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Serbia Today, 97-04-07Serbia Today Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>Serbia TodayCONTENTS
[01] SECOND DRAFT VERSION OF THE LAW ON PUBLIC INFORMATION PRESENTEDIn the Government of the Republic of Serbia the second draft version of the Law on Public Information was presented which, according to the Minister of Information, was made on the basis of a very broad public debate on the first draft version. The debate covered the entire Serbia - from the panel of the Assembly of Serbia, the republican Government, ministries, political parties, up to professional associations, mass media, distinguished personalities, journalists and citizens themselves. "This comprehensive dialogue is pointing out at the fact, which was our point of departure in drafting the first version, that the Law on Public Information is touching upon the life of every citizen of Serbia and that it is important for us to have the law which will correspond to the highest European standards, but also to the requirements of our own lives", said Minister Milentijevic. According to her, in the debate there were positive views on the provisions based on the Constitution of Serbia, especially those on the establishment of a republican body for protection of freedom of public information, composed of the most distinguished personalities from our public life. There will also be a debate on the second draft version, but a shorter one, and it is to be expected that the Ministry of Information in several weeks time will come up with the final version and submit it to the parliament, announced Minister Milentijevic.Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Politika, 1997-04-05[02] SUPPLEMENT TO THE NEWS BRIEFS: ON THE EVE OF THE ROUND TABLE ON KOSOVO IN NEW YORKIn the Carnegie Corporation in New York today is to begin the three-day meeting on Kosmet. Around the same table there will be representatives of the Albanian political parties headed by Ibrahim Rugova, several leaders of Serbian opposition, but not the representatives of the Socialist Party of Serbia, who are of the view that this problem should and must be discussed but in our own house. It is a public secret that the American organization "Project for National Relations" is spreading its fingers throughout the Eatsren Europe, wherever there are areas with ethnic tensions and is in the most direct way executing the official politics of Washington D.C.Two days ago, leaders of coalition "Zajedno" ("Together") were visiting Washington D.C. for a briefing and had talks with the U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. This overture for New York - as the reports from the ground suggest - was resembling more an uncontrolled attack on the actual rule in Serbia than a serious attempt at finding possibilities to open the process of solution of the Kosovo problem. Vesna Pesic in this sense informed Mrs. Albright of the alleged fact that "authorities in Serbia are sweeping under the carpet the question of Kosovo, and that coalition "Zajedno" is equally respecting all of its citizens, including Albanians". Vuk Draskovic even reproached his American hosts "for having over night transformed instigator of war into a peace-maker". Vuk in his temperamental style used even such a figure of speech as - "Al Capone can not become a Ghandi over night". Draskovic, unable to rid himself of his obsession with Milosevic, had in mind the President of Serbia, insulting him even in a foreign country. Leaders of coalition "Zajedno" did not miss a chance in Washington D.C. also to "exchange opinions" with Ratko Knezevic, until recently the chief of the Montenegrin trade representative offices, who was dismissed just because of his unbecoming slander of Serbia and its president. Can it be possible that our trio in Washington D.C. did not understand that with such a gesture it is only supporting Knezevic and everything that he was saying against Serbia and Yugoslavia, but indirectly also against Djukanovic. In spite of all this, the State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns qualified the fact that authorities from Belgrade are not coming for the informal meeting on Kosovo in New York - as violation of human rights. The spokesman of the U.S. Administration failed, of course, to explain this his discovery - because simply it can not be explained. Controversies are too transparent. If for the American politics Kosovo is still an internal affair of Serbia and Yugoslavia, and they are repeating all the time that it is so, than it is impertinent to make connection between violation of human rights and the non-arrival of the representatives of the Serbian Socialist Party to New York. If there is violation of human rights, then this should be solved at the place where they are being violated, with an equitable treatment of both Albanians and Serbs in Kosmet. It could rather be said that this attempt at internationalization of the Kosovo problem, which is actually the main purpose of the New York gathering, is a violation of human rights of all those who are living in Kosmet. Because it is