Sanctions for six banks in Macedonia

The Macedonian anti money laundering and terrorism financing administration (USPPFT) will sanction those banks that have been uncooperative towards this institution.

The administration’s press release states that the success in tackling money laundering and terrorism financing largely depends on banks’ cooperation and it will not allow any improvisations in this field.

As uncooperative banks, USPPFT listed Eurostandard banka, Alfa banka, Uni banka, Izvozna i Kreditna banka, Poštanska banka, and Capital banka.

These banks do not submit enough reports and do not separate analyses of suspicious transactions.

UN secretary general tells Macedonia to focus on name issue

In a letter sent to Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski on August 19 2008, United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon reiterated the world body's stance that the name issue that has been poisoning the relations bewteen Greece and Macedonia had to be solved first before turning to any other issues.

“I am aware there are other issues you think should be subject to discussion between Skopje and Athens. I hope that, by solving the name issue, the road to better relations will be traced, which will contribute towards handling these other issues, as well as finding possible solution of them,” Ban wrote, as quoted by website Balkan Insight.

Ban's letter comes as a reply to the letters that Macedonia's prime minister sent earlier this summer to the European Union, Nato and the UN, requesting that the issue of the Greek recognition of the Macedonian minority in Greece be discussed along with the name issue. Later, he also brought up other issues to be discussed on the sidelines of the name dispute, such as Greece recognising the Macedonian Orthodox Church.

However, Macedonian president Branko Crvenkovski slammed this move as counter-productive and following the last round of UN-mediated talks in New York City held last week, after meeting separately with both sides, UN special envoy Matthew Nimetz said that it was his responsibility to help resolve only the name row and that no other issues were to be discussed.

In spite of these developments, over the weekend of August 15-17, the speaker of Macedonian parliament Trajko Veljanovski again brought up the Macedonian minority issue in letters he sent to a number of states and organisations in Europe and around the world.

The name dispute between the two Balkan neighbours has been going on for 17 years now. It focuses on Greek demands that Macedonia change its name since its coincides with that of the northern Greek province. According to Athens, this implies Skopje's territorial claims towards Greece.

The climax of the name issue came in April 2008, when Greece vetoed Macedonia getting invited to join Nato at a summit of the military alliance in Bucharest. Since then, ties between the two have been exacerbated and now Athens is threatening to block the launch of the official accession talks of Skopje with the EU.

Nimetz is expected to visit Skopje and Thessaloniki on August 21 and 22, respectively, in a new effort to try and reconcile the two parties.

Head of Macedonian diplomacy extend his rights

The head of Macedonian diplomacy had extended his rights, Macedonian Utrinski Vesnik newspaper reports.
Ministry of Interior Act, which had been passed two years ago, had been implemented, which means not that diplomacy will have party membership but also centralization of Ministry of Interior’s role, the newspaper reports. One of the main implementations has been the decrease of the percentage of the ambassadors, which will be chosen by the professionals in the Ministry of Interior.

Repetition of a flawed policy

The failure of a policy is not measured by one mistake, but by the constant repetition of that mistake, and this is something that the US State Department has failed to understand when dealing with the complex affairs of Southeast Europe.

Around our Balkan neighborhood, Condoleezza Rice’s constant repetition of the rigid stance held by the United States prior to the summit in Bucharest will not help the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia’s bid for entry into NATO. “The hope is that the name issue can be resolved very quickly now,” Rice commented during an official visit to France last week. She added that the dispute between Athens and Skopje over FYROM’s constitutional name “should not get in the way of the admission of Macedonia to NATO.” This fresh pressure from Washington comes as the UN mediator for the Macedonia name dispute, Matthew Nimetz, calls a new round of talks.

All Rice’s stance achieves is to encourage intransigence in young leaders, and now, with the events in South Ossetia, we have all seen where this can lead.

