SKOPJE, SEPTEMBER 12, 1995 (MIC)
According to reports in Athens, the Greek Foreign Minister Karolos Papoulias met with UN mediator Cyrus Vance in New York, two days ago.
The Greek media quote Papoulias as saying he would be signing the agreement with minister Crvenkovski tomorrow.
Alongside reports from New York, the Athens media are repeating Prime Minister Papandreou's statement from two days ago that Greece would walk out on the negotiations if Macedonia asks for the embargo to be lifted before the signing of the agreement.
Cyrus Vance was scheduled to meet with Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski yesterday, Makfaks reports, to work out some details from the Agreement.
Contrary to Papoulias' statement, Macedonian sources claim the agreement will be signed on Thursday. The same sources say that before the act of signing, minister Crvenkovski will make a short trip to Washington today.
At the meeting of the foreign ministers of the European Union, which was held in the Spanish town of Santander, the German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel proposed that the Union adopts a "Marshall plan" for economic help to Macedonia.
With this, Kinkel fulfilled his promise to support the U.S. plan for normalization of the relations between Macedonia and Greece.
More than 60% Greeks are against the signing of an agreement which would lift the economic embargo against neighboring Macedonia, according to the results of the public opinion poll published in today's issue of "Etnos," AFP reports from Greece. Some 32% out of 600 people said the agreement would unavoidably lead to the recognition of Macedonia under that name, while 28% accused the Greek Government of "selling itself" to the U.S. if it negotiates any kind of deal.
Only 18.5% of those polled said the name had no significance and it should be forgotten.
At yesterday's session, which was run by Prime Minister Crvenkovski, the Macedonian Government decided to start preparations for a Draft-project for the development of small and middle-sized companies.
The Government also accepted the information about the to-date citizenship status of Macedonian citizens, and asked the Interior Ministry to conduct a second round of inspection to determine the actual number of citizens who meet the necessary requirements to become citizens of the Republic of Macedonia.
Local community representatives have announced a boycott of the local elections, scheduled for next spring. They feel it is unacceptable to hold the elections without previously adopting a new law on state territorial division.
Series of criticism addressed to the Government were voiced at yesterday's meeting, which was not attended by government representatives. They regard Macedonia as a country with the largest municipalities, compared to those from former Yugoslavia. So far, 67 requests for the formation of new municipalities have been added to the archives.
Today, "Nova Makedonija" brings a commentary dealing with the imminent signing of the agreement with Greece, which goes as follows:
At the beginning of the week, which is considered to be the key week in the four years old dispute with Greece and in which a document that is now simply called "agreement" without revealing the whole title like "Agreement on...(what)" is expected to be signed -- so far there is no information about its contents, although the people in both countries continue with their accusations. In the absence of answers on what and whether anything precise has been agreed about the name, whether the term of seven years, for which period the agreement will be allegedly signed, implying that afterwards there will be a new beginning, about when, how, and whether Macedonia ((The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia -- FYROM)) will initiate a procedure for wiping off the "former Yugoslav" in front of its name in the United Nations, various suppositions are being made which either proclaim Macedonia a"winner" or a "loser" in the dispute.
The Macedonian foreign minister, that is the man who has to put his signature on this -- let us hope -- historical agreement Stevo Crvenkovski is already in New York at a meeting with mediator Cyrus Vance for defining the final timing of the events in the days to come and probably the final date for the signing of the joint document. Although Macedonia's Government, as we could find out, discussed this subject last week, it still does not find it necessary to present its stance on the hottest topic in the state. In the absence of information, the political parties show a great deal of reserve in their reactions depending on the block to which they belong. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note the ambiguous information released by the SDSM ((Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia)) in which there is a kind of reservation when they claim that SDSM support has never lacked whenever the broadest state interests have been at stake. The main party in the government coalition, instead of giving unreserved support, releases some bizarre information which, if deeply analyzed, looks as if it "has to support the agreement in order not to imperil the high state interests." However, the opposition is careful in making extreme criticisms, and thus the VMRO-DPMNE ((Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Movement for Macedonian National Unity)) is simply protesting (in a "scandalous and irresponsible" way) and it is consistent in what it has already proclaimed, not asking for resignations because in any event it considers this government to be "illegitimate." We can suppose that it is hiding its trump cards for some future time, that is when and whether the integral text of the agreement will be made public. The competent body of the parliament, that is the commission for foreign affairs, in commenting the discussion of Minister Crvenkovski, assesses that it ((the party)) "was surprised to see this topic on the agenda." The commission also emphasized that it did not avail of its right to intervene at that time and it asked Crvenkovski to inform it before the reached agreement is presented to parliament. In the meantime, the official circles in the state, excluding the information released by Macedonian Foreign Minister Stevo Crvenkovski in parliament, are neither presenting nor explaining their views in relation to what has to be considered the top subject in the state since last Monday. It is clear that during the stampede of the U.S. negotiating team, headed by the famous deputy secretary of state Richard Holbrook, the stick and the carrot was used, but it would be interesting to see the percentage of how much the one and the other tool was utilized. Another detail has also been neglected -- the continual linkage of the Greek-Macedonian dispute with the global resolution of the Yugoslav crisis. This can be spotted in Holbrook's statement, as well as in numerous other positive reactions.
Everybody is aware that it is impossible to give answers to all these questions because, as it is announced, various "full stops and commas" in the document will have to be agreed upon in New York. Although it is irrational to ask for full information in this phase, it is not too much to expect promptness in answering the dilemmas and in receiving some public emotions -- of course, provided that all this is not just a part of a certain tactics and strategy.
In the meantime, Prime Minister Papandreou is making contradictory statements. First he announces recognition of the name Macedonia, and two days later he threatens that, if someone asks for the embargo to be lifted, the Greek delegation will give up the signing ((of the paper)) and return to Athens. First, Government spokesman Venizelos makes a "hard," and then a "softer" statement by which he rounds-up the chaos and the mess among the Greek as well as among our own public. Papoulias is generally very restrictive, but this time he, too, was involved in the entire affair, announcing that the signing will take place on Wednesday, 13 September, which is for now unlikely to take place not only because it is an "unlucky" date, but also because there are some details in the agreement which are insisted upon.
- The 15th international fair of textile, leather, ready-made clothing, sports equipment, knitted goods, fashion accessories, machines and equipment "Modest '95" was formally opened yesterday evening.
This year's fair is with the participation of 55 exhibitors from the Republic, FRY, Croatia, Slovenia and Bulgaria, across an area of 6,000 meters square.
Businessmen from Macedonia will be able to ask for expert and technical help from BESO - a non-profit organization which provides the services of British professionals abroad.
The representative of this organization Camilla Margaret will be staying in the city Commerce Chamber for this purpose.
The PTT - Makedonija signed a deal yesterday with HES - Kablo from Turkey for the delivery of copper subscription cables.
According to the agreement, the first quantities should be delivered by the end of this month, while the whole despatch will be realized by the end of June, next year. The deal is valued at US$ 5,291,168.