MILS NEWS 05/03/96

From: "M.I.L.S." <mils@MILS.SPIC.ORG.MK>

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 5 March 1996

[01] ANDOV - 'ELECTION OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT A BAD PRECEDENT'

Macedonian media yesterday announced the resignation of the President of Macedonian Parliament, Stojan Andov, which he had previously submitted to the Parliament. The resignation reads:

'I submit this resignation because I was elected to perform this duty by the members of the Parliament who were chosen from the joint list of the Alliance for Macedonia in October 1994. That Coalition does not exist since the new Government was elected on 23 February 1996. I view the procedure of Premiere Branko Crvenkovski regarding the proposing and electing of the new Government as one sided breaking up with the Coalition. I find this way of electing a new Government a bad precedent, as it is contrary to the will of the voters and with the basic principle of the parliamentary democracy. Premiere Branko Crvenkovski was given his mandate by President of the Republic as a candidate of the Alliance for Macedonia. By rejecting the Liberal Party from the group of Parties within the Alliance, he actually created another group. That is enough Constitutional basis for the Premiere to return his mandate and to ask for a new one in the name of the new group of Parties. The Premiere, however, did not act accordingly, and overlooked the Constitutional role of the President of the Republic in the procedure of electing a new Government. That created a new position of the Premiere, unknown in the practice of the parliamentary democracy.

What happened during the proposing and electing of the new Government proved there was an intention to disturb the constitutionally set relations between the Government and the Parliament. Premiere's attitude of giving orders to the Parliament became obvious.

This precedent of electing a new Government, without presenting a report of the previous one, and without having a program for the next period, confirmed that the role of the Parliament had been changed and reduced.

What is most worrying is that the disturbed relations between the Premiere and the President of the Republic, as well as between the Premiere and the Parliament have been understood in the public as a subordinating of a Party and a consequence of that Party's decisions.

I think the principle of responsibility has been abandoned both in the work of the Government lately, and in its electing. It gives the possibility the Governmental bodies to be misused by the Premiere and the Ministers, as they would not have to bear the responsibility for that because of the subordinated role of the Parliament. All this creates a new situation which will probably result in an increased legal insecurity and inequality of the citizens before the law, as well as in the disturbance of the human rights and freedoms of citizens in all areas of life. It might also weaken the free initiative in the economy, which will deepen the political, economy and social crisis in the country.'

At the end of the text, Andov points out the most significant moments of the period from the first elections till now, which are of greatest historical importance for the Macedonian citizens and the nation. He also expresses his gratitude for the cooperation to the President Kiro Gligorov, to all members of Governments in that period, to the employees of the Parliament, to the journalists and to all citizens of the Republic of Macedonia.

[02] SEMINAR ON MILITARY LAW IN SKOPJE

Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj Hanjiski yesterday opened a five-day comparative Seminar on the US and the Republic of Macedonia Military Law. The Seminar was organized by the Macedonian Ministry of Defense and the contact team of the US-Macedonia program 'Bridge to America'. Subjects of discussion will be the role of the army in the democratic societies, civil control of the army, international military law and UN operations, military an the public relations, and the international law and war crimes. Representatives of the Defense and Internal Affairs Ministries of Macedonia and of the legislative bodies will participate in the work, while four US high rank officers - experts in military law will be the lecturers.

In the opening remarks, Minister Hanjiski said that in such a period, when the defense in the World, and especially in the Euro-Atlantic area, was of an integral character, the cooperation was the only way to overcome the risks for the peace and stability. After a rather long period, he added, there was a chance for the peace to return in the Balkan region, which had been completely supported by the international community and by the collective security and defense systems.

[03] MACEDONIAN LANGUAGE SPOKEN IN NORTHERN GREECE

Macedonian language is one of the languages of minorities in the European Union and is spoken by the Macedonian minority in Northern Greece. This is one of the conclusions stated in the report of the 'European Bureau for Less Spoken Languages' of the European Union, published by the Swedish paper 'Dagens Inheter'. As 'Makpress' agency reported, the paper further read that this Bureau will intensify the efforts to increase the pressure to the competent bodies of the EU member countries to fulfill the rights of the minorities to be informed and educated in their mother tongue.

