Yugoslav Daily Survey, 96-12-18

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From: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>

CONTENTS

[01] PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC REFERS TO SERBIAN GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS PRESENTED BY STUDENTS FROM NIS

[02] AGREEMENT ON SOCIAL INSURANCE BETWEEN FRY AND CROATIA

[03] DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR NORMALIZING RELATIONS WITH IMF

[04] SERBIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES REPRESENTATIVES OF NIS UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

[05] RUSSIA - DEVELOPMENTS IN YUGOSLAVIA

[06] LILIC: POLITICAL EVENTS IN SERBIA ARE BAD FOR THE SITUATION IN YUGOSLAVIA

[07] OSCE CONFIRMS SENDING A DELEGATION TO BELGRADE

[08] PREPARATIONS UNDER WAY FOR OSCE DELEGATION TO VISIT YUGOSLAVIA

[09] SERBIAN PREMIER MARJANOVIC BACKS PARLIAMENTARY DISCUSSION

[10] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER: IMPORTANT LAWS WERE ADOPTED

[11] SERBIA ASSEMBLY DECIDES TO A OPEN PANEL DISCUSSION ON ELECTIONS

[01] PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC REFERS TO SERBIAN GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS PRESENTED BY STUDENTS FROM NIS

The President asked the Government that the Ministry of justice carefully examine the presented documents and draw up a detailed report which must be made public in full.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1996-12-18 ; Tanjug, 1996-12-17

[02] AGREEMENT ON SOCIAL INSURANCE BETWEEN FRY AND CROATIA

Journalists learnt this on Tuesday from the Yugoslav Minister of labour, health and social policy Maksic Korac, who headed the delegation of the FRY at talks with the delegation of RC in Zagreb on December 10-12.

Korac said that the Yugoslav side suggested at the talks the conclusion of a bilateral agreement, covering old age and disability benefits, health care, unemployment benefits, and mutual health care services for the insured of both sides, and based on the latest European standards.

The delegations of the FRY and RC have reached an agreement that international agreements on social insurance concluded by the former Yugoslavia be applied to all insurers, regardless of their current status.

Korac said that the positions of the Yugoslav delegation were fully acknowledged in Zagreb, as contained in the platform determined by the Federal Government, based on European standards in the field, past experience in negotiations with European countries, as well as with the national legislature.

The Yugoslav side will do everything within its competency for the agreement with Croatia to be signed within six months, Korac said.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1996-12-18 ; Tanjug, 1996-12-17

[03] DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR NORMALIZING RELATIONS WITH IMF

As very little time had remained for resolving these issues, the IMF Board of Directors has decided to extend until next June 14 the deadline for the normalization of relations and Yugoslavia's reintegration in the IMF and other international financial institutions, Raicevic said.

Anti-Yugoslav sanctions have been lifted. Keeping this in mind, Yugoslavia is trying to give a clear message to IMF, Raicevic said, and added that there were no political or economic obstacles that would prevent Yugoslavia from fulfilling all its obligations in accordance with the IMF statute.

Yugoslavia has pointed to joint interests regarding cooperation and mutual benefits that would result from normalizing relations, Raicevic said, adding that Yugoslavia was maintaining regular working contacts with relevant departments of the IMF and other international financial institutions.

Through regular contacts and open dialogue, Yugoslavia hopes to overcome the problems which have emerged in its relations with IMF, Raicevic said.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1996-12-18 ; Tanjug, 1996-12-17

[04] SERBIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES REPRESENTATIVES OF NIS UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Although all 17 students had been invited to take part in talks with Milosevic, the delegation chose Predrag Cveticanin, a teaching assistant at the Nis University School of philosophy, Nikola Bozinovic, a fourth-year student at the School of electrical engineering and Dejan Milovic, a fifth- year student at the School of civil engineering, to represent them in the talks.

The three students stressed that they did not belong to any party and that they were taking part in the talks as citizens. The views they expressed however were very much the same as those taken by the opposition coalition 'Zajedno'.

