FYROM news

[akritas]

DUI Wants An Anthem Without Text

The new national anthem should be a melody without text, because only then will all the citizens of Macedonia recognize it. This is the DUI's (Democratic Union for Integration) initial reaction to party leader Ali Ahmeti's announcement that the national anthem and coat of arms should be changed and that the coalition partners are ready to discuss the issue. Both the SDSM (Social Democratic Union of Macedonia) and the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) have denied having discussed any changes to the state symbols.

"The Albanians cannot identify themselves with Macedonia's current national anthem. An anthem should be acceptable for all citizens. The best way to a quick compromise is for the anthem to be a melody without text. This is only a preliminary proposal," DUI Deputy Chairman Rafiz Aliti says.

In response to a question of whether the Albanians will stop playing the Albanian national anthem in the event that the Macedonian national anthem is eventually changed, Aliti has said:
"No, you cannot expect us to renounce the anthem of Albania because we, too, are Albanians. We shall then play the Albanian national anthem at our party meetings, while paying respect to the national anthem, as well."

Ali Ahmeti recently told Dnevnik that changing the symbols affects the people's sentiments.
"I didn't say that I do not accept the national flag. That issue has never been raised. The coat of arms needs to be discussed. I believe that the coat of arms should also include elements related to the Albanian community. The anthem is an issue that should be raised," Ahmeti said.

DPA (Democratic Party of Albanians) leader Arben Xhaferi was the first to initiate changes to the state symbols. Unlike Ahmeti, he believes that the national anthem, coat of arms, and flag need changing, because the Albanians cannot identify themselves with the current national symbols. According to Xhaferi, one cannot expect Albanians to rise to an anthem that sings of Goce Delcev or Jane Sandanski, nor can one expect Macedonians to identify themselves with an anthem that mentions Jumni Jonuzi. He suggests that the anthem should have a more humanistic message, similar to Beethoven's "Ode of Joy" or some composition by Bach.

SDSM spokesman Boris Kondarko says that his party will not comment on Ahmeti's statement, adding that the party has not discussed this and that it is not a priority for the SDSM.

Andrej Zhernovski of the LDP says that his party has never discussed changes to the national symbols with the DUI, adding that it is not true that the LDP is willing or prepared to change the national anthem.

http://realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/n...e.asp?nid=4362

kai pou na deite otan to Kossovo tha ginei anexartito !!!!

[zefs]

Skopje, December 28 (MIA) - Pontiff of the Macedonian Orthodox Church (MPC), HH Stefan said Wednesday that the problem of MPC's recognition would be resolved with Macedonia's accession in the European Union and other international institutions.

"I believe that the problem with the Macedonian church will thus be resolved, without the influence of politics", Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia said.

In the New Year greeting to the citizens, the Pontiff also wished for a sooner recognition of MPC and resolution of the dispute with the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC).

According to him, politics is the biggest obstacle for the dispute's resolution, adding that each people with a state named its church accordingly.

"MPC is not different from the Bulgarian, Serbian, Russian and other national churches", MPC Pontiff Stefan emphasized.

[PhiliptheUniterchaeronea]

With all due respect to the bishop of Skopje but his church was founded by the communist party of Yugoslavia. Tito's plans were purely political when he did this and was not out any love for any Church. How soon this is forgotten though.

[zefs]

World

Schuessel for quick accession of Macedonia into European Union

Paris, 17:34


The Austrian Prime Minister Wolfgang Schuessel sent a message suggesting his pledge for quick accession of Macedonia into the European Union, which would take place shortly after admission of Bulgaria and Macedonia, Makfax reports.

The Federal Chancellor of Austria, which took over the EU Presidency at the beginning of 2006, told International Herald Tribune he intended to instigate the plans for accession into EU of four additional countries, in spite of the common disappointment of the 2004 enlargement.

Bulgaria and Romania should be able to enter the Union in 2007 or 2008 at the latest, said Schuessel, adding that Croatia and Macedonia should follow them shortly after.

