During the visit, Gligorov will meet the Italian president Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and Pope John Paul II. Ministers Stevo Crvenkovski and Eshtref Aliu will also meet their Italian counterparts.
The church delegation will give a solemn mass at the tomb of St. Cyril at the Rome church of St. Clemente, and Father Mikhail will hold a ceremonial sermon on the life of the educator.
Papoulias was replying to reporters' questions after a 30- minute meeting with main opposition New Democracy party leader Miltiades Evert who briefed the foreign minister of his recent visit to the US.
"Ways must be found to disentangle ourselves from a problem which has been plaguing Greek foreign policy for a number of years now, without of course betraying our fundamental principles," Papoulias said.
Asked if he thought there would soon be development on the Skopje issue, Papoulias replied that "this does not depend on the Greek side which has clearly stated its positions. Kiro Gligorov must come to the negotiating table."
Papoulias described Evert's US visit as "a good appearance as a supporter of our national issues", stressing that national issues were free of party labels.
Replying to another question on the handling of the Skopje issue, Papoulias said both he and Evert agreed that the problem between Athens and Skopje had to be resolved "so that Greece can fully exploit all the possibilities which it has not only in the Balkans but also in the greater region." Papoulias also expressed guarded optimism about a settlement of the Bosnian problem.
"All the efforts being made by the Greek and other governments are aimed at finding a solution. We might be close," he said. "One must be cautious," he added, "because even the most optimistic forecasts on this major problem can be dashed at the last moment."
Meanwhile, the Greek Government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos said yesterday that the framework in which the issue of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia is being handled is that which has been set by the United Nations.
Venizelos was replying to questions on statements by US Presidential envoy on Skopje Matthew Nimitz, who reportedly said that the Skopje issue was a Balkan problem.
The spokesman said that he was unaware of the exact content of Nimitz's statements, adding that the Skopje issue was also a Balkan problem.
Experts at the Drug Identification center in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, made the announcement after a four-month research study.
Researchers said their findings were based on the results of a new high-technology device capable of detecting the composition and origin of the drugs tested.
Meanwhile, representatives of the Association of Private Radio and TV Stations met with Minister of Traffic and Communications Dimitar Buzlevski, to agree on issuing temporary licenses for work and frequencies as soon as possible. This, however, applies to only those radio and TV stations which meet the legal requirements on technical equipment. The Association's Initiative Committee disassociates itself from any political implications of their protest and continues with the campaign of gathering citizens' signatures and has announced a new meeting with Minister Buzlevski.
According to "Flaka e Vellazerimit" newspaper, yesterday and today, many private television and radio stations in Tetovo and in the vicinities, were also been asked to close. The paper underlined that, so far, this action has been carried out in a selective way, especially, towards the means of information in the Albanian language. These means, yesterday were not in air TV Koha, TV Art, "Fama" Radio etc, but nothing has happened to KISS and MAK TV stations, wrote the newspaper.
These kind of sentences and the continuation of such other political processes against the public activists, like Arben Rusi, the branch chairman of PDPA and Prof. Musli Halimi, are escalations of repression that tense ethnic relations and aim to discipline the Albanian political subjects in order to make them and their associations accept the second cathegory population statues. At the same time, they aim to make the Albanian subjects retreat from the projects which promote Albanian prosperity in the new state, reads the comunique.
The member of the leadership and the deputies of this party came to the conclusion that the motion of eight Albanian deputies to suspend their work in Parliament must be supported, because, non of the mentioned factors are not eliminated.
Taking into consideration the escalation of violence, which forecast a continuation of a stubborn and anti Albanian policy, the leadership of ADPP is inviting the other Albanian deputies, as well, to support the motion, in order to create, a common front of violence refusal, a front against nationalist Macedonian xenophobia, which prohibits the establishment of democracy in these regions, the Informative Service of PDPA explains.
- At the same stadium on Friday, the athletic club "Rabotnicki" of Skopje will celebrate its 50th anniversary by holding an international athletic meeting.
- An art gallery called "Bigorski" will be open on the Maksim Gorski street No 19, in Skopje, at 8.30 p.m. today .
The point to start from in answering this is most certainly the Constitution itself. It says that issues regarding the flag are to be regulated by a law voted out by a two-third majority, which means this is a system law. The Law on Flag of the Republic of Macedonia was passed in 1992.
Nevertheless, it fails to set ways and conditions for the use of a flag. This imposes a need to go back to older laws regulating the issue (the Law for Use of a Flag of 1973). A provision in this law says that national minorities are allowed to hoist their national flag in all cases when the official flag of the Republic of Macedonia is to be raised (such as various celebrations, political gatherings, massive cultural, sports and other events, as well as during private celebrations of citizens). The use of a national minority's flag, however, is preconditioned by a simultaneous use of the Macedonian official flag.
Since no other law to regulate this area has been passed, despite the fact that the national flag was changed in the meantime, the 1973 Law on Use of Flag is still in effect.
On the other hand, it must be born in mind that a flag is a symbol of a state, symbolizing its sovereignty and individuality in international relations.
When all this is presented in such a way, it is a logical and justified step by the state to introduce a law and qualifications for the use of a flag by previous approval.
Therefore, just as logical is the decision of the Constitutional Court to turn down the initiative for re- evaluation of the questioned article, considering that citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, regardless of their national affiliation, cannot be freed of the responsibility to respect the law. The said article, the Court also said, by no means presents a violation of any of the basic rights of the minorities.
Although the origin of the problem was explained in the above text, such a decision of the Constitutional Court does not seem quite clear at first sight. Many may just have failed to grasp the message sent by the Court through this decision. At a time when it became almost normal to see the entire western Macedonia decorated by flags of a foreign state, such a decision would mean an intention to introduce a radical change in the treatment of this issue. That is exactly why there is a need for an explicit explanation of the arguments which led the Constitutional Court to such a decision. If one accepts what is known in theory, that visual symbols are signs of sovereignty, it becomes clear that hoisting a flag of a state on a territory of another state indicates a privilege of ex-territoriality. This is the exact reason why a foreign flag is hoisted in Macedonia during visits of those countries' officials and flown on their consular offices and embassies. In short, this is no longer a Macedonian territory. But, as judge Milan Nedkov put it nicely, this is only the first part of the question. The second part is the use of a flag as determined by the old regulations. It is very important to point out here that this law also speaks of "flags of national minorities", and not their states of origin. This may seem like sheer finesse, but it is of an extraordinary importance that all entities, social, civilian and other organizations and associations, even ethnic entities, may have their own flag, but it must not be identical with the one of the home state. BY the way, the flag of the Republic of Macedonia is not only a flag of the Macedonians, but of all citizens living here. If the Macedonian state allows foreign flags to be hoisted all over its territory, this would mean that its sovereignty is divided and shared with others.
Still, there is one more occasion when flags are freely hoisted, during wedding ceremonies, but the law must also state precise conditions for the use on such occasions. This legal loop-hole must be filled; in the meantime, it would be of great help to have competent experts and institutions interpret the law, so that the current confusion surrounding the issue can be overcome.