MAK-NEWS 17/05/95 (M.I.L.S.)
CONTENTS
[01] US WILL FULLY SUPPORT MACEDONIA'S SECURITY
[02] EVERT PLEASED BY US STANCES
[03] OSCE OFFER TO MEDIATE TURNED DOWN
[04] DIPLOMATIC BRIEFS
[05] ALBANIAN VISAS AGAIN TO COST $25
[06] GOVERNMENT REGULATES CHAOS IN PUBLIC BROADCASTING
[07] REACTIONS BY PRIVATE RADIO AND TV STATIONS
[08] USA-MACEDONIA CHARTER FLIGHTS
[09] RAISING MUSHROOMS PROFITABLE
[11] STATISTIC FIGURES
[12] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: PARTY ROWS ABOUT MONEY (Vecher, 15 May 1995)
M I L S N E W S
Skopje, 17 May 1995
[01] US WILL FULLY SUPPORT MACEDONIA'S SECURITY
Following the talks with Macedonian Defense Minister Blagoj
Handziski, US Secretary of Defense William Perry said in
Washington "security of the entire Balkans is of high
importance for the United States. FYROM has an important
role in this, as it is placed in between ongoing conflicts
in Bosnia and in the southern parts of the Balkans. We
believe security is of prime importance and the US should
have close working and military relations with the region.
This will not only be good for this country, but is also
necessary for security in the entire region. I think the UN
forces are playing quite a significant role in Bosnia and
Croatia and I hope they will not be withdrawn. If they are,
we will most certainly seriously consider increasing the
number of UN troops currently deployed in Macedonia.
Countries having troops in the area should discuss this
between themselves and with Macedonia. We did mention the
possibility of an increase during our talks today, but we
did not insist on a promise and I do not believe the
Macedonian government could give such a promise."
The Macedonian minister, on the other hand, said, "We
believe the UN peacekeeping troops should remain in Bosnia.
Their role there is positive and, should they be withdrawn,
the situation can only become even worse. The first question
is what to do to improve their safety there and how to keep
them in the field until the international community finds an
appropriate solution to the crisis in Bosnia and Croatia."
The meetings between the two working groups focused on the
best ways to distribute the $250,000 US aid for Macedonia
for training of Macedonian army officers. They also
discussed the request submitted to President Bill Clinton
and the State Department by the US Secretary of Defense for
an additional $1 million for the development of a security
system in Macedonia. The US provides such aid only to
country members of the Partnership for Peace initiative. The
Secretary stated satisfaction with the program for
cooperation with the Macedonia "Bridge to America", also
carried out only with Partnership for Peace members.
The Macedonian delegation also visited several military
bases and training centers.
[02] EVERT PLEASED BY US STANCES
In the recent meetings with US vice-president Al Gore and
Secretary of State Warren Christopher, the leader of the
Greek left-wing, Miltiades Evert, said he was content with
America's viewpoint on Greece's crucial national issues.
Evert mentioned the talks included Greek-Turkish relations
and the Macedonian issue.
[03] OSCE OFFER TO MEDIATE TURNED DOWN
The media in Greece report that the Greek government has
turned down the OSCE offer of mediation between Athens and
Skopje, aimed at lifting the Greek veto on admitting
Macedonia into OSCE. The reason stated was that Athens
considers the veto as an integral part of the negotiations.
[04] DIPLOMATIC BRIEFS
The president of the Republic of Macedonia appointed Dr.
Gane Todorovski, current ambassador of Macedonia to the
Russian Federation, to be an accredited ambassador to
Belorussia. The president also appointed Macedonia's
ambassador to Germany, Srgjan Kerim,to be an ambassador of
the Republic of Macedonia to the Swiss Federation.
[05] ALBANIAN VISAS AGAIN TO COST $25
Beginning yesterday, the Republic of Albania raised the fee
for entry visas to $25 for Macedonian citizens traveling
there. The visas were previously reduced to $10, but as the
Macedonian government had failed to introduce a reciprocal
reduction of its visas, the Albanian authorities decided to
raise their fee, Makpress reports from Tirana. The
Macedonian side, however, claims it had initiated a
bilateral agreement to regulate the visa system with
Albania, but that the Albanian government has not yet
responded.
The cost of entry visas to Macedonia is 900 Denars for all
border-crossings, and $10 in Macedonian diplomatic offices
abroad, for all countries with an entry visa system.