In the next few months, the European Commission is to voice its stand whether Bulgaria and Romania are ready to enter in EU in due time. Bulgaria has made significant progress in the battle against organized crime, said Schuessel.

As regards Turkey, which launched in October the negotiations for fully-fledged membership in EU, Schuessel said this country deserved the candidacy. "The outcome should stay open", said the Austrian Federal Chancellor in the interview with International Herald Tribune. /end/

[zefs]

Nice respect by the the European Media calling these Bulgars M<acedonian.

[Makedonia25]

Macedonia Not Ready Yet for Specific EU Membership Talks

Vienna. Macedonia is not ready for specific EU membership negotiations yet, the EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn stated, Macedonian agency Makfax reports.
Commenting on the EU enlargement Rehn evaluated that the accession of new members is important on account of numerous strategic reasons but that the EU must first solve its social, political and institutional problems.
The Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel has also estimated that they have to be careful, “not to demand too much of Europe”. “I clearly state: Bulgaria and Romania – this is an already solved issue. The Balkans have a clear European perspective too. Turkey, on the other hand, is a different matter: we will still start the negotiations but we do not yet know what the outcome will be”, Schuessel stated. According to him besides Croatia it should not be forgotten “that Bosnia, together with Macedonia, are an example of a very successful politics on the Balkans. Today peace rules there, no matter how fragile it is. But it still rules and to a high extent so does stability. This is a success for European politics”, Schuessel stressed.

[Makedonia25]

Macedonia (FYR): Wobbling toward Europe

Europe Briefing N°41
12 January 2006
OVERVIEW

The European Union summit’s December 2005 decision to grant EU candidacy status is a significant milestone on Macedonia’s path to European integration. However, its open-ended nature, with no start date for accession talks, indicates the practical and policy challenges the country still faces to become a stable post-conflict democracy. Implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement, which ended incipient civil war in 2001, is nearly complete and essential reforms are underway but progress, while significant, is also relative. The international community needs to keep pressure on the government to move faster and more seriously in vital sectors, including the police and especially the judiciary, which still lag and where on-the-ground implementation often does not keep pace with government rhetoric.

Just as the aptly-timed American recognition of Macedonia’s constitutional name did in November 2004, the EU’s decision gave an important boost to prestige and self-confidence. However, the cautionary language used indicates the EU will continue to press, as it should, for more movement on a number of fronts. Police and judicial reform are particular issues of critical concern for average Macedonians as well as their political leaders. Progress on them is not only a prerequisite for EU membership but also directly impacts coalition ability to govern responsibly.

The police reform mandated by Ohrid has made notable progress in recruiting and training new cadets, adding Albanian officers, and assuming responsibility for the borders. But until the government moves beyond a “ticking the box” approach and tackles fundamental management issues, including decentralising authority and instituting a merit-based personnel system, the police will still not be a transparent and accountable community-based service.

The judicial system remains unreformed and dysfunctional. A country of two million citizens has a backlog of some 1.2 million cases. The crippled system, which is still subject to excessive executive branch influence and corruption, suits entrenched political interests. The international community recognised the problem late, only after the judicial system began to endanger progress in other areas. The government has drafted several constitutional amendments aimed at promoting judicial independence, including life tenure and a required two-thirds parliamentary majority for appointments, but must now actually implement these measures and take immediate steps to improve quality and accountability by rooting out corrupt and incompetent judges and training the capable and qualified.

Two unrelated issues require particular attention in 2006. The imminent return of four war crimes cases from The Hague Tribunal threatens to stir up ghosts of the 2001 conflict and challenge the inadequate judicial system. How these cases are handled – operationally and politically – will have an impact on domestic politics and Macedonia’s relationship with its international partners. Increasing tension within the Islamic community, whose leadership disputes have spilled into the public arena, has raised the question whether the country is threatened by radical Islam. There is no genuine Wahhabi threat, but ethnic Albanian leaders are concerned that the power struggles reflect poorly on their community and could be manipulated by political foes.

