LOCAL PRESS

Minister sees “political slowdown” in EU integration (RTS, Tanjug)

The EU’s decision not to open negotiation chapters with Serbia as new chapters are to be opened with Montenegro and Turkey “is a broader political message.” According to Serbian minister without portfolio in charge of EU integration it is a message “indicating a slowdown in Serbia’s progress on the path towards the EU.” “Chapters 23 and 24 are the most important political chapters. The principle of the EU is that when you negotiate membership you cannot open other chapters until these two had been opened,” Joksimovic told RTS on Friday. According to her, Serbia is disappointed – “because there is so much talk about the rule of law, and then when it comes to the opening of chapters that is not done.” “When you open chapters you measure yourself, where you are and how much you have done in that area, and you give dynamics to reforms. Why is it a problem to open it, when we have done everything up to us,” asked Joksimovic. She noted that “everything in the EU functions at the level of consensus,” and that she “personally thinks the two chapters could have been opened yesterday despite Britain and Croatia, had there been more political will.” Speaking late on Thursday, Joksimovic said that Belgrade had been pointing to the possibility of the chapters not being opened, while hoping until the very last day that they might be opened by the end of the Dutch EU presidency, Joksimovic said. Thursday’s news that chapters 23 and 24 in Serbia’s accession talks will not be opened would not have come as a surprise had the EU not decided in the meantime to open new chapters with Montenegro and Turkey, she said. “We would have understood this if there was insufficient coordination as a result of all the developments in the EU at this time and if this had been done with all countries involved in the process,” Joksimovic said. The decision will not derail Serbia from the path towards the EU or reforms, she noted. “The procedures concerning the opening of chapters 23 and 24 in Serbia’s EU accession talks are continuing within working bodies and Serbia is ready to open them immediately, but when they will be opened is up to the EU member states,” chief negotiator in Serbia’s EU accession negotiations Tanja Miscevic said on Thursday. The member states need to reach a compromise to enable Serbia to move on in the EU integration process, Miscevic said, thanking the Netherlands, which has held the EU presidency over the past six months, and other member states for their engagement on the matter. “The member states understood well why it is important to open chapters relating to the rule of law,” Miscevic said in Brussels. “Those are chapters underpinning reforms in society, as well as Serbia’s development agenda,” she said. For the time being, there are no precise timeframes for a potential opening of the chapters, but it could happen as early as July, at the beginning of the Slovak EU presidency, she said.

Ambassadors call for opening of Chapters 23, 24 with Serbia as soon as possible (Beta)

The ambassadors of the Netherlands, Slovakia and Germany in Serbia voiced on June 30 their support for the continuation of the EU enlargement process and hope that Chapters 23 and 24 in the membership negotiations with Serbia “will be opened as soon as possible.” At a ceremony devoted to the Slovak chair of the EU Council after the Netherlands, Dutch Ambassador Hendrik van den Dool said that he was “deeply disappointed” that the efforts invested by Serbia, the Dutch chair and the European Commission had not led to a consensus on the issue. “Until yesterday afternoon I was fairly sure that an intergovernmental conference (between the EU and Serbia) would be held and that it would be possible to open Chapters 23 and 24,” the Dutch ambassador said. Dool said that there had truly been a desire for the chapters to be opened under the Dutch chairmanship and that it had gotten very close to that, but “at the end of the day you realize that you do not have all 28 member states and you have to conclude that you have not succeeded.” “Even so, the world does not stop tonight, and I am sure that Slovakia will continue to work hard and as committed as us to make this possible,” Dool said. The Dutch ambassador added that the EU functioned on consensus and that member states had “their legitimate concerns and legitimate desires,” which sometimes had to be on the bilateral, and sometimes on a multilateral basis in Brussels. Slovak Ambassador Dagmar Repcekova voiced the hope that the Chapters 23 and 24 in negotiations with Serbia would be opened in July, and by September at the latest, and that some more chapters would be opened before the end of the year. At a ceremony in the EU Info Center in Belgrade, German Ambassador Axel Dittmann said that Berlin continued to support opening chapters with Serbia “as soon as possible” and that the EU was committed to having Serbia become a member. EU Delegation to Serbia deputy chief Oscar Benedict voiced his “full support” for the continuation of the process of enlargement “with greater speed and decisiveness” and voiced the hope that the Slovak chair would “push” for the opening of Chapters 23 and 24.

