MAK-NEWS 28/02/96 (M.I.C.)

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

Macedonian Information Centre Directory

CONTENTS

SKOPJE, FEBRUARY 28, 1996 (MIC)

[01] GLIGOROV RECEIVES PEACE PRIZE

The Council of the foundation of the Universal Forum Kran Montana informed the President of the Republic of Macedonia, Kiro Gligorov yesterday, that it has made a decision to award him the annual prize of this Forum, for his contributions in the development of the Republic of Macedonia, in the interest of world peace, the cabinet of President Gligorov announced.

President Gligorov will be presented with this prize at the next session of this renowned international forum, which is held under the auspices of the Council of Europe, the European Commission UNIDO and UNESCO.

Previous recipients of this award are: the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus, the President of the Palestinian National Authority Yaser Arafat, the President of the Republic of Bulgaria Zhelyu Zhelev, the prime ministers of Israel Yitsak Rabin and Simon Perez and a number of other statesmen.

[02] FIRST RUSSIAN MILITARY ATTACHE TO MACEDONIA

Macedonia's Defence Minister Blagoy Handziski received the first military attache of the Russian federation to Macedonia yesterday, Colonel Stanislav Gromov, on a protocol visit, the Defence Ministry announced. The meeting was also attended by the charge d' affaires in the Russian embassy, Yury Petrovich Trusin, as well as the Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Macedonian Army General Colonel Yanakie Manasievski.

The high-ranking representatives of the Russian Federation were informed about the basics of the Macedonian defence system, the activities of the Defence Ministry, within the "Partnership for Peace" program, as well as Macedonia's orientations toward full membership in the collective security and defence systems.

During the first half of April, Macedonia will be visited by a military delegation of the Russian Defence Ministry.

[03] RESTRICTION ON ARMS IMPORTS

The EU Ministers' Council has assessed, in reference to the security situation in former Yugoslavia, the Macedonian Radio reported from Brussels yesterday, that the Union should have a restrictive attitude in view of arms exports to Macedonia and Slovenia, following the full lifting of the embargo by the UN Security Council.

The European fifteen have decided to review the approval of the licences for the export of arms from the member- states of the Union to Macedonia and Slovenia, individually, from case to case.

[04] FRCKOVSKI ACCUSED OF BEING INFLEXIBLE

A part of the Greek press have given wide publicity to the statements of the new Foreign Minister Ljubomir Frckovski, in the interview for Radio Skopje on Monday.

In a text entitled "New Provocation of Skopje," the oppositional newspaper ELEFTEROSTIPOS writes that Frckovski has ruled out the possibility of changing the country's constitutional name. The newspaper described as a provocation, the mentioning by minister Frckovski of the Macedonian minority in Greece. The newspaper of the moderate left-wing ELEFTEROTIPIA stated in the title of a text related to Frckovski's statements that "Skopje is unyielding in relation to the name."

ELEFTEROTIPIA emphasizes that Frckovski made these statements only a couple of hours after the protocol visit of the Greek representative Maljas, who conveyed greetings from the Greek Foreign Minister Teodoros Pangalos "however," the newspaper adds, "even despite this, in the interview that can be seen as response to his Greek colleague, the Skopje minister expressed a totally inelastic stance in relation to the name."

"Frckovski," ELEFTEROTIPIA says,"even allowed it to be understood that the open questions also include the question of the Greek toponyms, which are written in a Slavic version in Macedonian passports, as well as the existence of a Macedonian minority in the neighboring countries, which the Skopje media are talking about quite a bit lately."

The Greek press, Makfaks reports, yesterday informed about the meeting Zaharakis-Tosheski in New York, without making any comments.

The Athens commentators are pointing out before the meeting that the dispute over the name will soon be "closed," while some are even announcing that the solution could be found with a compound name.

[05] NEW ELECTIONS IN UNIT 102 IN SKOPJE IN 15 DAYS

Due to the appointment of the MP Naser Ziberi (PDP) as Minister of Labour and Social Politics, new elections will be held in the Skopje electoral unit 102 in Skopje, in 15 days. Naser Ziberi won more than 50 percent of the votes in this election unit, which numbers 13,000 voters, at the last elections in November, 1994.

[06] "MAKPETROL" BOUGHT UP BY MANAGERIAL TEAM

The Privatization Agency of the Republic of Macedonia signed an agreement yesterday for the sale of "Makpetrol" Ltd. to the managerial team. This is one of the more attractive sales- privatizations, made during this process in Macedonia, seeing "Makpetrol" is a successful company from the field of production of oil and oil derivatives.

"Makpetrol" Ltd. from Skopje is valued at 112,381,516 DEM, and according to the previous privatization, according to the old federal laws, it was privatized 56.12 percent. A capital to the value of 33,446,580 DEM remains for a full privatization.

