MILS NEWS 12/04/96

From: "M.I.L.S." <[email protected]>

Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory

CONTENTS

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 12 April 1996

[01] EARLY ELECTIONS BASED ON CITIZENS' INITIATIVE UNKNOWN SO FAR

'By the time the action of collecting signatures for a referendum on early elections took place, Macedonia did not have clear regulations on the way signatures should be collected for a citizens' initiative. According to my knowledge and information regarding the traditionally democratic countries in Europe and wider, there is no country with regulations that allow early elections based on a citizens' initiative. I have also not heard about such early elections to have taken place in the past 100 years.' - stated Macedonian President Kiro Gligorov in the interview for Croatian daily 'Vecernji List', given before his today's official visit to Zagreb.

He also referred to Liberals' leaving the Alliance for Macedonia coalition, repeating his stand this was a bad time for that, no matter that the remaining of the Alliance has the two thirds majority in the Parliament and that it can function in this way, as well. Gligorov stressed that it was wrong to strain the internal relations when Macedonia had such momentous tasks in the international plan.

Macedonian President positively estimated Macedonian- Croatian relations and cooperation, adding that they could have not be more intensive in the past period due to objective obstacles, such as Croatia's involvement in the Bosnian war, disconnected transport lines, and mostly due to other priorities both countries had. Gligorov said Macedonia would soon appoint its Ambassador to Croatia.

[02] UNACCEPTABLE REQUESTS FOR A SEPARATE ALBANIAN UNIVERSITY

Macedonian Foreign Minister Ljubomir Frchkovski held a lecture 'Republic of Macedonia and the situation in the Balkans' at the Swedish Foreign Policy Institute in Stockholm yesterday, which was attended by high officials and European ambassadors, experts of the Balkans and reporters, Macedonian Radio reports.

Frchkovski referred to the historical aspects important for the analysis of the relations between ethnic groups in Macedonia, stressing that the Albanian minority in Macedonia has several possibilities to be educated in their mother tongue, which is why their requests for establishing a separate Albanian university are unacceptable, also in the light of the European democratic standards in this field.

Minister Frchkovski talked about the relations with the neighbours and said the negotiations with Greece in New York would cease, as the name issue would be solved bilaterally.

In the statement he gave for the Macedonian Radio, Frchkovski informed that Macedonia won the Swedish support for the disagreement with the EU regional approach in the process of association of Balkan countries to the Union. He positively estimated the talks he had with the hosts, adding that they should improve the cooperation with Sweden.

Macedonian Foreign Minister should go to Finland today and meet the President Marti Ahvisari and the Foreign Minister Tari Ahaonen.

[03] NEW PERSPECTIVES OPENED BY BELGRADE ACCORD

Macedonian Ambassador to Turkey Trajan Petreski talked to the Turkish National Defense Minister Oltan Sunkurlu about the bilateral cooperation in the field of defense, as well as about the current security situation in the Balkans.

Turkish Minister positively evaluated the recent Defense Ministers Meeting in Tirana, emphasizing the constructive role and importance of Macedonia for the peace and stability in the region. He added that the Accord on Normalisation of the Relations signed by Macedonia and FRY opens new perspectives.

As Macedonian radio reports, Macedonia's and Albania's need to join NATO as a priority was stressed, an idea which Turkey supported as a logic and necessary one.

[04] 'KATIMERINI' - 'ATHENS HAS LOST THE NAME BATTLE'

Commenting the interview of Macedonian President Gligorov for 'Free Europe' Radio and the EU stand that the recognition of Skopje was a contribution to the Balkan stability, Greek conservative daily 'Katimerini' read that Skopje was unyielding and that Athens had lost the fight for the name, informed 'Makfax' agency. Greece, according to the daily, had agreed with the EU stand that the recognition has opened the way for Belgrade to be recognised by the Union members. 'Katimerini' added that in the EU document by which the recognition was greeted, Skopje was addressed to as FYROM.

The reactions in the Greek media on the FRY - Macedonia recognition are ceasing, but the opposition daily 'Elefteros Tipos' reported the statement of the Croatian Archbishop Atanasie Jevtic, who had accused Miloshevic of 'demagogic abuse of the friendship and great help Greeks had given to the Serbs'.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Minister of the Serbian Republic Aleksa Buha had denied the claims of the Greek media that his Republic had anything to do with the recognition of Macedonia, adding that the people of this country would never forget the Greek help during the three years long war.

