburbs of Skopje, which were hoped to reveal any trace of the location from which the explosive elements were taken, were also unsuccessful. Several months had passed since the last actions had taken place. Meanwhile, all the efforts to find out any details on their current activities ended with the following explanation: 'The investigation is still going on and we do not intend to stop searching for those responsible for it.' The question is whether any effects can be expected now. Each day reduces the chances for at least one of those people or a trace to be found. One also has to ask whether, besides the mistakes made before the assassination attempt, there were some made after it, as well, which hindered the investigation. Another fact should also be underlined, i.e. that the keeping quiet about investigation results has been used by opposition political parties as means of attack against the ruling ones. Requests were and still are made to form a commission which would examine all the investigation activities, i.e. which would give answers to many questions and establish the responsibilities of individuals and organs, who might have made mistakes during the investigation. (end)mils news 03 October, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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