[04] ROMANIAN MINISTER MALESHKANU IN MACEDONIA

On invitation of the Macedonian Foreign Minister, Ljubomir Frchkovski, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, Theodore Maleshkanu, will pay an official visit to Macedonia on 7 and 8 March 96. Romanian Minister will meet with the highest Macedonian officials, and it is expected that both Ministries will sign a Protocol on cooperation.

[05] RAIL TRACK MACEDONIA - BULGARIA DISCUSSED

Delegations of the Macedonian and Bulgarian Ministries of Transport met yesterday at the border crossing of Deve Bair and discussed the stage of the project on the rail track connecting of the two countries. They visited the border tunnel, recently being constructed, as well as other objects of the project constructed in the district of Kriva Palanka.

Today, Bulgarian Delegation, led by Minister of Transport Stamen Stamenov, is expected to met with the Macedonian Minister of Transport, Dimitar Buzlevski and with Premiere Crvenkovski.

[06] MORE INTENSIVE ECONOMY COOPERATION WITH CHEZCH REPUBLIC

Representatives of the Macedonian and the Chezch Chambers of Commerce concluded in Prague, yesterday, that economy cooperation between the two countries will be intensified by signing of new bilateral agreements. They further agreed on signing an Agreement on Economy Cooperation between the two Chambers and on forming a mutual Business Council as an operative cooperation organ. The second phase was agreed to be the establishing of a joint Chamber and better information connecting. Macedonian entrepreneurs had several meetings with Chezch entrepreneurs yesterday, and more are planned to take place today.

[07] COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF EDUCATION WITH BRITAIN

Macedonian Minister of Education Sofia Todorova received yesterday the British Ambassador to Macedonia Tony Millson, discussing the mutual efforts to intensify the cooperation in the field of education. Millson informed Todorova about the preparations for signing the Agreement on Cooperation in Education, Science and Culture, as a basis for further activities in these areas.

[08] MACEDONIAN GREEK CONTACTS ON ECONOMY COOPERATION

'Makpress' agency informed that the Association of Exporters from Northern Greece will organize a mission to intensify the cooperation with Macedonian enterprises on 18 and 19 March this year. It is planned that 76 enterprises will participate, many collective farms from Northern Greece, as well as representatives of the Chamber of Craftsmen from Thessaloniki, the Bank Center 'Helexpo' and several well known banks.

[09] SUGGESTED FOUNDATION INVESTMENT FOR BANKS

On its session held yesterday, the Macedonian Government accepted the Proposal for bringing a Law on Changes of the Law on Banks, by which the foundation investment was decided to be 7 million DM in denars, i.e. 21 million DM for those who want to be authorized to have credit relations with foreign countries. The Proposal for changing the Law on Reconstruction of Banks was also accepted, and the news are that the obligations that have appeared after using the Paris Club credits will be taken over by Macedonia from the banks. The Proposal on changing the Law on the National Bank of Macedonia was also adopted, as well as the draft Law on the ratification of the Agreement of Macedonian Government and the Swiss Federal Council to reprogram the debt of Macedonia. The report on the realization of the program of the Agency for the Underdeveloped Areas for the last and this year was also accepted.

[10] RETURNING THE FORCEFULLY TAKEN AWAY PROPERTIES

Macedonian Ministry of Finance yesterday issued a public announcement to the citizens to submit their requests for returning the forcefully taken away properties. The requests should be submitted within 45 days from the day of the announcement.

As asked by the Parliament, Finance Ministry has prepared 14 kinds of forms which should create the picture for the realization of the Law on Denationalization. The forms will collect the data for the requests of the population, and will help in the calculation of the debts which will follow.

These documents will be treated only as evidence, and after the Law on Denationalization is passed, certain forms again will have to be filled in, but based on the new legislation.

