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MILS: News from the FYROM, 97-05-28Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 28 May, 1997[01] PM CRVENKOVSKI ANNOUNCES COMPOSITION OF NEW GOVERNMENTThis Tuesday - after conducting consultations with all coalition partners - PM Crvenkovski announced the composition of the new Government. The latter is to be comprised of 15 ministers with and 4 without a portfolio.Concordant to this, the Parliament is to debate the approval of a Government that would be constituted of: Foreign Secretary Blagoj Handzhiski (SDSM); Minister of the Interior Tomislav Chokrevski (SDSM); Defence Secretary Lazar Kitanovski (SDSM); Finance Minister Taki Fiti (SDSM); Justice Secretary Gjorgji Spasov (SDSM); Minister of Economy Boris Rikalovski (SDSM); Minister of Labour and Social Policy Naser Ziberi (PDP); Development Minister Menaf Neziri (PDP); Minister of Civil Engineering, Urbanism and Environmental Protection Tome Trombev (SDSM); Transport and Communications Abdulmenaf Bedzheti (PDP); Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Kiro Topuzovski (SDSM); Health Minister Petar Ilievski (SPM); Science Minister Aslan Selmani (PDP); Culture Minister Slobodan Unkovski (SDSM) and Education Minister Sofija Todorova. Ministers without a portfolio are Zlata Popovska (SPM), Dimitar Buzleski (SDSM), Vlado Naumovski (SPM) and Dzhemal Hajdari (PDP). Concordant to legal provisions regarding the Government - PM Crvenkovski stated - his deputies are to be appointed during the first Government session to follow. `In the conviction that this Government will implement reforms in all sectors with a far greater amount of ‚lan, energy and diligence - and address all economic, social and other problems affecting our nation, while strengthening its political and economic stability - the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia will hopefully vote in favour of my proposal', stated PM Crvenkovski upon publicizing the line-up for the new Government cabinet. [02] IMRO-DPMNE: `GOVERNMENT RECONSTRUCTION - AN INTERNAL AFFAIR OF THE SDSM'`The reconstruction of the Government is an internal affair of the SDSM and in our opinion this new, short-term Government will not be able to achieve anything more positive than its predecessor...' This - according to A-1 TV - has been stated by IMRO-DPMNE Spokesperson Dragi Ivanovski during a press conference held yesterday, in response to the Prime Minister's decision to reconstruct the Government.On this occasion the IMRO-DPMNE announced a series of protests and a simultaneous demonstration in Skopje and other cities throughout the country, staged under the same motto (`Stop the Social, Economic and National Decay of Macedonia') as the protests on 15th May. According to IMRO-DPMNE Spokesperson Dragi Ivanovski the requests to be forwarded remain the same: Government resignation, the forming of an administrative Government which is to prepare and conduct early parliamentary elections within the next three months and the signing of a joint national reconciliation declaration. Protests in Ohrid have been scheduled for today, at Veles for tomorrow and at Strumica in two days. During these events IMRO-DPMNE leader Ljupcho Georgievski is to read the Memorandum containing these requests, which also has been forwarded to the Government. Upon commenting on the most events at Gostivar, the IMRO- DPMNE Spokesperson said that this had to be attributed to the fact that the law on the use of flags to represent ethnicities had not been enacted yet, as well as to the fact that the SDSM has been bartering upon passing the laws on territorial division and on local elections. [03] US CONGRESSMEN MEET MACEDONIAN POLITICAL LEADERSHIPThe Delegation of the US Congress currently visiting Macedonia has been received by President Kiro Gligorov yesterday. On this occasion - MTV reveals - the guests from the US displayed considerable interest in Macedonian views and experience as regards the development of the political system and economic reforms - with a particular emphasis on inter- ethnic relations in the country. Talks also concentrated on the basic commitments of Macedonian foreign policy and our country's perspective on the development of events in the region. President Gligorov gave a detailed survey of bilateral cooperation, expressing his belief that during the imminent summit they are to acquire new dimensions and contents.The US Congress Delegation headed by Douglas Bereuter was also received by Parliamentary Chairman Tito Petkovski and PM Branko Crvenkovski. In addition to this, it met with representatives of the IMRO-DPMNE, the PDP and Defence Secretary Blagoj Handzhiski and ARM HQ CINC Gen. Trajche Krstevski (at the `Ilinden' barracks in Skopje). Upon request of the visitors from the US, ARM troops gave a short presentation of their skills exhibiting - according to Bereuter - a high level of combat readiness. MTV reports that the Congressman