MAK-NEWS 01/03/95 (M.I.L.S.) [*] Ta nea ths hmeras, opws ta eide to MILS: [01] * MAZOWIECKI SPEAKS IN GENEVA OF UNIVERSITY IN TETOVO [Fainetai na pairnei to meros twn Albanwn.] [02] * ALBANIA SHOULD PLAY CONSTRUCTIVE ROLE IN MACEDONIA ["Perioxh krisews" h pGDM kata ton Germano Proedro.] [03] . AUSTRIA INTERESTED IN MACEDONIAN ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY [04] . GOVERNMENT BRIEFS [Ena periergo: H kybenhsh apofasise na kleisei tis ntiskotek "Hard Rock" kai "Park". Nomizw oti ekei eixan ginei kapoia episodeia metajy Albanwn kai Slabomakedonwn.] [05] * ALBANIAN MP'S REQUEST LANGUAGE AND VOTING BY CONSENSUS [06] * RISTIC NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, MILETIC SAYS [07] * VMRO-DPMNE CONDEMNS ISLAMIC THEOLOGY FACULTY [08] . 8 MILLION GERMAN MARKS LOST BY CLOSING DUTY-FREE SHOPS [09] . HUNGER STRIKER DIES IN OHRID [10] . SPORTS COOPERATION WITH SLOVENIA AND CROATIA [11] . CULTURAL INFO [12] . MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF DENATIONALIZATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ M I L S N E W S Skopje, 1 March, 1995 [01] MAZOWIECKI SPEAKS IN GENEVA OF UNIVERSITY IN TETOVO UN Special Rapporteur Tadeusz Mazowiecki held a press- conference in Geneva two days ago to report on the current human rights situation in the former Yugoslav republics, writes Flaka e Vlazerimit. The conference focused on the university in Tetovo and ethnic relations in Macedonia. Asked about the situation in Macedonia following the opening of a university in Tetovo, Mazowiecki said the atmosphere has worsened because ethnic Albanians in Macedonia continue to insist on education in their native language, while authorities in Macedonia refuse to grant this, declaring the university illegal. According to Mazowiecki, Macedonia ought to correct laws unfavorable for non-Macedonians. He also said authorities in Macedonia should undertake measures to ease the tension which has arisen since the incident involving police and the Albanian population in Macedonia. Mazowiecki considers Albanians in Macedonia have a legal right to demand a university education in their native language, writes Flaka at Vlazerimit. [02] ALBANIA SHOULD PLAY CONSTRUCTIVE ROLE IN MACEDONIA Citing Reuters, the Skopje paper Vecher reported on the recent visit by German President Roman Herzog to Albania. Speaking of the situation in the former Yugoslavia, Herzog said, "Resolving the Kosovo issue remains an integral part of the total solution for the former Yugoslavia, without which Serbia and Montenegro will not be reintegrated into the international community. Albania could also play a constructive role in easing tensions and introducing a balance between Macedonian Slavs and the Albanian minority in neighboring Macedonia, which is another crisis region." [03] AUSTRIA INTERESTED IN MACEDONIAN ELECTRICITY INDUSTRY A delegation of "Eduard AST", an Austrian firm specializing in construction of hydro-electric power plants, is on a two- day visit to Macedonia. The delegation met with officials of the ministries for city planning and economy, the public energy enterprise, and Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski. The company has offered financial cooperation and technology for the building of the power plants "Kozjak" and "Matka II", under the condition that Austria uses "Kozjak" for 20 years. The firm also requested an exclusive right to represent Macedonia at the Bank of European Reconstruction and Development. [04] GOVERNMENT BRIEFS Government spokesman Djuner Ismail and Minister of Labor and Social Policy Iliaz Sabriu yesterday held a press-conference on the latest government decisions to raise the price of gasoline by three Denars. The increase is to cover deficits in budget and pension funds. The 86 octane gasoline will now cost 34.5 Denars per liter and the 95 and 98 octane gasoline will be sold at 36.5 Denars. This increase is expected to increase the cost of living by 0.5 per cent. The government decided to accept the World Bank and FAO $16 million credit, $4 million donation by USAID, and $4 million as a participation in development of private farms. The government will submit to Parliament proposals for changes to the laws on pension and invalid security, labor relations and social security. Changes in the Pension Law will annul provisions setting social welfare, and the Labor Relations Law will be changed to shorten the notice for firing an employee from three months to only one month. This year, 12 per cent (nearly 60,000 families) will be using social welfare. The government has also appointed board members for 15 of the total 25 loss-making firms. They will be granted a right to a vote in making decisions in