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MILS NEWS 12/02/96From: "M.I.L.S." <mils@MILS.SPIC.ORG.MK>Macedonian Information Liaison Service DirectoryCONTENTS[01] GOVERNMENT WITH NINE NEW MEMBERS[02] CRVENKOVSKI: 'GOVERNMENT WITH CLEAR POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITY'[03] NEW UNPREDEP FORCE COMMANDER APPOINTED[04] POSITIVE EXPERIENCE IN THE COOPERATION WITH UN[05] UNCERTAINTY IN THE NEGOTIATIONS ON THE NAME[06] FRENCH DIPLOMACY DISAGREES WITH BADINTER REPORT[07] REPROGRAMMING THE DEBT TOWARDS GREAT BRITAIN[08] 10.2 MILLION $US FOR REVITALIZATION OF MACEDONIAN VILLAGES[09] SLAVCHO PATINKOV FROM BULGARIA - WINNER OF 'MAVROVO MEMORIAL'MILS SUPPLEMENT[10] Double More Than Planned ('Nova Makedonija', 10 February 1996)MILS NEWSSkopje, 12 February 1996[01] GOVERNMENT WITH NINE NEW MEMBERSLast Saturday, Macedonian Premiere, Branko Crvenkovski, announced the list of the members he proposes for the new Government.There are no members of the Liberal Party in the list. The structure of the new Government and the list of the vice - ministers was submitted to the President of the Macedonian Parliament, Stojan Andov, the same day, and the Premiere asked him to schedule the Parliament session for 13 February, when the proposal should be discussed. Premiere's list is as following:Vice - Premieres: Jane Miljoski, Bekjir Zutta and Ljube Trpevski; Minister of Defense - Blagoj Hanjiski; Minister of Foreign Affairs - Ljubomir Frchkovski; Minister of Justice - Vlado Popovski; Minister of Finances - Taki Fitti; Minister of Internal Affairs - Tomislav Chokrevski; Minister of Education and Sports - Sofia Todorova; Minister of Health Care - Ilija Filipche; Minister of Traffic - Dimitar Buzlevski; Minister of Civil Engineering and Ecology - Jorgo Shundovski, Minister of Science - Aslan Selmani; Minister of Culture - Slobodan Unkovski; Minister of Labour and Social Policy - Naser Zibberi; Minister of Development - Abdul Menaf Bajetti; Minister of Agriculture - Nikola Parakeov; Minister of Economy - Bekjir Zutta and Ministers without portfolio - Vlado Naumovski and Jemail Haidari. [02] CRVENKOVSKI: 'GOVERNMENT WITH CLEAR POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITY'Macedonian Premiere, Branko Crvenkovski, pointed out the two main reasons for the reconstruction of the Government. The first one, he said, was to obtain a much more responsible attitude of the Government towards the problems it comes across and towards the realization of its program. The second reason was to overcome the unnatural situation of having a Government partly political and partly expert, a situation which offered to have the power, but not necessarily to be clearly politically responsible. It is well known that the Liberal Party did not vote for this Government in the Parliament, and later announced that its members do not participate in the Governmental Coalition as party representatives, but as experts, chosen by the Premiere himself.In this context, Crvenkovski said: 'They did not come out with a positive reply to our appeals to change their attitude. Considering the fact that Macedonia needs a Government for which functioning will have to bear clear political responsibility, it was obvious that the new structure of the Government will exclude the ministers - experts, members of the Liberal Party. If the existence of the Alliance for Macedonia is conditioned by the one of the Governmental Coalition, than the Alliance for Macedonia does not exist since the Liberals did not vote for this Government in the Parliament. But as the Alliance for Macedonia has survived these 13 months, without the participation of Liberals as party representatives in the Government, I do not see any reason why should that be changed with the reconstruction. My opinion is that the identity of the Alliance for Macedonia is based on its electoral program platform. I guarantee that the new Government will fully remain on these program determinations. And the Alliance for Macedonia should not and must not be a closed structure. Any political subject, even any individual, who accept its platform as their own and are ready to contribute to its realization, can consider themselves a part of the Alliance. I consider the appeal of the President of the Republic, presented by all media, a reflection of his feeling of responsibility for the situation in the country. Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM) fully accepted his suggestion to reconsider its attitudes, which we did, and had another meeting with the representatives of the Liberal Party. The meeting was held, I think, in a very constructive atmosphere, when we once again explained the reasons for taking such an attitude. You will realize there are nine new individuals proposed in the new Government. It explains what did the term 'thorough reconstruction', so much used in the media lately, mean.' - said Crvenkovski. [03] NEW UNPREDEP FORCE COMMANDER APPOINTEDThe UN Secretary-General, Boutros Boutros Ghali, appointed Brigadier-General Bo Wranker from Sweden as Force Commander of UNPREDEP, succeeding Brigadier-General Juha Engstrom of Finland. The official change of command will take place on 29 February 1996 and will be marked by a ceremony at the Nordic Battalion in Petrovec.Wranker stated for the Macedonian radio and Television that UN mission in Macedonia has good contacts and wide cooperation with the Government, as well as with public in general, adding that he believed that UNPREDEP will justify what is expected from them. Wranker positively estimated the separation of UNPREDEP from the rest of the UN peace forces on the territory of former SFRY, as it once again confirms the fact the Peace Mission in Macedonia is a new example of carrying out preventive activities in the history of such operations of UN. [04] POSITIVE EXPERIENCE IN THE COOPERATION WITH UNThe first Congress of Balkan Peace Movements ended yesterday in Thessaloniki, Greece. The representatives of the Committee for Peace and Civil Initiatives of Republic of Macedonia also participated. The Congress was organized by the Greek Committee for International D,tente and Peace, and the subjects of discussion were the problems in the Balkans, and the role of peace movements and their coordination in the region. Macedonian delegation distanced from the Declaration adopted on the Congress, because of the attitude stated in it, referring to the role and the status of UN as an instrument of USA. Macedonian delegation pointed out the positive experience of the cooperation with UN, especially through the first preventive diplomatic mission of UNPREDEP, that includes US soldiers, and which contributed to the preserving of the peace and stability in the country. It was also said that the joining of Republic of Macedonia in the 'Partnership for Peace' program is a positive step in the development of its independence and sovereignty.[05] UNCERTAINTY IN THE NEGOTIATIONS ON THE NAMEThe reconstruction of the Macedonian Government was not of a great interest for the Greek media, with exemption of the agency ANA. It informed that the absence of the Liberal Party in the new Government is the first opened split between President Kiro Gligorov and Premiere Branko Crvenkovski. Greek TV station 'ET 1' commented that appointing Ljubomir Frchkovski a Foreign Minister might influence the attitude of the Macedonian delegation in the negotiations in New York.As 'Nova Makedonija' informed, Athens papers pay much attention to the Greek-Turkish relations, which prevent Greek Government to realize the announced compromise for the complex name of the northern neighbour. It is connected also with the colder relations of Greece with FR Yugoslavia, after it was concluded that Belgrade will not postpone the establishing of the diplomatic relations with Skopje after 26 February, when the EU will reconsider the possibility for normalizing the relations with FRY. However, Athens pays special attention to the development of good relations with Skopje, despite the name dispute. Greek daily 'Elefterotipia' wrote that Skopje is ready to discuss about a complex name, and Macedonian party would, apparently, agree on the name 'Vardar Macedonia'. [06] FRENCH DIPLOMACY DISAGREES WITH BADINTER REPORTParisian daily 'Le Mond', according to A-1 Television, yesterday reported the view of the French Foreign Ministry that FR Yugoslavia should be given the political continuity of former SFRY, while it should share the economical and financial one with the former Yugoslav republics. 'Le Mond' also wrote that the opinion of the Foreign Ministry is close to the one of official Belgrade, which surprised USA, Germany and Netherlands. The attitude of Washington is that all the newly formed countries of former Yugoslav republics are equal political and economical successors of SFRY, which was the attitude of the Badinter's Commission, as well.According to unofficial diplomatic sources of 'Le Mond', FRY would have only 5 percent of the finances of former SFRY. [07] REPROGRAMMING THE DEBT TOWARDS GREAT BRITAINMacedonian Government successfully ended the talks with British Government representatives on reprogramming the Macedonian debt of 8.7 million $US. The part of 7.3 million $US will be reprogrammed for the period of 15 years, while 1.5 million $US will be paid off starting from this year.This is the fourth such agreement Macedonia has made with countries-members of the Paris Club, and the next negotiations will be with Sweden. USA, France, Denmark and Netherlands have also submitted draft-agreements on reprogramming the debt of Macedonia, to the Macedonian Government. Meanwhile, a mission of the International Monetary Fund is discussing the so-called ISAF Arrangement with the representatives of the National Bank of Macedonia. This Arrangement prolongs the planned period of the Stand-by Arrangement and provides favorable credit conditions for restructuring of the Macedonian economy. This is also a farewell visit of the Chief of IMF Mission to Macedonia, Paul Thomsen, who will be succeeded by Robert Corker. [08] 10.2 MILLION $US FOR REVITALIZATION OF MACEDONIAN VILLAGESThe International Fundation for Agriculture Development will participate in the Project for revitalization of the villages in Macedonia with 10.2 million $US. 