Gruevski’s letters

“Macedonian President Nikola Gruevski had sent letters to several international institutes but he hasn’t expect any answers. He had already known them or he had heard them many times. They were not so good, Georgi Spasov, former secretary of Macedonian Social Democratic Union and former ambassador of Macedonia in London had written in an article, published in Macedonian Dnevnik newspaper.
“These letter looks like the activity of the communists from Nikšić. When the forces of the Warsaw Pact, had occupied Czechoslovakia one organization of the Communists Union from Nikšić, Montenegro had organized a meeting of the management. There head been two points in the agenda: considering of the situation after the occupation of the Warsaw Pact forces in Czechoslovakia and the second one was about many different things. After the debate it had been decided that the Warsaw Pact forces would withdraw.

Skopje Ups Ante on Macedonian Minority

Macedonia’s Parliament Speaker has urged the EU and the international community to up the pressure on Greece over its ‘unrecognised’ Macedonian minority.

Trajko Veljanovski sent letters to his counterparts in European Union countries and other countries round the world as well as international organisations asking for their involvement in the matter, local media reported on Saturday.

In his letter, Veljanovki points out that Macedonians in Greece are subjected to “systematic discriminatory politics” such as prohibiting the use of the Macedonian language and practicing their culture, changes to the names of their settlements and a ban on organised activities for Macedonians.

“Athens’ practice violates the European Human Rights Convention and the Framework Convention for Protection of National Minorities, which Greece has signed,” Veljanovski wrote.

The speaker sent the letter to countries such as the United States, Russia, China, Brazil, Canada and Australia as well as to the Council of Europe, NATO, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Parliament among others.

This is the latest in a series of attempts by Skopje to highlight its concern at an international level.

In July and August, Macedonia’s Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski sent a similar letter to the United Nations, the European Union and NATO as well as to the Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

“There is no Macedonian minority in Greece,” the Greek Premier replied to Skopje’s letter.

Skopje is also asking for the inclusion of its concerns in the ongoing UN-sponsored talks between the two countries for resolving their differences on Macedonia’s name.

In April, Greece blocked Macedonia’s bid to join NATO arguing that the name of its smaller neighbour implies Skopje’s territorial claims over Greece’s own northern province, which is also called Macedonia.

Since then the talks have intensified but so far have failed to provide a solution.

The UN mediator in the talks, Matthew Nimetz, who media in Skopje say is to visit the country this week, has said that his mandate does not cover the issue of the Macedonian minority.

The Government’s initiative to include this issue into the ‘name row’ talks has been criticised by Macedonia's President Branko Crvenkovski as "counterproductive."

Macedonia Ministers Face ‘Toilet Paper Fines’

Macedonian Ministers would be fined up to €1000 if they do not provide enough toilet paper in the ministry buildings they run.

It is a warning issued by the government as it introduced a freshly prepared bill on public hygiene.

Heads of public institutions will also be held responsible and face fines climbing up to €500 if the buildings where they work lack waste bins or hand dryers in toilets.

Penalties up to €150 are foreseen for people caught throwing litter or spitting on the street.

So-called ‘public sergeants’ will be recruited for monitoring hygiene in public properties, the government said. Police officers will also have right to issue penalties on the spot.

People caught littering could replace their penalties with community service, the bill envisages.

The average salary in the country is roughly just over €250 so the Government hopes that the draconian fees will encourage people to act more responsibly.

Macedonia's future is in NATO and EU

Macedonia has no alternative but to join NATO and the EU, for which it should unite internally and demonstrate political maturity, state capacity and unified vision of the long-term development.

Branko Crvenkovski, President of Macedonia and supreme commander of the armed forces said this in his speech at the central celebration of the Day of The Army, held Monday in Skopje.

The central celebration was also attended by army leaders, Government and Parliament representatives, the first president of Macedonia Kiro Gligorov and the diplomatic corps in the country.

In the special address, President Crvenkovski said he doubts Macedonia could develop inner democracy, inter-ethnic relations and implement high-quality reforms if it remains outside Euro-Atlantic integration process for extended period of time.

"It is clear that only stable Macedonia, with stable inter-ethnic relations and fully integrated into international organizations, can have economic progress and provide prosperity to all citizens", Crvenkovski said.

The Defense Minister Zoran Konjanovski said that Macedonia expects to finally receive the NATO invitation and become member soon.