Addressing the students, President Milosevic said, 'you have told me that you have come here on foot and I was worried when I heard that you had set on this journey on foot, but they told me later that you had used some kind of transportation after all.'

The three students said that it had been announced at the very start that three groups, each group made up of three students, would walk, while others would be transported, explaining that groups of students had in turn walked all the way from Nis.

They said they had covered the distance (about 230 km long) in only 47 hours. They said they had managed to do so because people in Nis had been trying to say the truth over the past 30 days, adding however that the truth was not easily reached. 'That is why we have tried to draw attention in this way,' they said.

Expressing hope that President Milosevic had already received a letter by students of the Nis University, they read out the letter once again. The students said in their letter that they hoped there would never again be civil war in Serbia, saying they were determined not to allow that the country they lived in be ruled by a dictator. 'We kindly ask you to start acting again in keeping with the law that will protect you once you are an ordinary citizen again from the self-will on the part of others,' the students said.

The students also said they would present the President with photocopies of records from 17 polling precincts in Nis where the City Electoral Commission had announced that Serbia's ruling Socialist Party (SPS) had won the local polls despite the victory by the coalition 'Zajedno'.

After that, the three students presented Milosevic with the photocopies in question, explaining that the photocopies of 17 records had been brought by 17 students.

Milosevic said, 'I think that no one who has entered this building to ask that something be established or to find the truth could complain that the truth was not found.'

'Neither I nor you count the votes,' he said, adding that he would entrust the Government with the task of seeing to it that the Ministry of justice carefully reviews all facts referred to in the documents and photocopies he had been presented with.

He said there was no danger of the truth remaining hidden, adding that, 'we all live in this country where it is very hard to hide the truth even if one wants to do so.'

'No one here wants the truth to be hidden. On the contrary, I believe that, as regards the functioning of the state, all its bodies consider it vital that the Constitution and Laws be respected, and these state bodies act in keeping with the Constitution and Laws,' he said.

'It is quite certain that we shall check the veracity of data and facts concerning your requests. You can be sure of it,' he said.

'I would like to tell you that my view is that it is in the interest of all citizens of Serbia that every job be done, not only this concerning the elections which is very important, should be dealt with by the institutions of the Republic,' he said.

You must therefore understand that, no matter how often your leaders appeal to embassies or dispatch envoys or visit capitals throughout the world, Serbia will not be ruled by a foreigner, he stressed.

'We are our own masters in Serbia and must solve all issues within our institutions,' he said.

'Naturally, this does not mean that we do not want to cooperate with other countries,' he said, adding that Serbia was very interested in cooperation with other countries.

We want to build our policy that will be based on open cooperation with all other countries, all countries in and outside Europe, and that will be based on the footing of equality, he said. Consequently, we believe that our country can be a good partner but that it should not be anyone's servant or bent its head, he said.

'I therefore believe that it is in the interest of every citizen of Serbia that its constitutional institutions be affirmed and that all issues be solved within its constitutional institutions,' Milosevic said.

Mistakes are always possible. The issue is whether they will be established and whether there is good will to establish mistakes if there are any, he said.

As regards your remarks, you can be assured that all data and facts will be thoroughly checked to determine what the issue is all about, he said adding that this was in the interest of the country as well as in the interest of relations in the country.

The three students informed the President that through reports by a local radio that had covered the November 17 polls they had been informed that the coalition 'Zajedno' had won the majority vote.

Local power-wielders however banned radio broadcasts at the point when the coalition had secured 32 seats to 12 secured by the SPS, the students said.

They said they realised that a person that was elected through the people's will must rule and that if this was not the case, the Law was being violated. This can lead either to dictatorship or to civil war, they said. They said their protest would end once the Law was respected again.

Milosevic apologized for not being informed about the details of the local elections in Nis, asking the students whether the Nis City Court had acted correctly.

'We have brought these records to you to make sure that they were not acting without your (Milosevic's) knowledge,' they explained.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1996-12-18 ; Tanjug, 1996-12-17

[05] RUSSIA - DEVELOPMENTS IN YUGOSLAVIA

Draskovic appeared in a Moscow NTV station broadcast, voicing accusations against Serbian authorities, saying that the Russian Foreign Minister had 'insulted the democratic Serbia' and expressing hope that 'this is not the support of democratic Russia.'

