LOCAL PRESS

ICTY requests UN Security Council aid for extradition of three Serbian citizens (RTS/Beta)

Chairman of The Hague Tribunal Carmel Agius called the UN Security Council on Thursday to secure Serbia’s following the orders of this court for arresting three members of Serbian Radical Party (SRS), which were indicted of impacting the witnesses and contempt of the court.

These orders were issued 22 months ago. Agius invited all UN member countries to execute international arrest orders that were recently issued for the three indictees and emphasized that International Court would be prepared to act fast regarding this case, in accordance with the rights to lawful legal process and fair trial.

Brammertz: War criminals still celebrated (Tanjug)

Serge Brammertz, ICTY Chief Prosecutor, on Thursday expressed concern over the fact that politicians and government officials in the Western Balkans are undermining the trust in judicial accountability for war crimes. War criminals are still celebrated, he told the UN SC. Brammertz said the Office of the Prosecutor shared the deep concern of ICTY President Judge Carmel Agius over Serbia’s continued ignoring and violation of the legal obligation of cooperating with the ICTY. There has been a significant regression in judicial cooperation due to the Serbian authorities’ failure to execute a war crimes sentence in the Djukic case. There is very little evidence Serbia is supporting war crimes prosecutions, he said.

Nikolic: Croatia doesn’t want good relations with Serbia (Beta/Kurir)

The Croatian President’s apology for giving children chocolate made in Serbia is a clear sign that country does not want good relations with Serbia,Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has told the Kurir, Beta is reporting. “Then all the stories about friendship also crumble, and if chocolate represents a problem to them – we can yet expect unpleasant things from Croatia,” he said.  Nikolic added that countries at war do not buy products made by the other side, and that he was unaware that Croatia had declared war on us.

Ljajic: Statement of Croatian President undemocratic and anti-European (RTS)

Serb products are not welcome in Croatia, as suggested by the reaction of this country’s President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, Serbia Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade Rasim Ljajic declared on the occasion of her apology made to the citizens of the town of Dubrovnik for the fact that chocolate bards made by Serbian maker Pionir ended up in gift packages for Croatian children. “The statement of the Croatian President is undemocratic, anti-European and uneconomic. This conduct clearly suggests that Serb products are not welcome in Croatia,” Ljajic said.

Drecun: Serbia’s long term intention to develop institutions in Kosovo and Metohija (RTS)

The Chairman of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun has told Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that more than five billion Dinars has been envisaged by the draft budget bill for Kosovo and Metohija for the following year. He points out that this speaks of the continued presence of the state in Kosovo and Metohija.

He notes that not one single job will be abolished and all 29 local self-governments will continue to operate. He underlines as very important support to returns for which more than 500 billion Dinars has been set side. All this points to Serbia’s long term intention to develop institutions in Kosovo and Metohija, and funds have also been envisaged for the Community of Serb Municipalities. “We will insist on the formation of the Community,” says Drecun, adding it will be financially linked to Serbia’s budget.

Marques: Serbia can assist regional political dialogue (Tanjug)

Portugal believes Serbia, as an EU membership candidate, can assist the structural political dialogue in the region, says Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs Margarida Marques, who is on her first official visit to Serbia. Considering the region’s history and geostrategic aspects, the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue is the instrument of that regional political dialogue, Marques told Tanjug in an interview, adding that being an EU member state meant, above all, being a democratic country contributing to regional peace.

REGIONAL PRESS

Dodik: No one in RS is interested in PIC conclusions (RTRS)

In an interview for RTV, President of Republika Srpska (RS) Milorad Dodik stated that goal of the referendum on the RS Day was to confirm January 9 as the Day of the RS. He added that on the basis of the referendum results, the RS adopted the Law on the Day of the RS. Dodik explained that the referendum expressed will of people and was not destabilizing factor. The RS President underscored that no one in the RS is interested in conclusions of the Peace Implementation Council in B&H (PIC). “With dissolution of international concept, with many changes that happen, PIC became an irrelevant and mere international social gathering in Sarajevo,” said Dodik. He explained that arrogance of the international community can only make B&H, in form created in Dayton, disappear. He also stated that goal of establishing B&H Court and B&H Prosecutor’s Office, which are not constitutional categories, was to discipline the RS and criminalize everything in it. Commenting the work of judiciary in B&H, Dodik said that Croats and Serbs do not want centrally organized B&H. Asked to comment speculation about new referendum about judiciary, Dodik said that he constantly speaks about that and that is nothing new for him. “I was in favor of referendum yesterday, as I am today and every day and when and about what we will hold a referendum, we will notify,” said Dodik. “With dissolution of international concept, with many changes that happen, PIC became an irrelevant and mere international social gathering in Sarajevo,” said Dodik.