Vucic: I will not allow anyone to step over Serbia (Alo)

Serbia would like to have the best possible relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), but it would not allow anyone to step over it, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Thursday for Alo tabloid. “I wish we have the best possible relations with B&H and Bosniaks, however, it is certain that I will not allow them or anyone else to step over Serbia”, Vucic said for Alo daily, after the statement of head of Srebrenica municipality Camil Durakovic that Serbian state leadership was not welcome in Srebrenica. Durakovic said earlier this week that individuals and representatives of institutions that denied genocide would not be welcome in Potocari, on July 11, at the commemoration of crimes committed in 1995, when the army of Republika Srpska (RS) killed approximately 8.000 Muslim prisoners of war, but he also said that, in spite of that, the municipality would like to have good cooperation with Serbia. After this statement, Vucic said that Serbia understood messages from Srebrenica and that it would not wish to cause trouble. In July 2015, Vucic was present at the commemoration in Srebrenica, when, in spite of police security, he was attacked. The investigation did not determine so far who was behind the attack on Vucic, which was obviously organized. Messages arrived from the leadership of Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) on Wednesday that Vucic should cancel communication with politicians from B&H “who do not wish peace and cooperation with Serbia”. This was first stated by vice-president of SNS Marko Djuric and he was followed by several other officials of the party. As it was announced, Vucic would speak about the messages from Srebrenica, as well as other important issues at the press conference scheduled for Friday at 4 p.m., after his return from Turin and discussion he would have with Fiat management regarding the future of this factory in Serbia.

Djuric: Serbia wants reconciliation (Beta)

Serbian Progressive Party vice president Marko Djuric said on June 30 that Serbia wanted reconciliation and that “(Srebrenica Mayor) Camil Durakovic and similar people have proved that there is nothing to talk about.” Reacting to a statement from Durakovic that the prime minister of Serbia and leader of the Serbian Progressive Party “ought to take care of individuals in his party who are unnecessarily raising tensions in the region,” he said that the only person who was spreading hatred was Srebrenica Mayor Camil Durakovic. Djuric said that this hatred last year trampled the dignity of the Srebrenica victims along with a attempted lynching targeting Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, “who is obviously guilty for surviving the chauvinistic lynching, organized by Durakovic and Izetbegovic.” Djuric said that Serbia, regardless of the “soulless abuse of the dead, which is becoming the manner of Bosniak politicians” continues to mourn the innocent victims of all wars in the former Yugoslavia. The organizing committee for commemorating the victims of Srebrenica earlier voiced the stance that the Serbian leadership was unwanted at the Potocari commemoration. Meanwhile, the association of the Mothers of Srebrenica took responsibility on June 30 for a decision that no Serbian officials who did not acknowledge genocide were welcome at the Potocari commemoration, a post on the Sarajevo Free Bosnia website said. The Mothers of Srebrenica sent an open letter to Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic in which they said, “we will never allow anyone to steal that day” as the case was in 2015. “We, the mothers of Srebrenica are telling the Serbian authorities – that everyone who negates the genocide in Srebrenica is unwanted in Potocari on July 11. This is our decision and no one has the right to interfere with it,” they said in an open letter. The members of the association said that “we are appalled by the inappropriate statements of some Serbian politicians which have been arriving at our address these days,” adding that the statements against the president of the organizing committee of the commemorative gathering and head of Srebrenica Camil Durakovic “from hypocrites, radicals and chauvinists are seen as an insult to all of us.”

