By KONSTANTIN TESTORIDES, Associated Press Writer

 

SKOPJE, Macedonia - A Macedonian army reservist has been shot to death in the area where ethnic Albanian insurgents fought government troops last year, the Interior Ministry said Friday.

 

The reservist identified as Zlatko Trajcevski, 28 was found dead late Thursday with two bullet wounds in the head, authorities said. His body was found in a car belonging to his brother. The car was parked on a side road near the northwestern village of Zelino, some 35 kilometers (22 miles) from the capital, Skopje.

 

Trajecevski likely was shot Thursday, and he wore civilian clothes when he was killed, police said.

 

Police also reported 30 shootings overnight in the region of the northwestern city Tetovo, populated predominantly by ethnic Albanians. Such shootings occur almost every night, but police said Thursday night was more intense than usual.

 

Police stations in the area were attacked three times in the past week.

 

Rebels fighting for more rights for the ethnic Albanian minority fought a six-month insurgency against government troops last year in northwestern Macedonia. The conflict ended in August after politicians representing the two sides signed a Western-brokered peace deal, but tensions remain high.

 

In a positive sign, ethnic Albanian villagers Friday lifted all but one of the roadblocks sealing off 17 villages in the crisis region. The villagers erected the roadblocks Wednesday to prevent ethnically mixed police units from patrolling the area, arguing remaining ethnic Albanian prisoners should be released before patrolling begins.

 

International observers and Western diplomats in Skopje harshly criticized the roadblocks, calling them a violation of the peace agreement.

 

It was unclear why the villagers dismantled the road blocks, or why a blockade near the village of Palatica remained. No prisoners have been released, the government said all ethnic Albanians jailed in connection with the insurgency had already been pardoned and that the villagers were now demanding the release of common criminals.

 

After the cease-fire last year, NATO troops arrived to collect some 4,000 weapons from the rebels, who then disbanded. European observers and alliance troops stayed to monitor the implementation of the peace process.

 

Under the deal, parliament adopted an amnesty law for the former rebels and changed the constitution to upgrade rights for the ethnic Albanian minority, which makes up a third of Macedonia's 2 million people.

 

 

 

By KONSTANTIN TESTORIDES, Associated Press Writer.

 

SKOPJE, Macedonia - An ethnic Albanian was shot to death and two others were wounded Friday in a skirmish with Macedonian soldiers near the Kosovo border, the Macedonian army said. The shooting came amid heightened tensions in this Balkan country.

 

The firefight started when an army patrol tried to stop a truck crossing the border separating the southern Yugoslav province of Kosovo and Macedonia, a high-ranking Macedonian army official told The Associated Press, speaking

on condition of anonymity.

 

"After our patrol ordered them to stop, several leapt out of the truck and opened machine gun fire," he said.

 

After a gun battle that lasted about one hour, Macedonian security forces found one body and two wounded people. The victims were identified only as ethnic Albanians.

 

Five people were arrested near the scene and reportedly were handed over to NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo.

 

The truck was trying to enter Macedonia near the Belanovce border outpost, some 20 kilometers (13 miles) northeast of the capital, Skopje.

 

Craig Ratcliff, the NATO spokesman in Macedonia, confirmed a shootout had occurred but refused to elaborate.

 

The U.N. mission in Kosovo asked Macedonia's Foreign Ministry to clarify the incident, spokesman Andrea Angeli said, and the U.S. Embassy in Skopje issued a statement urging "all parties not to use this encounter as justification for further violence."

 

A commander of a now-disbanded ethnic Albanian rebel group called the National Liberation Army confirmed the border skirmish. He accused the army of starting the fight by "opening fire without warning."

 

The dead man and wounded people were ethnic Albanians from Macedonia, he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

 

Last year, the rebels mounted a six-month insurgency against government troops, claiming they were fighting for more rights for the ethnic Albanian minority. The conflict ended in August after politicians representing the two sides signed a Western-brokered peace deal, but tensions remain high.

