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MILS NEWS 19/06/96Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT ON ECOLOGY IN MACEDONIAMILS NEWSSkopje, 19 June 1996[01] SIGNING OF EU-MACEDONIA AGREEMENT POSTPONED'Makpress' agency reported that the Euro-Macedonian negotiations, which began yesterday in Brussels, had been discontinued and the signing of EU-Macedonia Cooperation Agreement had been postponed. According to diplomatic sources in Brussels, Macedonian Vice Prime Minister and leader of the negotiating team Jane Miljoski had stopped the negotiations because Macedonia was named 'FYROM' in the document. The previous agreement was to use the formulation 'two agreeing parties'.Meanwhile, a meeting of the European Commission had been urgently called to discuss this problem, which could result, according to 'Makpress', in re-introduction of the clause for close cooperation of Macedonia with countries in the region as a condition for the development of relations with the Union. The information of Macedonian Television was that the Union negotiators insisted on the name 'FYROM' under Greek pressure. The attempt of Macedonian representatives to make a compromise by suggesting the formulation 'two agreeing parties' or by signing two documents (one under the name FYROM and the other under the name Republic of Macedonia, as was the case when Agreement with NATO was signed), had failed. According to Macedonian Television, EU representatives also found the international code 'MK' to be used for Macedonian steel and iron import unacceptable. Information from Brussels are that the European negotiating team will consult with Union member countries on eventual compromise, but, as alleged, there are very small chances for that. [02] UK - MACEDONIA AGREEMENT ON ROAD TRANSPORTMacedonian Minister of Transport Dimitar Buzlevski and UK Ambassador to Macedonia Tony Millson, yesterday in Skopje, signed an Agreement on International Road Transport, which liberalizes the transport of people and goods between the two countries, thus abolishing the road taxes and other payments. This is the first such document that Macedonia has signed with an EU member country and the first official document signed between Macedonian and British governments.Ambassador Tony Millson said for Macedonian Radio that the Agreement was a model and a beginning of the development of bilateral relations and cooperation, and that it opened the way for Macedonia to Western Europe and Great Britain. Minister Buzlevski stated that it was very important that the Agreement was signed after the Conference of European Transport Ministers, at which Macedonia was especially supported by Great Britain. [03] TALKS BETWEEN MACEDONIAN AND 'VARTA' REPRESENTATIVESDuring their several days stay in Germany, Macedonian Parliamentarians, led by Parliament President Tito Petkovski, yesterday visited the batteries factory 'Varta' in Hannover. According to Macedonian Television, factory representatives said they were interested to invest in Macedonia, but pointed out several preconditions for that.Parliament President Tito Petkovski informed them that all the Laws significant for foreign investments had been passed already, and that many bilateral Agreements had been signed between Macedonia and Germany. He stressed that situation in Macedonia was stable, and that favourable international position of Macedonia guaranteed security of the investments. It was decided to concretize the investments within the following three months. Macedonian delegation also met with Saxonia Parliament President Horst Bilde, and emphasized great possibilities for economic cooperation between Macedonia and 'Volkswagen' company. [04] CHINA-MACEDONIA COOPERATION DISCUSSEDAt yesterday's meeting of Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski and Chinese Ambassador to Macedonia Nu Ju De He in Skopje, the traditionally close and friendly relations between the two countries and positive cooperation results were emphasized. The mutual desire to improve and widen the bilateral cooperation was stressed by both officials.[05] INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BALKAN DEMOGRAPHYGreek agency 'ANA' reports that an international conference on demographic developments in the Balkans after World War II is to take place in Thessaloniki (Greece) on June 26-29.The conference has been organised jointly by 'Macedonia University' in Thessaloniki and the International Centre for Social Research (EKKE) in collaboration with the International Union of French-Speaking Demographers and the Union of Balkan Statistical Services. The conference will be addressed by approximately 60 scientists from national statistics services, universities and research centres in Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Greece, FR Yugoslavia, Romania and Macedonia. [06] AGREEMENT WITH MACEDONIA RATIFIED IN BELGRADEAfter the Republics Chamber of FR Yugoslav Parliament had ratified the Agreement on Normalization of Relations with Macedonia in May, yesterday the Citizens' Chamber did the same. Thus, FR Yugoslavia de facto completed the ratification of the Agreement signed on 8 April this year by Milan Milutinovic and Ljubomir Frchkovski, reads today's issue of 'Nova Makedonija'.