DS Asks Vucic to propose new Cabinet as soon as possible (VIP)

President of the Democratic Party (DS) Bojan Pajtic has asked the Prime Minister-designate Aleksandar Vucic to nominate the new Serbian Government cabinet as soon as possible, as the country is in a sort of state of emergency because decisions are being taken by a “technical Government”, news agencies report. We are in a form of state of emergency, in which both the prime minister-designate and the “technical ministers” breach the Constitution and the law, voting interstate treaties and assuming obligations in the name of citizens, Pajtic said. He warned that it is unheard of in parliamentary practice that a ticket that won the absolute majority procrastinates Government formation for more than two months. The most grotesque of all excuses is that the Prime Minister-designate is writing up himself a 180 pages-long speech, and needs time to do it. Allegedly, a person with such a “reach work experience” knows everything, and has to write up the whole speech because experts wouldn’t know how to do it, Pajtic said. He asked Vucic to propose a new cabinet as soon as possible and to stop ravishing, to the expense of citizens, on the woes of potential partners, “which are striving to obtain a place in the new Government”. Underlining that no such situation occurred in parliamentary practice, namely that a party that won overwhelmingly the election cannot form the cabinet for more than two months, Pajtic states that the DS, as opposition party, could benefit from the “regime struggle to find an excuse for the procrastination of the new Government formation process”. He warned however, on the other hand, that “no one in Serbia can benefit from the present limbo, because this is bad for all”. “It is bad for the legislative process, which has ground to a halt, it is bad for the drawing of new investors who are waiting for line ministers to be appointed, bad for the agriculture waiting to see the new minister’s strategy, and very bad for scientists awaiting a new a better politics regarding science”, Pajtic declared.

Zivkovic: Vucic is like a sultan (FoNet)

Prime Minister-designate Aleksandar Vucic did not form a Government because it suits him to have interregnum and to bring down the state with no institutions “to the swamp level”, where he would be a sultan, the leader of New Party Zoran Zivkovic said on Thursday, FoNet news agency reported. Zivkovic was once a vice-president of Democratic Party and Serbian Prime Minister for one year, after the assassination of Zoran Djindjic in March 2003. He emphasized that Parliamentary elections were finished two months ago and Parliament was inaugurated one month ago and he accused Vucic of “devastating institutions”. It would suit Vucic not to have a Parliament, not even the one like this, where he once had won some kind of majority, or to have a Government in a real sense, since he kept everything in his own hands, which would be his dream, Zivkovic said. He said that Vucic gave series of false promises as Prime Minister and he asked why the Chinese He Steel company did not take over Smederevo Steelworks by the end of June, as it was announced. This was the same as the previous promise that Peter Kamarash and other “white mages” of steel industry would raise the steelworks to the profitability level in four months, but they just managed to make another debt of 145 million EUR in one year, Zivkovic said.

Djilas scraps DS membership (Danas)

Former President of the Democratic Party (DS) Dragan Djilas has discontinued his membership in this party, daily Danas reports on Friday, quoting DS sources. Djilas declined to tell the daily about the reason for leaving the party which he had led from November 2012 to May 2014. He also neither confirmed nor denied the information obtained by Danas. Following Boris Tadic’s failure at presidential elections in 2012 and the passing of DS into opposition ranks, Djilas had emerged as main candidate for new DS leader, which led to a months-long struggle with Tadic, who ultimately gave up on his presidential candidacy. The Djilas-led DS won a little over 6% of votes at the May 2014 elections, but was subsequently beaten by Bojan Pajtic at interparty elections. Djilas served as Belgrade mayor from 2008 until 2014. After stepping down as DS official, he withdrew from political life and continued serving as president of the Basketball Association of Serbia. Djilas’s company Multicom bought out in 2015 a 50 million dinars debt drawn by the DS from Razvojna banka Vojvodina for its 2012 election campaign. Djilas’s company thus became owner of the real estate which around a dozen DS officials placed under mortgage.

Kosovo gets asterisk, and footnote, on UN websites (FoNet)

All offices representing UN agencies in Kosovo have started adding an asterisk to the word “Kosovo.”  The asterisk points to a footnote, that refers to UN Security Council Resolution 1244.

The UN agencies apply the new rule to their websites, social networks accounts, and other forms of communication, Pristina-based Albanian language newspaper Koha Ditore is reporting.  According to the daily, this has provoked no reaction from the authorities in Pristina.  In the past, the UN used the asterisk and the footnote only in official documents, while now this practice has been expanded. FoNet agency is reporting that “it is being appraised this new strategy has been introduced to the detriment of Kosovo, because it reflects on its international image.”