also stressed the considerable engagement of Macedonia within the `PFP' Programme and its approaching NATO standards. In this context the US further expect solid cooperation in the defence sector, which is to be complemented with US equipment donated to the ARM. [04] OPINION POLL: `GREEKS INDIFFERENT TOWARDS NAME-ISSUE'An opinion poll conducted by Greek pro-Governmental paper `Eskoussia' shows that merely 2.3% of the Greek population appear to be interested in the name-negotiations led with Skopje. `Makfax' reports that relations with Turkey are considered the most serious issue, and in this context relations towards the EU as well (on place No. 2). In comparison to this negotiations with Skopje occupy the third slot. Of those attributing the highest priority to this issue, the majority opposes a complex name containing the term `Macedonia'.[05] SUSPENDING OF TEMPORARY PROHIBITION TO USE FLAGS AT GOSTIVAR DEMANDEDTwo days ago the Constitutional Court of Macedonia addressed a letter to the Municipal Council of Gostivar, demanding official information on whether their ruling on removing the flags of (the Albanian and Turkish) nationalities in front of public and state institutions had been received and implemented by them. It is known that the ruling became legally binding upon its enactment, in spite of the fact that it has not been enacted so far and caused revolt among the Albanian ethnicity. The written reply of the Municipal Council proposes the re- examining of this ruling and the suspension of the latter until the corresponding act is passed. `Nova Makedonija' reports that the municipality was taking united stand against this decision as - according to the reply - between 500 and 1 000 citizens of Albanian ethnic affiliation gathered in front of the Municipality building on a daily basis, thus expressing their discontent with the Court's decision. Due to this the Constitutional Court has been asked to suspend the temporary prohibition, and thus prevent the possible escalation of inter-ethnic tension, while preserving stability in Macedonia.[06] CLIENTS RESORT TO `STONING'Yesterday's demonstration of `TAT' bank clients, staged in protest of the Government draft-bill on client restitution and its Parliamentary processing, ended in an uncontrolled outburst of violence: the throwing of stones at several buildings throughout Bitola. A larger group of protesters first attempted to enter the Municipality building (from which it was prevented by the police); this was followed by demanding the resignation of Mayor Siljan Micevski and the throwing of stones at the Municipality building. The next building to be `stoned' was the Mayor's residence, the residence of `TAT' owner Sonja Nikolovska and the premises of the `TAM ` Insurance Company, the SDSM Municipal Committee, the premises of the `Pelister' company (also headed by Siljan Micevski). Media report that the situation had been most critical in front of the Nikolovski house, which has been secured by a considerable amount of policemen who succeeded in keeping the demonstrators out of the house. Unofficial sources nevertheless state that two policemen and one citizen have been injured, in addition to a camera operator of the local TV station `Orbis' whose equipment was also smashed up.Besides this, protests as usually focused on demands for Government resignation (as well as that of the top state officials) and on further appeals for massive demonstrations. Through an one-hour-long strike several Bitola merchants expressed their support of the deceived banking clients. As did the municipal Trade Union Organisation. Bank client representatives have departed for Skopje yesterday, where they are to meet officials who may be of use to advance their cause (the fulfillment of their requests). Bitola MPs also announced that a meeting between bank client representatives and PM Crvenkovski has been scheduled for one day after the Parliament has elected the new Government. This agreement had been reached after contacting Parliamentary Chairman Tito Petkovski. It had also been suggested to await the findings of judiciary investigations in order to compare them with the NBM findings and thus obtain a more realistic insight into the financial state of affairs at the `TAT' bank. [07] GOVERNMENT PROPOSALDue to a request aired by the SDSM Parliamentary faction of Bitola, the Macedonian Parliament has postponed the debating of the Government draft- bill on client restitution (with respect to three of the banking scandals) with 77 votes in favour of this motion. The latter was being justified by the fact that judiciary investigations were still in progress, and that this had been requested by the Bank Clients' Association and its Board. MTV reports that this step has been approved by Finance Minister Taki Fiti in whose opinion the Clients' Board is exhibiting skepticism towards conducted NBM investigations. Thus he deemed it commendable to await the completion of