This is not a private opinion of minister Primakov, but Russia's official stand, Tarasov told a regular news briefing in Moscow. He said he hoped that no one could try to deny it and especially not a citizen of another country. Tarasov said that Russia's position on this and other issues was quite clear and that a Foreign Ministry spokesman had recently made a statement to this effect.

Primakov and the Ministry spokesman have repeated several times in the past few days that Russia regarded the developments in Belgrade as Yugoslavia's internal affair. They welcomed Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's invitation to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe to send a fact-finding mission so as to obtain information about the elections in Yugoslavia.

The Russian Minister has reiterated several times that everybody should pay attention to human rights but that this should not turn into an interference in other state's internal affairs.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1996-12-18 ; Tanjug, 1996-12-18

[06] LILIC: POLITICAL EVENTS IN SERBIA ARE BAD FOR THE SITUATION IN YUGOSLAVIA

'The latest developments concerning local polls in Serbia have had quite a negative impact on advantages for the country's economic recovery we have created,' Lilic said on his visit to the Serbian Post, Telegraph and Telephone Services. In this context, he said the developments could affect Yugoslavia's stability and foreign companies' interest in economic cooperation with the country.

'The opposition and to the great extent authorities as well have great historical responsibility in the light of the separatists' and certain foreign factors' newly awakened hopes that they will finally achieve their goals thanks to the Serbs' disunity, and completely destabilise Serbia and cause its possible disintegration,' he said. Yugoslavia would do all it could to prevent this from happening and would use all political means to find a solution to the issue, he added.

Lilic said all parliamentary parties must show wisdom and must cooperate in achieving goals of economic development and all that could make it possible for this country to catch up with Europe as soon as possible. He said, 'the only true way out is a political solution in line with democratic principles and adopted by countries with a long democratic tradition like Serbia.'

He stressed that court decisions must be respected by both authorities as well as the opposition, because he said the court had not given a single vote to any party by annulling election results in constituencies where irregularities had been observed.

'The new round of polls was the only thing it was insisted on and all it took was to run in that round and confirm one's victory,' he said.

Lilic said the ruling party must accept the opposition's justified requests that it raise the issue of its members' responsibility in constituencies where irregularities had been observed, because he said what Serbia needed most at this point were peace and stability rather than possible conflicts that would affect also Europe.

All parties concerned must reach agreement in the interest of the citizens of Serbia who have not given a mandate to anyone to destabilise the country, he said, adding that this was in the interest of its citizens, who he said alone had the right to decide what kind of state they were going to live in and what leadership they would put their confidence in, he said.

Lilic said parliamentary elections in Serbia would be held next year, saying it was necessary to create meanwhile conditions for high-level election campaigns by all parties. This can be achieved through talks rather than through threats and calls by some opposition leaders on the world community to reimpose sanctions on Yugoslavia, he said.

Lilic warned against calls to block Serbia's foreign funds again, adding that he was confident that no one in Yugoslavia wanted this to happen. He said it was therefore necessary to focus on work again as well as on reaching agreement and strengthening rather than weakening Serbia. This must be the goal of both the ruling party as well as the opposition, he said.

'Our obligation is to build the future rather than to turn to the past, and to rule the country in the interest of the majority of its citizens,' he said. He also said he was confident that neither Yugoslavia nor its federal entities, Serbia and Montenegro, could follow a different path.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1996-12-18 ; Tanjug, 1996-12-17

[07] OSCE CONFIRMS SENDING A DELEGATION TO BELGRADE

Former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzales has agreed to head the delegation comprising high-level diplomats and experts from several OSCE member-states, as proposed by OSCE Chairman, Swiss Foreign Minister Flavio Cotti.

Cotti has asked his special representative to 'seek information from all political forces and institutions, including the media, and from the judiciary on the facts and events relating to the municipal elections, including the annulment of their results'.