[06] GOVERNMENT REGULATES CHAOS IN PUBLIC BROADCASTING
At yesterday's press-conference of the Macedonian
government, Minister of Transport and Communication Dimitar
Buzlevski told reporters that, due to the current real chaos
and piracy in the public broadcasting system, the Ministry
decided to ban the work of about 250 private radio and
television stations. So far, he said, only 24 stations have
been ordered to cease broadcasting, but an action is
underway in the entire country. He added that the grounds
for the ban are of a technical nature. Inspectors of other
ministries have been made available, since there have been
reports of some stations' refusing to obey the order. The
minister announced harsh measures against those who do not
comply. He also said the TV transmitter on Gazi Baba in
Skopje has been forbidden to broadcast and that the order in
which stations are banned is purely accidental (answering to
questions why A1, Sitel, MTV Channel 3 and Radio 103 have
not been closed down). Buzlevski said he is unable to say
why those preceding him in office had not established order
in public broadcasting.
Asked about the ministry's treatment of Macedonian
Television, he said the ministry is working in compliance
with the law, upon a fundamental parliament act and a
government decision to regulate the current broadcasting
system. Buzlevski said 4 ministries have already been
assigned to prepare coordinating laws to regulate the
sphere. Until this is done, he said, the ministry will be
issuing frequency licenses in accordance with its plan.
[07] REACTIONS BY PRIVATE RADIO AND TV STATIONS
- At yesterday's meeting in Skopje, the 57 members of the
Association of Private Radio and TV Stations in Macedonia,
embittered by the measures implemented by the ministry,
claimed the government acted without any appropriate laws or
regulations. They decided to have the banned TV and radio
stations included on the air again, and released the
following protest announcement on all private TV stations
every day at 7 p.m.:
"The Association of Private Radio and TV Stations in
Macedonia urgently demand that the Government of Macedonia
adopt a law and technical criteria on public broadcasting,
regulate the work of electronic media and create equal legal
bases for participation of private radio and TV stations in
the informing of the country. Considering the previous work
to be a contribution to the pluralism in the country, the
Association requests that the private radio and TV stations
be issued temporary working licenses. Citizens of Macedonia
are called on to state their views with competent government
agencies." The announcement will include the telephone
numbers of the minister of transport and communication, the
prime minister, parliament president and the president of
the country. The Association formed a working group to
follow the procedure of initiating a law.
- A1 Television dissociated itself from the Association's
appeal, saying, "this time, just like before, there is again
no answer to the question as to who allowed the chaos in
public broadcasting and which law will regulate serious
attempts to work as a medium."
[08] USA-MACEDONIA CHARTER FLIGHTS
Reach International Airways of the United States announced
it will organize 4 charter flights between Macedonia and the
US this summer. Passengers will be able to fly via Detroit-
London-Skopje-London-Detroit on DC-8-862 planes.
[09] RAISING MUSHROOMS PROFITABLE
Profits of $12 million have been earned last year in
Macedonia by raising mushrooms. The largest importer of
Macedonian mushrooms is Italy; it has bought mushrooms worth
a total of $7.462,000. At the same time, Macedonia has also
imported mushrooms worth $7 million in 1994. The Chamber of
Commerce is currently planning a series of measures to
increase and improve the production and standardization of
the processing and the issuing of licenses.
The French Cultural Center in Skopje and the Association of
Artists in Macedonia has organized an exhibition of
paintings by the French painter Claude Der'ven, to be
ceremoniously opened at 8 p.m. on May 18, at the premises of
the Skopje Academy of Arts.
[11] STATISTIC FIGURES
The latest May figures of movements in the macro economy
show that the government's macroeconomics policy has yielded
certain general results, despite the fact that the number of
insolvent companies is constantly growing, along with the
number of unemployed, and the production is on a downward
trend. The foreign currency reserves of the state,
nevertheless, are increasing and the inflation rate is going
down.
According to data presented by the ministry of development,
the payment ability of Macedonian companies is constantly
being worsened and there are more and more insolvent
enterprises (both private and social) with higher and higher
debts. By March this year, this figure amounted to 2,212
insolvent companies with some 89,000 employees and unsettled
debts totaling nearly 4 billion Denars. More than half of
these companies are continuously insolvent, with accounts
blocked for 60 days throughout the year or 60 days within
the last 75 days.
The data of the same ministry on the movement of inflation
in the country are somewhat brighter. According to them,
retail prices in April were higher by 0.6 per cent against
the previous month, while living costs went up by 0.3 per
cent.