judiciary investigations, as it represents a `second opinion' on conditions at the `TAT' bank.While informing the public of yesterday's protests and unrest at Bitola, MP Branirod Mihajlovski appealed to `TAT' bank clients to exhibit patience and abstain from violent methods of protesting. The Parliament also adopted the proposal of MP Slobodan Najdovski to forward investigation findings to all MPs. [08] 1 000 BUSINESSES PRIVATIZEDThis Tuesday the Parliament analyzed the Report submitted by the Agency for the Transformation of Enterprise With Social Capital for the year 1996, during the 68th Parliamentary session. In its justification section, Director Verica Hadzhivasileva Markovska pointed out that yesterday the 1000th privatization contract had been signed. This means that so far 176 000 employees are being covered by the privatized sector (worth app. 4 billion DM). While underlining that the first (about 10) enterprises in the agricultural sector have been privatized as well, Markovska informed that 70% of overall revenues in the country are being generated in the private sector which employs 57% of Macedonia's labour force. The private sector yielded 78% of all profits and 43% of the losses. By the close of 1996 a total of 167 million DM have been generated through privatization. Of these 101 million DM fall off to frozen hard currency assets, 45 million DM fall off to bonds and 21 million DM are revenues in cash. So far overall yields amount to 195 million DM - according to Markovska.Parliamentary discussions mainly focused on the monitoring role of the Agency, while several estimates indicated that presented data did concur with data published in the Agency Newsletter. In the opinion of Vladimir Stankovski the absence of international capital is entailing a regress in terms of technology, while Hisein Ramadani stated that considering all odds great progress had been made. Ace Kocevski stressed that most of the population equals the privatization process to `highway- robbery' - while advocating the rejecting of the Report. Finance Minister Taki Fiti dwelled on the difficulties accompanying privatization as a complex, controversial and lengthy process, discarding any comparisons of the latter to `robbery' as not serious. The shortcomings of transition could not affect the overall evaluation of the fact that the Agency successfully leads this process - in spite of all difficulties. The Parliament thus decided to continue debating the Agency Report at the next session, which is yet to be scheduled. [09] PUBLIC REGISTER TO BE RELEASED TO ACCESS`Vecher' reports that as of next Monday the Code on Trade Registration becomes legally binding - compliant to the Law on Commercial Enterprises recently enacted by the Dept. of Justice. This entails the abandoning of keeping registration registers at the Appellate Courts in Skopje, Shtip and Bitola.This new trade register is a document of unrestricted access, so that any entity interested in finding out more about their business partners (real assets, basic capital, distribution and mode of distribution, etc.) may consult this register. The latter is to be entered by all legal entities and by all representative / regional offices throughout the country. The register will be kept in hard copy and on computer, with a common data base on a national level. Those legal entities registered via the old (court) system have been given the deadline of 31st December 1998 to re-register - though the completion of this procedure is expected much sooner. [10] `ROUGH SEA' AT THE `OKTA' REFINERY OF SKOPJEThese days A-1 TV has been covering significant personnel changes (conducted by General Director Bojan Zhantevski) at the `OKTA' refinery. Rumour has it, however, that the days of Bojan Zhantevski are numbered as well. According to A-1 TV the entire process has been initiated last week with the blocking of the `OKTA' account by the Payment Flow Institute, upon order of the Public Revenue Office.This is being ascribed to the fact that app. 200 million denars (i.e. 7.5 million DM) in luxury goods tax have not been forwarded by this enterprise. Based on the most recent data the account is no longer blocked, and intensive negotiations between Government representatives and General Director Zhantevski (on re-programming dues) have been instigated. Meantime the refinery is about to be subjected to privatization procedures. WB experts have proposed to achieve this by the injecting of international capital, while the Government favour the retaining of control majority in shares by itself. The `OKTA' management team opted for employee ownership and a corresponding study is to be submitted to the Privatization Agency in time. [11] DECREASING PRICES IN MOBILE TELEPHONE COMMUNICATIONSAs of 1st June 1997 costs for obtaining mobile telephone service by `PTT Makedonija' are to be decreased considerably - `Vecher' reports. Thus link- up charges for the `Mobimak' system are to total 550 DM instead of the current 800 DM. In addition to this it has been proposed to lower the present monthly charge of 50 to 30 DM. Thus the average price for one minute of usage (depending on the time of day the call was placed) will amount to 0.5 DM.