 

After the cease-fire, NATO troops arrived to collect some 4,000 weapons from the rebels, who then disbanded. European observers and NATO troops stayed to monitor the implementation of the peace process.

 

Also Friday, the Interior Ministry said a Macedonian army reservist identified as Zlatko Trajcevski, 28 had been found shot to death in the tense northwestern area.

 

Trajcevski was found dead late Thursday with two bullet wounds in the head, authorities said. Trajcevski was apparently shot Thursday, and he wore civilian clothes when he was killed, police said.

 

Police also reported 30 shootings overnight in the region of the predominantly Albanian northwestern city Tetovo. Such shootings occur almost every night, but police said Thursday night was more intense than usual. Police positions in the area were attacked three times in the past week.

 

 

 

An ethnic Albanian was killed and two others injured when Macedonian troops exchanged fire with assailants near the country's border with the UN-run Yugoslav province of Kosovo, a Macedonian military official said.

 

The incident occurred near the northern village of Belavce when a Macedonian army patrol came under fire from assailants in a truck, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.

 

The troops returned fire, killing one person in the truck and wounding two others.

 

Five ethnic Albanians were arrested and handed over to representatives of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo (KFOR) following the incident.

 

The Macedonian official did not indicate if the assailants were from Kosovo or were Macedonian citizens, nor if the truck was spotted entering or leaving the former Yugoslav republic.

 

In a statement released in Skopje, the US embassy said that US KFOR troops were in the vicinity and responded to a request for assistance and provided first aid.

 

The UN Mission in Kosovo has asked the Macedonian foreign ministry to "clarify" the incident," Mr Andrea Angeli, a spokesman for UNMIK, said.

 

The Macedonian government signed a Western-brokered peace agreement with ethnic Albanian rebels last August to end a seven-month insurgency.

 

Under the accord, the rebel National Liberation Army officially disbanded and the country's constitution was changed to offer the minority ethnic Albanian population more rights.

 

Violence in Kosovo, which is predominantly ethnic Albanian, has decreased since June 1999 when the KFOR troops entered the southern Serbian province after NATO's 78-day bombing campaign.

 

 

Georgievski expressed his satisfaction from "resolving the tragedy of these savings banks," saying that the clients with deposits up to  1,000 will be paid in cash right after the adoption of the Law on compensation.

 

According to him around 4,000 legal decisions out of 12,000, which are filed in Bitola's Court, would be immediately settled after the adoption of the law.

 

Regarding the deposits of more than  1,000 the clients will receive either securities or certificates that may be converted into shares or some other capital owned by the Macedonian Privatization Agency.

 

Georgievski expressed assurance that the shares i.e. certificates could be transferred to the brokers, banks or managers that are interested in buying them. He believes that the brokers and the banks would immediately offer 10-15 percent discount and the value of these bonds would amount to DM 150-170 million, depending on the legal decisions.

 

Georgievski also pointed out that with these certificates the clients could buy shares in any of Macedonian companies as well as to become company's owners.

 

As informed by Spokesman of Aarmy General Staff Blagoja Markovski, the training of this unit, which is consisted of members of army units "Wolves" and "Scorpions", "has a humanitarian component, along with the basic combat objective".

 

The goal of the training on topic "Summer Mountaineering" is to determine the level of training and expertise of the senior commanders and all members of the task force team, to determine their physical capabilities, to take over measures for improvement of the training, as well as developing a personal security and faith in the capabilities in performance of task forces.

 

The members of the unit showed the activities of the commander of a mortar platoon during a support of infantry in attack. The goal of training "120mm Mortar Platoon for Support of Infantry in Defense" is to determine the level of training and capabilities of the platoon in support of infantry in defense, determination of the capabilities of the calculators, observers and liaison officers for preparation and transfer of the shooting elements at enemy targets.

