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Belated Election of the Constitutional President: July 1–4, 1991
- Central European University Press
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Belated Election of the Constitutional President 93 Belated Election of the Constitutional President July 1–4, 1991 • The night EC ministers led the SFRY Presidency session • Three decisions: Cease-fire, three-month moratorium, and the election of the Croatian representative as t he president of the SFRY Presidency • % .RVWLü WHOOV 0HVLü KH LV QRW WKH ³FRQVWLWXWLRQDO SUesident” as he was not ina ugurated by the non-existent Socialist Association of Working P eople • Tragic Tenja bullets • A visit by Hans Dietrich Genscher • Ljubljana demands the YPA withdraw from Slovenia • The wings of war over Slovenia • An “excursion” to Ljubljana with Tupurkovski • *HQHUDO $GåLü DQQRXQFHV FRXS • Dramatic phone conversations with European ministers. The European trio—Jacques Poos, Gianni De Michelis, and Hans van den Broek, arrived in Belg rade once ag ain. They came by two airplanes on the evening of June 30 to oversee what we had not been able to do ourselves, although we had promised it days earlier—the establishment of the Presidency of SFRY. More than one hundred journalists stood before the Belgrade Hall. Drnovšek did not come, but had sent a written message clearly supportLQJ 0HVLü DV SUHVLGHQW DQG % .RVWLü DV YLFH-president. “There is war in 6ORYHQLD LW LV LPSRVVLEOH WR OHDYH /MXEOMDQD´ KH ZURWH 0DUNRYLü ZDV DOVR in Ljubljana, arranging the C ease-fire agreement. We w ere told to expect him during the night; the European gentlemen would like to see him. I arrived from Zagreb a few hours ahead of the European trio. Prior to meeting us at Belg rade hall, they spent an hour before the Serbian PresiGHQWLDO &DELQHW WDONLQJ WR 0LORãHYLü ,I KH KDG QRW DJUHHG WR “instruct Mr. JoYLü WR VXSSRUW WKH QRPLQDWLRQ RI 0U 0HVLü´ WKH\ ZRXOG probably have OHIW LPPHGLDWHO\ 0LORãHYLü DJUHHG DJDLQ DQG LQ RUGHU WR make s ure e verything went according to plan, he stay ed in Federation Palace, inside the so- called Serbian Salon, until the end of the meeting, GXULQJ ZKLFK KH RFFDVLRQDOO\ H[FKDQJHG QRWHV ZLWK -RYLü 94 The Demise of Yugoslavia The session beg an j ust after 8 p.m . O utside it w as raining , a cold spring night. As was agreed, the session was chaired by Tupurkovski. He greeted the m inisters and their asso ciates, EC am bassadors in Belgrade, with gratitude. TUPURKOVSKI: The Presidency appreciates the efforts of the EC, and particularly of you, ministers, in coming to see us for the second time in a space of a few days. I feel that it w ould be useful if one of y ou were to briefly elaborate initiatives of the EC and the results of your consultations thus far. POOS: The European Council has ask ed us to be here today. What we are demanding is that you come to an agreement immediately and w ith our help. I t is important that we agree on three fundam ental measures: that you accept the C ease-fire, that y ou agree on a three- month moratorium on the realiz ation of declar ations of independence by the two republics, and that you re-establish constitutional order by electing the president and vice-president of the Presidency . O n Friday , w e ag reed those three measures will be implemented simultaneously, as they form a whole. The response so far has been satisfactory . We have had talks in Zagreb and in Belgrade. The Cease-fire must be observ ed. During the meeting in Zagreb, the president of Croatia expressed his agreement with these measures once again. He made it his personal com mitment to stop " & % '( ) told us he is personally in fav or, but that it has to be adopted by the Slovenian Parliament, which subsequently took place. T onight we shall go to Z agreb again, for y et another confirmation of these arrangements, but we are convinced the answer will be positive. I hope the Presidency will also succeed in reaching an agreement. B. K267,û: Ministers, I appreciate your efforts. What you asked from us three days ago, I have implemented personally. We have implemented it. We made the statement. I am pleased that the Parliam ent of Slovenia has also accepted ev erything. And the Parliament of Croatia should also meet as soon as possible to do the sa me. Without that condition I am not prepared to do anything more than what I said yesterday in my statement. I also wish to stress that any insistence on my...