Croatia removes fence from border crossing with Serbia (Tanjug)

A fence that Croatia started building on a border crossing with Serbia the night before was removed late on Thursday. However, the exact reasons why the fence was being built remain unknown. Croatia’s Interior Ministry (MUP) said earlier that this was done “in order to prevent possible illegal entries into the country.” According to unofficial information on Thursday evening, Croatia the previous night informed Serbia that works would be conducted on a bridge on their side of the border -“related to migrations, which reflect in a placement of a protective fence at the entrance to Croatia.” In the meanwhile, media started speculating that Croatia was building the fence “due to the possibility that the inflow of migrants could increase.” However, neither the relevant services, nor a crew Tanjug sent to the scene were able to see any migrants at the Bezdan-Batina crossing yesterday. Traffic was fully resumed at this border crossing after the fence was removed.

Serbia now presides over Black Sea Economic Cooperation PA (B92, Tanjug)

Serbia on Thursday took over from Russia the six-month presidency over the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (PABSEC). Serbian National Assembly President Maja Gojkovic said that enhancing economic cooperation between member states would be the priority of the Serbian presidency. “During the presidency, we will be able to make a concrete contribution to development of regional stability, good-neighborly relations and creating and improving a favorable economic and political climate for cooperation among member-states,” Gojkovic noted in a statement to Tanjug. Serbia has set cooperation in the fields of the economy, transport, energy, culture and education, as well as development of parliamentary cooperation, as the priorities, Gojkovic said. Serbia will also be an advocate of expanding the list of topics addressed by the PABSEC to include issues such as migration, IT and innovation, she said. Assuming the PABSEC presidency is a great pleasure and honor for the Serbian parliament, as is the fact that Belgrade will host the 48th PABSEC General Assembly meeting from November 29 through December 1, Gojkovic said. While in Moscow, the Serbian official met with Chairman of Russia’s State Duma Sergei Naryshkin. The PABSEC members are parliamentary officials of Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine. First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic will visit Sochi, Russia, on 30 June and 1 July, the Serbian Government has announced. He is attending the 34th session of the Council of Foreign Minister of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).  The BSEC was founded at the Summit of heads of state and government of eleven countries of the Black Sea region on 25 June 1992 in Istanbul.

REGIONAL PRESS

Reactions of Federation of B&H officials to published census results (Hayat, N1)

Commenting on published census results Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) President Marinko Cavara (HDZ B&H) said he is sorry that a statistical process was politicized and expressed hope that this will stop in order to be able to use statistical data for positive purposes and creation of better living conditions. The SDP B&H Political Director Damir Masic noted that the results could have and should have been published earlier. Still, Masic assessed as positive that legal deadlines have been met after all. Masic underlined that ethnic structure is least important and added that it is important that B&H has obtained other statistical data that are important to the EU as well. The Leader of HDZ B&H Dragan Covic said that he is negatively surprised with the number of Croats in B&H, while SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic said that it is now up to politicians in B&H to deal with reactions to the census. According to Izetbegovic, politicians in B&H are now able to react which was not the case before publishing of the census results. In a statement given over phone, Covic expressed his concern for the status of Croats in B&H.

Dodik: Another proof that bih is an illusory country (Srna)

Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik told Srna that the publishing of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) population census results today shows the farce in which B&H lives and added that RS will not accept or publish these results. Dodik says that the attempts by Bosniaks to force the truth which suits them on others make a completely illusory country of B&H. “This is something that must be clear to everyone. The arrogance and attempts to publish results this way, despite clear positions of the RS Parliament and all other RS institutions, are incomprehensible. This was done with the assistance of a foreign factor in B&H which once again demonstrated that it is a biased party and not a party which should secure objective and consensus-agreed procedures and data,” Dodik said. He says that it is very clear that RS will not recognize such a population census and will not publish such results since they are speculative. “We saw everything from this and this confirmed the arrogance of the international factor and domestic political factors in Sarajevo, who tried to ignore RS,” Dodik has said. He said that the conclusions of the RS Parliament are very clear, and that, as far as the population census is concerned, RS should take its own road and publish its own results. “We will hold a new session of Parliament very soon and pass a law on a population census which is necessary so that we could publish results we have at our disposal. That which they did in Sarajevo was in vain and is doing B&H more harm than good. If someone wants B&H to be as unsuccessful as possible, then this is a proof and the occasion to claim something like this,” Dodik said.