SDA Mostar organizes meeting on Mostar (TV1)

The SDA Mostar initiated yet another unsuccessful meeting on Mostar issue. SDP and Our Party did not accept the invitation to attend the meeting because they are convinced that SDA is trying to establish a Bosniak bloc. The meeting was attended by SBB B&H, SB&H, BPS and DF. Representatives of HDZ B&H or parties gathered around Croat People’s Assembly (HNS) were not invited to attend the meeting. Damir Dzeba (HDZ B&H) stated that HDZ B&H was aware of the fact SDA intends to organize a meeting of pro-Bosniak parties to revise and discuss proposals which include some other matters and not only changes to the Election Law. The Coordination of Serb Association did not receive an invitation to attend the meeting either. The only conclusion of participants of the meeting was that the elections in Mostar must be held as soon as possible and they also agreed that they will continue trying to reach an agreement. Representatives of SDP and Our Party noted that they were not ready to attend such meeting because this represented an attempt to establish an ethnic bloc of parties.  President of the Main Board of SDP Mostar Edin Zagorcic said that they cannot attend meetings with ethnic prefix or meetings organized with the goal to establish an ethnic block of parties.

Complete Bosniak leadership is suspected of war crimes on territory of whole of B&H (Dnevni list)

Dnevni list opens the article by saying the information that Croatian Defense Minister (and former Commander of 4th Brigade of Croatian Army) Damir Krsticevic and retired general of the Croatian Army Ante Gotovina are suspected of war crimes against Bosniaks and Serbs in B&H has compromised good neighborly relations between B&H and Croatia. Daily however notes that the public is not aware that the same document charges former President of Republic of B&H Alija Izetbegovic and senior civilian and military leadership of the then Republic of B&H of war crimes committed on territory of the whole B&H. Namely, daily claims to be in possession of a document entitled ‘Categorization of War Crimes Cases at Prosecutor’s Office of B&H With Seven Year Deadline’, which the Council of Ministers of B&H adopted in December 2008 with the National Strategy for War Crimes Processing. Daily notes that the document in question charges Izetbegovic and other then senior officials of Republic of B&H, such as Ejup Ganic, Haris Silajdzic, Edhem Bicakcic, Rusmir Mahmutcehajic, Fikret Muslimovic, Arif Pasalic, Sefer Halilovic and Ramiz Drekovic, of war crimes against civilian population, war crimes against prisoners of war and of killing and torturing people on territory of whole of B&H. Daily concludes that despite reasonable doubt, indictments against aforementioned officials have never been issued.

Representatives of NATO from Brussels promise additional assistance (Oslobodjenje)

Deputy Minister of Defense of B&H Sead Jusic met with a NATO team from Brussels on Thursday in Sarajevo, Director of Integration, Partnership and Cooperation in the Political Affairs and Security Policy Division at NATO HQ in Brussel Alberto Bin and expert in public diplomacy Nadja Milanova. “The Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of B&H have been actively participating in the process of building integrity for a long time, and you have been recognized through the work of your Peace Support Operations Training Center (PSOTC) and through the implementation of NATO certified training courses. Also, you have participated in the evaluation process of Columbia in building integrity. At the state level, a strategic document the Plan for Fighting Corruption and Building Integrity has been adopted, and I congratulate you on that,” stated Bin. Milanova underlined that she is impressed with the progress of the Armed Forces of B&H achieved in the past two years.

