Speaking of relations with Greece, he repeated Macedonia's readiness to sit at the negotiating table. When asked about Macedonia's stance on Kosovo, he said the issue ought to be resolved in a package with Bosnia. Kosovo is considered by Macedonia to be a part of Serbia with the same autonomy it used to have under the 1974 Constitution of the former Yugoslavia, Handziski said.
According to Athens News Agency, Mr. Papoulias said in Vienna trade sanctions on FYROM had been imposed for political reasons, which was confirmed by the prosecutor's address at the European Court.
"Greece insists on this political decision, which is part of a package aimed at resolving the feud with FYROM," Papoulias said.
Meantime, the leader of New Democracy Militiades Evert said at a press-conference in Washington that, concerning the search of a resolution of differences with FYROM is possible. He emphasized that his party's position was in favor of a large package that would include the issue of the name.
According to the socialists, the statement was within the agreed framework of Macedonia's official foreign policy. It is not new, they say, adding that it was only stated in a more concrete and clear fashion. The Socialist Party had a different viewpoint to the government at the time when the flag was adopted and will not oppose changes made to it. The name and Constitution articles, however, are not disputable in their eyes.
Tito Petkovski, coordinator of the parliamentary group of SDSM, doubts that the minister's statement was correctly interpreted to the Macedonian public. The party will wait to hear from the minister himself what he really said in Washington.
The Liberal Party is also doubtful about the originality of the statement reported by journalists in Macedonia. The party secretary also said that the coalition partners have never discussed any potential changes of the flag and Constitution.
A1 Television reports that the delegation also met coordinators of parliamentary groups of political parties and the Ethnic Relations Council. They were specially interested in issues related to the basic rights of ethnic groups, their mutual relations and legal regulations to preserve their identity, culture and language.
Thus far, they have also met with representatives of opposition parties. VMRO-DPMNE officials underlined that Macedonia fails to meet requirements for membership to the Council, as the current level of democracy in the country would only place it on the margins of Europe and would only prevent Macedonia from being included into the integration processes in Europe.
The faculty is also abolished because there is no longer a need for such students in the country. The currently enrolled students are to finish their studies by the year of 2002, and the employees of the faculty will remain on the payroll of the ministry.
MP's also accepted the proposed changes in the Law on Hazard Games and laws on ratifying agreements on cooperation with the governments of Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey.
Party officials say that the denial of Miljovski is accepted only as a piece of information, and that the legal representative of the party will examine when and how much budget money was transferred to the account of SDSM, as well as in what way this was in accordance with the decision of the State Election Commission. The article in the paper "Liberal", it was said, was based on a telephone conversation and a meeting attended by the highest leadership in the country. Reporters were also told that the Liberal Party lost some 35,000 German marks due to the delay in the payment of their campaign compensation.
Miljovski accepted the invitation, preconditioning the TV duel with appearance of one or both vice-presidents or the president of the Liberals (Stevo Crvenkovski, Risto Ivanov or Stojan Andov). Ivanov, however, said this is not a conflict between two parties, but a concrete case which does not call for a conversation between senior officials of the two parties.
The announced Liberal Party assembly, rescheduled from 1st to 24th June, as party officials said, will include re- examination of the functioning of the coalition Alliance for Macedonia, debate on potential dangers of the present trend of inclinations to triumph and self-marketing of certain senior politicians, as well as an initiative for forming a Foundation for a Civilian Society and Liberal Democracy. Along with parties in power, VMRO-DPMNE and the Democrats will also be invited to the assembly.
The audience would learn that those receiving money from someone can easily forget all about their own human and professional dignity and, in their humble servility toward the "money-giver", be willing to throw stones at their homeland. The audience would also learn how the "money- giver", having performed several good deeds and having bought one citizen, a dozen citizens or a hundred citizens in the state, can then think that he is entitled to the right to preach, to threaten and to give lectures on how everything should be done.
Mr. Soros, seated on a high seat in the studio of A1 Television while the reporters were seated on small chairs in two rows in front of him, spoke of how it is dangerous to walk alone in the streets in this country after 6 p.m., how the people are not safe and how they fear that the police will break into their homes at any moment. He also spoke of how the cabinet and parliament refuse to create regulations relating to information so that they can freely oppress and prosecute the brave independent journalists. Such an uncontrolled government, they said, would not last long if it was not for the "great personal authority" of the president of the country.
Mr. Soros kept questioning, encouraging and occasionally made comments. Among other things he said that he had arrived in Macedonia deeply concerned with the current ethnic tension and concerned, in general, with the slow progress of democratic changes in Macedonia. After what he had heard and seen here, he said that he will no longer be so loud in lobbying for Macedonia and will first wait to see what Macedonia will do to earn his sympathies. According to him the authorities in Macedonia are treating the Albanian minority in the country in the fashion of the Serbian communist regime in Kosovo. He encouraged the brave journalists to endure in their struggle against the communist darkness, reminding them of how he had contributed to saving the Russian Federation from turning into a "gangster state" through his foundation there.
