LOCAL PRESS

Vucic: When I finished my conversation with Stoltenberg I was almost crying (RTS/Beta)

Radio and Television of Serbia(RTS)reported on Wednesday that in a telephone conversation of Vucic and Stoltenberg, Serbia was confirmed that NATO opposed the formation of a Kosovo army. Stoltenberg said to Vucic that the NATO had officially warned Pristina officials about the opposition of that organization to forming of the army of Kosovo, which Kosovo President Hashim Tachi has been announcing these days.

Vucic told a SNS election campaign rally in Jagodina that Stoltenberg thanked him for the fact that Serbia preserved peace and stability. Stoltenberg’s statement that NATO is opposed to the forming of the Kosovo army was claimed by Vucic as Serbia’s clear victory, the first in many years. “When I finished my conversation with Stoltenberg I was almost crying with joy. We worked a lot to change the image of Serbia, we succeeded a little and today I lived to hear Stoltenberg say: Thank you Aleksandar for keeping the peace and maintaining stability, thanks for your patience,” Vucic said.

Vucic: Relations in region very important factor for Serbia’s further progress (RTS)

Vucic said that relations in the region are a very important factor for further progress of Serbia. He also underlined that economic growth and progress are priority of the current composition of Serbian government, adding that this is why it is important to maintain good relations among countries in the region. The Serbian Prime Minister explained that crisis in any neighboring country has negative effect on investments in Serbia and rest of the region. Vucic also confirmed that he will attend a mini summit of Western Balkans leaders scheduled for the next week in Sarajevo. He explained that it was not easy to decide whether to attend this meeting or not due to a recently filed motion for the revision of the ICJ’s ruling in the case of B&H’s lawsuit against Serbia. Vucic stressed that deciding factor was the fact that all problematic issues and crises can be solved only through talks. “It is not easy and pleasant for me to go to Sarajevo after this lawsuit. However, I deem that it is always better to talk for hundred years than be in a conflict for one day. I think that it is very important to create such atmosphere in the region”, Vucic said.

Djuric: Message from Belgrade – there is no Kosovo army (RTS)

The reactions of the US and NATO regarding the announcement of the formation of the Kosovo army is undoubtedly Serbia’s great diplomatic success. This is a product of thorough and meticulous work on explaining our stands, not only to countries on whose support we could always count at most difficult moments like China and the Russian Federation, but also to NATO member states,” the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric told the morning news of Radio and Television of Serbia.  He says that it paid off that Prime Minister Vucic had invested in good relations with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, even though he was criticized because of that. “If we add to Belgrade’s opposing the Security Council permanent member states as well, and the opposing of NATO and the US, it is clear that what had Tachi planned for today, the voting on the formation of the Kosovo army, will not occur. We will fight against its formation since it threatens the stability in the entire region, and such an army, apart from its formation being contrary to UNSCR 1244 and the military-technical agreement, based on which peace in our southern province was established, could not pose a threat to anyone except to the unarmed Serb population, which Serbia will never allow and they know this very well,” said Djuric. “We want to have normal relations with the Albanians, but we will not allow someone to trample on the Serbs. We can proudly say in Belgrade that we will not accept the trampling on our interests, but courage is needed to state this in Pristina. Our representatives will not support such unilateral and harmful moves,” said Djuric.

When it comes to the dialogue in Brussels, Djuric says that Pristina is inventing every day new reasons for not fulfilling agreements. He says it is obvious that the Community of Serb Municipalities doesn’t suit them and that they don’t know how to tell this to their people. Djuric reminds that the NATO Secretary General pointed in a statement to Pristina to the resumption of talks with Belgrade. “The message from Belgrade is arriving – there is no Kosovo army,” concluded Djuric.

RIK determines 8.253 polling stations; polling stations in Kosovo to be determined by 12 March (Beta)

The Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) determined a total of 8.253 polling stations for the 2 April presidential elections in Serbia.Of this number, 29 will be located in prisons.

Polling stations that will open abroad and in Kosovo and Metohija will be determined in a special decision, to be adopted by 12 March. RIK Chairman Vladimir Dimitrijevic said the decision on these will be taken after receiving proposals from the Foreign Ministry, i.e. the Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

OSCE not to have observers at polls, only limited mission (Beta)

The OSCE will deploy a limited mission to monitor the presidential election in Serbia, with no observers at polling stations, as there was no time to prepare a comprehensive mission.Thomas Rymer, spokesperson for the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, told

Beta that a mission was sent to Serbia on 7 March to assess the needs for the election, which will monitor particular aspects of the electoral process, legal framework and media reporting on the vote. But there won’t be comprehensive observation on the ground, in particular not at the polls, said Rymer, explaining that not enough time remained from the calling of the election to the day of voting, to marshal a full mission. Part of the assessment mission’s job will be to establish the degree of fulfilling the recommendations from the OSCE’s report of last year, which is why

Rymer would not comment on whether Serbia fulfilled those recommendations before the mission performs its assessment.