Ambassador Del Vechio says Bosnia’s stability is Croatia’s key interest (Hina)

Croatia strongly supports the stability and integrity of B&H and it will do everything in its power to help the process of its integration with the European Union and NATO, Croatian Ambassador to Bosnia Ivan Del Vechio said in Sarajevo on Thursday. The Croatian Ambassador said this while taking part in a panel debate organized by the Forum of Bosniak Intellectuals NGO. Del Vechio was invited to talk about bilateral relations, but the hosts insisted that he addresses the latest statements made by the Croatian president about threats from radical Islamism. Ambassador Del Vechio insisted it was necessary to realistically face potential threats such as the existence of para-jamia groups. We have also witnessed several terrorist attacks in this country … this needs to be discussed, the Ambassador said. He recalled that isolated neighborhoods were being built in Sarajevo, that real estate trading was being conducted in a suspicious way and that there were media information about numerous “sleepers” who can pose a terrorist threat.

Commenting on Croatia’s policy towards B&H, Del Vechio said it was consistent and that B&H was Croatia’s strategic interest. He also said that Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic’s recent visit to B&H was along those lines. He said the only thing Croatia was asking for an equal status for B&H Croats to that of the other two constituent peoples in the country, adding that it was up to B&H and its officials to decide how this would be done.

Hahn straightforwardly: Parliament boycott is unviable (CDM)

Boycotting the parliament is not a viable condition, EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn told Montenegrin opposition. “I think that the condition in which the opposition is boycotting the Parliament is not sustainable for a candidate country. Today I will meet opposition representatives. This is particularly important for the parties that are committed to the European perspective. The international community is observing the country and discussions in the Parliament. Nobody expects unanimous decisions, but the discussion should be held in the Parliament. We will present our view to the opposition. You must find a way to get the opposition back to the parliament,” Hahn said after meeting with Prime Minister Dusko Markovic.

The new PM had a message for the opposition as well. “I clearly stated that we are ready to re-establish dialogue and ensure conditions for the opposition to return to the Parliament. My message to the opposition is that I want to open a dialogue and resolve this situation,” said Markovic.

NATO could be a cause of argument between opposition parties (RTCG)

Returning of opposition entities to the parliament in order to vote on NATO membership, would cause argument between the opposition parties, said the Demos official, Goran Danilovic. The Social Democratic Party and the Civic Movement URA earlier announced that they would attend the session of the Parliament and vote on Montenegrin accession to NATO. Danilovic said that opposition lawfully requires repeating elections and that the agreement regarding the time limit for holding repeated elections could be reached quickly. “I believe we can impose common conditions because, at least on this occasion, there cannot be differentiation in the opposition. If the circumstances surrounding the election day were not cleared, no one, not even politically most pragmatic and cunning individuals, could comprehend how and why some opposition parties are returning/appearing in parliament to speak out about NATO membership,” said Danilovic.

Elections: Macedonian Diaspora will cast their votes first (MINA)

With yesterday’s prep at the polling stations in the diplomatic and consular missions, the voting for December 11th snap elections is set to begin. The Diaspora will be the first one to vote. Due to time differences they will vote on Saturday in Europe, North America and Australia. For this election 20,573 citizens living abroad will vote in 46 diplomatic and consular mission and consular offices. As for those citizens who will vote in the country, the electoral roll registered 1,784,416 citizens, about 5,000 more than in the previous election. In Macedonia 1,531,368 citizens will vote, and on the special electoral roll 230,122 people were registered, who according to the records of the competent authority are deemed to be temporarily working abroad. The novelty on this election is that before the name of each voter who will vote in the country, will stand a photograph of the person’s ID or passport. This is to prevent any mismanagement, someone else to vote on other’s behalf, which was a basic suspicion of the opposition.

Poll: VMRO-DPMNE to win 23.3% of Votes (Telma TV)

VMRO-DPMNE would win the votes of 23.3% of voters, while SDSM would be supported by 19.4%, according to the latest results of the second poll ordered by Telma TV and the Macedonian Centre for International Cooperation. The telephone poll was conducted by M-prospekt from 20 to 30 November and covered 1,800 respondents. DUI (6.6%) and DPA (3.3%) are third and fourth, respectively. They are followed by BESA (2.7%), VMRO for Macedonia (2.5%), Alliance for Albanians (1.9%), Levica (1.2%), Coalition for Changes and Justice (0.9%) and LP (0.1%). 15.1% are undecided, 17.6% refused to say which party or coalition they would support, while 5.5% said they wouldn’t vote.

