In the interview for the weekly "Puls," the Deputy- Assistant U.S. Secretary of Defense Joseph Crusel said about the possibility of increasing the number of U.S. soldiers in Macedonia: "We don't have any plans to increase the number of U.S. soldiers in Macedonia, however, as responsible planners, certainly we see toward the future with responsibility. If the situation deteriorates, one of the possibilities will be increasing the military presence and making a different arrangement of the U.S. soldiers, maybe even under another flag. The NATO flag is only one of the possibilities. Of course, an eventual arrangement like this would be realized only in agreement with the Macedonian Government. I hope we will find a common solution," Joseph Crusel told "Puls."
Yesterday's edition of the newspaper "Rilindija," which is printed in Tirana and Switzerland brought interviews with Rahmi Tuda - MP of the National Democratic Party and the president of this party Ilijaz Halimi, on the occasion of the party's first congress.
The two men emphasized in the interview that Macedonia could not exist without the Albanians. In order to obstruct the anti-Albanian intentions in Macedonia, the Albanian subjects, as they say, should build a joint platform and create a common stand in front of the national and international institutions.
Tuda and Halimi strongly criticized the Macedonian Government, saying it intentionally created conflicts, affairs and incidents, all with the aim of presenting the Albanians as disloyal citizens of the state and destabilizing elements.
Following the ban on the work of 24 RTV stations by the Ministry of Traffic and Relations, the private RTV stations will sue the Ministry. Four lawyers have already been hired for this purpose.
Otherwise, the action continued yesterday. In Skopje, the TV stations Dzaro, Shutel, MC, ERA and BTR have been closed and their transmitters confiscated.
The decisions of the Republic Inspector for Radio- Communications call upon article 94 of the Law of SFRY for systems and connections for radio and PTT traffic from 1979. The explanation goes - for not possessing a permit from the Ministry of Traffic and Relations.
Minister Buzlevski explained that some 250 radio- diffusion subjects are active in Macedonia, while there is room for twice as little. The aim of the action would be to overcome this chaos and establish "fair play." Specifically, according to Buzlevski, that would mean providing pre-conditions for those who seriously feel they have to be involved in this business.
On its behalf, the Steering committee for the formation of an association of private RTV stations demands a law for radio-diffusion to be adopted in the shortest term possible. According to them, the action of the Government does not have any legal grounds, as the Ministry never even issued the permits it is demanding. In the announcement, this association is demanding a clear legal regulative which will be applied on time and equally toward all.
The out-of-Parliament oppositional Democratic party supported the protest of the Private RTV stations in yesterday's press conference. This party accused the Government of the chaos in the radio-diffusion, which still does not want to adopt a law for radio-diffusion, even after five years. According to them, the competent ministry firstly allowed the registration, formation and investments in the private RTV stations, and now, it was making decisions to stop them from working.
From this fall, in next year's academic year, an acting class in Albanian and Turkish language will be opened at the Faculty for Drama Arts. This was decided by the faculty council, after it received a visa and positive opinion from the Ministry of Education and the University "Cyril and Methodius."
This class for actors will be opened exclusively for the needs of the Theater of the Nationalities in Skopje. The classes will be held in Macedonian language, with an exception of the subjects Acting games and Stage speech, which will be held in Albanian, i.e. Turkish language.
On the occasion of the three-year existence of the First Children's Embassy of Macedonia, with headquarters in Shtip, tomorrow, at 12.00 hours, in the Hall of the Humanitarian organizations "Dare Dzambaz," a Children's Consulate General in Skopje will be formed. According to the management of this institution, the activities will focus mainly on the health and social protection of the children.
All interested foreign missions in Skopje are invited to attend the formal opening of the consulate.
The latest move of the Austrian Government, which introduced compulsory visas from May 15th for the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, would not have passed so conspicuously had it not been for one unpleasant fact - that our country is being placed in a visa "quarantine" more and more. And, the Macedonian citizens, except if they do not have a good reason and a good excuse, can be seen by the European countries only on TV.
Namely, following the introduction of the visas by Austria and following the strong and obvious pressure for Italy to also do so, the Macedonian citizens can travel freely only to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, FRY, Slovenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Albania and partly in Russia, where a visa is not necessary, but an invitation is. To make the paradox even greater, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia found themselves on the list of countries that pronounced the Macedonian citizens selectively welcome - namely, newly recognized countries which probably have more candidates who want to move out than those who want to move in, as well as Luxembourg and even Liechtenstein, which most Macedonian citizens can not even find on a map.