Although the insecurities which culminated in the November 2004 referendum – including concerns about power-sharing among ethnic communities and the brief emergence of a group of armed ethnic Albanians on Skopje’s outskirts – seem long gone, Macedonia is still an immature democracy, vulnerable to spoilers seeking to hijack or exploit an imperfect reform process. The road to Europe will be secure only if it implements necessary initiatives and manages political challenges before they grow into crises. These are some of the necessary steps:

Judiciary. The international community and Macedonia should lobby the Hague Tribunal to delay return of the four cases until at least late 2006 (preferably 2008) while donors work with the government to fast-track judiciary reforms, including specialised training for judges on serious crimes; crime scene investigation techniques; a viable witness protection program; and a court for serious crimes. Once the constitutional amendments are passed, the government must quickly purge corrupt and non-performing judges, set up the new administrative court for misdemeanours, and establish a permanent judicial and prosecutorial training academy.
Police. The pending Law on Police should devolve authority to more, not fewer, police districts. Staff and resources (including an EU presence) need to be added to the Professional Standards Unit so it can investigate internal corruption and police abuse, and a merit-based career path, including a fast-track program for the best and brightest officers and recruits, should be developed. The police also need to coordinate work closer with other government agencies.
EU. Drawing staff and expertise from the former Proxima and the interim successor EUPAT police missions, Brussels should establish a new mission, to begin in June 2006, with increased financial and staff resources. Reporting to the new EU Special Representative (EUSR), it should be mandated to expand its scope to include the full justice sector including judges, prosecutors and prisons. It should place advisers in the justice and interior ministries, the public prosecutor’s office and the recently established regional police headquarters. EUSR should also work with the government to establish a justice and home affairs adviser in the prime minister’s office charged with pushing reforms and coordination between ministries and other government entities.

Skopje/Brussels, 12 January 2006

[Makedonia25]

Parliament briefed on EU summit, Macedonia issue talks

Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Valynakis on Friday categorically denied that Greece had engaged in "secret diplomacy" over the dispute over the name of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Valynakis was replying to questions posed by main opposition PASOK MP Christos Papoutsis during a briefing of Parliament's European Affairs Committee on the results of December's EU summit.

In his question, Papoutsis had referred to press reports from FYROM that linked the so-called Macedonia issue with an invitation to FYROM Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva to attend an conference of Balkan countries in Athens.

"There is no secret diplomacy between Skopje and Greece concerning the name of the neighbouring country. What Skopje's newspapers write is their own affair. Ms Mitreva could not be excluded and not be invited to the Inter-Balkan Conference in which all Balkan countries will participate," Valynakis underlined.

The deputy minister did not rule out the possibility of bilateral talks between Greek Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis and his Balkan counterparts on the sidelines of the meeting, however.

PASOK MEP Stavros Lambrinidis, on his part, said the government lacked a "Balkan" policy and urged particular caution in negotiations with FYROM to "avoid what happened with Turkey's EU accession, where we lost whatever we had won".

Briefing the committee on the results of the EU summit, Valynakis described the outcome as a "important success" for Greece, which had managed to secure a satisfactory funding package of €21 billion.

"Greece fought and won the crucial wager of the CAP, both in order to secure a satisfactory sum for the structural funds and for their proper utilisation," he said.

[akritas]

Mustafaj says no border guarantees upon division of Kosovo

Tirana, 19:03

Albania cannot guarantee inviolability of borders with Macedonia and Kosovo if the Serbian province undergoes division, Albanian Foreign Minister Besnik Mustafaj said on Tuesday.

"Tirana stands ready for any contingency, and if Kosovo is divided, Albania could not guarantee inviolability of the borders", Mustafaj told Alsat TV station, as commenting the thesis of Kosovo-Albania merge upon granting province's independence.

"As soon as last October, I said in front of high officials in Brussels that if division of Kosovo takes place, Albania could no longer guarantee inviolability of borders with Kosovo, but with Albanian part of Macedonia as well", Mustafaj said in Alsat's TV programme.