Cubrilovic: We won’t recognize the results, they are not credible (Srna)

Republika Srpska (RS) National Assembly Speaker Nedeljko Cubrilovic has told Srna that the entity authorities and institutions will neither recognize nor publish the results of the population census of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) because they are not credible and are unusable.Cubrilovic pointed out that incorrect census results are unacceptable and unable to produce any kind of legal effects in RS.“In accordance with the conclusions of the National Assembly, RS will actively use all legal, political and other legal instruments to make sure to remove in an adequate manner any illicit activities of the joint bodies and institutions violating the constitutional and legal principles and vital interests and threatening the status and role of RS within B&H,” Cubrilovic told Srna commenting on the Thursday announcement of the B&H population census results.He recalled that the National Assembly had already ordered the RS Government to draft a law on the population and housing census of RS on an urgent basis to allow the entity Statistics Institute to publish the census results.“We must all stand together for this work. I will remind you that in accordance with the parliament’s conclusion, representatives of our government and statistics institute withdrew their members from the Central Census Bureau because the director of the B&H Agency for Statistics Velimir Jukic had not revoked his decision to publish the B&H census results, which he executed today,” added Cubrilovic.He pointed out that it was clear that Jukic’s decision was contrary to the Census Law, which was why B&H will have illegal and incorrect census data.“The first results of the census confirm this. All political parties in RS are in agreement about this issue and we find the incorrect census results unacceptable,” concluded Cubrilovic.According to the census results published by the B&H Agency for Statistics on Thursday, B&H has the population of 3,531,159, of which number 1,228,423 live in RS (34.79 percent), 2,219,220 in the Federation of B&H (62.82 percent) and 83,516 in the Brcko District (2,37 percent). The institutions and bodies of RS do not recognize these results.

Wigemark: It is problem if RS does not recognize census results (Dnevni avaz)

Head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Lars-Gunnar Wigemark stated for the daily on Thursday that the EU acknowledged the first results of the 2013 population census results in B&H. He emphasized that the final assessment by the International Monitoring Operation will embrace all activities for distribution of final results. “The International Monitoring Operation will assess the quality of population census after a detailed analysis. We can still not assess the phase of processing and distribution of data- That will be done in autumn”, Wigemark explained. He also noted it is necessary to be cautious with formulations about the published results being in line with the international standards, because this is yet to be determined. Of course, Wigemark continued, the census results ate of crucial importance for social-economic planning in B&H, and will also help in implementation of the Reform Agenda and in process of European integration. Asked to comment the problem of Republika Srpska (RS) not recognizing these results, he agreed that this is a problem. “It is a problem when one part of the country is not recognizing results of the conducted census, although the RS Statistics Institute participated in that whole process, including the conducing of census”, he stressed. He also clearly stated it is not important for the EU how many Bosniaks, Serbs or Croats there are in B&H. “That is relative criteria in relation with meeting the standards of the EU, implementation of reforms, implementation of serious social-economic planning. What is important is how many citizens are there, what they do, are they employed, how many students are there, what is their age. Those are crucial data”, he explained. According to Wigemark, the matter of ethnic declaring in B&H is very sensitive and that the EU is aware of that, adding that “we never said anywhere it is important that there is this and that much of one, of second or third ethnicity”. Inset ‘Numbers without grounds’ – Speaking about failure to adopt report on adaptation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) by B&H Presidency, Wigemark said it is necessary to give some time now for the objective fact to prevail, “because some numbers without ground were mentioned in Banja Luka the last Sunday”.

Croatian-Slovenian border dispute: Croatia says arbitration tribunal’s decision not binding (Hina)

Croatia is not bound by the decision of the Arbitral Tribunal to continue arbitration on the territorial and maritime border between Croatia and Slovenia because the Tribunal has not restored confidence in its work and in arbitration tribunals, the Croatian government said on Thursday after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague released its decision to continue with the arbitration in the Croatian-Slovenian border dispute despite Slovenia’s having violated provisions of the Arbitration Agreement with Croatia. Earlier on Thursday the Arbitral Tribunal in charge of the Croatian-Slovenian border dispute reported that it would continue with the arbitration in the territorial and maritime dispute even though Slovenia had violated some provisions of the arbitration agreement with Croatia because the violations were not of such a nature as to entitle Croatia to terminate the agreement. “The arbitration tribunal has failed to restore confidence in its independence and impartiality and in arbitration courts in general,” the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MVEP) has said. “Croatia is no longer a party in that arbitration procedure and the MVEP does not comment on the intentions or decisions of the Arbitral Tribunal nor does it consider these to be binding on it regardless of whether they concern procedural matters or the merit of the border dispute between the two countries,” the ministry said.