 

As stated, the mine is in the air for 42 seconds, with a maximum height of 2,100m and range of 6-8km.

 

The activities of an enhanced platoon with a tank T-55 during an attack was presented in the framework of topic "Enhanced Mechanised Platoon in Attack".

 

The goal of this training is to determine the training and capabilities for an attack, the functioning of the cooperation between the formation and additional elements of the platoon, as well as the capabilities of the platoon commander for an enhanced platoon in attack.

 

The new uniforms of the members of the unit for combat against terrorism were also presented, a summer and winter uniform for snipers, as well as uniforms for the members of the engineer, observers and medical units, and the members of the military police.

 

Brigadier General Miroslav Stojanovski, who is in command of the anti-terrorist unit, emphasised that yesterday's presentation was part of the regular activities from the training of the unit. According to him, it was important to emphasise that "regular activities are being performed besides the training, but this does not influence the quality of the performed tasks".

 

 

The Hague will not prosecute Macedonians, as the Macedonian people and courts should do that, says the message from this protest. Protesters appealed to the parliament members to sign no documents for cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.

 

Several thousands people from the hole country arrived to Skopje by busses, trains and cars for this protest.

 

Protestors gave flowers to policeman that guarded the Parliament.

 

So far, the initiative for support of Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski has been signed by approximately 240.000 citizens.

 

 

By Toby Westerman

 

The international community fears that the former Yugoslav republic of Bosnia, which is located near the center of the Balkan Peninsula a region close to the heart of Western Europe could become a "lawless black hole" of conflicting ethnic rivalries, according to a report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

 

"A similar case may be made for Kosovo and possibly Macedonia," stated Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, referring to areas that have also sustained years of ethnic struggle.

 

At nearly the same time as the radio service issued its report, a small ultra-right wing Albanian nationalist party, calling itself the Party for National Unity, openly demanded the creation of "Greater Albania," which it named "Chemeria," comprising all Albanians in the Balkan region. The claim was first noted by Athenian Radio, relayed by the Macedonian Information Agency and cited by Reality Macedonia.

 

Observers have long claimed that the formation of a "Greater Albania" was a driving force behind Albanian ethnic struggles throughout the Balkans and have noted that ethnic Albanian politicians have consistently objected to the borders imposed on ethnic Albanians by a 1912 agreement, brokered by the major European powers of the time.

 

A "Greater Albania" or "Chemeria" would include all of Kosovo, nominally a part of Serbia, half of the nation of Macedonia, the western region of Greece and nearly half of Montenegro. The national capitals of Macedonia and Montenegro, Skopje and Podgorica respectively, would also fall under Albanian control.

 

The pro-Albanian site www.Alb-net.com includes a map entitled "Historical Ethnic Albania," although the site claims that it does not advocate a change in present Balkan borders.

 

The ethnic Albanian struggles throughout the Balkans have received support from Muslim nations including Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as from the al-Qaida terrorist network.

 

In a recent development, the former Bosnian interior minister, Bakia Alisahic, was indicted on charges of running an Iranian supported "terrorist training center" in Bosnia in 1995, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

 

In an attempt to halt inter-ethnic conflict in Bosnia, and to prevent the eruption of a "lawless black hole," U.N. High Representative for Bosnia Wolfgang Petritsch issued a new constitution that lessens the power of the ethnic-oriented parties in Bosnia.

 

Petritsch issued the new governing document because the Serb and Croatian/Muslim governing entities did not agree upon a new method of government within the specified time limit, according to a report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

 

Denying that the new form of government was forced on Bosnia by the international community, Petritsch stated, "This is not an outright imposition. This is clearly a partnership," reported Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

 

In issuing his new constitution, Petritsch offended each of the major ethnic groups in Bosnia the Croats, Muslims and Serbs.