[12] RADIO AND TV FEES INCLUDED IN ELECTRICITY BILL AS OF THIS MONTHMedia report that as of this month the electricity bills will also contain the radio and TV fees. The radio charge (2.5% of the national average income) is to be paid by each household in possession of one or more receivers, while in the business sector (except for state and educational institutions) one charge is to be paid for each receiver. `Elektro-Skopje' will continue to collect the fees, while everything else is to be handled by the national broadcasting corporation MRTV.MILS SUPPLEMENT[13] `Syringes Instead of Pens'(`Vecher' - 27th May 1997)Although drug abuse is one of the more contemporary evils in Macedonia, it is radically gaining momentum since the beginning of the 90s. Thus the number of addicts is increasing progressively, with children and adolescents between the age of 12 and 14 experimenting with drugs (in the beginning) being one of the main groups. Data made available by the Government these days (upon request of the Liberal Democrats) state that out of 1 700 registered addicts 31.8% are juveniles - most of them hooked on heroin. Concordant to other analyses, based perhaps on less official sources and epidemic estimates, there are between 1 300 and 1 600 heroin addicts in Macedonia requiring specific health and social care due to difficulties emerging both at home and at school or work. Other estimates quoted by the Inter-Departmental Commission on Countering Drug Abuse place the number of heroin addicts higher than 5 000. While undertaking measures to counter this evil, the Ministry of the Interior indicates that the entire country is being affected to a greater or smaller extent. Especially gastronomic objects, discotheques and clubs - the favourite venues of young people and those addicted to drugs - represent danger zones. Another worrisome phenomenon is the spreading of this at schools. One of the most typical regions, with a considerable number of registered drug addicts (particularly marihuana) is the municipality of Gevgelija. Other such regions include the municipalities of Vinica, Sveti Nikole, Veles, Skopje and Tetovo with the total of 59 juveniles addicted to drugs. During the academic year 1994/95 for example, an anonymous survey was conducted among pupils which indicated that drugs are by no means a dark horse to some of them. Thus it was revealed that over 30 pupils had already used drugs; of these 20 were on the best way of becoming addicts. At the municipality of Sveti Nikole three drug abuse cases have been registered and monitored over the past two years - among the adolescents in that municipality. The abuse of drugs, especially marihuana and heroin, has emerged among the youth of Veles as well, though only three have admitted it so far. Drug addicts have also been registered at two high schools at Tetovo: the `Nikola Stein' medical school and the `Mosha Pijade' agricultural school. Acquired data from Government sources (predominantly the Ministry of the Interior) have to be considered with reserve. It is beyond any doubt that official sources on drug abuse leaves it unanswered how credible the interviewed subjects are - as it is obvious that these figures reveal only an inch of the entire picture. `Confiscated Drugs Kept in Safes' In practice it is very often the case that corresponding prosecution and judiciary offices are handing over quantities of confiscated drugs or equipment to the police until all procedures are finished, as they feel that their premises are not secure enough to store them. The Penal Code enacted this year contains the novelty of prescribing a way to handle these drugs. This includes the codification of how they should be destroyed by the elementary judiciary institution that handled the case. The implementation of this Code is to clarify all dilemmas present so far with regards to what happened to those drugs after they had been taken away from addicts and dealers alike, in order to extinguish any suspicion on its returning onto the market. Official data reveals that between 1991 - 1996 of a total of 101 kg of opium only 83 kg have been handed over to authorities, while 19 kg have remained in police safes. Further on, out of 386 kg of heroin an overall 182 kg have been handed over and 194 kg remained with the police. In the case of cocaine 52 kg have been detected and almost the entire amount is being kept by the police. 163 kg of marihuana (including 1 901 plants) have been confiscated as well - of these 375 kg have been handed over to authorities and 106 kg (plus 29 plants) remain at the police. (end)mils news 28 May 1997Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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