[07] NEW INCIDENTS IN KOSOVOBelgrade agency 'Tanjug' reported yesterday that one Serbian police officer was murdered and another seriously wounded in an attack on a police car in the village of Shipolje near Kosovo Mitrovica yesterday. According to the information, the attackers were unidentified persons, who fired at the car with an automatic weapon. As 'Tanjug' reported, this was the second attack on Serbian police in Kosovo in the last three days. Namely, another Serbian policeman was murdered in Poduevo by still unidentified people.Meanwhile, 'Nova Makedonija' reported about a letter sent to Serbian President Slobodan Miloshevic by a group of leaders of Serbian Resistance in Kosovo, asking from him to come to this province again and explain to Serbs and Montenegrins there what is their future. Belgrade daily 'Telegraph', according to sources in the Federal Government, reported that Miloshevic did not intend to go to Kosovo, as the opinion in Belgrade was that it was neither a good time to quarrel about Kosovo, nor to start a dialogue between Kosovo Albanians and Belgrade. As alleged, Yugoslav official stand was that Serbs in Kosovo had to understand that they must live together with Albanians, and that Kosovo issue would remain an internal one of Serbia and Yugoslavia, and it would be solved without any mediators, as it has been till now. [08] INCREASED PRODUCTION IN THE LAST FIVE MONTHSMacedonian Statistics Institute announced yesterday that industrial production in the Republic of Macedonia had increased for 3.2% at the period January-May 1996 compared with the same period in 1995. The production increased in 13 industrial branches, which part in the total production is 39%. The greatest increasing was realized in non-ferrous metallurgy - 53.5%, and in ferrous metals production - 37.2%. They participate in total industry with 5.3%. Fur and leather production raised for 35.5% in the last five months, and ferrous metals processing for 27.2%.Raised production in 18 branches that participate 49.9% in the total industrial production increased the latter for 6.9% in May '96 compared to April '96. Industrial production in May had raised for 7.8% in comparison with the average monthly production last year. This was mostly influenced by 40.1% increased production of working goods and 10.8% increased production of reproduction materials. [09] CONSTITUTIONAL COURT WILL DISCUSS THE INITIATIVE IN JULY'Constitutional Court of the Republic of Macedonia will decide about the Initiative for scheduling a referendum on early elections on 3 or 4 July,' said the Court Spokesman Jugoslav Milenkovic for the daily 'Dnevnik'. He said that two initiatives for judging the Constitutionality of Parliamentarian conclusion to reject the Initiative had been submitted to the Court - one by a citizen from Prilep and another by Ljupcho Georgievski and Petar Goshev.[10] ARBEN DZAFERI: 'FAUST'S MIND' DIVIDED THE ALBANIANS'Dnevnik' read that at the annual meeting of PDPA branch in Debar, held in Tetovo yesterday, leader of the Party Arben Dzaferi said: 'We, Albanians, look like guardians of a political fire. We have been pushed in a process that aims in installing the national interests of Macedonians. We entered this system with a hope to realize our program goals through negotiations, but 'Faust's mind' divided the Albanians.'In his speech, Dzaferi stressed the small percentage of Albanians in the system, and pointed out the Laws on Self Government and on Territorial Dividing of Macedonia as examples of things created by 'Faust's mind', which would have dark consequences for Albanians. [11] ENORMOUS POLLUTION OF RIVERS FLOWING THROUGH SKOPJEA-1 Television yesterday informed the public that waters of the rivers Vardar, Treska, Pchinja and Lepenec, flowing through Skopje were enormously chemically and bacteriologically polluted and must not be used for swimming or irrigation. The analyses made by Health Protection Institute in Skopje showed the fourth pollution level, which is the highest one. In the water of these rivers, polyform bacteria of a fecal origin had been found, as well as iron and caliumhyperemanganate.Meanwhile, Macedonian Television reported that Health Protection Institute in Ohrid had taken 30 samples of Ohrid Lake water for analysis. Two black points were noticed on Macedonian coast: at the mouth of Grashnica River and near the village of Kalishte, where water quality was of the third or fourth category. The reason for this pollution was releasing of feces to the Lake. Efforts are being made to solve this problem by constructing drainage system connected to the collector. Water quality of the other parts of Lake was either of the first or second class. MILS SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT ON ECOLOGY IN MACEDONIA[12] Main Story (Part III)"The results of epidemiological studies reveal a very small exposure of the population living in the proximity of the smelter to lead, cadmium and zinc," said Dr. Milcho Trajkov, a cardiologist and internist in Veles."Nevertheless, the contamination and exposure is continuing, and this can say a lot about the risky future. If we have typical diseases from the presence of a smelter, and we also have a smelter, it's logical to conclude that they are because of it. I can't prove this, but if someone else thinks differently, let him prove otherwise." The people of Veles did not become really alarmed about the plant until last August, when tubes at the smelter that were old and corroded allowed large amounts of sulfur dioxide to escape into the air. The problem was so bad that inspectors from the republic had the smelter shut down until the tubes were replaced. Ever since then the smelter has been a subject of public scrutiny and growing protests in Veles. At a demonstration in March, hundreds of people protested the smelter, with sign reading "Veles-- A City, But Not For Living", and "We Don't Want Clouds of Smoke Above Our City." "It's an undeniable fact: the smelter has caused an ecological catastrophe in our town," said Pandora Nikusheva, head of the ecological organization Vila Zora and one of the smelter's loudest critics. "We declare--it's guilty. We are accusing it of a crime. It must be closed or be considered as a dimensional problem. On the line is the fate of the coming generations. Isn't this a criminal act turned against our children?" The National Environmental Action Plan does not attempt to fix blame for the problem of the smelter. But it says that the