 

Among the three ethnic groups, the Serbs feel particularly snubbed by the West, believing that the West has consistently favored Muslim forces in the region. The recent release of a 7,000-page Dutch report, which, in part, documents U.S. assistance to Muslim forces in Bosnia during the 1992-95 Bosnian civil war, has added to Serb bitterness.

 

A large Serb population is in Bosnia, which borders on Serbia proper.

 

Kosovo was at one time 10 percent Serbian, but many fled during the NATO air war in 1999. Serbs revere Kosovo, considered the "cradle" of Serb culture. According to U.N. Resolution 1244, the area remains technically part of Serbia, although administered by the U.N. through a Muslim-controlled government.

 

A mood of defiance among the Serbs toward the West and the international community is palpable.

 

Radovan Karadzic, the former president of the Serb entity in Bosnia known as the Republic of Srpska, is an indicted war criminal and the man most wanted by The Hague War Crimes Tribunal.

 

The support for Karadzic remains firm, despite great pressure from the U.S., NATO and the U.N. for his arrest.

 

"I have made thousands of new friends, about whom my pursuers do not know," boasted Karadzic, according to a British Broadcasting Corporation report.

 

Although he has a $5 million price on his head, posters have appeared with Karadzic's image throughout the Serb cities of Belgrade and Novi Sad, stating that "every Serb is Radovan," according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

 

In response to demands that he surrender to The Hague Tribunal, Karadzic defiantly sent a letter to a Serbian law professor offering his "regrets" that he could not attend the war crimes trials, the BBC stated.

 

Karadzic has also published, through his friends and supporters, a book entitled "The Situation, A Light Comedy."

 

The plot contains five characters, according to a Reuters report: a waiter, an aspiring leader, an "image maker," a representative of the "international community" and the voice off stage of a Muslim who advises the international community representative.

 

 

 

 

Media Monitoring Report
Period 4. April 2 -- April 15, 2002

 

In the monitored period, the media covered a reduced selection of topics. Once again, the focus of both Macedonian- and Albanian-language media remained on security topics. The main news for all monitored media was the armed attack on the DPA alternative headquarters in Tetovo and the exhumations near the Ljuboten village.

 

However, the similarities concerned only a relative importance of the events. The assessment of the situation, its implications, use of sources and access of political players to the monitored media were all in line with the medias language and ethnicity of its audience.

 

In the Macedonian-language media, the armed incident was labelled as destructive for democracy, threatening to residents of Tetovo, continuation of the Mala Recica incident, as well a consequence of the criminal activities of the DPA. The Ministry of Interior was covered in a negative context due to its inability to control parts of Tetovo.

 

The Ljuboten exhumations caused criticism of the government because of lack of information (e.g. A1 and Utrinski Vesnik). Occasionally the Macedonian-language media criticised the operation as "prepared without the knowledge of the Macedonian side" (MTV, Sitel and Vecer) or put into question credibility of the ICTY.

 

The Albanian-language media based its coverage of the Tetovo incident on the parties press releases and qualified the event as "absurd" and "against the peace in Macedonia." Thus the monitoring team found the editorial decision of the Albanian service MTV2 to stop reporting on the incident disturbing. It should be noted however that the decision was not observed. According to some of the monitored Albanian-language media, the event resulted from the activities of the Macedonian secret service. The DPA and Arben Xhaferi were positively covered.

 

While reporting on exhumations near Ljuboten, the Albanian-language media strongly supported the thesis that the victims were civilians, and the event was covered in a strong positive context of the belated justice. However, the team noted with regret that while reporting on the topic, the Fljaka journalists used underage children as sources.

 

Another significant factor was presence of domestic and foreign political actors in the media as sources or their access to the media through direct quotes and sound bites. In the Macedonian-language media, the Albanian population and the Albanian political parties were referred to as often or more often than the Macedonian population and the Macedonian political parties. The Albanian-language media focused on the Albanian actors or sources, using them more often than the Macedonian actors and sources.

 

The language- and ethnic-related difference was as obvious in selection of topics, which remained outside the scope of our reporting.