'Makpress' agency informed on the readiness of this organization to give professional and technical aid for the Project.The agreement for the aid was reached on the recent meeting of the Executive Committee of IFAD in Rome, also attended by a Macedonian delegation. On their side, Macedonian Government will intervene with 15 million denars in the revitalization of the Macedonian villages. [09] SLAVCHO PATINKOV FROM BULGARIA - WINNER OF 'MAVROVO MEMORIAL'Bulgarian skier Slavcho Patinkov is the winner of the 35th ski 'Mavrovo Memorial'. Amongst racers from Hungary, Romania, Croatia, FRY and Macedonia, on a trace of 30 kilometres, best positioned Macedonian skier was Ilija Nastevski, who won the 7th position.MILS SUPPLEMENT[10] Double More Than Planned('Nova Makedonija', 10 February 1996)The construction of the rail track to Republic of Bulgaria, which has started 16 months ago, will most probably be accomplished till the end of 1998, and not at the beginning of this year, as it was planned initially. Instead the firstly planned 120 million $US, the latest estimations show that from 200 to 300 million $US will be needed for the project. Unofficially, these estimations were confirmed on the latest round table discussions about the transport corridor East - West. On this occasion feasibility studies were presented by the Macedonian Railways and by the two foreign consultative firms: EVI from Z=FCrich and BRI from K"ln. These firms were engaged by the German Government, in the frames of the technical aid for the railway corridor East - West.The study of the Macedonian Railways, submitted to the Macedonian Ministry of Traffic last August, and based on the projects made in this enterprise, said the total expenses for the construction of the rail track will be about 208 million $US. 36 million $US will be spent for reconstructing the 30 kilometres section Kumanovo - Beljakovci, and 172 million $US for the construction of 55 kilometres rail track from Beljakovci to the border tunnel. The timing of finishing the construction is planned to be three years. This excludes the electrification, which is planned to be done after 1998, simultaneously with the Bulgarian electrification of the section Radomir - Gjueshevo. The study prepared by the foreign experts was based on a contract between the Macedonian and the German Governments. The Technical Aid Protocol anticipated a part from the funds to be spent on a feasibility study, prepared by foreign experts, and in a form suitable for presenting to the European finance institution. The aim was to provide financial support for the project. The consultative firms, EVI and BRI, used a part of the feasibility study of the Macedonian Railways. The study they submitted to the Macedonian Ministry of Traffic, last September, said 344 million $US would have to be spent, a significantly greater sum than the one planned by the Macedonian Railways. They calculated that 58 million $US will be needed for the section Kumanovo - Beljakovci, and 386 million $US for the section Beljakovci - Bulgarian border (i.e. 5.2 million $US per one kilometre). Their estimations were based on data and experiences from similar constructions in West European countries. Macedonian Railways did not completely agree with some positions of the foreign study, mostly referring to the part of electrification and the prices for the tunnels and bridges, as well as to the expenses for planning and revision. Macedonian Railways suggested the calculation to be reduced for 286 million $US, i.e. to reach the price of 49 million $US for the reconstruction of the section Kumanovo - Beljakovci and 237 million $US (4.3 million $US per kilometre) for the section Beljakovci - border tunnel. 50 million $US have already been spent, and the final cost of this project will soon be known. The Rail Track Construction Sector of Macedonian Railways and the competent Ministry are finalizing the negotiations with the four construction enterprises, 'Pelagonija', 'Granit', 'Beton' and 'Mavrovo' about the prices of the construction. The misunderstandings that were caused by the conditions set by the above mentioned enterprises, for the prices to be increased for 40 percent, instead of the offered 20 percent, are expected to be settled. After the contracts between the investors and the constructors are signed, the final cost of the project will be known. (end)mils news 12 February, 1996 |
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