SKOPJE, SEPTEMBER 6 (MIC)
This is a dispute in which resolving one should not seek winners and losers, estimated Minister of Foreign Affairs Stevo Crvenkovski in his addressing yesterday, in front of the Macedonian Parliament presenting, as he emphasized, the primary information about the situation concerning the Greek - Macedonian negotiations, reports "Nova Makedonija". After the day-before- yesterday's visit of the American Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbruck and after the announcement of the agreement for direct negotiations and for signing agreements between Macedonia and Greece next week in New York. Announcing a new DYNAMICS and sensibility in the future Macedonian - Greek meetings, Crvenkovski emphasized that this result leads to a wider solution of the problems in the other parts of the Balkans too and to a clear defeat of the ideas which caused these situations: ambitions for Greater States, demands for integral solution of the question, changing the borders on force, creating axis and similar. Crvenkovski, at the same time, added that the existence of Macedonia is not a dilemma anymore for anybody and that the Republic has no intention to enter any new leagues, any new joints, nor divisions of the Balkans.
On the contrary to the Greek demands for changing the name of the state, of the flag, of the Constitution, Crvenkovski spelt out, as he said, the main items, which should be included and for which there should be an agreement achieved, expressing the conviction that it will be done with a success. The chief of the Macedonian diplomacy concluded that solution of the dispute with threatening the national identity of the country with setting it up in an unequal situation and with the attempts to impose another name for it, is not possible and at the same time, it is not possible without clear and loud recognition of Macedonia, of its territorial integrity and of its borders.
President of the USA, Bill Clinton, yesterday greeted the reports for a progress in the relations between Greece and Republic of Macedonia, in which it is announced that the two countries will start with talks for ending the three-years of animosity.
"I think that today's report represents a big step towards the peace and the stability of the Balkans", stated Clinton in the report, announced during the short stay in Monterey while he was going back to Washington from the celebrations on the Hawaii in the occasion of the ending of the World War Two.
"I hope that it will encourage the leaders in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia to undertake some new steps towards the peace by themselves", added him.
Clinton pointed out that the meetings between the two sides will have an intention "to prepare an agreement for undertaking steps for establishing friendly relations between the two countries".
Yesterday, Greece expressed optimism that the continuation of the negotiations with the Balkan neighbor Macedonia under the protection of UN will be successful and announced that it is ready to lift the trade embargo.
"We have always been announcing that we will lift the embargo, if they (Macedonia) make some concessions, stated for the journalists the Government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos. "We are happy that the Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov) made a decision of a geo-political value".
Venizelos stated that Greece is an "optimist" concerning the results from the negotiations in New York next week between Papullas and Crvenkovski.
Greece will lift the embargo on Macedonia in accordance to the agreement which should be signed next week in New York, stated yesterday the mediator of UN Sayrus Vence.
The agreement is not going to solve the dispute between the two countries concerning the use of the name immediately, but some other issues will be solved, stated Vence, otherwise former American Secretary of State.
After reporting of the decision to sign the agreement between Greece and Macedonia, President Gligorov, day before yesterday, made a contact with the German Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Klaus Kinkel in the occasion of the given help. In this occasion the German Embassy in Skopje delivered the statement of the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kinkel: "I support the coming realization of the treaty between FYROM and Greece. It is a further step on the way to the peace in Former Yugoslavia. The logics of conflicts has to be replaced with the logics of peace and cooperation. The successful cooperation of the big ethnic groups in Macedonia, between the Macedonians and the Albanians in the coalition Government, represents an example for the other countries in Former Yugoslavia. Macedonia, among the other, is in a very difficult economic situation, because of the Greek embargo, but also because of the embargo on Belgrade. I will advocate energetically for including Macedonia in the aid of the EU for Central and Eastern Europe, at the unofficial meeting in Santader next weekend. We also have to help bilaterally too. All this is an important contribution of the EU for preventing the peaceful living together of the ethnic groups in Macedonia, and a contribution to the development of the peace in this region. It is very easily forgotten that beside the events in Bosnia and Croatia, and the other places in Former Yugoslavia, Macedonian question also represents a very significant constituent part for peaceful solution of the problems in the region".