 

The Macedonian-language media paid significant attention to social protests, establishment of a special anti-corruption office, dissatisfaction of the employees in the health sector and the model of reforms, as well as the charges filed against the former Minister of Interior, Lj. Frckovski, and his associates.

 

The Albanian-language media focused on the enrolling of Albanians in higher educational institutions, e.g. in the medical high school in Skopje, problems with non-recognition of diplomas issued by foreign universities, as well as the visit of the Albanian prime minister to Kosovo.

 

[...]

 

The findings and conclusions of the monitoring report are these of Pro Media and the European Institute of the Media alone and cannot be taken to represent opinions of other members of the Consortium or the EU. The Media Support Programme is an EU-funded initiative, running from January to June 2002, aimed at encouraging the highest professional standards amongst the media in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The future aim of the aviation authorities will be to improve the cooperation in planning and implementation of the air routes in the region, to enhance the bilateral and multilateral cooperation between the operational units and joint coordinated planning and system modernization.

 

This meeting for wider Balkan cooperation in the area of air traffic was initiated in order to establish stable air navigation in the region i.e. to restore the air space above Balkans just as prior to the breakup of former SFRY. The regional connection in the air traffic means establishing a center that will run all activities as well as institutions for education of aviation staff and joint administration.

 

The participants expressed hope that the closure of the air space above Yugoslav province Kosovo would be finally resolved among the competent institutions.

 

They pointed out the necessity of increased exchange of aviation staff, exchange of radar images by using advanced technical communication between the systems according to Eurocontrol standards.

 

The representatives of the aviation authorities obliged themselves to inform their governments on the meeting's results in order to provide larger support of the initiative for wider regional cooperation.

 

They also pointed out the necessity of joining their forces and increasing the coordination among the national aviation authorities.

 

The air traffic connection means establishing a center that will run all activities i.e. institutions for education of aviation staff and joint administration as a model of cooperation that already works in Scandinavian, Central European and Baltic countries.

 

This initiative was fully supported by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), EUROCONTROL and NATO Air Traffic Management Committee (NAMC).

 

Besides the Macedonian representatives also the Albanian, Yugoslav, and Bulgarian representatives took part while the Italian representatives attended the meeting as guests.

 

The next meeting of the civil aviation authorities will be held in June in Rome.

 

 

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary, Director of the Health Fund Vojo Mihajlovski opened the Information Center equipped with the most advanced computer technique and will allow connection with the other Macedonian and world medical centers.

 

Health Minister Gjorgji Orovcanec opened the Physical Therapy Department where complete rehabilitation treatment with ultrasound laser therapy will be provided.

 

Asked about "coxsackie" virus in Greece Minister Orovcanec said that the Health Ministry monitors the situation and informed that the Epidemiology services are on alert.

 

He added that "emergency epidemic situation has not been declared yet in Greece and the obtained information is still unofficial, but he advised the Macedonian citizens to restrain from travelling to this neighboring country.

 

Orovcanec emphasized that "coxsackie" virus is not unknown in this region as 50 to 60 cases are registered every year in Macedonia, but none of them was lethal.

 

 

Canadian Defence Minister Backs Bulgaria's NATO Bid.

 

Ottawa, April 26 (BTA) - Canada supports in principle Bulgaria's bid for NATO membership and the Alliance's large-scale enlargement at the Prague summit, Canadian Defence Minister Arthur Eggleton told Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, the press office of the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said. Passy is on a three-day official visit to Canada.

 

Passy, for his part, told Eggleton that Bulgaria supports a balanced NATO enlargement and noted the importance of the southern dimension of the enlargement and Bulgaria and Romania's contribution as sources of stability on the Balkans.

 

Passy briefed Eggleton on Bulgaria's successful participation at the 19+1 April 23 meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels where all NATO members received well the report on Bulgaria's progress. Passy also informed Eggleton about Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's meeting with US President George W Bush that took place on the same date.

