"There is a hard work and major tasks ahead of us, and our citizens, such as to restore the peace, stability, security and safety in the country, to undertake a serious battle against the crime and corruption, to ensure conditions for tackling the most important issues such as unemployment and to surpass the economic crisis as soon as possible," Macedonian Prime Minister Branko Crvenkovski said in his statement after the election of new Macedonian government.
The governmental program was presented in the expose, and was submitted to the MPs prior to the session.
Crvenkovski assessed the announcement by VMRO-DPMNE parliamentarians for not participating in the parliament's work as "frivolous".
"In many of their discussions they vowed to be constructive opposition, but I cannot see any constructive behaviour in boycotting the parliament's work in one exceptionally difficult period," Crvenkovski said.
Macedonia is part of the European continent, in political, historical and geographic sense and therefore it rightfully expects to become part of the mutual European home, Minister without Portfolio Radmila Sekerinska said.
According to her, one of the priorities of this Government is to provide good and appropriate partnership and position in that shared European home.
We will not only talk about joint history, but we will work in establishing true European future for Macedonia and its citizens, Sekerinska said.
Minister of Interior Affairs Hari Kostov said that within its legal and constitutional authorizations the Ministry in the forthcoming period would have to provide the rule of law in Macedonia, as well as peace and security in the problematic areas.
According to him, one of the main priorities would be to eliminate the bribery, corruption and organized crime, which threaten to jeopardize even the country's existence.
To a question whether the security and financial problems will be solved equally, Kostov said that these were the basic functions of the Ministry.
"The public was wondering how come from being Director of Komercijalna Banka I became Interior Minister, but this happened because I think that the next couple of years will be very important for Macedonia's future. In the current form, Macedonia will exists as a unitarian state or some other processes will emerge," Kostov said, adding that "he thought that it was necessary to take part of the responsibility."
Kostov assessed the negotiations with DUI regarding their commitments and actions in the Government as "acceptable and solid," adding that if they had honest intentions there would be future for further development.
To a question what he will do in order to change the bad image of the Interior Ministry in the eyes of Albanians, Kostov said that "sincere and honest partner is necessary, and if such partner does not exist among the Albanian factor, then it will be very hard to restore the confidence."
He emphasized that the population in western Macedonia should realize that Ohrid Accord and the Constitutional amendments did not mean only rights, but also responsibilities. He also announced reforms and changes in the Interior Ministry.
Minister of Transport and Communications Milaim Ajdini said that he would insist on obeying the Macedonian laws.
"I will also insist on transparency, and I will not allow a single Macedonian citizen to feel deprived of his rights. I will try to change the bad opinion for DUI," Ajdini said.
Culture Minister Blagoja Stefanovski said that he would try to keep all good things, but would also raise the standards and the system of values, because the cultural loss affects the generations and not only the personal and material means.
He said that he could not state the priorities because besides the protection of culture, there were many other important issues.
"I would like to analyze the situation and I do not want to promise something that could not be realized in the future," Stefanovski said, emphasizing that he would be personally responsible for the undertaken activities.
"Hard work is ahead of us for resolving the major problems such as restoring of peace and stability on the entire territory of Macedonia," Macedonian Defence Minister said after the election early Friday.
He expressed hope that he would contribute to restore the confidence among the members of different ethnic communities in the country.
"We will join our efforts to bring Macedonia closer to NATO," Buckovski stated.
Macedonian Finance Minster Petar Gosev said "the hardest part of the work begins now - settling of the current situation in the state."
"My task will be tackling of the financial problems and creating solid macroeconomic policy, as this sector provides the conditions for enhancing the country's economy," Gosev said, pledging to work responsibly as he has promised in the past period."
Gosev said that his work would focus on "completing the financial system in the country and eliminating the economic crisis."
He emphasized that he would put all his efforts and knowledge into this matter.
"The results will depend on simultaneous realization of the three strategies that were discussed all this time - security, economic, and anti-corruption. The outcome of the results regarding the three strategies will affect the living standard of the Macedonian citizens," Gosev stated.
In addition he said, "he will handle the problem of emptied state budget with honest work and by not abusing the positions." "The budget will increase, and we will control the expenditures," Gosev said.
New Minister for Local Self-government Aleksandar Gestakovski pledged to work on implementing the already existing Law on Local Self - government.