Yet, these figures refer to movements in the real and
financial sectors and often create a contradiction between
the declared and realized macroeconomics policy. Thus, the
industrial production continues to fall and presents the
darkest factor in the overall economic movements. In the
first quarter of the year, production fell by 18.6 per cent
in cumulative terms, as compared with the same period in
1994. The number of employees in the industry also fell;
7,600 employees lost their jobs throughout last year. Yet,
the number of employees in non-productive companies went up
from 84,000 to 85,200 which is far from showing
rationalization measures in these branches, so loudly
announced earlier. The number of those seeking employment is
also growing by the month; the Employment Office has
registered 198,700 job-seekers so far. While the economy is
facing extreme difficulties, the public sector seems safely
protected against hard times. The total revenues aimed at
financing this sector are also constantly growing, reaching
a total of 5.3 billion Denars by March this year. The state
and local municipalities' budgets seem to be in the most
favorable position and the situation in the pension and
unemployment fund also appear to be improving.
Monthly figures on realized foreign currency transactions
indicate that the total turnover of foreign currencies on
the market amounted to $100 million in March, with the
National Bank of Macedonia having bought $6.6 million and
sold $4.7 million in that period. A month before (in
February) the National Bank had purchased $4 million and
sold $4.4 million. And, despite an obvious increase in the
purchase of foreign currencies, the foreign currency
reserves appear to be increasing ($169.9 million in February
and $178.9 million in March), which does not seem to be in
correlation with the foreign currency transactions of the
central bank in Macedonia.
[12] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: PARTY ROWS ABOUT MONEY
(Vecher, 15 May 1995)
The leadership of the Liberal Party announced its intention
to bring criminal charges with the Public Prosecution
against Minister Jane Miljovski, on grounds of abuse of
authority for the purpose of obtaining personal profit. The
Liberals claim that Miljovski ordered that finances (a total
of 8.113,242 Denars - or DM 280,000) approved in compliance
with the Law on Electing Parliament Deputies be transferred
to the account of the Social Democratic Alliance (SDSM),
instead of to the account of the Liberal Party.
"Up until today, the party has not received the agreed
amount supposed to compensate for a part of our campaign
expenses. We inquired with the Ministry of Finance on three
occasions to find out why this is so. The first time, we
were told that there is no money in the budget. When we
reminded them that other parties have already received
compensation, they came up with a ridiculous explanation.
They did not know our bank account, they said. Although the
account is by no means hard to find out, we submitted the
number to the competent ministry, only to receive another
funny explanation. The amount set aside for the Liberal
Party, they told us, has been transferred to the account of
SDSM," says Ace Kocevski, Liberal Party secretary and
coordinator of the parliament group.
The party found the reply unsatisfactory since, as they
explain, the money could not have been transferred to SDSM
for the simple reason that the latter is not a legal entity.
"And, finally, when they could not come up with anything
else, they told us that the finances have gone to the
account of SDSM," Kocevski says.
Should it be proven that a minister, and SDSM vice-
president, has taken over finances aimed for the Liberal
Party, there will no doubt be an "affair number one" in the
state, particularly because the accusation comes from a
coalition partner in the government. All this would not end
by simply bringing charges against Miljovski; it would be
bound to have far more serious consequences for the parties
in power.
Officials in the Ministry of Finance, however, persistently
claim that the story of the Liberals is totally groundless.
"It is absolutely untrue that the finances set aside for the
Liberal Party have been transferred to the account of SDSM
or any other party," says Stojna Najdenovska, under-
secretary in the ministry, authorized by the minister
himself to inform the public of the case. "It is true that
the State Election Commission decided to grant the finances
to the Alliance for Macedonia. We asked the Commission to
divide the amount among parties constituting the Alliance in
accordance with the determined criteria. Once this was done,
we asked the parties to submit their bank accounts so that
we would be able to execute the transfer. The Liberal Party
submitted their account later than the others and, due to a
pressure on the budget and insufficient income of funds, we
were not in the position to pay them their compensation."
Najdenovska underlines that the amount and the Liberal
Party's right to it are not at all disputable, assuring it
will be paid to them the very same moment when the budget is
filled.
Ljubomir Popovski, SDSM secretary, also refuted rumors of
the money having arrived at his party's account. "It is true
that finances are arriving at our account, but this is only
the sum approved by the State Election Commission."
Leaders of SDSM say this is only an attempt of the Liberals
to put pressure on the ministry and make them pay out the
sum sooner. Backstage comments, however, say the Liberals
are taking advantage of the event in order to get back at
minister Miljovski, as they wished his position for a member
of their own when cabinet duties were assigned.
(end)
mils-news 16 May '95
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