[05] DRNOVSHEK - 'THERE WILL BE MANY TACTICAL MOVES BETWEEN BELGRADE AND SKOPJE'

Slovenian media had paid great attention to the Belgrade Accord the last few days, 'Makpres' reports. The daily 'Delo' cited the statement of the Slovene Prime Minister, Janez Drnovsek, who said: 'Macedonia recognised the continuity to FRY, and Slovenia had not took the continuity into consideration when it recognised FRY last December. It seems there will be many tactical moves between Skopje and Belgrade in their future contacts. The stand of Macedonia that all former Yugoslav republics are equal successors of SFRY and that none of them has a priority to the inheritance was firm till now. Maybe Serbia now hopes to erase Macedonia from the succession list. I am sure that Macedonians will give it a good thought before they change their stand, which I doubt they will do at all.' - said Drnovshek.

[06] FR YUGOSLAV MEMBERSHIP TO UN CONDITIONED BY RECOGNITION OF CROATIA

According to diplomatic sources at UN in New York, FR Yugoslavia will have to renew the relations with Croatia also, besides with Macedonia, before it could become a member of the UN. The recognition of FRY by France and Great Britain, which will be probably followed by other EU member countries, is a step forward to the UN for FRY, but it would not be enough, reported 'Makfax'. The decision will be made by the UN Security Council and the 185 UN member countries.

Their stands whether FRY should be given the right to inherit the place of SFRY in the UN are divided.

[07] CHANGE OF US BATTALION IN UNPREDEP

A regular shift of the unit and command in the US battalion of the UNPREDEP Forces in Macedonia took place yesterday, and Lt. Col. Paul Barker took over the command of the new armored unit. Former commander was Lt. Col. Stephen Layfield, who had served his battalion in Macedonia for six months. The ceremony in 'Able Sentry' camp was attended by the Macedonian Army Chief of Staff Trajche Krstevski, the Chief of UNPREDEP Mission Henryk Sokalski and the Brigadier General Bo Wranker.

[08] QUESTIONS OF MPs ON THE AGENDA

Over 150 questions were asked at the 42nd session of the Parliament by the Macedonian MPs and many of them were left to wait for a written answer of the Government.

Teodosie Paunov's question about the exact damages Macedonia had suffered from the sanctions, was answered with figures of about $3 billion suffered from the sanctions on FR Yugoslavia and about $1 billion from the Greek embargo to Macedonia.

Ruffi Osmani was interested in the stand of the Macedonian Education Ministry about the validation of more than a thousand diplomas of Macedonian citizens obtained at the universities in Albania and Kosovo. Kadriu and Harunni both asked for a written reply on the Macedonian stand regarding the opened issue of Kosovo.

Ace Kocevski wanted to know the number of employment in the Macedonian Government and Administration during the last two years, the criteria that were used, how much it had cost and how were the salaries provided. He also asked whether the information that a main telephone exchange of DM 800 000 had been bought by the Finance Ministry, and that over DM 1 million had been spent for paintings in the Internal Affairs Ministry, was correct.

Immediately after the conclusion of the 42nd session , the 43rd started, on which two laws were passed: the Law on Temporal Stay Tax and the Law on the Transformation of Social Capital Agriculture Enterprises and Cooperatives. The request of the Liberals for the government to report about the jeopardized individuality, property and life of the Macedonian citizens was rejected.

[09] DOSTA DIMOVSKA - 'THE GOVERNMENT IS BLOCKING THE INITIATIVE'

A-1 Television yesterday reported the reaction of Dosta Dimovska, vice President of VMRO - DPMNE, on yesterday's information that Macedonia Parliament President Tito Petkovski had asked from the Ministry of Justice to check whether those who had signed for a referendum had the right to vote. Dimovska said the government was trying to block the initiative, the previous attempt being the immediate passing of the Law on Collecting Signatures, after which the signatures were checked by Parliament commissions. She added that the Constitution had already been violated, as the initiative should have been put on the agenda at the first following Parliament session, which was held yesterday.

The checking, which could last up to 30 days, according to Dimovska, would cancel the procedure, and the Parliament would most probably make a political decision in the former system manner. At the end, as she said, the initiative would be made a matter of the Constitutional Court, which would make a negative decision by the order of the government.