"We expect Macedonia to enter NATO and participate at the celebration of the Alliance's 60th anniversary in 2009 as a full member", Konjanovski said.

Crvenkovski and Konjanovski sent a message that Macedonian Army remains a part of the international peace missions and has the intention to have strong morale and be respected.

Within the central manifestation on the occasion of the Day of the Army, a tribute with one-minute silence was paid to the 11 Macedonian peacekeepers that were killed in an accident while returning from the Althea mission in Bosnia.

A 12-gun artillery salvo was fired from the "Ilinden" barracks in honour of the Day of ARM.

Also, a General Staff delegation laid a wreath at the partizans' cemetery, at the tomb of late President Boris Trajkovski and at the tomb of General Mihajlo Apostolski.

Chairman of Macedonian Parliament requested rights for the Macedonian minority in Greece from Great Powers

The Chairman of the Macedonian Parliament Trajko Veljanovski requested from the Great Powers rights for the Macedonian Minority in Greece by sending letters to Chairmen of Parliaments in Russia, USA, China, Brazil, Canada, Australia and many others, the correspondent of FOCUS News Agency in Skopje announced.
The same letters have been sent to Parliamentary Assemblies of International Organizations Council of Europe, OSCE, NATO, European Parliament, etc.
The letter puts forward the issue for the situation of the so-called Macedonian Ethnic Minority in Greece.

Purchase price of milk in Macedonia will depend on quality

Milk producers in Macedonia and the Ministries of Agriculture and Finances agreed for the purchase price of milk to depend on its quality and be paid according to quality rules, the Macedonian TV channel Kanal 5 reports. The farmers’ Federation expressed satisfaction with the agreement but added that they would not accept purchase price below 20 denars (61 denars = 1 EUR).

Macedonia enacts Singapore like littering laws

Parliament passed new laws regarding littering. Steep fees apply to individuals, businesses and local governments who fail to obey the law.

Throwing a chewing gum, spitting, or dropping cigarette butts will set you back 50 euros. If the individual doesn’t pay the fee on the spot, their case is forwarded to the Courts where the fee is increased three times, to 150 euros.
However, the punishment for individuals can vary anywhere from 50 to 500 euros. For instance the fee is higher for someone spilling motor oil on a greenery.

If you can’t pay your fee, you will work for the Government, anywhere from three to six days (probably cleaning the city).
Local Institutions, Commercial buildings will be fined 500 euros if they are missing trash bins.

Government Ministers will be fined 1000 euros if their Ministry doesn’t have trash bins or is missing toilet paper in their bathrooms.

Heavy fines will apply to citizens who throw garbage next to city trash containers, burn the trash in the container or park their cars at a distance smaller than 10 meters to the trash container.

Local municipalities will take care of their own greeneries as well as cleaning. Each county will have the freedom to decide how much money will they invest in cleaning and maintaining city streets. In winter time severe fees will apply for any municipality who within six hours fails to clean up their streets from snow falls.

Bitola police briefly helds Bulgarian Journalists

Last night Bitola's police briefly booked a TV crew from Bulgaria for filming the Building that houses Bitola's detention center.

The case was confirmed by the Ministry of Interior spokesperson, Ivo Kotevski.

According to Mr. Kotevski, in presence of the Bulgarian consul to Bitola as well as the Police Sector for Foreigners, poloce seized the equipment of the TV crew and ordered them to show what they had filmed.

After the analysis, the Bulgarian TV crew was ordered to erase the material. The journalists had not obtained nor requested a permission to film Macedonian Governmental properties, which is something a foreign journalist must have.

After the filmed material was erased, the police returned their equipment after which the journalists were released.

Human rights violations persist in Macedonia

In the first half of 2008, NGOs report that most human rights complaints in Macedonia cite brutal beatings by urban intervention units -- Macedonia's Alfa and the Special Rapid Deployment Unit of the interior ministry.

A high number of police human rights abuses go unreported. Reasons vary, reflecting the public's lack of confidence in the police and judicial system.

