MAK-NEWS 17/10/95 (M.I.C.)

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

Macedonian Information Centre Directory

CONTENTS

SKOPJE, OCTOBER 17, 1995 (MIC)

[01] PRESIDENT IN A GOOD HEALTH CONDITION

President Gligorov's health condition is good. His bodily temperature is normalizing. The active rehabilitation is continuing. The hospital treatment is continuing as well, is said in the report of the medical team.

[02] MEMORANDUM ON THE RULES FOR CROSSING THE BORDER

Yesterday, the Memorandum on the practical measures related to the Interim Accord signed in New York was announced simultaneously in Skopje and Athens, at 12.00 hours according to Macedonian and 13.00 hours according to Greek time.

In effect, this Memorandum encompasses one article from the Interim Accord from New York (article 5), which regulates the visa-passport regime, however, it has also not been accepted entirely, since Macedonian expert groups are scheduled to leave for Athens on Wednesday or Thursday, where they will work out the details surrounding the entrance of Macedonian and Greek citizens into Greece, or Macedonia.

These expert groups will work on the practical application of the Memorandum (not including politics), such as the type of visas that will be issued, the cost, the lasting period, etc. As yet, the Memorandum does not include the opening of liaisons offices in Skopje and Athens, while the expert groups have to agree on that this week.

What's important for the citizens is that the visas will be issued directly at the border crossing. The visas will be issued in "a reasonable number" due to the technical limitations of the border points. Practically, this means that it could quite possibly happen for some citizens not to be issued visas due to the limited capabilities.

What's very important for the Memorandum is that it foresees identical, i.e. reciprocal measures for both the Macedonian and Greek side. In the upcoming negotiations these days, the Macedonian representatives will insist on implementing standard forms in the visa-passport regime, which will practically mean that Greece will have to implement the provisions for the issuance of visas as a member of the European Union. More precisely, there will be no need to ask for additional documents, just the basic ones, whereby a larger number of citizens from RM will be able to enter Greece. As to the green cards for the vehicles, this week, the competent institutions in Macedonia and Greece will have to get organized and sign an agreement with which the insurance of the vehicles will apply for both countries.

[03] MACEDONIAN GOODS TRAVELLING UNDER CONSTITUTIONAL NAME

Goods manufactured in the Republic of Macedonia, which will be exported to Greece, will bear the name of the producer (Made in Macedonia). The Greek organs will put stickers on these goods (Made in FYROM), before clearing them through customs.

The documents of the goods from Macedonia, passing through Greece in transit, which will bear the constitutional name of the state, will be added one more document by the Greek organs, stating that the goods are made in FYROM.

Furthermore, no changes are planned to the privy seals that will be used by the border organs of the Republic of Macedonia.

The above serves to deny all speculation that the Government in Skopje is accepting any kind of changes to the name of the state, in the communication with Greece.

[04] MACEDONIAN RAILWAYS READY FOR TRAFFIC WITH GREECE

The Macedonian delegation which will be leaving today for Greece to specify the rules for the transport and communications between the two countries will also consist of representatives of the Macedonian railways.

Everything is ready in Macedonia for the normal flow of the passenger and cargo traffic, as well as the transport of petrol. 16 diesel locomotives have been adapted to be able to get included in the cargo traffic throughout Macedonia, as well as 11 out of 13 electric locomotives which run on the line toward Greece.

The Macedonian railways will be able to cope with the whole traffic, especially the transport of the "trapped" 17 cisterns with crude oil, as well as the announced new 120,000 tones of petrol. Otherwise, the opening of the border with Greece is of exceptional importance for the Macedonian railways, since precisely this type of transport suffered the most damages from the embargo.

[05] GREECE PLEASED WITH SIGNING OF MEMORANDUM

The Greek Government is pleased with the signing of the Memorandum on the practical measures for the application of the Interim Accord. It is believed that the open questions have been resolved in a satisfactory way.

The Greek state TV has announced that businessmen from both countries are welcoming the latest development in the bilateral relations. Trade Minister Anastasios Pepois stated that the new situation on the border will help in the economic development of both countries.

The newspaper of the moderate left-wing "Elefterotipia" published the public opinion that "a great majority Greeks feel that the document signed in New York is positive, however, they are categorically against a complex name of the neighboring state, which would contain the word Macedonia."

[06] END OF TRIAL AGAINST GREECE

The European Commission is still not making an official decision about dropping the charges brought against Greece in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, against the trade embargo which this country imposed on the Macedonian-Greek border. Following the lifting of the embargo, "the charges have become pointless and it is only a question of time when they will be dropped," representatives of the European Commission say.

It is foreseen that on Wednesday, during its regular meeting, the Commission will also formally ask the Court in Luxembourg to stop the procedure.