Big HDZ-SDP coalition neither possible nor necessary, says Plenkovic (Hina)

Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) candidate for party president Andrej Plenkovic said in Split on Thursday that a big coalition between the HDZ and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was neither possible nor necessary at this moment. Speaking to reporters on the fringes of a European People’s Party conference, he said the HDZ was open for other coalition arrangements for an upcoming early parliamentary election. He said such coalitions would be agreed in time so that the public and political partners could know the HDZ’s position. “My position is clear, first and foremost a world view match and, after that, common programme goals.” Speaking of an upcoming election for HDZ president, Plenkovic, a member of the European Parliament, said that every HDZ member could run. “It’s up to every individual who thinks that, with their knowledge, experience and work, they can contribute to the HDZ in the current situation.” He said the “The Mediterranean – Geopolitics and European integration, Challenges and Opportunities” conference was an opportunity “not only to revitalize the HDZ as the strongest European party, but also to fight for a responsible political and credible mainstream.” “Because this trend of populism which, as we see, leads also to results like these at… referendums… is bad for the European project and, in the end, has negative economic and financial implications,” Plenkovic said, referring to Brexit and the Dutch rejection of an agreement on Ukraine’s association with the European Union.

Djukanovic: You cannot win for 25 years using tricks (RTCG)

Montenegro will answer the challenges of new times as part of the European Union (EU) and NATO, because such a choice would bring welfare to the country and the people, said Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic. He said that those who think one could not win for 25 years through tricks live in the illusion. Djukanovic said that restoring Montenegro’s independence was not “a mere national romanticism,” but the idea designed to manage the future. “We knew that we wanted that future to be European and Euro-Atlantic”, he said during a lecture at the University of Iceland. He said he believed that the Balkans requires the integration and that overall history indicates that there are no reliable self-regulatory mechanisms of stability. “In our opinion the way of strengthening stability, the path to integration and overall policy of Montenegro is a policy of good example which way to go for the rest of the region,” said Djukanovic. He said that he was glad that region understood this need and now all Balkan countries see their future in the EU and all countries, except Serbia, see their future in NATO. Djukanovic said that Montenegro, for four years, ever since it opened the first chapter with the EU made a “good job”. “The aim of the negotiation process with the EU is not a quick achievement of membership. We do not see the path of negotiation as a path that should be run through, but it is a valuable learning process for our country, ” Djukanovic said, adding that Montenegro is increasingly European in relation to its past. He said there was no doubt that Montenegro will be the next member of the EU, because it advanced far compared to other aspirants for membership. “We understand Brexit, or Iceland’s decision to suspend the candidacy, but in Montenegro we live in the belief that EU membership is a good choice for the Western Balkans,” Djukanovic said. He believes that Europe will be more competitive on the global stage if it is united and not fragmented by the interests of all European states.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Kosovo vows to halt Serb refugee settlement (BIRN)

The Serbian Government-funded construction of a housing settlement for Serb refugees in northern Kosovo has angered Kosovo officials, who claim it is an attempt to extend Belgrade’s political influence.

The recent start of construction on Sunny Valley, the first big returnee settlement that the Serbian Government plans to build in the northern Kosovo town of Zvecan, has caused outrage in Pristina.

Some media outlets have described the move as a neo-colonial attempt by Belgrade to consolidate its influence over the Serb-majority north, while Kosovo’s Prime Minister Isa Mustafa said that the project has “no legal permits” and that the construction will not be allowed to continue. Kosovo Albanian activists in the area announced on Monday that they will stage a protest if the building work continues. In Belgrade, however, Serbian officials claim the project has the full support of the international community. The head of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric, said that Serbia wants “a constructive debate on the rights of returnees”, not what he described as “chauvinistic bickering”. Serbs in north Kosovo, who sometimes feel they are the victims of the policies of both Belgrade and Pristina, fear the project may be stalled if both sides do not resolve their differences.