Apparently, prior to his appearance on television the event was well planned and organized and the roles of the reporters present were explicitly divided amongst themselves at a closed-door session of the Council of the Soros Foundation. Humanitarian topics were not the main points on the session's agenda and, contrary to expectations, the topics were purely political. Among other things, the participants discussed the "old communist regime" in Macedonia as a basic obstacle to the establishment of a truly democratic and open civil society in which the Albanian minority, on an equal basis with the Macedonians, would enjoy all the rights of a constitutive nation. In other words, the current government and particularly the president, with his "great personal authority", are the main obstacles in the way of changes in the Constitution which some of Mr. Soros's clerks have lobbied for in several domestic and foreign newspapers over the last few months.
Participants in the session also discussed what seems to be the real reason for the visit of Mr. Soros - the Greek- Macedonian relations and his desire to mediate in their normalization. In the opinion of Soros, the world is expecting Macedonia to make the first step and, as a sign of good faith towards Greece, give up its flag so that negotiations can begin. Mr. Soros is quite sure, as he told the top Macedonian politicians who received him the next morning in spite of the television program, that he will be able to resolve the Greek-Macedonian dispute.
Who would not succeed in his place? Once Macedonia changes its Constitution (as a sign of love toward the Albanians), gives up the flag (to prove its good faith toward Greece) and becomes a civil society, in which the Albanians will remain Albanians and the Macedonians (also "nationally disputable") will become "civilians", the dispute with Greece will be reduced to only one unsettled issue - the name. Soros has a solution for this as well - "Slav- Macedonia".
The political activities of Mr. Soros during his short, but eventful, stay in Skopje were also marked by his participation at the round table of the university in Skopje on the topic of "Possible Alternatives to Satisfy the Educational Needs of Albanians in Macedonia". In case the reader does not know, this is an attempt to introduce bilingual or even tri-lingual courses in some university departments, which resembles attempts to introduce Albanian as a second language in Macedonia. On a request from Soros, which was readily met by the Center for Ethnic Studies which had organized the discussion, two provosts of the proposed university in Tetovo were also invited to take part in the debate. And thus, shoulder by shoulder with government ministers, the university rector and Mr. Soros, the two provosts of a self-declared and illegal institution "legally" discussed changes in the existing educational system.
Enriched with these bilingual "alternatives", Soros afterwards insisted on and succeeded to make appointments with the top leaders of the country - the president, prime minister and parliament president. At all three meetings the guest repeated, more or less, the same "advice" on how to lower the ethnic tension in the country, threatening that otherwise he will not only refuse to lobby for Macedonia throughout the world, but he will even cease financing projects in Macedonia (totaling, according to him, to some $5-6 million a year). This time he did not insist on a university in the Albanian language as he did in Budapest several months earlier, but he did insist on his mediation efforts in resolving the dispute with Greece and persuading Macedonia that, like it or not, it has to change its flag.
As Soros himself told reporters, he had also met with the leaders of the two largest opposition parties who made an impression on him as "people one can talk to" and who said they would support a government's decision to change the flag in order to renew the dialogue with Greece!
Soros also said he will go straight to Washington from Skopje to meet the US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke and present his mediating ideas! The answer of the Macedonian leaders to Mr. Soros's desire, to become active on a political level was probably implied in the unusual announcement which came from the president's cabinet saying that the talks with Mr. Soros included "differences" on certain issues. Meantime, the same cabinet sent a letter to Holbrooke to inform of Soros's intention to mediate in the Greek-Macedonian negotiations, underlining that the initiative met with no support from the Macedonian leadership.
All three meetings took an unusually long time (the one with the prime minister lasted 4 hours) which, depending on the circumstances, can mean either great closeness and many common ideas or some unpleasant differences. In this particular case it is highly likely that it was the latter.
It does not take great political experience to understand that the discrepancy between Macedonia and Soros will not be easily bridged. George Soros is not only a "private businessman", as he is often referred to, but is also one of the world's richest men (worth 7 to 8 billion dollars). With only an minute portion of his fortune he has succeeded in obtaining access to many sensitive spheres in the life of Macedonia. At a time when help arrived from almost nowhere and the country was facing a winter without any oil, Soros lent the state $25 million. The debt, although returned by the due time and with the agreed interest, was still an obliging gesture. The Soros Foundation is also financing a kindergarten program, occasional publishing scientific studies, providing aid in equipment - sometimes modestly, sometimes abundantly - for a number of independent radio and television stations in Macedonia, providing scholarships for Macedonian students abroad, even helping media such as Nova Makedonija and the Macedonian Television (referred to as "regime media" by "intellectuals" under him), and so on and so forth. Owing to his fortune Soros is also a very influential person with close links and personal friendships among important political circles primarily in the United States. In other words, all these facts must be considered by the Republic of Macedonia in its attempts to establish normal relations with him.
It is quite another question how such a mission like the Soros Foundation in Macedonia, noble in nature as it was in its early days, has now turned into its own opposite. What has changed Soros's attitude toward the level of democracy in Macedonia and made this financial tycoon wish for a political role in the Balkans?
Attempting to find an answer to this, this paper has been trying for a whole week to find out what is the registered scope of activities of the Soros Foundation. It turned out that the organization is not registered with competent ministries or courts, either as the Soros Foundation or as an Open Society Institute. What was revealed, by the way, was only what is widely known - that the Republic of Macedonia simply has no laws on registering foundations, and the only document witnessing Mr. Soros's presence in the country is the document on the loan he granted the country under the previous parliament. In other words, no activity of his Foundation seems to be registered anywhere but the personality of Mr. Soros, his foundation is, in a way, "made legal" in this country!