[10] NATIONAL FLAG USED FOR POLITICAL COMPETENCE

On the occasion of 94th Anniversary of the death of Voivode Metodi Patchev and his soldiers, an incident took place at the cemetery in Prilep. According to the police information, certain members of VMRO - DPMNE dropped the Macedonian flag on the ground, tore it up, trampled it and cursed, which is why charges were raised. The Township Presidency, on the other hand, claimed it was a slander by the Veterans' Organisation and of a group of teachers and pupils, who work under directive of the government, aiming to degrade VMRO - DPMNE, a party which members are leaders of the Township Assembly.

[11] INCIDENT DUE TO ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSING

Macedonian border patrol yesterday wounded a Yugoslav citizen Saliki Shefki, who, together with another Yugoslav citizen, tried to cross the border illegally. The police informed that at the attempt to stop them, one of the police officers slipped, after which the gun shot itself and wounded Shefki. Some Macedonian media estimated this as a border-incident, as the information was considered difficult to believe in. Both the Internal Affairs Ministry and the court inspection, however, confirmed the initial information.

MILS SUPPLEMENT:

[12] How to meet European criteria? ('Nova Makedonija', 9 April, 1996)

Without export, the domicile chemical industry is doomed to disaster because its capacities are overwhelming for the Macedonian market. Macedonian chemical facilities use more than 80 percent of its manufacture for raw materials of other economic fields in the country. Everyone is dedicated to the export, however it is limited because of the incompetitivness and because it is overwhelmed with many taxes. According to the already announced export for this year, as well as according to the regional predisposition of its products, the products are mostly exported to FR Yugoslavia, Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine. There is some export to the EU, then Turkey, Canada, USA, and Japan. The Macedonian export is mostly led by the production of plastic materials with 24,01%, then the production of synthetic fibers- 21,03%, medicine products- 13,03%, chemical products-12,08% and soups and detergents with 9,08%, etc.

During the past several years most of the production of the synthetic fibers, plastic materials, medicine products and some chemical products were mainly exported out of the country. On the other hand, the facilities of other manufacturers had been built mainly for the purposes of the regional needs. However, during the past 15 years the facilities had not been renovated which makes them backward comparing to the technological achievements of the rest of the world. That is the reason that chemical industry cannot cope with the world's chemical industry. Nevertheless, there is a bright spot for this part of the industry in Macedonia and that is the private initiative which invested in many small facilities in the field, so the capacity of production of various products has increased. Before the dissolution of Yugoslavia and its market, 90% of the chemical industry production in Macedonia had been exported to the joint market, mostly to Serbia with 35%. The war and sanctions forced this field of the industry to seek new markets in East and West Europe.

The potential export capabilities of the domicile facilities are not great even though they have high capacities. That is because of their structure and the type. Yet, the industry of PVC powder has best export capacities, about 25 000 tons annually. However, the only facility in the country-OHIS Skopje had not been working about two years as it could not import raw materials because of the sanctions. The facility has restarted in the beginning of this year and most of its production will be exported to the FR. Yugoslavia (80 % of the whole production), ant the rest will be exported to Greece. Last year the export of the PVC powder gained about 7 million dollars.

The PVC products have potentials of export contingent of 2 000 tons annually of the possible 10 000 manufactured tons. Most are exported to FRY, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Albania and Russia. It is not possible to have a larger export since transport costs are great. The synthetic fibers have a high quality, however the raw materials are 100% imported. During this period the manufacturers OHIS, "Hemtex" and "Prespatex" have faced a crisis in the supply of the raw materials and the capacities mostly remained closed, while 'Hemtex" entered the group of the bankrupted corporations. Beside the former Yugoslav republics, this products are exported to the EU, the Czech Republic, Lebanon, and Bulgaria. however, the EU had not withdrawn its dumping of 15,06% and there is not any chance to be withdrawn for in quite some time.

The medicine products meet worlds criteria, however the export is limited because of the legislation in each country. Macedonian corporations may only export their products in FRY, Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus... The potential capacities range to less than 400 tons or 50% of the existing capacities.

Macedonian detergents cannot meet the criteria of the EU yet, and that is the reason that the export is half of the existing capacities.

(end)

Mils news 12 April 1996

MILS WISHES YOU HAPPY EASTER HOLIDAYS!
MILS - NEWS service shall continue on April 16!