Knowing, in general, the reasons for this protective regime of the European countries, one question nevertheless remains unclear - how can a country with two million inhabitants scare the European Union with some 350 million, as even if we all move, we still would not be able to endanger its demographic and other structure? That is why the move of the Austrian Government and the pressure on Italy (mainly by Germany) are a result mainly of the Sengen agreement which foresees the mutual opening of the borders of the member-states of the EU, and coordination of the visa policy.
The answer is mainly in the fact that Macedonia is still not managing to get unstuck from the package of "former Yugoslavia," which is the reason why it is finding itself targeted by all the measures that apply to the former Republics, which are in a state of war and from where it is quite realistic to expect a large wave of refugees, from both economic and political reasons.
And, what kind of barrier the compulsory visas present for the Macedonian citizens has been said a number of times. Practically, except for the services that the German embassy in Skopje is giving, the others, in the best case, mediate in the provision of visas, while most do not do even that, as the procedure requires the personal presence in some of the embassies in Sofia, Tirana, Belgrade or even Vienna. And, in order to come to them, the conditions are so limited and the deadlines so far apart, that, for example, a tour through Europe in a personal arrangement can be considered equal to a science-fiction film.
Beside announcements from some embassies in Macedonia that the procedure for the obtaining of visas for the Macedonian citizens will be considerably simplified, it is a fact that sometimes it takes weeks, and even months to get a visa for a good part of the European countries. In order to obtain a visa for some of them, first, it is necessary to get a visa for the country where the competent embassy for Macedonia is located (such as the case with Denmark, which "covers" Macedonia from Vienna). If, in the end, we are surprised by the attitude of the European countries, which, protecting their own interests, introduced such a protective measure toward the citizens of Macedonia, without previously providing the conditions to come by them more easily, what comes as an even greater surprise is the easygoing attitude with which the Macedonian Government is accepting these restrictions (even discrimination) of its citizens, disregarding the fact that the European borders are closing for Macedonia, as a European country, more and more. It's unrealistic, then, to introduce some kind of reciprocity, as Macedonia is not in a position of allowing that, but it can afford at least one protest, when some government surprises us which such news, like Austria these days.
The draft-law for business associations is much too abstract, detailed, vague and unpractical for broader use, and in addition, it is very difficult to comprehend. This was the basic remark at the meeting of a couple of guild associations working within the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce.
As for any concrete remarks, they did not express readiness to discuss that, in view of the unreadiness of the participants. In the end, it was decided to gather all the remarks and make an official report, containing suggestions and opinions, which would be sent to the proposer of the law.
PTT "Makedonija" has signed an agreement with the firm "Iskra-tel" from Ljubljana, to install 15,000 new telephone lines by expanding the capacities of the main automatic ATC telephone exchange in Skopje. Also, the number of connecting links for connection with the other telephone exchanges from the local Skopje network will be increased, which will provide a capacity of a total of 35,000 connections.
In the first phase, by the end of June, this year, some 5,100 connections are expected to be provided, and by the end of October, in the second phase, another 10,000.
Over the past month, the market inspection has taken off the shelves goods valued at MKD 15 million (US$ 394,000) due to expired lasting periods, goods without declaration, written warranties, and other irregularities, which is almost three times less than the previous month.
The determined illegal profits are estimated at MKD 182,000 (US$ 4,800) and is twice less than the previous month, while no criminal charges were filed in April. Most of the 1,091 violation charges filed are related to illegal selling at open markets.
As for the import of foodstuffs, 66,441 tones have been controlled, 60,293 received quality certificates, and 159 tones were not allowed to enter the country.
In yesterday's session, Parliament accepted the conclusions of the Commission for agriculture, forestry and water supply, which will be passed on to the Government. Namely, according to the conclusions, the Government of Macedonia is required to take all necessary measures to provide the funds for paying the price differences - 28% for every kilogram and for which it will be intervened in the budget. Also in this context are the efforts to speed up the procedure by the Government to prepare the law for tobacco.
According to the Government analysis of the purchased tobacco from last year's harvest, a total of MKD 305 million (US$ 8 million) will have to be paid for the difference between the purchase and protection price.
Otherwise, by May 12th, inclusive, the tobacco companies received MKD 416 million (US$ 10.9 million) from the sale of fermented tobacco, or 92.44% of the overall foreseen funds of MKD 450 million (US$ 11.8 million), which the Department for material reserves promised to buy.
Otherwise, Macedonia realized US$ 106 million in 1992 from tobacco exports, and US$ 97 million in 1993. However, the tobacco economy owes the banks US$ 75 million, which is equal to the annual production of fermented tobacco of 19,000 tones.