British Foreign Office greets the announced treaty between Macedonia and Greece. British Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as always so far, expresses its conviction in the success of the solving of the problems between the two countries, reports the correspondent of the Macedonian Radio in London.
Of interest to Macedonia and to Greece is as soon as possible to solve the mutual disputable questions, stated the counselor in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Nikita Matkovski, for Radio Skopje.
"The Russian Federation advocates for peaceful solution of all disputable questions between the independent countries in Europe and in the world. We believe that the final solution of this question should be made through bilateral political negotiations and so it will be of interest to the two countries. The urgent solution of this question is of significance to the whole region", Matkovski points out in this statement.
The opposition parties in Macedonia, VMRO-DPMNE and the Democratic Party charge the Macedonian foreign politics with their argument that there will be a not-legitimate treaty signed with Greece, which will be harmful for the Macedonian people and country. These parties consider that it is not permissible for the Macedonian public to not be informed at all about the contents of this treaty, for which a general-population consensus is needed.
They consider that the public through the regime media is being prepared, according to them, for the newest defeat of the Macedonian current authority to be presented as a big victory. Still, the leader of the Democratic Party, Gosev, is restraining from a deeper analysis of the future events, because he thinks that the contents of the treaty is not familiar at all. The leader of VMRO-DPMNE, Georgievski, is wondering why was it necessary for the Government to allow Greece to introduce the economic embargo, which destroyed the Macedonian economy, when all the concessions demanded by the Greek side will be implemented anyway.
Even though it came to a certain alleviation in the Macedonian public right after the announcement of the news that we are about to achieve a preliminary agreement in the dispute, which was imposed to us by Greece, still the most sensitive question remained open and without any answer: What will the treaty content, what will happen to the name, Constitution, flag, acceptance to the international institutions... Exactly because of these dilemmas, last night, Minister Spokesman of Republic of Macedonia, Gjuner Ismail, gave certain explanations. According to what we were able to find out, the name is not going to be a subject of the treaty. In it, there will be the formulation, which will approximately sound like this "the two sides keep the right for further articulation of their attitudes about the name". At the same time, as it was explained to us, Macedonia is left with the option to raise a procedure for changing its name into Republic of Macedonia in the UN, in which as it is familiar it has been accepted with the temporary name FYROM. Despite the fact that from several sides there are speculations coming that Macedonia faces changes of some articles of the Constitution, the same source claims that that is not the issue and that the Constitution will be treated only with one article in the treaty with which it will be explained "everything that is meant to be said with the regulations of the Constitution, which are disputable for Greece". As it seems like it is already arranged for the one-sided embargo to be lifted, just before signing the treaty by the two chiefs of the diplomacies in New York. All things considered, it seems that concerning this there won't be any regulations in that document, but several of the parties which mediated in the dispute will undertake the decision of "guarantee" that Greece, for example, won't dare to implement economic measures again and close the border with Macedonia, after some time. More specifically, the circulation between the countries and the traffic will be controlled by the USA and the EU if it is needed and they will suggest and undertake measures against the one who will disturb that circulation. Of course, it shouldn't be expected that everything will go "smoothly" from the very first day, nor that from the beginning or later on, there won't be individuals, vehicles or goods stopped by some of the customs officials for this or that reason.
But, the obligation which that treaty will certainly impose to Macedonia, is for it to start a procedure for adopting the new symbol of the flag, in a period of 30 days after the signing.
It is being emphasized in the Government of Macedonia that the signing of the treaty with Greece represents a significant political and economic moment, which will contribute for the relaxation of the situation in this part of the Balkans and that it will in particular ease and strengthen the position of our negotiators with the international financial institutions which won't have the Greek opposing suspending over their heads. At the same time, it should be expected for Macedonia to become a member of all the institutions in which that right was unjustifiably denied to it, as soon as possible.