Most discouraging is the low number of cases that go to court and an even lower number of rulings in favour of the plaintiff. Many victims are reluctant to sue because of personal or family fears or the threat of harassment. Notorious judicial inefficiency and massive bureaucracy also discourage individuals from seeking justice.

However, the All for Fair Trials Coalition, Citizens' Initiative Centre, Democratic Development and Election Centre and the Roma Women's Rights Forum – Arka, in co-operation with the UN's Anti-Torture Committee, are some of the NGOs implementing a project to support human rights.

Since 2004, they have provided free legal assistance to victims. Assistance in filing complaints with the Internal Control Division of the interior ministry, meetings with the public ombudsman, filing of lawsuits, presentation of the necessary medical documentation in court and other activities are how NGOs assist victims.

"In 2006, 62 complainants reported bodily harm by the police, along with rude and unprofessional behaviour. In 2007, there were 51 cases of police abuse, and in the first half of this year, there were 27 new cases. Although we see a downward trend, it is still a long way from elimination," said Anica Tomic Stojkovska of the All for Fair Trials Coalition.

A meeting of Macedonia and France's ombudsmen, Idjet Memeti and Jean-Paul Delevoye, and the EU representative in Macedonia, Erwan Fouere, generated some statements that could serve as future guidelines for protecting human rights.

"Transparency is the most efficient tool against torture. When one is arrested, it shouldn't mean the loss of human rights. For example, in France, the ombudsman appoints citizens who inspect prisons and penal institutions weekly," said Delevoye.

"In this country, many reforms in justice, freedom and security are under way, but in order for real changes to occur, a shift must take place in the attitude of police officers, administration and prison personnel. An appropriate legal framework is of crucial importance, but real improvement will happen only when laws are upheld and when personnel practices and customs change," said Fouere.

The Internal Control Division of the interior ministry refused several opportunities to provide its view of the human rights situation.

Adding Church to Macedonia Talks “Counterproductive”

Macedonia's President dismissed the Prime Minister's initiative to add the issue of the Macedonian Orthodox Church to the "name" talks between Athens and Skopje as counterproductive.

"We are giving Greece a reason to think that Macedonia is opening new questions and that it wishes to block the negotiations," President Branko Crvenkovski said on Thursday.

Crvenkovski said a solution to the row over recognition of the Macedonian Church should be sought within the frameworks of current talks between the Macedonian and Serbian Orthodox churches. The Serbian Orthodox Church has refused to recognise the independent status of the Church in Macedonia, blocking its wider recognition in to the Orthodox world.

Macedonia’s Prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, argues that the real problem lies within the Greek Church, and that the Serbian Church is only acting as a satellite Athens.

On Tuesday, Gruevski sent a letter to the UN mediator in the “name” row asking him to put the church issue into the negotiations with Greece about Macedonia’s name

U.S. supports Macedonia’s NATO bid

U.S. Secretary General Condoleezza Rice believes nothing should stop Macedonia’s bid for NATO membership.

In an interview with the Voice of America’s Macedonian language service, Rice said that the U.S.’s view was that Macedonia should be accepted into NATO, regardless of the “name” dispute between Skoplje and Athens.

“That was our stance in Bucharest (at the NATO summit). I hope that the name dispute will be resolved soon…That is something that must not be an obstacle to Macedonia’s NATO accession, and we are working on that,” she said.

Rice compared relations between Macedonia and Greece to the current relations between Georgia and Russia.

“One reason for the existence of the Action Plan for NATO Membership and Accession is to help countries under the auspices of the Collective Security Organization overcome long-term problems, differences and conflicts,” she explained.

Today’s International Herald Tribune also draws parallels between the dispute between Macedonia and Greece and that of Georgia and Russia.

“Macedonia must be given an invitation to join NATO immediately, which will send a decisive message to Moscow, while NATO will show that it is intent on enlarging and will stress the right to protect the territorial integrity of small countries,” IHT writes.

“In that way, Moscow will understand the West’s decisiveness when it comes to ‘frozen conflicts’, whether in Georgia, Macedonia or Kosovo, where Russia supports Serbia which is against the newly-proclaimed state’s independence,” the IHT states.