Polls: VMRO-DPMNE MPs lead in every Electoral District (MINA)

A poll conducted by the Pavel Shatev Institute from November 30th to December 2nd, shows the coalition “For Better Macedonia” is leading across the board, in each electoral district. A sample of 1,090 people was utilized in the polling. Pavel Shatev Institute has proven quite good at determining the outcome for several elections now. In the previous elections it predicted the ruling government would win the elections with at least 150,000 votes difference. VMRO-DPMNE won with 188,000 difference.

In Electoral District #1, the poll showed VMRO-DPMNE’s MP Nikola Poposki enjoys the support of 25.8% of the polled citizens, however his opponent Stevo Pendarovski of SDSM is behind with 19.4%.

In Electoral District #2, Nikola Todorov of VMRO-DPMNE enjoys the support of 26.1%, while Oliver Spasovski of SDSM is backed by 14.7% of the polled citizens.

In Electoral District #3 led by VMRO-DPMNE’s Ilija Dimovski, a whopping 38.6% of the polled citizens said they would vote for him. SDSM’s Ljupco Nikolovski has the backing of 18.6%.

In Electoral District #4, VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski made it interesting by throwing his hat in the ring and nominating himself in Zoran Zaev’s home town of Strumica where they will go head to head. The poll shows Gruevski enjoys 36.1% support, while Zaev lags behind with 22.3%.

In the 5th Electoral District VMRO-DPMNE’s Antonio Milososki leads with 29.3% over SDSM’s Radmila Sekerinska who is backed by 18.2% by the polled citizens.

Finally, in the 6th Electoral district where minorities enjoys bigger support, Vladimir Gjorchev of VMRO-DPMNE enjoys the support of 10.4% of the people, while SDSM’s Petre Shilegov 4%.

At a national level, the ruling government enjoys the support of 27.8% of the polled, while the opposition SDSM 16.2%.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Startling Statements From Macedonia’s Election Campaign (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 9 December 2016)

Several statements by Macedonia’s politicians delivered in the heat of the December 11 election campaign have stirred controversy and drawn attention – and here are some of them.

As the election campaign in Macedonia draws to its end on Friday at midnight, ahead of Sunday’s vote, some of the politician’s statements about the country and its crisis stick out more than others. 1. Confiscation, not federalization: Faced with accusations by the VMRO DPMNE party leader and former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski that he is secretly working on making Macedonia a federal state and dividing it along ethnic lines, the Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev at the start of the campaign in late November replied with a warning of his own. “There will be no federalization but confiscation in Macedonia – confiscation of their illegally acquired property,” Zaev said of the ruling party’s assets. He told a Social Democrat rally that if his party wins the election, he will put a big dial on the triumphal arch in Skopje that will turn each time another million euros stolen by VMRO DPMNE  is returned into the budget.  2. The opposition eavesdropped on people: After the Special Prosecution last month said it suspected ten employees and officials from the secret police had illegally wiretapped at least 5,000 people since 2009, the VMRO DPMNE party insisted during the campaign that the opposition had in fact been to blame. “The structures from the SDSM are those that wiretap [people] and then publish [the wiretaps] to their own liking,” Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki told a panel debate hosted by Alsat M TV on November 29, adding that the opposition should have admitted this crime. Popovski was mocked by his opponent Stevo Pendarovski from the Social Democrats who said the minister must have been sleeping through the past year to be able to make such claims.  3. ‘Eurasian’ forces to blame for crises in region: While the VMRO DPMNE party refuses to name the foreign services they claim helped the Social Democrats obtain the wiretaps – who then revealed them in early 2015 – its junior partner, the ethnic Albanian Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, was more precise, accusing “Eurasian” forces of stirring up problems. In the same TV face-off on November 29, which was the only direct political TV duel between the main candidates in the campaign, the DUI’s Artan Grubi claimed the Macedonian crisis and “the crisis developing in Bosnia, the crisis in Serbia, and in Kosovo and in Montenegro has a Eurasian author”. Later, he clarified that he meant to say Russia. The Russian embassy in Skopje responded by mocking Grubi. “This man could give a statement saying, for example, that aliens or some mystical forces are carrying out undermining activities in Macedonia, and he would have the same success,” the embassy’s press attaché Stanislav Lupin wrote on Facebook. 4. Ruling party leader says rival deserves assassination: On Monday, VMRO DPMNE party leader Nikola Gruevski drew flak from critics when he said that if if Goce Delcev, leader of the clandestine Ottoman-era national liberation organisation, were alive today, he would have sent his hit man, Andon Lazov Janev, alias “Kjoseto”, to “end the story” with opposition Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev. “If Delcev were alive today, he [Zaev] would not be able to even say hello to him. He would have been assigned only to Kjoseto to end the story with this kind of man,” Gruevski told a rally in the town of Delcevo, which is named after Delcev. The opposition said such threats highlighted the difference between their own election platform, called “Life for Macedonia”, and the dark scenarios it said the ruling party was plotting.