[07] FORMAL CELEBRATION OF 50 YEARS OF THE UN

The ceremonies in Macedonia, marking the 50-year anniversary of the UN, will start with a formal assembly tonight, at 20.00 hours. In accordance with his present constitutional competence, Parliamentary Speaker Stojan Andov will talk about the jubilee.

As an equal member of the UN, alongside 183 other states, Macedonia is making its own contribution in the affirmation of the goals and tasks of the world organization. The general goal of the Organization is to stabilize the international relations and to create solid grounds for peace. Between the threat of nuclear war and regional conflicts, the UN peace-keeping operations have become the main task. In this process, the actions of the peace-keepers with "blue helmets" have come out in the forefront as the UN's most characteristic role.

MACEDONIAN PRESS REVIEW:

[08] "VECER": "ONLY CRUMBS LEFT FROM THE PARTY KITCHENS"

The relatively densely "populated" political space in the country has considerably lessened the prospects of the parties for more independent political identification. Although realistically, there is a fund of some 30 options, in fact, the differences between the majority political parties are very small. All of them contain the word "democratic" in their name, which should probably guarantee the desire to communicate with the people, the public.

But, as the meticulous analysts are noting, the public is kept aside from what's going on inside the parties more and more. The analysts are underlining the transparency during the time when they were being formed, back when it was necessary to recruit more members, unlike now, four years later, when they are slowly closing up. This reclusiveness is firstly noticed inside the parties themselves, where elite nucleuses of the people from the party top are being formed. This attitude is spread to the membership and finally, the relationship between parties, which is probably owed to their mutual distrust.

To these and similar assertions which are aimed at forming the theory about how public the activities of the political parties are, Ljupcho Popovski from the SDAM states that, for instance, the sessions of their Central Committee are almost always open to the public. "We have also had closed sessions, like the one in September, which focused on the political and security situation in the country, but that only happens in exceptional cases. Our party's presidency holds sessions every week, in the function of the parliamentary and government activities, but, due to understandable reasons, namely, the party-strategy character, we don't practice having representatives of the public attend these meetings," Popovski explained.

According to Ace Kocevski from the Liberal party, in this stage in the development of pluralism and democracy, it is usual for the meetings of the Executive Committee of their party to be without "guests." "Questions of strategic character are discussed at these meetings, which decide the party stances of our representatives and ministers in the government and parliament. The Executive Committee convenes twice a month, in principle, while the Republic Committee is summoned one in two months, depending on the situation sometimes even more or less," says Ace Kocevski, who also underlined the role of party announcements and news conferences in this process.

On behalf of the Socialist party, the socialist Blagoja Filipovski announced the intention of the Republic Committee to open more toward the public. At present, its members meet exclusively "according to need," while the Executive Committee convenes literally before every session of Parliament. "Provided the representatives of the public show the interest, our party will always be open for conversation. Anyway, even so far, whenever any of our activities were not followed by the press, we always issued appropriate announcements to keep them informed," Filipovski says.

Dosta Dimovska from IMRO-DPMNU, on the other hand, feels that the activities of their party have always been very public. The dynamics of holding meetings of both the Central and Executive Committee of IMRO-DPMNU has been very frequent. "It's common practice for us to have our wider membership attend these meetings. For example, the first constitutive session of the Central Committee was entirely open to the public. We open the Executive Committee only if we feel that it can and should be public," Dimovska stressed, pointing out that the newly-elected people in the Committee will also introduce a new atmosphere in the work, in the direction of opening up the party more to the public.

A conclusion from several years of research conducted by Dr. Cane Mojanoski, on the status and activities of the political parties, is that the work of their central-party, and especially their executive organs, is - through announcements. Dr. Mojanoski says that the parties even offer their final documents to the citizens through their own media, as a form of achieving publicity. Furthermore, when the need arises, the stances are presented through public contacts with the citizens. "We can rightfully say that they are closed subjects, strictly institutionalized, with only internal circulation of the information. Let's ask ourselves - how much do we know about the differentiations which take place in the parties. According to Mojanoski, our political parties are already applying the tactic of closed doors, which is not good neither for them, nor the citizens which are regarded as being close to them. Mojanoski also mentioned the survey which he conducted on that theme, in which out of 1045 people, only 8.90% feel complete openness in the activities of the parties, 27.47% feel there is limited public openness, 19.33% feel its controlled, and 15.69% feel there is no publicity at all!

The parties are probably trying to provide their publicity through their party newspapers: "Demokratija," "Liberal," "Demokratski Forum,"....But, under the condition that it doesn't seem just one-way. For real and complete publicity, something more is necessary. In view of that need, even the Law on political parties insists on publicity in the activities of the parties, in one of its provisions. How justified it is to disrupt the same, for the sake of strategic and narrow-party interests, is also a question.

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