"We keep a close eye on the current developments, and I assure you, Albania would not be caught without contingency plan for any given situation", said the Albanian Minister.

In the same TV programme, the Vice-President of DPA Menduh Taci said "establishing an independent Kosovo and national identity of Kosovars raises the issue of the identity of Albanians living in Macedonia".

"I am against forming new identities. As we grow accustomed to the identity of Kosovars we will start forgetting that they are Albanians. Personally, I can accept that compromise, since 90 percent of Kosovo's citizens are Albanians and the official language in all institutions is the Albanian. However, such a move gives no answer as to what will be the identity of the Albanians living in Macedonia", said Taci. /end/

[Amyntas]

FYROM - Sold Out
-----------------------
For the Good of Macedonia

2006/04/05

SKOPJE/BERLIN/VIENNA

(Own report) - 15 years after its, German supported, secession from the Yugoslav Federation, Macedonia is confronted with having to sell out all of its national holdings to foreign companies. "(A)lmost all national net assets have been sold", summarized the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, closely affiliated to the ruling CDU, after the takeover of the state-owned, ESM, power supplier monopoly, by an Austrian-German enterprise. While the poverty ratio in the Macedonian population soars to new heights, Berlin and Brussels are requiring of Skopje expensive measures for the fortification of the national borders, to prevent unwanted immigration into the prosperity centers of the EU. Sitting in the upper echelons of German expansion enterprises are politicians, who had played prominent roles in the Macedonian secession and the war against the FR Yugoslavia.
EnBW
In March, the Austrian EVN AG (Energy Supply Lower Austria) bought, for approximately 225 million Euros, a 90-Percent-majority of the Macedonian monopoly power supplier, Elektrostopanstvo na Makedonija (ESM). This was preceded - in autumn 2005 - by the signing of an agreement, in which seven Southeast European states (among them Macedonia) obligated themselves to a complete opening of their energy markets to foreign companies.[1] This sellout is being supervised by a Vienna based "European" authority - based, of all places, in the country of the speculative Austrian energy purchaser. So far, the EVN AG owns two Bulgarian electro-power suppliers and is shareholder in a subsidiary in the water sector of twelve East and Southeast European nations. The EVN AG hopes that, from the takeover in Macedonia, it will be in a better position for further expansion, in the gas and water industries of those countries on the verge of selling out. This expanding enterprise is owned, to 30 percent, by the German EnBW (energy Baden-Wuerttemberg AG) and figures in the plans of the company in Karlsruhe for its expansion to East and Southeast Europe.
Usually Far Under Valued
The sale of ESM provoked weeks of protests in Macedonia. The Macedonian monopoly owned not only extensive net assets, such as convalescent homes and hotels, it also possessed eleven hydro-electric power plants, to which an important economic potential is attributed. Contrary to earlier privatization deals, which were sold "usually far under valued", this time, Skopje was able to negotiate a reasonable price, writes the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. But now "Macedonia's board silver is slowly running out".[2] Not unnoticed in the Macedonian capital, is that certain German development assistance funds sent to the country, now benefit the EVN AG and thus EnBW: Berlin had supported the integration of Macedonia to the European electric power grid as well as the stabilization of the electrical grid of the country, with funds from the budget of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ). The money can now be transferred from Berlin directly to Karlsruhe.
From Two to Thirty
Following the sale of ESM, the Macedonian public is particularly fearful of layoffs and a rise in the price of electricity. Since the former Yugoslav republic declared its secession, in 1991, with German support, unemployment has continuously risen and reaches at present approximately 40 Percent.[3] Two per cent of the population lived in poverty in 1990, today the proportion living in poverty is at 30 percent.[4] 170,000 households must make ends meet on less than 200 Euros per month. German enterprises, that use the country as a site for cheap labor, profit from poverty in Macedonia.[5] Macedonians work for German companies as economical risk personnel in theaters of war. More than 1,000 Macedonians are currently working for the German company, Ecolog, in Iraq and Afghanistan [6]; four of them were recently assassinated.[7] They took the lethal jobs because of the luring pay level, which amounts to seven times the Macedonian average wage - in Germany it amounts to a moderate remuneration.