Another round of talks between Macedonian and Greek negotiators in New York is currently under way regarding the “name” dispute, mediated by United Nations official Mathew Nimetz.

Everyone will recognize Macedonian minority except for Greece

The Greek Foreign Ministry did not understand and neither did react when the foundations of the recognition of the Macedonian language as a regional or minority language was created in the Council of Europe after Romania’s decision to grant this statute to the language, the Macedonian daily Dnevnik reported, citing the Greek Pontiki.
On May 1st Romania joined the European charter for regional or minority languages of the Council of Europe by recognizing the existence and the necessity of protection of the Macedonian language on its territory.
Diplomats in Strasburg note that the time, when the Macedonian language, i.e. the Macedonian minority, which speaks this language, would be recognized by neighbors and other states, it not too far. And Greece will remain the only country to support the position that there is neither Macedonian language, nor Macedonian minority on its territory.

Another robbing of Komercijalna Banka

Two masked bandits robbed a branch office of Komercijalna Banka located in the Skopje's District of Jane Sandanski on Friday morning.

This is the second armed robbery of a branch office of the same bank in two days, after yesterday's holdup in the branch office in the District of Gjorce Petrov.

According to unofficial information, today's incident took place at about 10:00 hrs, when several clients were present in the bank's premises.

Police teams have already conducted an inspection at the site. The amount of stolen money and other details are expected to be revealed soon.

Komercijalna Banka robbed for a second time in two days

Two masked bandits robbed Friday morning a Komercijalna Banka branch at Jane Sandanski boulevard in Skopje's Aerodrom settlement.
Thus far, there are no immediate information on the amount of money that were taken away. At the moment, police teams are investigating the site.

Moreover, a branch of Komercijalna Banka was also robbed yesterday in Skopje-based Gjorce Petrov settlement. Three masked robbers, armed with guns, stormed the bank taking away about 2.600.000 denars from the Bank and another 80.000 denars from the bank's customers. Afterwards, they fled the scene in an unknown direction.

"North Macedonia" in five versions

Diplomatic sources pointed that the UN envoy on the name dsipute between Greece and Macedonia Matthew Nimitz has proposed the name "North Macedonia" in five versions at the last round of the negotiations, the Macedonian daily Vecer reported.
After talks Nimitz stated that the name is a subject of negotiations. The newspaper however stresses that it was not only ideas about the name discusses, but also issues referring to the Macedonian minority in Greece and the Macedonian Orthodox Church.
In reference to including of issue about the Macedonian Orthodox Church, Macedonia's President Branko Crvenkovski pointed that this pace could be contra productive and could cause damage.

Greek citizens get "return to sender"

Greek citizens are a bit in a pickle after sending and then seeing their letters to Macedonia sent back to them. It's the 17th Olympic games between the Macedonian and Greek Government.

Greek postal service wont let their citizens write anything other than the acronym as a destination, while Macedonian postal service sends back to original sender everything that contains the acronym. Greece is the only country that forces their citizens to use the acronym to send their mail, otherwise the postal service refuses to send the mail.

Though Greek citizens are the loosers in this case, there are certain cases where Macedonian citizens struggle to get their important mail. A lady who wished to stay anonymous said she was expecting very important documents from her Greek attoney regarding property in Greece, but she didn't received it.

"My attorney from Solun called me up and told me, 'guess what, the letter I sent you with the documents, I just got it back'. I mean what is this, now I can't get letters?! I already complained to the Macedonian Postal Service, but there was no response from there. This is important documentation, I need to include my property in their Cadastral and the procedure is already in place. This is just needlesly making my job more difficult." says frustrated Macedonian citizen.

At the moment this is how it functions. It is fairly simple, actually. Mail from Greece is sent with the acronym, as shown on the image above, Macedonian postal service crosses out the acronym, writes 'Greece' underneath, and it goes back to Greece.

As Macedonia and Greece perform poorly at the Olympics, we have our own Olympic games with Airlines, Tourists, Postal Services. Lots of medals up for grabs, no need for Beijing and more importantly for the Greek side, no need for steroid use.