 

Eggleton pointed out that he was briefed on the progress of the military reform in Bulgaria and on the implementation of the country's membership action plan by his Bulgarian counterpart Nikolai Svinarov who made a trip to Canada two weeks ago. Eggleton said he follows closely bilateral military cooperation and assessed it in positive terms. He said that if Bulgaria keeps up the momentum, it will meet with a favourable outcome in Prague.

 

 

 

Bulgaria Presents Economic Policies at Forum in Korea.

 

Seoul, April 26 (BTA) - Economy Minister Nikolai Vasilev and Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Chairman Park Yong-sung opened a Day of Bulgarian Economy in Korea on Friday, the press office of the Economy Ministry said.

 

Deputy economy minister Milen Keremedchiev presented the potential and the outlook for the development of the Bulgarian economy. "Invest in a New Bulgaria" was the essence of Vasilev's message to the Korean business people who will have the opportunity to establish direct contacts with potential Bulgarian partners during the forum. The visit of the Bulgarian business delegation is organized by the Trade Promotion Executive Agency (TPEA) with the Economy Ministry.

 

A memorandum for cooperation between KCCI and TPEA will be signed. Vasilev and Transport Minister Plamen Petrov met with the president of the Federation of Korean Investors and the CEOs of Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Industries. The Korean industrialists were interested in the investment opportunities provided by the Bulgarian government's economic program, the press release said.

 

Vasilev and Petrov assured the Korean business people in the institutional support for any future investment and pledged to ease customs procedure and make tax breaks available. The major Korean corporations were interested in the IT sector and the investment opportunities it provides.

 

Vasilev noted that the progress of reforms in Bulgaria has created the necessary environment for positive results in the field of economics. Bulgaria's has a functioning infrastructure and good fiscal discipline and these facts are turning into a powerful argument that can sway investor sentiment in Bulgaria's favour, he said.

 

The Bulgarian delegation will wind up its visit on Saturday with a meeting between Petrov and the president of Information Technology Management Services Co. Ltd. on the specific parameters of a joint software project with the Bulgarian Association for Information Technologies.

 

 

 

Bulgarian, Romanian Parliamentary Foreign Policy Committees to Hold Joint Meeting.

 

Sofia, April 26 (BTA) - The Romanian and Bulgarian parliamentary foreign policy committees will hold a joint meeting May 13 to discuss a draft for a joint declaration on expanding bilateral cooperation towards entry in NATO, said the press office of the Bulgarian Parliament Friday.

 

The decision to adopt such a document was reached during the Bucharest visit of Bulgarian National Assembly Chairman Ognyan Gerdjikov in late March. Gerdjikov's idea for a joint message to the US Congress to declare the wish of the two countries to join NATO and to ask for support, was accepted by the Romanian side.

 

 

 

UDF Leader Nadezhda Mihailova Addresses Conference in France.

 

Evian, April 26 (BTA) - Nadezhda Mihailova, leader of the United Democratic Forces (UDF), made a report at a conference on "The US and Europe: Global Problems and Regional Challenges", organized by the German Marshall Fund in Evian, France, the UDF press office said.

 

In a report entitled "Changes in the Euro-Atlantic Foreign Policy Priorities: Impact on Southeastern Europe", Mihailova emphasized the importance of NATO and EU enlargement in Southeastern Europe and the strategic priorities of US foreign policy in the region. She described as "modest" the results of the EU common foreign and security policy to the countries of Southeastern Europe and analysed the adverse consequences of the Copenhagen decisions of 2001.

 

The report said that Bulgaria's and Romania's exclusion from the first wave of EU enlargement could not only strengthen Euroscepticism and repel foreign investors, but could also widen the economic gap between the organization's new members on the one hand, and Sofia and Bucharest on the other hand.