accordance with the degree of state capital participation in the entire capital of the firms, but not less than 51 per cent of the total number of votes. At its session yesterday, the government decided to close down the "Hard Rock" and "Park" discotheques. [05] ALBANIAN MP'S REQUEST LANGUAGE AND VOTING BY CONSENSUS Deputies of the PDP will not participate in today's continuation of the tenth parliament session. Deputy Naser Ziberi told Makpress the PDP will be re-enter in parliament only once several issues have been resolved. These issues include the use of language in parliament. The 19 ethnic Albanian parliamentarians in the Macedonian Parliament have mainly two demands: that they be allowed to speak in their native language and that changes be introduced in the working of parliament. They have been repeatedly told by Parliament leaders it is impossible to introduce the Albanian language in parliament debates, as it would be anti-constitutional. Albanian MP's insist on previous agreements between them and Macedonian parties on all legal projects concerning "language issues". Such a solution would mean voting by consensus instead of by majority of votes, Nova Makedonija comments. [06] RISTIC NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, MILETIC SAYS Following the statement by Boro Ristic, ex-leader of the Democratic Party of Serbs (DPS) in Macedonia, the current party president Dragisha Miletic told A1 Television that the DPS is the only legitimate and registered representative of Serbs in Macedonia. "We believe the statement was made by someone to introduce tension between Serbs and Macedonians, thus focus attention away from the university in Tetovo. Ristic is a man who has completely lost his authority and did not participate in the last elections as he could not register a party of his own. The agreement with Macedonian authorities of which he spoke was refused by all Serbian associations in Macedonia as an unacceptable and harmful agreement. Therefore, I would like to point out that his circus show cannot be taken seriously neither by the Macedonian nor by the Serbian nation," Miletic said. [07] VMRO-DPMNE CONDEMNS ISLAMIC THEOLOGY FACULTY VMRO-DPMNE bitterly condemns the construction of an Islamic Theology Faculty in the village of Kondovo, near Skopje. Such a faculty, the party says, is in fact a substitute for the so-called university in Tetovo. It will support Islamic fundamentalism and will lead to a complete destabilization of Macedonia. VMRO-DPMNE explains this "irrational act by the government" is a desperate move by a government soon to lose office. The act will make relations even colder with neighboring countries who firmly support Islamic fundamentalism. The fact that this faculty will be the only such institution in the Balkans shows that the Macedonian government is ready to turn Macedonia into an Islamic center in the region at the cost of the Macedonian nation, VMRO- DPMNE warns. [08] 8 MILLION GERMAN MARKS LOST BY CLOSING DUTY-FREE SHOPS Members of the duty-free shops group at the Chamber of Commerce yesterday accused the government of losing eight million German Marks by closing down the 11 shops at border- crossings with Serbia. They said the duty-free shops, which were closed six months ago, worked in accordance with the law and had a turnover of between 500,000 and 600,000 German Marks per day. Goods worth a total of some 20 million German Marks is blocked in the shops, and the 200 employees await the result of this vague decision by which the government killed its own "golden hen", enabling Serbian shops to take all the business. The group has already appealed to the Supreme Court, but so far has received no answer. [09] HUNGER STRIKER DIES IN OHRID Following a six-day hunger strike, one of the 18 workers in the firm "Ohridska Trgovija" died of a heart attack yesterday. The strikers are demanding that financial matters in the firm, currently facing bankruptcy, are settled. They will continue with the strike despite medical warnings. Apart from the local branch of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, strikers have not been approached by anyone else. [10] SPORTS COOPERATION WITH SLOVENIA AND CROATIA The national Olympic committees of Macedonia and Slovenia held a joint meeting in Ljubljana, yesterday to discuss cooperation and a joint appearance before the International Olympics Committee. Following the talks, the presidents of the national Olympic committees, Vasil Tupurkovski and Janez Sofianchic, signed a bilateral agreement on the exchange of coaches and sportsmen. The Macedonian delegation was also received by the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Drnovshek and President Milan