Vukosavljevic: Proud guardians of the Serbian language in Albania (Novosti)

Unofficially, between 20.000 and 30.000 Serbs reside in Albania, but it is impossible to determine the exact number because, among other things, they were unable to declare themselves as Serbs at the last census. The majority lives in Shkoder and its surroundings, in Fier, there are natives in middle Albania (in the regions of Elbasan and Berat, where at issue are the remains of the population of the former Serbian states of Price Jovan Vladimir, King Milutin and Tsar Dusan), while there are also descendants who escaped after the Inform-Bureau in 1948. Visiting recently Tirana, the Conference of the Council of Culture Minister of the South-European countries, Serbian Culture and Information Minister Vladan Vukosavljevic met with the representatives of three associations of Serbian compatriots in Albania – the Association of the Serb-Montenegrin minority “Moraca-Rozafa” and the Serbian Orthodox Society “St. Jovan Vladimir” from Shkoder and “Unity” from Fier. “It is difficult for a person not to have bitter taste in the mouth after the meeting with the representatives of our associations,” Vukosavljevic tells Novosti. “The Serbs in Albania have been living under almost impossible conditions for decades, since the time of the regime of Enver Hoxha, and even later. The position of our community has additionally deteriorated during the NATO aggression. They were exposed to strong pressure for assimilation. Despite that, they haven’t renounced their identity and one must pay them deepest honor for all those unthinkable efforts and unutterably difficult circumstances in which they have lived. In reduced numbers, with small capacity, exposed to incredible, strange, sometimes terrifying pressures, they managed to preserve the Serbian tradition, which is very much present in material monuments of culture, tradition and language, in the region of northern Albania, and especially in the vicinity of Shkoder.

A large part of our community in recent decades has melted, and the state of Serbia is helping our people who survived there precisely through the Culture and Information Ministry, which is financing projects at contests for the Serbs in the region. This way it supports the work of these three associations, i.e. the projects related to learning Serbian language and printing publications, as well as information in the mother tongue.

REGIONAL PRESS

SDA and HDZ B&H fail to reach agreement on Election Law of B&H (TV1)

Delegations of SDA and HDZ B&H at helm with leaders of these parties Bakir Izetbegovic and Dragan Covic met in Sarajevo on Wednesday. Among other things, the two delegations discussed functioning of authorities at B&H and the Federation of B&H level, the upcoming summit of Western Balkans leaders in Sarajevo etc. Many expected that amending of B&H Election Law will be the main topic of this meeting, but collocutors did not discuss this issue. According to statements of Izetbegovic and Covic presented at a press conference organized after the meeting, it can be concluded that SDA and HDZ BiH have not reached consensus regarding amending of B&H Election Law. The B&H Constitutional Court (CC) disputed part of B&H Election Law and gave six months to B&H parliament to change this part of the law.

Izetbegovic and Covic welcomed announced attendance of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to the aforementioned summit. Covic expressed his expectation that disputable issues in relations between the two countries will be solved in the spirit of Vucic’s latest messages. He reminded that pre-election campaign for presidential elections in Serbia is underway, so it seems logical that Serbian officials are communicating with politicians in the region. Izetbegovic welcomed Vucic’s decision to visit Sarajevo in March already, expressing his expectation that it will contribute to stabilization of the situation caused by the ongoing crisis in B&H.

Radoncic: Situation is getting stabilized, SBB B&H and HDZ B&H to hold meeting (TV1)

SBB B&H leader Fahrudin Radoncic announced on Wednesday that delegations of SBB B&H and HDZ B&H will meet in Sarajevo on Thursday. Commenting on the current situation in B&H, Radoncic said that despite the stalemate in the work of the B&H parliament, the situation seems to be getting stabilized after the motion for revision of the ruling in the case of B&H’s lawsuit against Serbia before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. He expressed his expectation that the entire political situation will be completely normalized in the upcoming period.

Western Balkans PMs to define joint projects at preparatory meeting in Sarajevo for Trieste summit (Dnevni avaz)

Prime Ministers of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, Montenegro Dusko Markovic, Kosovo Isa Mustafa and Macedonia Nikola Gruevski have officially confirmed they will attend the meeting of leaders in Sarajevo on 16 March. Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama was also invited but he has not confirmed his arrival yet. The meeting will be hosted by Chairman of B&H Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic. According to the daily, the leaders are gathered in Sarajevo by European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn and co-organizer of the meeting is a representative of Italy, the country that will host the next summit in Trieste on 21 July.

Markovic invited everyone except DF to join his government (CDM)

Democratic Front (DF) is the only opposition party that Prime Minister Dusko Markovic has not invited to join his government. “The offer does not apply to DF because it is the group that leads anti-state policy. It aims to stop Montenegro on its European and Euro-Atlantic path. This group’s main goal is to come to power in a revolutionary way, not respecting the rules of democracy, not recognizing the institutions” the PM said. On the other hand, Markovic is ready to discuss joining the government with Demos, SDP, SNP and the Democrats. He added that big money is behind the organized pro-Russian political and media campaign regarding the coup attempt case. Markovic said there was no confirmation that Russian investigators would be able to help investigate terrorist attempt on 16 October, but added it would be logical for Russia to cooperate. He noted that no one said the coup had been organized by the Russian government but that “Russian circles” were associated with the event. The PM said he was aware there might be security risks on the day of ratifying Montenegro-NATO accession protocol in Parliament. As he said it would be an opportunity for the anti-NATO and destructive forces to demonstrate their mood in a non-democratic way. He added Montenegro didn’t have to wait for the end of the ratification process. It could make a decision in Parliament on joining NATO before all 28 member countries, including USA, ratify its NATO accession protocol.