Cotti expects that the delegation will have free access to all persons, institutions, election commissions and documents that they consider necessary, the OSCE statement says.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1996-12-18 ; Tanjug, 1996-12-17

[08] PREPARATIONS UNDER WAY FOR OSCE DELEGATION TO VISIT YUGOSLAVIA

The OSCE has assessed as positive Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's proposal that an eminent OSCE delegation visit Yugoslavia to get informed about the situation in the country, with a view to eliminating all reservations in relations between Yugoslavia and the international community.

According to usually well-informed sources in Geneva, the delegation is most likely to be made up of representatives of the U.S., Russia, the E.U. and the OSCE 'three' - former, current and next country-chairman.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State John Kornblum told reporters at the U.S. Mission here late on Monday that he was pleased with the Milosevic proposal that an OSCE delegation visit Yugoslavia, and said he hoped that would be very soon.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1996-12-18 ; Tanjug, 1996-12-17

[09] SERBIAN PREMIER MARJANOVIC BACKS PARLIAMENTARY DISCUSSION

Marjanovic, who attended a session of the Assembly of Serbia, told reporters that the election results, according to which the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Yugoslav United Left (JUL) and New Democracy (ND) have won 70% of votes at the Federal level and 65% at the local, should be respected.

Democracy must be respected even in the case of one-vote majority, as was the case with the election of (German) Chancellor (Helmut) Kohl, Marjanovic said.

Commenting the domestic and foreign media coverage, Marjanovic said the coverage provided by the foreign press had been 'relatively good'. He noted that the New York Times, the Washington Post, Liberation, and Der Standard were asking what the opposition coalition 'Zajedno' wanted at all.

Turning to domestic media, Marjanovic said there was no black list and he was speaking for himself when asking 'why do they report things which are not true, and do so at the worst time for our country.'

It would be good if journalists were only to publish the truth, Marjanovic said.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1996-12-18 ; Tanjug, 1996-12-17

[10] SERBIAN PARLIAMENT SPEAKER: IMPORTANT LAWS WERE ADOPTED

Tomic told Tanjug and Radio Belgrade that the Parliament had worked efficiently and that its present composition had enabled it to work in normal conditions.

Referring to the decision to organize a Panel Discussion on current issues regarding recent elections, Tomic said that at the time when the development of democracy and dialogue was being sought by all, this discussion would provide the best opportunity to all Parliament members to meet and discuss many issues.

Asked when the first session of the Panel Discussion would be held, Tomic said it was yet to be agreed, but noted that the parliamentary debate on this subject on Tuesday constituted in a way a first session.

Today's debate has already shown differences in views, there have been amendments, and Serbian Radical Party has participated very actively, which demonstrates a great interest in this form of discussion, Tomic underlined.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1996-12-18 ; Tanjug, 1996-12-17

[11] SERBIA ASSEMBLY DECIDES TO A OPEN PANEL DISCUSSION ON ELECTIONS

The Assembly decided that representatives of the parliamentary groupings and the Republican Government participate in the discussion, and that each parliamentary grouping chose one representative. The Panel Discussion is to last until all proposed topics are covered, and its first session will be scheduled and the work chaired by the Socialist Party of Serbia representative until the rules of work are adopted.

The decision on the Panel Discussion will take effect a day after it is published in the Official Gazette and the discussion will be accessible to the public and media.

Head of the SPS grouping Gorica Gajevic said, 'the election procedure in our country is one of the most complicated,' which she noted had both positive and negative sides to it.

Gajevic said it was positive that the procedure prevented violations of the election rules, and the negative was that election activities unfolded at several levels, were complicated and could therefore be unclear for most of the people.

The Panel Discussion is in keeping with the place and time, since 'it is not necessary that it unfold in the streets, but at a level of political culture which corresponds to the majority of participants in the political life.'

The deputies of the opposition SRS urged that the discussion be held in the Assembly and carried live on TV.

Yugoslav Daily Survey, 1996-12-18 ; Tanjug, 1996-12-17

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