[11] ADDITIONAL ELECTIONS IN THE UNIT 102 IN SKOPJE

The procedure for the additional parliamentary elections in the electoral unit 102 in Skopje have began yesterday. The voting is scheduled for 7 April 96, and the deputy chosen will replace the position of Naser Ziberi from PDP, who was appointed a Minister of Labour and Social Affairs.

[12] MACEDONIA WITHOUT INFLATION

As Macedonian Institute of Statistics officially announced, there was no inflation in Macedonia in February this year.

Retail prices in February remained unchanged in comparison with those in January. The cost of living have increased for 0.1% in February. The planned inflation rate for this year in Macedonia is 6%.

[13] AWARD FOR THE ALTERNATIVE THEATRE

The jury of the first International Alternative Theatre in Podgorica gave the award of the Montenegrin Ministry of Culture to the play 'Under the Clouds' directed by Darko Mitrevski and Alexandar Popovski, and performed by the Culture Centre 'Little Stage' from Skopje. Macedonian play competed with around 40 plays from Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary, Great Britain, Russia, France and Italy.

MILS SUPPLEMENT

[14] No Regulations on the Referendum

('Vecer', 5 March 1996)

The idea to organize earliy elections by collecting 150 000 signatures was, till recently, mentioned only from time to time. We can now say that the initiators have started an offensive. The situation within the Alliance for Macedonia, which ended with the breakdown of the Alliance, was one of the catalysts.

After the Democratic Party presented the idea to collect 150 000 signatures on a referendum for earliy elections, VMRO - DPMNE announced its decision to support the initiative. The Democrats find it normal to establish the 'rules of the game', and VMRO - DPMNE are claiming that 'the action for collecting signatures will take place during the first half of this year'.

The early parliamentary elections were mentioned in the Parliament, which gave this idea quite different dimensions.

Namely, Liberals asked for early elections, as they found it would be a fair way to clear out the relations within the Alliance and the situation in the politics after its breakdown. It was even said that 'the signatures of all Liberals-members of the Parliament have been collected'.

They were joined by the parliamentary group of PDPA.

There are some calculations that collecting the signatures would cost 2 to 3 million DM. Taking into account the sum, no wonder the procedure is insisted to be cleared. It is also of great importance that future establishing of the political parties will depend on the results of the initiative.

The procedure is, on the other hand, rather vague. Except the Constitutional paragraphs, there are no other regulations.

The first confusion appears at the very beginning. Who and where will sign, how and who will identify the signatures, is nowhere regulated. It is also unknown what follows after the signatures collected are submitted to the Parliament. So is whether it will be necessary that the signatures are submitted to the Parliament and by whom, or they will be directly presented to the MPs.

The following level is also vague. The Constitution reads:

'The Parliament is obliged to organize a referendum if it is suggested by at least 150 000 voters.' The entry is clear, but there is no further clarification. For example, what is the term within which that should be accomplished and when should the referendum take place? The defining of the question of the referendum is also unclear: who and how should formulate and precise it?

The term within which new elections must be organized in case the result of the referendum requires that is also nowhere stated. The situation is the same regarding the time after which a new referendum may be organized on the same issue. There is a Law on Referendum, but it originates from the previous system and is inadequate for this new times.

The election regulations are also a handicap. It is well known that, since the Constitution was passed, the necessity to bring new regulations on the elections is being stressed.

Unfortunately, there are still no any.

There are opinions in some scientific circles that the initiative might be carried out with a direct applying of the Constitution, which clearly reads: 'signatures of 150 000 voters'. There are lists of voters, electoral boards, electoral district commissions, which might be activated by the Parliament. The Constitution also defines the two main elements: 50% of the voters must participate in the referendum, and a half of them must vote 'for' to consider the result of the referendum a positive one. As there is no Law, the procedure might be carried out by an active engagement of the Parliament and by its communicating with the initiators of the referendum.

(end)

mils news 5 March 1996