Marko Miletic, a 50-year-old Serb in Zvecan, said that Belgrade and Pristina should sit down and reach an agreement that will ensure post-war returnees a decent future. “Serbia is not building a barracks or an army base in Zvecan, but roofs over the heads of refugees who were banished by Albanian extremists,” Miletic told BIRN.

If completed, Sunny Valley will provide around 300 houses for about 1,500 Kosovo Serb refugees, plus a shopping mall, a kindergarten, an ambulance service and a sports center. Ivan Todosijevic, the President of the Serbian Government’s temporary authority for the Zvecan municipality, told BIRN that the returnees will also be given jobs. Todosijevic denied the claims from Pristina that the settlement is illegal, saying that it is being built on land owned by the Serbian Orthodox Church and that all the necessary paperwork was completed according to Serbian law. “If there was will and understanding on the part of Pristina, they would see that there is nothing disputable about the documentation,” Todosijevic told BIRN.

Serbia accused of ‘illegal interference’

On the day when the foundations were laid for Sunny Valley, some media in Pristina published front-page headlines describing the project as “the start of colonization” and “the return of Serbia to Kosovo”. They also criticized the Kosovo government for being powerless to stop Serbia from interfering in municipalities in the Serb-majority north and creating tensions between Serbs and Albanians in the area. Edita Tahiri, the Kosovo minister in charge of dialogue with Serbia, accused Belgrade of interfering with Kosovo’s internal affairs. She argued that Belgrade wanted to extend its influence over the Serb-majority north of Kosovo by building refugee settlements and thus increasing the number of Serbs living there. “Such projects have proven to be political and aimed at changing the structure of the population in the north of Kosovo,” Tahiri said. The Government meanwhile accused Belgrade of encouraging its representatives in northern Kosovo to flout the law.

“The government of Kosovo is committed to establish normal conditions for all its citizens and their return to their homes, regardless of their ethnicity. This process will be possible and sustainable only by respecting laws that provide security and stability for all citizens and in line with EU integration processes,” it said in a statement. Property disputes between Belgrade and Pristina have yet to be resolved in the ongoing EU-mediated dialogue in Brussels aimed at normalizing relations between Serbia and its former province, with both countries claiming to own most state properties.

Opposition parties in Pristina have also criticized the Sunny Valley project, with the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo party arguing that “the government of Kosovo has a constitutional obligation to defend the country from foreign influences and breaches of sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

“The continuation of dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade in this situation, when Serbia is disrespecting the state or the government in Pristina, is pointless,” the party said in a statement.

However, not all of the reactions from Pristina were negative; the deputy speaker of parliament, Xhavit Haliti, who is also an official with the ruling Democratic Party of Kosovo, argued that Serbia had the right to build the settlement in line with UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari’s 2007 plan to settle Kosovo’s status. “In line with the Ahtisaari Plan and the constitution of Kosovo, Serbia has the right to help Serbs in Kosovo in many areas, including infrastructure,” Haliti told media. He argued that Kosovo’s environment ministry could only block the construction project if it did not conform to the Zvecan municipality’s urban planning regulations.

Serbia ‘trying to restore justice’

The head of the Serbian Government’s Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric, has argued that the Sunny Valley project is an attempt to “rectify an injustice”. Djuric dismissed the ‘colonization’ allegations as inaccurate. “How can someone talk about alleged colonization by the people who have always lived there and have all the documents and are even considered citizens of Kosovo and Metohija under Pristina’s laws?” he asked. Analysts said however that Pristina and Belgrade need to find common ground over the issue of the Serb returnees, which remains highly sensitive even though 17 years have passed since the war ended. Nedzmedin Spahiu, a political analyst and director of the Kosovo-based TV Mitrovica, says that Serbs in Kosovo need help, but such initiatives cannot be unilateral. “Any help from the government of Serbia for the Serb community in Kosovo is welcome and it is help for Kosovo as a country at the same time. Ahtisaari’s plan and the constitution of Kosovo enable Serbia to do this, but it must work in agreement and with the consent of the authorities in Pristina,” Spahiu told BIRN. Strahinja Mirkovic, a professor at the Law Faculty in Mitrovica, argued that the Sunny Valley project has become politicized. “The project to construct the returnee settlement is of a humanitarian character and is in line with the provisions of the Brussels Agreement (between Belgrade and Pristina on normalizing relations), which envisages Serbia’s support for municipalities in Kosovo,” Mirkovic told BIRN. “Pristina has a problem because the settlement is mostly being built using funds from the government of Serbia, because if the project was by some chance implemented and financed by the European Reconstruction Agency, which reconstructed thousands of houses for Albanians from Kosovo, the Pristina authorities would not have reacted like this,” he said.