 

The report emphasized the benefits to be had if Washington commits to support NATO enlargement from the Baltic to the Black Sea. These benefits include eliminating political extremism in the Balkans, rooting out international terrorism in the Muslim communities there, and creating an environment for the region's economic development.

 

Mihailova recommended ways to offset the negative effect of the Copenhagen decisions: setting a date for Bulgaria's and Romania's accession to NATO, an individual approach to the applicant countries, granting the two countries observer status in the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Intergovernmental Conference in 2004.

 

Mihailova analysed certain differences in the foreign policy approach of the US and the EU to Southeastern Europe and stressed the need to bring their positions closer, particularly on Turkey's role in the European process, the reintegration of Serbia and Montenegro into the European structures, and Kosovo's final status.

 

On Saturday, Mihailova will hold a working meeting with General Joseph Ralston, Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

 

Mihailova is the only politician from Southeastern Europe invited to the forum.

 

 

 

SOFIA, Bulgaria - Pope John Paul II has signed a decree to beatify and declare as martyrs three Bulgarian Catholic priests slain by communists in 1952, the state news agency BTA reported Friday.

 

Bishop Hristo Proikov of Bulgaria told BTA the pontiff would officially announce the beatifications the last step before raising someone to sainthood during his visit next month to this predominantly Orthodox Christian country.

 

The three include Kamen Vichev, Iosafat Shishkov and Pavel Dzhidzhov Bulgarian Catholic clergymen who were executed after being convicted by a communist court of espionage.

 

They were close to Evgeni Bosilkov, Bulgaria's Catholic leader at the time, who was sentenced to death in the same trial. The pope beatified Bosilkov five years ago.

 

Calls to Catholic leaders in Bulgaria went unanswered Friday.

 

 

By Kevin Chaffee

 

The prime minister of Bulgaria doesn't put much store in titles, though he certainly understands if there might be some confusion about what to call him.

 

The mini-entourage of government ministers and aides at his side during his working visit to Washington earlier this week referred to Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as "Mr." Back home, however, especially among citizens old enough to remember his brief (1943-46) reign as King (or Czar) Simeon II of the Bulgarians, he always will be "His Majesty."

 

"I am very proud to be king, also to be prime minister, but having an elected title is much more important than one which is inherited," the trim, handsome and regally bearded Mr. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, 64, said at a small dinner hosted by Bulgarian Ambassador Elena Poptodorov at the embassy residence Tuesday night.

 

It was the type of remark that impressed such American guests as Sen. Richard Lugar, Reps. Doug Bereuter and Joe Wilson, U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria James Pardew and his predecessor in that post, Richard Miles. All were unanimous in praising the dedication and determination of a heroic figure who had "done the impossible" by becoming the first exiled monarch to return to his country as a democratically elected head of state.

 

Most, of course, didn't need history lessons regarding the guest of honor's remarkable past.

 

Crowned at the age of 6 after the death of his father, King Boris, in 1943, young King Simeon was lucky to escape with his life when the communists took over Bulgaria after World War II. After his uncle Prince Kyril and most of the country's intelligentsia were executed, his mother, Queen Ioanna, the daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, fled with him to Egypt.

 

In 1951, they settled in Spain, where he went to school, married a Spanish aristocrat (Queen Margarita) and established a successful international business career while never losing sight of political developments in his homeland.

 

After the overthrow of communism, the long-exiled king who had never abdicated his throne decided to return to Bulgaria in 1996. He soon secured the return of the royal family's confiscated properties and began focusing on how to revive the country. Last year, his triumph was complete when his nascent National Movement political party won in a landslide victory and he was sworn in as prime minister.

 

"He had all the requisite skills it takes to become elected," Mr. Lugar said, commenting favorably on Mr. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier that day to lobby for Bulgaria's admission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

 

"He learned a lot about America and the American Constitution when he was a student here at Valley Forge Military Academy in the 1950s," Mr. Lugar noted with satisfaction.