Macedonia’s Election Risks Emboldening Other Strongmen (BIRN, by Florian Bieber, 9 December 2016)

If Macedonia’s ruling VMRO DPMNE party wins the December elections, anti-democratic forces in Southeastern Europe will have received an encouraging boost.

The wiretapping scandal in Macedonia has revealed an alarming picture of “state capture”, to borrow the term that the European Commission used in its most recent report.

The leadership of the ruling party VMRO-DPMNE and its coalition partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, have taken control of Macedonian state, undermined the freedom of the media, the independence of the judiciary and basic democratic processes. Except for hard-core party activists, these revelations are beyond dispute. The EU-appointed expert group under the competent leadership of Reinhard Priebe noted: “Essential standards of democratic governance have to be met.” To be clear, Macedonia under this ruling party is not a functioning democracy. The coming general elections are not just part of the process leading out of the crisis but a referendum of sorts on the current situation.

VMRO-DPMNE has signaled in the election campaign that its victory will put an end to the current investigations of the allegations stemming from the wiretap materials released by the the opposition, which it says contain many proofs of wrongdoing by VMRO-DPMNE officials.

The ruling party has fought a combative campaign, full of attacks on the opposition, conspiracy theories and openly denying all allegations of abuse. Its victory in the elections would therefore essentially consolidate its absolute control. The work of the special prosecutor, SJO, established to investigate the wiretapping scandal, will be in peril and VMRO-DPMNE will present itself towards the outside world, in particular to the EU, as the only partner.

The recent visit of Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz to Macedonia and his participation in a VMRO DPMNE election rally was both a down payment to Macedonia for closing off the “Balkan refugee route” and a piece of forward planning for after the election. Kurz openly praised Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki. It would appear that he and some other European politicians are banking on him succeeding the more controversial Nikola Gruevski. Gruevski might thus be pressured to follow the path taken by Montenegro’s now former Prime Minister, Milo Djukanovic, and rule from behind the scenes. This would hardly change real power. After all, the abuses in Macedonia were comitted from the shadows, through parallel power structures, informally. A victory for the opposition, meanwhile, would only mark the beginning of the restoration of genuinely democratic rule. Investigations of official wrongdoing will be sensitive and might fall by the wayside in the post-election coalition building, especially with the ethnic Albanian parties. External pressure and civil society monitoring will be crucial here. Furthermore, the temptation to use informal power structures by whoever takes charge in Skopje will remain great. The elections matter beyond Macedonia as well. The deliberate erosion of democracy and rule of law in the country does not set Macedonia apart but is part of a wider pattern. If Macedonia’s ruling party can hold on, it will send a chilling message to other strongmen to continue their ways underdisturbed. If the government falls, it might help break the authoritarian pattern. The question this choice raises also affects the EU. Does it seek partners who play along with the geopolitical needs of the EU and its members, which means keeping out refugees and Russia – but which disregard democracy at the same time – or does the EU seek partners who are potential equals. If the autocrats are confirmed, realists in the EU might feel encouraged in the view that loyal partnership trumps reforms. This would not only alienate genuine reformers in the Western Balkans but also undermine the self-understanding of the EU as an organisation based on democratic norms. This larger tension will not be resolved on Sunday, but the Macedonian election will be help set a pattern and a path.

Florian Bieber is a professor for Southeast European History and Politics at the University of Graz and coordinator of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG).

The opinions expressed in the comments section are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of BIRN.