Serb refugees slow to return

The post-war return process started in 2002 with the help of a task force involving the heads of international peace missions in Kosovo. So-called ‘Go-and-See’ trips were organized for displaced Serbs, who were taken in armed vehicles by NATO’s Kosovo force, KFOR, to houses which had been torched, demolished or expropriated. But these initial attempts were largely unsuccessful, recalled Nenad Radosavljevic, who was an adviser on the issue of returnees to the UN’s mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, from 2002 to 2008. “On paper, this project was comprehensive. However, in the field, from the very top to the mayors at that time, there were permanent obstructions to the return process from nearly all sides,” Radosavljevic told BIRN. “When the task force made a decision on the return of Serbs, representatives of neighbouring Albanian villages and municipal authorities in that part of Kosovo usually insisted that the environment was not suitable due to the hostility of the local population. On the other hand, in towns where the local Albanian population was not expressly against the return of Serbs, high representatives of KFOR made assessments that the process of return could not be realized because the area was in the so-called ‘red zone’ and the international peace mission could not guarantee safety,” he added. Dalibor Jevtic, Kosovo’s Minister for Returnees and Communities, said that everyone who was displaced by the conflict has the right to return to Kosovo, but Serbs were still not doing so in large numbers because of security fars. “Over the first five months of this year, only 101 people from the Serbian community returned to Kosovo. More than 10,000 displaced Serbs have submitted requests to my ministry to come back to Kosovo and they have been waiting for over 10 years to be enabled to do so,” Jevtic said. From 2000 until 2010, only 10,000 of a total of 218,000 displaced Serbs returned to Kosovo, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. Jevtic argued that the Sunny Valley returnee settlement in Zvecan was “a real solution for the refugees” that could boost the number of returnees. “I am sorry that this is becoming a political issue,” he said.

B&H has lost a fifth of its pre-war population, census shows (France-Presse)

Country has 824,000 fewer inhabitants than before the 1992-1995 inter-ethnic war in the former Yugoslav republic.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) has lost nearly a fifth of its pre-war population, according to findings published on Thursday from the country’s first national census since its 1990s war.

The former Yugoslav republic, ravaged by its 1992-1995 inter-ethnic war, had nearly 4.4 million inhabitants before the conflict broke out, according to the previous census. The new census counted 824,000 fewer inhabitants than in 1991 – a 19% drop. Conducted in October 2013, the census sparked yet another dispute in the Balkan nation, which remains deeply divided along ethnic lines. B&H Serbs refuse to recognize the results of the census, the first of its kind since 1991, which shows that slightly more than half of the country’s 3.5 million people are Muslims. Ethnic Serbs claimed about 200,000 mostly Muslim people included in the census actually live abroad and therefore should not have been registered. If that was the case, Muslims would make up less than half of the population. The war between Muslims, Serbs and Croats claimed around 100,000 lives and forced more than two million people to flee their homes. After the war, B&H was divided into two semi-independent entities – the Serbs’ Republika Srpska  (RS) and the Federation of B&H. Each has its own parliament and they are linked by weak central institutions. Results in the two entities confirmed the impact of ethnic cleansing and migration during the war. More than 81% of RS’s inhabitants today are ethnic Serbs, while more than 70% of people in the Federation of B&H are Muslims. B&H Serb lawmakers decided in June to reject the census results. The RS President Milorad Dodik also threatened to withdraw Serb representatives from B&H’s central institutions over the issue, which could trigger a political crisis. However, the EU’s statistics office Eurostat said in May the methodology used by their B&H counterparts was in line with international recommendations.