 

NATO's security guarantees would be a boon for the Bulgarian economy, which is in a slump, with especially high unemployment. "Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic all had huge foreign investments after they joined NATO," Mr. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha said, sounding hopeful that his visit to Washington would bolster the cause. (Both President Bush and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell were "supportive" during his visit at the White House.)

 

Guests seemed confident that Bulgaria's extraordinary prime-minister-king well might succeed in his quest to transform his nation's political and economic systems after nearly a half-century of state socialism and totalitarian rule.

 

"Monarchy as a transition to democracy; it's the perfect way to reweave the fabric of a nation," international public relations consultant Edward J. Von Kloberg III pointed out. "It worked in Spain, it's working in Bulgaria, and who knows, it might work now in Afghanistan as well."

 

 

Washington Post
By Nora Boustany

 

Elegant and remarkably regal despite a four-day Washington whirlwind of politicking and meetings, Bulgaria's former boy king and present prime minister, Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, said the most notable change he has witnessed since his return from exile has been the country's painful transition to a market economy. He has been struck, he said, by the spirit of entrepreneurship of his fellow Bulgarians, whom he has pledged to lead out of the economic doldrums of the postcommunist era.

 

Exiled by the communists at the age of 9 in 1946, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha went on to become a successful banker and investor; he lived in Spain until 1996.

 

With a pressing mandate to prepare his country for integration into the world community by joining NATO and the European Union, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, at 64, is now putting his worldliness, savvy Western ways and business acumen to work for Bulgaria -- and working full tilt. The World Bank is currently funding nine projects worth $350 million there and is proposing a lending program of as much as $750 million -- a plan that will go to a vote at the meeting of bank directors May 9.

 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha sleeps only five hours a night after putting in marathon days that rarely end before 10:30 p.m., according to Gen. Nikola Kolev, deputy chief of the general staff of the Bulgarian armed forces, who accompanied the prime minister along with Justice Minister Anton Stankov and Stanimir Ilchev, chairman of the Foreign Policy, Defense and Security Committee in Bulgaria's National Assembly.

 

Crowned at age 6 in 1943 after his father's sudden death, Simeon II, as he is also known, fled Bulgaria three years later for Egypt, where he lived for four years before going on to study at Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania, among other places. He breaks into flawless, Egyptian-accented Arabic to prove his fluency.

 

Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's favorite recollection of a visit in the early 1960s to Chicago, where about 50,000 Bulgarian Americans reside, is an encounter with the late mayor, Richard J. Daley (father of the current mayor), who was impressed when the young exile noted that the Windy City was known for its old churches. "Well, I'll be darned," was Daley's response, he recalled. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, slim and slightly bearded, is still amused by the description of him in the Chicago Tribune then as a "somewhat deflated version of actor Peter Ustinov," an insight that both men got to check out firsthand much later when they met, he said with a chuckle.

 

Last April, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha formed a small political party, which went on to a landslide victory in elections in June. He wishes to be addressed as "Mr. Prime Minister," he specified when asked Tuesday evening. Earlier in the day, over breakfast with journalists at the Hay-Adams, he did not rule out a possible restoration of the monarchy -- not by decree, but only if the electorate so decided at a later point.

 

"In the final analysis, it is a matter of great pride to me that I have not simply been czar of Bulgaria, but have been prime minister, elected by a substantial majority of the Bulgarian people. That, at least, can never be taken away," Saxe-Coburg-Gotha said.

 

On Monday he pressed the right buttons during a speech at the Heritage Foundation when he said that including Bulgaria in a robust NATO, along with other "qualified aspirants, will contribute to the victory in the war against terrorism." He underlined his countrymen's recent peacekeeping contributions in the Balkans, stressing that further NATO enlargement to the south would make European borders more secure.

 

He took his case for Bulgarian membership in NATO to the White House on Tuesday at a meeting with President Bush, as well as to legislators on Capitol Hill.