their unalienable right to resolve their problems within their own state, Serbia and Yugoslavia. And not on the docks of New York, in the head offices of some private corporation. The process of dialogue with Albanians Belgrade has opened a long time ago. Government of Serbia, and it is sure that those in the State Department are well aware of that, for quite some time now is negotiating with Kosovo Albanians the return of their children and students to mainstream schools and faculties, which is one of the key issues in the exercise of human rights. A similar talk is being offered all the time about the return of Skypetars (Albanians) into the political life of the state. They are being called to vote at the elections and in this way in the delegate bodies of Serbia to enjoy their human, political and all the other rights. Why the leaders of coalition "Zajedno" did not give such an initiative at home, instead of in a foreign state, slandering their own authorities and making things even more difficult for people living in Kosovo. Internationalization of the Kosovo problem is at a detriment of not only Serbia but also of all the citizens of Kosmet, because the space is being narrowed down for finding of a right solution. At the same time, the space is broadening for new coercion of Serbia and Yugoslavia by the world, and especially by Washington D.C. Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Vecernje novosti, 1997-04-07[03] JOINT POLICE FORCE SEPARATES - NOT LINKS MOSTARIn the streets of the central city zone of Mostar, for two days now there are joint Muslim-Croat police patrols, but without any insignia on the uniforms, because the two authorities could not agree on them, report the Croat media. While the Croat policemen requested to wear only Croat symbols, Muslim authorities and international police demanded single federal insignia. At present the joint police forces are controlling only the traffic route in the center of the city, the former separation line between the conflicting forces, which is still dividing the city into two parts. In each one of them there are separate national police forces, while the joint units are neither entering in them nor have any competencies within them. According to the previous stand of the Muslim leaders, for as long as the federal police force is not established, there will be no joint federation.Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Vecernje novosti, 1997-04-07[04] CLASH BETWEEN THE CROAT HELSINKI BOARD AND 'VJESNIK' BECAUSE OF THE ATTITUDE TOWARDS CRIMES AGAINST SERBSFrom the pen of its political editor M. Barisic, Croat newspaper "Vjesnik" close to the state authorities, is accusing the Croat Helsinki Board and its president Ivan Zvonimir Cicak for having submitted to The Hague Tribunal materials about "alleged crimes of the Croat army committed after the military and police operation The Storm", which, claims the newspaper, "are grounded on insinuations and assumptions, and not on facts". According to these information, it is a question of killing of five thousand persons who were buried in the mass graves, and then 'relocated' so that they would not be discovered. While insinuating that the Croat Helsinki Board, in a well known manner, is allegedly shutting its eyes in the face of torture of Croats, while at the same time "obsessively engaging in investigations into alleged Croat crimes", the editor is accusing the Croat Helsinki Board and Cicak of "having engaged in a private war not only against the actual Croat rule but also against Croatia". While rejecting all these insinuations, Croat Helsinki Board, under the signature of its deputy president Dr. Zarko Puhovski, responds that "it is a moral, constitutional and internationally legal obligation of all reasonable persons, of all institutions, and even media which have available such information, to submit them to the competent Croat authorities, and even to the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague".Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Politika, 1997-04-05[05] REN: VIOLENCE AGAINST SERBS IN KRAJINASpecial UN rapporteur for human rights in former Yugoslavia Elizabeth Ren, warned the UN Commission for Human Rights, whose annual session is now taking place in Geneva, that there are many reasons for great concern because of the disrespect for human rights in Croatia and Bosnia- Herzegovina. In the letter sent to the chairman of the session of the Commission, Ren said that Serbs in Krajina are even now living in the state of fear and that against them violence is conducted which, as she specified, "is motivated by ethnic differences". According to her knowledge, especially difficult situation is in the region of Knin where systematic destruction of Serbian property continues and violence against Serbs. Ren also stated that an increasing number of Croat refugees and dislocated persons is arriving in Krajina and moving into Serbian houses. She is not encouraged either with the situation in Eastern Slavonia on the eve of the forthcoming elections and states that "there are all chances that a significant number of Serbs will not be able to vote at the forthcoming elections". Elizabeth Ren is expressing hope that the United Nations will pass the decision about the international presence in Eastern Slavonia even after the mandate of the UNTAES expires.Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Borba, 1997-04-05[06] YUGOSLAVIA GUARANTEES TO SERBS DUAL CITIZENSHIP"Vote at the elections, stay here, profit from all the opportunities offered by the Erdut Agreement. It is the wish and message of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia that all Serbs shall take documents, vote at the elections and organize themselves in order to protect in the best possible way their interests, while the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has promised and undertaken to make possible to all Serbs to have dual citizenship. What it has undertaken, Yugoslavia shall fulfil", stated in Vukovar the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the Republic of Croatia, Veljko Knezevic. During his first visit to the Srem and Baranja Region and in the talks with its leadership, Yugoslav ambassador also stated that, further to the dual citizenship, it is also expected for the agreement to be signed on establishment of border crossings between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Croatia, which means that the inhabitants of the Region, as well as the ones from the other bank of Danube river, would be free to cross the border without passports. While speaking of de-militarization, Knezevic said that it is in principles agreed upon, that Croatia has accepted to de-militarize the entire region, while Yugoslavia will do the same with the adequate space on the other bank of Danube river. Representatives of Serbs in all the contacts were expressing to Knezevic the fear and anxiety of the people regarding their future, if Serbs in Croatia are not allowed to have dual citizenship. It was especially pointed out to the Yugoslav ambassador that there are manipulations by the Croat authorities with the list of 150 persons suspected of alleged war crimes, which is not at all a guarantee that the number of suspects and arrested will not be increased. There are also visible manipulations with the voting lists, so many Serbs are not given Croat documents under various pretenses, while the Croat voting lists are often having more eligible voters than is their real number, i.e. the lists contain names of persons long deceased and relocated.Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Politika, 1997-04-07[07] REFERENDUM FOR A WHOLESOME REGIONInhabitants of the Serbian Region of Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem on Sunday were taking part at a referendum to pronounce themselves in favor or not of a wholesome territory of the Region. Referendum was organized by the Serbian authorities, while the international community did not recognize this referendum. "We are interested in seeing the results of this referendum, but it shall have no influence whatsoever, because already next week there will be the elections organized for two different units, for two 'zupanije' (counties)", said the UNTAES spokesman Philip Arnold. After the elections of April 13, 1997 and integration of the Serbian Region into the Republic of Croatia, it is foreseen that the present-day area of the Region shall be divided into two Croat 'zupanije' (counties). In this way Croat authorities are obviously trying to break down and fragment Serbian national corpus in these areas, and Serbian authorities from the very beginning are demanding preservation of territorial integrity of the Region within Croatia, in order to protect in the best way interests of the Serbian people living there. However, both Croatia and the international community have so far rejected any territorial integrity of the area of the present-day Region.Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Politika, 1997-04-07[08] KOSOVO AND METOHIJA ARE A COMPONENT PART OF SERBIA AND YUGOSLAVIAAmbassador of Spain in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, H.E. Joachin Peres Gomes, visited Kosovo District during his tour of Kosovo and Metohija, and had talks with representatives of the authorities. During the talks once again the stand of the international community was emphasized, which is also supported by Spain, that Kosovo and Metohija is an unalienable part of Serbia and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and that there can be no new frontiers in these areas. Members of the Albanian minority must respect this stand and give up on the idea of the so-called "republic of Kosovo". All the questions must be resolved through dialogue within the framework of constitutional autonomy. At the question of Ambassador Peres about the forthcoming so-called Serbian-Albanian dialogue in New York, it was stated that with the leaders of political parties there can be and must be a dialogue about Kosovo and Metohija, but only through the institutions of the system. The Spanish ambassador said that his government is condemning terrorist attacks which were aimed against the police, members of Albanian minority who are loyal to the state of Serbia and distinguished public personalities and institutions.Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Politika ekspres, 1997-04-05[09] AUSTRIA FOR COOPERATION WITH YUGOSLAV COMPANIESAustrian business world is interested in establishing production cooperation with enterprises from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, because this is one of the most important prerequisites for increasing the volume of goods exchange between the two countries. This was stated by the trade attache of the Austrian Embassy in Belgrade, Franz Erhart. Underlining that there is a well coordinated activity and cooperation of all the important economic and state associations and institutions for purpose of promoting the volume of goods exchange between the two countries, Erhart stated that it is necessary to balance out the volume of goods exchange, i.e. to create conditions for increase of Yugoslav exports to Austria. For this there are realistic conditions which derive from the previous economic cooperation, from the geographic proximity and the existing cooperant relations. For purpose of improving economic relations and contracting new concrete business arrangements, a large economic delegation from Austria will visit Yugoslavia this year, which will consist of representatives from all the economic branches, said Erhart.Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Tanjug, 1997-04-07[10] YUGOSLAV-RUSSIAN COOPERATION IN CIVIL ENGINEERINGThe agreement on Yugoslav-Russian cooperation in the field of civil engineering was drafted in Moscow by the ministers of civil engineering of Serbia and Russia, Branislav Ivkovic and Jefim Basin. Two years ago, the Agreement on Cooperation between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Russia in this field was ratified, and the just drafted agreement is elevating this cooperation to a higher level. It is a question of a very important and comprehensive document which contains a number of significant points, underlined Minister Ivkovic. Among others, this agreement prescribes establishment of joint enterprises for production of small construction machinery and tools, and especially is planning cooperation in the field of design and construction of highways, railroads, tunnels, bridges and sea ports.Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Vecernje novosti, 1997-04-05[11] INVITATION TO FRESH CAPITALChairman of the Board of Directors of the Electricity Authority of Serbia, Prof.Dr. Dragan Kostic, stated that the basic idea on which the draft republican Law on Concessions is grounded, is finding of the new ways to attract fresh capital to Yugoslavia and initiate the investment cycle. Draft version of the Law on Concessions, which is being prepared by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, prescribes that further to foreign legal and physical entities, also the domestic legal and physical entities can become the concessionaires, which was not the case until now. Kostic stated that the concessions may be also granted in the field of activities of public enterprises which are state owned, but that the creation of new public enterprises is not foreseen. It is prescribed that concessions shall be granted for a period of maximum up to 30 years, said Kostic.Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Politika ekspres, 1997-04-07[12] TARGET OF PRIVATIZATION - PROMOTION OF ECONOMIC EFFICIENCYMinister in the Government of the Republic of Serbia for Ownership and Economic Transformation, Milan Beko, underlined that the basic target of the forthcoming privatization is to promote economic efficiency of enterprises and to create a transparent ownership picture in the Republic. "Three and a half million citizens of our country will become the owners of some 4,500 companies. The basic principle of the Law is to be comprehensive and it prescribes that all those who were creating state and social property will have the right to become its owners", said Minister Beko in the Radio Television Serbia program in which representatives of the government and of the opposition were discussing the draft version of the Law on Ownership Transformation. Privatization will be conducted in all the state and socially owned enterprises, in the socio-political organizations, associations of industry, chambers of economy, trade unions, said Beko. He specified that, on the basis of the evaluation of the social and state capital and estimates of the possible number of participants in the purchase of shares, it was determined that every citizen, by the very act of registration in a given enterprise, will receive free of charge the stocks in the value of 14,000 DEM. Underlining that the time limitation is an important principle of this Law, or that every one of the scheduled three phases of transformation is strictly defined in time, Beko said that this will ensure that an enterprise will be transformed within a maxim of one year's time.Serbia Today, 1997-04-07 ; Politika, 1997-04-05Serbia Today Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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