Kuchan. A similar bilateral agreement will be signed today with the Croatian Olympics Committee in Zagreb. [11] CULTURAL INFO The French classical guitar trio, Le Trio Guitares de Paris, will perform works by Vivaldi, Bach and Bocherini on March 3 in Bitola at the Bitola Cultural Centre. Then on March 4 in Skopje at the Daut Pashin Amam. Both concerts will begin at 20:00hrs. [12] MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF DENATIONALIZATION Compensation as a denationalization method Speaking economically, compensation to rightful owners is a second best solution in cases when the first best solution - restitution - is not possible to implement. The basic problem with compensation is the way in which are determined the amounts to be paid back to the rightful owners of nationalized property. The market value of nationalized property seems to be the most acceptable basis for rightly determining compensation amounts. This, by the way, is also suggested by article 30 of the Macedonian Constitution, which sets a just compensation for expropriated property in accordance with market values as one of the ways to safeguard private property. * It should not present a considerable problem to determine the market value of land, apartments and offices, as these are frequently bought and sold on the market at openly known prices. In any case, the solution offered by the Proposal is unacceptable since it says values of apartments will be calculated by methodology and criteria as defined by the regulations on sale and purchase of state-owned apartments (article 38). This would lead to an unjust and illogical under-evaluation of apartment values. The solution to determine compensation for nationalized businesses in compliance with the State Capital Transformation Act seems quite acceptable. The experience of the authorized evaluators of the value of state capital may be useful and directly applicable in denationalization processes. The compensation models would include several forms: compensation by property with similar characteristics and value; compensation by money; compensation by shares of enterprises to which former owners claim rights (in accordance with the Law on Transformation of Enterprises With State Capital); government bonds (coupons) tradable on the future stock market in Skopje and valid for the purchase of state-owned offices and apartments, as well as for paying taxes and levies. It is the state which ought to compensate for offices and apartments now possessed by third parties. In cases of buildings erected on nationalized land, it is the owner of such buildings who ought to provide compensation after direct agreement with the rightful owner. The role of the state in cases such as the latter should be merely that of a mediator, i.e., it should only formulate the "rules of the game", particularly the fundamental principles of the agreements, the value and compensation deadline. ** Due to the large explicit and implicit public debts of the state, it would be unrealistic to expect a quick denationalization through government bonds (coupons). *S. Georgievski et al, op. cit., p 56 ** Ibid., op. cit., p. 93 Therefore, it would be opportune to provide quick compensation to only a portion of the total amount to be compensated (some 20 to 30 per cent), and pay out the remaining part successively within a reasonable period. Besides the regular income of the state, construction rents for state-owned land might also be used as a significant source of financial back-up for government bonds. Final conclusions Comparative experiences in legal regulation and practical implementation of denationalization processes in countries in transition clearly show that the Republic of Macedonia is far behind in this area. This, of course, leads to the conclusion that the Republic of Macedonia needs to urgently pass a denationalization act. The economic logic suggests that such a law should secure a maximum use of the restitution ad integrum principle. Compensation for former owners of nationalized property, as a second best solution, should be turned to only when restitution is practically impossible. A just compensation would also have to be based on determining market prices of property and appropriate compensation. It is probably no accident that the same countries which have gone furthest in the process of economic transition have also achieved the biggest successes in regulation and implementation of denationalization. Thence, the Republic of Macedonia ought to deal shortly with this very sensitive and important issue if it is to confirm its reform orientation. For this to become reality, appropriate political will, readiness and action will be necessary. (end)