MACEDONIAN PRESS REVIEW:

[07] "NOVA MAKEDONIJA": RECOGNITION THEATER

One more EU Ministerial Council has passed, and neither has the Union normalized its relations with the Serb-Montenegrin federation, nor has Belgrade found it necessary to fulfill the last condition for that - to normalize its relations with Skopje. According to information from Brussels, the foreign ministers of 15 member-states of the Union did not even discuss the establishment of relations with Belgrade on Monday. The current chairman of the Ministerial Council, the Italian minister Susana Anielli clearly said why, this time as well: because Serbia has not fulfilled even the minimum condition for that - mutual recognition with the Republic of Macedonia.

The delays that official Belgrade is making are mysterious for a number of reasons. Of all the conditions set forth in the Dayton accord for its "return" in the international community - recognition of all the states formed after the dissolution of the SFRY, normalization of relations with them, the start of serious democratic changes inside the country, the respect of human and minority rights, cooperation with the Hague Court for war criminals, etc. - recognition with the Republic of Macedonia seems to be the easiest one to realize. There are no more serious problems between the two countries. The agreement regulating the mutual relations has been drawn up, two weeks ago. The Document was, as we have been informed, finally coordinated, "stapled," and only waiting for official signatures.

That is to say, the Document is waiting for Belgrade to show an interest to sign it, since Skopje is interested and it's not hiding that fact. This formal act, which wouldn't cost Serb President Slobodan Milosevich anything, would, in fact, help him realize three goals. It would affirm his sincere orientation towards peace in the Balkans, fulfill the minimum condition for a group normalization of relations with the EU at large, and open the way to his country's return in all international organizations and financial institutions.

"We don't see any reason or obstacles why it shouldn't come to a mutual recognition and normalization of the relations with FRY," Macedonian officials say, and Belgrade representatives are literally echoing these words. However, if there aren't any obstacles, it's obvious that there are some kind of calculations. Before the end of last, and this month, (when the Ministerial Council usually convenes) Belgrade tried to involve the Union in these calculations, and cheat Macedonia in the process. At the time, if you remember, precisely on the day when the EU Ministers' Meeting started, the Belgrade Government reviewed and approved the Agreement on the normalization of relations with Macedonia, early, early in the morning, announcing it publicly through its agency TANJUG. The message to Brussels was supposed to be: there, you see, we have met the condition you asked for, and the only thing left now is the placing of the signatures, which is a pure formality. However, the EU saw through this scam. This time, in the wake of February 26 and the new Ministerial Council, Belgrade made another attempt with a similar "con." First, it took advantage of the delegation of the Macedonian Socialists, giving it wide media importance and coverage, to show that the relations between the two countries are literally normal. Then, the head of the delegation, after returning to Skopje, filled with euphoria, told us how he had a nice "chat" with Milosevich, that the Macedonian-Serbian recognition and normalization of relations had all but taken place, and that, imagine, it would be done under Macedonia's constitutional name! (As if the name had ever actually been a problem and now, thanks to the efforts of the Socialist Party of Macedonia and the good relations with Milosevich, that question had finally been taken off the daily agenda!). The misinformation released by the Belgrade agency BETA last Friday (which, it wasn't difficult to figure out, came from official sources) that caused so much excitement and mislead some Macedonian media, that the Yugoslav Foreign Minister Milan Milutinovich was allegedly in Macedonia to sign the Agreement (but the Macedonian leadership, for who knows which reasons, is hiding from its own public !?) was the height of that, towards Macedonia, equivocally "good-neighborly," and towards the EU - a not very honest diplomatic-media game. The Union wasn't taken this time, as well. But, there's a big difference between the end of January and the end of February. That is the decision of France, made in the meantime, for the unilateral normalization of relations with the FRY, regardless that the latter did not fulfill even this mini-condition of the Union. Belgrade is now hoping that, one by one, the other members of the Union will follow France's example, without having to fulfill any conditions in return. Unofficially, Brussels diplomatic sources say that this time, Serb diplomats explained the delay with the "problems" that Macedonia had over the reconstruction of the Government.

So much theater with unconvincingness in front of the world, however, is certainly not in vain, and in this case, it looks a bit like someone's (European) moment, in the sense "don't hurry with Macedonia so much."

Milosevich knows that many more hard bargaining and deals lie ahead for his country, on its way to the international community. Therefore, it's not a bad idea for him to hold on to as many trump cards as possible. Macedonia can not serve as a trump card in the outwitting over the position of the Serbs in Bosnia and the status of eastern Slavonia, however, it can find some use in the upcoming negotiations "and expected pressure from outside" over Kosovo and the rights of the Albanian minority there. Because, Milosevich was the one who took away Kosovo's autonomy once, and now, he is certainly not too thrilled about the idea to go over everything again, back to the 1974 Constitution. He's going to make a very hard bargain before making even the smallest concession.

It would be pleasing indeed, both for Macedonia and tranquility in the southern part of the Balkans, if Belgrade proves these presumptions wrong, by signing the Agreement on the normalization of Macedonian-Serbian relations.

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