"In order to achieve this, several important laws need to be passed first, such as the law on financing local self-government units, the law on territorial division and the law on city of Skopje, as well as the changes and supplements to around 80 systematic laws," Gestakovski said after his election.
He also pledged to "local self-government that meets the needs of the citizens, respecting the specifics and traditions of the municipalities in the country also having in mind the European experiences."
"I pledge for local self-government whereat the functions of the central and the local government will be completely determined in agreement with constitutional and unitarian character of the country. This sector will especially be concerned with regional development and assistance to the less developed regions, as well as the trans-boundary municipal cooperation, " Gestakovski stated.
Minister of Environment and Urban Planning Ljubomir Janev said that this ministry was groundlessly pushed to the margins, adding that "the world countries treated this sector with great respect, as the problems concerning environment issues are part of everyday existence of the citizens."
"My responsibility is to raise the dignity of this ministry, and try to resolve the global problems in the country, first of all, problems with the solid waste, issues regarding public service, and finally the global projects concerning Ohrid and Dojran Lakes," said Janev.
According to him, this Ministry has great potential to realize number of projects and attract foreign donations. "My opinion is that we are going to fulfill our goals within the next four years," Janev said.
"Preserving the peace and security in the country will be priorities of the country's foreign policy, as logically there is no successful foreign politics without stable internal politics," Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva said.
Mitreva considers that "the sate and national interests of the country should be articulated before the international community in a professional manner, by eliminating practice of improvisation, complaints and the unjustified eulogies."
According to her, Macedonia should finally start trusting its own capabilities and capacity, to make its own way to the European and Euro-Atlantic institutions, without the assistance of the foreign facilitators.
"We should deploy all our available capacities in order to intensify the relations with neighboring countries and the regional cooperation," Mitreva said.
This coherent foreign policy, Mitreva added, is most certain to bring economic results that will set criteria for measuring the efficiency of the work of our diplomatic-consular offices abroad and the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in general.
She also announced the meeting with the municipal organizations in the sixth election district on Saturday. "You can maintain the contacts with the people that pledged their confidence to you, if you organize your work well," Mitreva said.
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Supply Slavko Petrov said that he hoped that the hard work would justify the trust granted by the electorate.
"I intend to finish the work started by former minister Marjan Gjorcev regarding the positive reforms made in the this sphere in the state. The course of our future activities will be set after reviewing the current situation," Petrov stated.
Health Minister Rexhep Selmani said he pledges for better functioning and more quality health services in the country.
"I will make efforts to provide more quality services to the persons that pay the medical insurance, to improve the working standard of the medical institutions, especially of the health care workers," Selmani announced.
The new Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Jovan Manasievski, said he would run with a sector "which undertakes major part of responsibilities for current social and economic problems in the country."
"This sector spends over 25% of the state funds concerning different category of users. The Ministry under my control will work honestly, responsibly and in partnership with the Macedonian Trade Union and other civil organizations," Manasievski stated.
"Current situation in Macedonian economy is extremely difficult," Economy Ministe Ilija Filipovski said.
"I expect great results by applying honest and hard work. One of the first measures to be undertaken by the Ministry of Economy is canceling the quota decisions that will ease my job," he said.
New Justice Minister Ismail Dardista stated that his priority would be establishing of peace and rule of the law on the entire Macedonian territory, confidence-building in the state institutions, honest and responsible work in compliance with the Macedonian Constitution and Laws.
Vlado Popovski, Minister without Portfolio said that the new government was facing serious problems that claimed high responsibility.
"We have taken up the challenge to meet the state interests for prosperity and development," he said.
"The Prime Minister has emphasized the most important issues from the government's program, and I will once again underline three of them used as slogans during the pre-election campaign of the `Together for Macedonia` coalition, which are peace and stability, combat against corruption and decreasing of poverty in the country," Popovski stated.
Minister of Education and Science Azis Polozani said, "we must find ways to surpass the problems in the education sector that are neither new or one-dimensional."
Polozani said he would direct his work towards implementing the reforms that according to him "are condition for restructuring the education and science and for achieving more adequate technological development."
"We should find ways to surpass the current developments, which create interethnic pressure and to make attempts for improving the financial situation of the employees in this sector that will especially increase their motivation and the quality of the education system," Polozani stated.
He also expressed hope for mutual cooperation among the Government, Prime Minister, professors and students for realizing the reforms in education, which also concerns the science in general and the future of the Republic of Macedonia.