state has done to little to understand the pollution and protect public health. "The Republic and the appropriate institutions did not have enough finances and probably not even the organizational strength to carry out an extensive investigation on the environment in this particular location, by which argumentation would have been completed and concrete and efficient protection measures taken," it says. Like many people in Veles, Nikusheva says the smelter and the state have been indifferent to the well-being of the people of Veles. "Until the smelter is closed or relocated, we Velesians will continue to die quietly from the gases of the smelter," she said. "No one cares for us any more, neither the smelter nor the government. They are interested only in profits and not in our health." Everywhere you go in Veles you can find people who are fearful and angry about the smelter. "It continues its merciless working, while we are waiting, hoping that something will be changed soon," said a 52-year-old man who lives near the smelter. "The situation in our town is stretched.... Sometimes this is very unkind, because when my children begin coughing, my heart is bleeding." On the other hand, it is not hard to find skeptics in Veles who believe the problem has been exaggerated. Some of these include people who have worked at the smelter. "The smelter is a symbol of Macedonia," said Idrizov Ruen, 52, who worked eight years in the smelter. "The only thing that has be done is to change the filters in the chimney." Panovski Todor, 49, is a metallurgist at the smelter. "The factory is our lifeblood," he said. "If it closes, we will all be unemployed." The director of the smelter, Boris Gichev, refused to be interviewed for this story. But other officials at the smelter tried to discredit their critics, especially Nikusheva, and accuse them of misleading the public. "Mrs. Nikusheva together with a few so-called intellectuals from Veles, are spreading panic among the public for personal and political reasons," said Bogdan Perkov, the smelter's technical director. Perkov also defended the smelter's administration against charges that it has ignored the effect of the smelter on the health of people in Veles. "The official structures at the smelter from the time it was formed have been interested in environmental protection, and all the information from research shows a drastic drop of the pollution," he said. He also criticized those who say the smelter is hiding from the public the true extent of the pollution it is causing. The smelter recently spent more than 500,000 German marks to install two monitoring systems at the smelter. The results were to be shown on a screen at the shopping center downtown, but by winter it wasn't working. "I don't know where all this distrust comes from, when the results of the measurements are public and are regularly presented to the medical department and to the media," said Perkov. "I am a citizen of Veles, too, and I live here with my family. So it's logical that if there were high pollution in Veles, I would be worried and excited, too." Goran Arsov, an ecological engineer at the smelter said that people were overlooking the benefits that the smelter brought to Veles and to Macedonia. "The citizens of Macedonia should be grateful to the smelter, when at the time of the transition it gave large amounts of money to the government budget, insuring the survival of the country," he said. "This shouldn't be forgotten." Officials at the smelter say the smelter should stay where it is, and that it should keep working. They say they are counting on help from the Japanese government to buy more pollution control equipment. The World Bank has also given Macedonia 20 million American dollars worth of credits to spend on environmental protection. "The real solution to the pollution problem isn't to be found in the closing or relocation of the smelter," Arsov said. He said moving the smelter would cost too much and closing it would deprive the state of 11 million American dollars of income annually. Arsov also suggested that the ecological problems in Veles cannot be solved with foreign money alone. "It's true that the smelter is a very big polluter," he said, "but I beg you not to forget the other factors which contribute to the pollution in our surroundings, including ordinary people, who lack a large ecological consciousness." In Skopje, the Republic's Department of Health Protection has finally gotten the equipment it needs to undertake an epidemiological study of Veles. It hopes to answer the question that doctors say they cannot answer now: how much is the smelter harming people? The Department has outfitted a new laboratory that will allow it to make tests that it could not make before, such as analyzing blood for heavy metals. But the study is not likely to be finished for two years. Most people in Veles do not want to wait for more studies before something is done about the smelter. At the same time, they don't expect any changes soon. For 23 years they have lived with the smelter looming on the edge of the city, giving so many of them work but bathing them in dangerous smoke. In a way, they are resigned to it. "I'm worried about the town's misfortune, but there is nothing to be done by me as a citizen," said Ljupcho Mitrevski, a 30-year-old worker at the "Boris Kidrich" slate factory. "We got used to living like this, breathing this air, drinking this water... I'm not believing any more the ecologists crying for help, or the politicians, either. They should have been thinking earlier about the consequences. They should have been thinking also that heavy industry must be built far away from the town. Doesn't this seem a criminal and manipulated game?" (end)mils news 19 June, 1996Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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