Humiliated
The evisceration of the Macedonian economy, by the EU core states, is being accompanied by substantial restrictions on the freedom of travel of Macedonian citizens, when they attempt to travel into the EU. Because of high visa fees, only one per cent, for example, of the country's students have had an opportunity to visit an EU country, it was learned in the capital. Besides, Macedonian citizens, awaiting their visas in diplomatic missions of EU states, have been mishandled and humiliated.[8] A comprehensive facilitation of the allocation of visas had been rejected by an EU delegation just a few days ago. Condition was that Skopje should take wide-ranging measures for the defense against migration.
Closed Borders
These measures would include Macedonia's fulfillment of the EU's expectations of a more consistent application of the so-called readmission agreement and the conclusion of these contracts with all EU states. Germany had already concluded a readmission agreement with Macedonia four years ago. It has been in effect since May 1, 2004 and provides for Skopje's unconditional acceptance of the deportation to Macedonia of anyone without a valid residence permit. For relaxation of visa requirements, the EU requires the Macedonian government to make the means available for the fortification of its borders. Among the measures demanded is the issuance of new passports. The Romanian government has, in a comparable situation, accordingly placed an order to a German company.[9] It has been reported from Brussels, that in addition, Macedonia must electronically monitor its border traffic. The appropriate equipment are usually kept in stock at German companies, who earn billions on deliveries to contracting states of the EU.[10]
Pseudo
Under western pressure, the Skopje government's scope of possibilities for action tends toward zero, in a country that since 1991, has designated itself as being independent. The next henchman's service will be performed in mid-April by the prime minister of the country. He will sign a treaty acknowledging the demarcation of the border separating South Serbia (Kosovo) and Macedonia. His counterpart, at the signing will not be the legal representatives of Serbian sovereignty in Belgrade, but the EU's proconsul of Kosovo, Agim Ceku. This is how the EU and USA are attempting to upgrade the regime of the Kosovo province and lend it an international pseudo legitimacy under international law.
War
Indictments are out against Ceku, for suspected war crimes committed in 1993 and 1995, when he was active in the Croatian army, along with his being made responsible for war atrocities, as former chief of staff of the UCK, during the course of the NATO aggression on Yugoslavia. Ceku is also said to have supported the UCK war against Macedonia in 2001.[11] With his signing of the common border treaty, the Macedonian prime minister de facto recognizes, internationally, his former Kosovo war adversary, as head of a sovereign state.
Conspicuous
The occupancy of the posts of "advisors" and the "advisory boards" is indicative for discerning the link between the German policy of secession and war, on the one hand, with interests of major German energy enterprises, on the other. The former German Foreign Minister, Klaus Kinkel (FDP) is active at EnBW, which has successfully established itself in Macedonia. Kinkel played a prominent role in the breakup of Yugoslavia. The former German Finance Minister, Theo Waigel (CSU), also works for EnBW. Likewise active with EnBW is Thomas Oppermann (SPD), who meets there with Rezzo Schlauch (The Greens) the former parliamentary undersecretary of state. Whereas the Christian Democrats openly endorsed the assault on Belgrade, it was the SPD and the Greens, who ensured the skeptical segment of German public opinion for the war course. As particularly conspicuous are the activities on the EnBW "Advisory Board" of Matthias Wissmann and Dr. Rolf Linkohr: Wissmann (CDU) is chairman of the parliamentary committee for EU Affairs, Linkohr (SPD) calls himself the "special advisor to the EU Commissioner for Energy Questions" and has attained the post of director of the "Centre for European Energy Strategy" (C.E.R.E.S) - surely for the good of Macedonian energy supply.

http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/55991