U.S. Welcomes New Macedonia Gov't.
AP
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States welcomed on Friday the formation of a new multiethnic coalition government in Macedonia and urged it to continue toward full democracy.
"Building on September's peaceful fair elections, the smooth formation of the new government reaffirms Macedonia's positive orientation on the past of Euro-Atlantic integration," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.
The new government was approved by parliament earlier Friday. Reeker said it now should push ahead to full implementation of a Western-brokered peace deal agreed in August 2001, which ended fighting and established greater rights for ethnic Albanians. They comprise almost a third of Macedonia's 2 million people.
Reeker said the new government should advance "reforms that strengthen Macedonia's multiethnic democratic institutions and market economy," Reeker said. "The United States will continue to support Macedonia in all of these efforts."
The new prime minister is Branko Crvenkovski, who heads the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia.
His former communist party dominates the new 18-member government, while members of the ethnic Albanian party were named to head the ministries for justice, health, education, transport and communications.
Although constitutional and other changes have occurred to honor the peace accord, Macedonia remains tense. Violence occasionally flares in the northwest, where ethnic Albanians are in the majority.
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage met Friday with Macedonian Ambassador Nikola Dimitrov, Albanian Ambassador Fatos Tarifa and Croatian Ambassador Ivan Grdesic. Armitage "reiterated U.S. support for their aspirations to join NATO," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
"He also welcomed their commitment to cooperate and support each others' candidacies, while reaffirming that each country will be evaluated on its own merits," Boucher said.
CENSUS OF POPULATION, HOUSEHOLDS AND BUILDINGS IN MACEDONIA BEGINS.
MIA
The largest statistical operation "Census of Population, Households and Apartments 2002", which is carried out at the entire territory of the Republic of Macedonia began Friday.
The census, which will last until November 15, is carried out in 39 census districts, with 9,012 census enumerators, 778 instructors and 120 state instructors. The census will include all persons that are Macedonian citizens, and all those that stay at its territory longer than one year.
"All terrain preparations have been finished in accordance to the dynamic plan and the census has practically begun", spokesman of the State Statistics Bureau and State Census Commission Tatjana Mitevska stated.
She informed that the 45 foreign observers would work in 9 teams. "They will work in Skopje, Kumanovo, Stip, Veles, Ohrid, Gostivar, Tetovo and Bitola, while one mobile team will be present when the observing at the census is necessary. At the beginning, this mobile team will be located in an area that is close to Skopje", she added.
The observers of the European Statistics Bureau will give an estimation on the regularity of the census. The observers' mission will follow the census in all its phases, beginning from the preparations, the enumeration, processing and submitting of data to the final users.
The enumeration will be carried out in Macedonian language, but also in Albanian, Turkish, Vlach, Roma and Serbian language, with an additional norm in Macedonian.
During the visit in the homes, every enumerator should identify himself and show an identification card, as well as authorisation of a census enumerator with his ID, while the person that is subject of the census should present the necessary documents for the enumeration- ID or a passport. Minors that do not possess these documents should identify themselves with a birth certificate.
One can also identify himself with a citizenship document and a permit for stay or a temporary ID of persons that are temporarily staying in Macedonia.
Refugees should present a document for a recognised status of a refugee, while humanitarian persons are to present a document for a recognised status of temporary humanitarian assistance.
One can also identify himself with a health document valid for the last 12 months, a document that confirms the person's employment for one year, a student's card for the 2001-2002 school year, electric power bills for the last 12 months, document for purchase of a living place in the last year or similar document. The census enumerator transcribes the numbers of all documents.
The census enumerator can be asked to postpone his visit and agree a new one by the end of the census. Each person that will not be visited by a census enumerator is obliged to report himself at the Commission of the census area or the State Census Commission.
Each person should provide information on the place of residence, education and profession, and the type of an apartment or a house he lives in.
Information on absent persons should be provided by an adult member of the family, who knows the information best, and by one of the parents or trustees in the case of children under the age of 15. The person that provides the information should check and sign the filled norm.
The census in the Army and prisons was finished 10 days before the official beginning of the census. Specially trained persons from the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice carried it out. The norms will be sent in the homes of the soldiers or prisoners.
This year's census is the third after Macedonia's independence. The first two were in 1991 and 1994.