Senate will ratify the Protocol soon (Dnevne novine)

Republican senator and former presidential candidate Marco Rubio said that his support to Montenegro’s entering the NATO is undeniable. Rubio told Dnevne novine that he expected US Senate would soon ratify the Protocol on the Accession making in that way Montenegro a full member. After Canada ratified the Protocol on the Accession of Montenegro to NATO last week, there are only three countries left to ratify it – Spain, the Netherlands and the United States.

Protesters keep marching in Skopje, across whole country for united Macedonia (MIA)

The “Civic Initiative for United Macedonia” organized Wednesday yet another march, with protesters reaffirming their demands for united Macedonia and against platforms designed in foreign countries. The march, as in the last few days, kicked off in front of the government to be wrapped up in front of the parliament building. New rallies across Macedonia are also announced for today.

Dimitriev: Parliamentary alongside local elections to end crisis (MIA)

Early parliamentary alongside local elections are the way out of the political crisis in the country. The only guarantee for a unitary Macedonia is the creation and development of a strong civil and multiethnic society, said Prime Minister Emil Dimitriev on Wednesday. “The way that some want to set things in Macedonia by excluding the ethnic Macedonian majority, as well as ethnic Turks, Roma, Vlachs, Bosniaks etc., cannot be achieved. In addition, debates that go deeply into the country’s constitution opened in the post-election period, but were not part of the pre-election campaign. I believe these topics are not the privilege of political elites, but for people to have their say at new parliamentary elections that would be held alongside the local ones,” said Dimitriev. Regarding the possibility of opening refugee camps in the Western Balkan countries, including Macedonia, the PM said the country would not allow this. “Macedonia has provided enormous contribution in the migrant crisis management and this was noted by all EU countries and beyond. We will act accordingly in the future, but we emphatically say ‘no’ to the establishment of camps in our country for refugees coming from an EU member-state,” stressed Dimitriev.

VMRO-DPMNE Central Committee decides to resist redefining of Macedonia, as SDSM again asks for the mandate (MIA)

VMRO-DPMNE party held a meeting of its Central Committee on Tuesday which instructed the party leadership to continue to fight back against attempts to redefine Macedonia toward a bi-national state. The conservative party adds that the best way out of the political impasse is hold new general elections, alongside the municipal elections, while its offer to SDSM to support its minority government minus the Tirana platform still stands. “VMRO-DPMNE needs to stand with the people and we will continue to defend the national interests at all cost. We can’t allow the implementation of the other stages of the announced process that will include changing the language used on monetary bills, introduction of Albanian as official language, creation of cantons or federal units, talks on changing the anthem, coat of arms and the flag, and changing the name of the country and the Macedonian identity,” VMRO-DPMNE writes in its press release. The party also considers that the winning ethnic Albanian party, DUI, has betrayed the principle that winners from the two largest ethnic groups form a joint coalition, after it agreed to join the SDSM party in a coalition. “SDSM is under blackmail which will cost Macedonia dearly. SDSM’s criminal leadership is driven to accept all sorts of demands in order to avoid facing charges and this is the reason why SDSM leader Zoran Zaev adopted the Tirana platform”, VMRO-DPMNE said in a press release issed on Wednesday. SDSM responded by repeating its request that President Gjorge Ivanov gives them the mandate to form the government. According to SDSM, President Ivanov violates the Constitution by withholding the mandate after Zaev received 67 signatures, including 18 from members of Parliament from mainly ethnic Albanian parties. SDSM called for an orderly transfer and peaceful transfer of power.

Arifi: Legal solutions will be found to reschedule local elections (Meta)

The Albanians are not the problem in the country, and the platform of the Albanians is in line with the Constitution and the law. This was the answer from the Vice President of DUI, Teuta Arifi when asked about the deteriorating political situation in Macedonia after President Gjorge Ivanov did not award the mandate to the leader of SDSM, Zoran Zaev to form a government. She added that the DUI party still believes that Ivanov should withdraw his decision concerning the mandate, which is in line with the requirements from the US State Department and the European Union. “Ivanov’s decision not to award the mandate has plunged the country into an institutional crisis. We from DUI are dealing with serious responsibility, especially when we acceded to the platform and to its points, and I will say again as a reminder, the platform is not out of line with the Macedonian Constitution or the Ohrid Framework Agreement. We think we can contribute to overcoming this situation, and we want to state that any tendency to abuse the fact that Albanians exist in this country and demarcate it as a problem in the country, I think is wrong and it will not help us get out of the crisis,” said Arifi. Arifi said that a legal solution could be found regarding the scheduling of the local elections.

Albanian opposition signals the boycott of upcoming elections (TV Klan)

Nineteen days after starting an 7/24 protest in front of the Prime Ministry, Albanian opposition parties signaled Wednesday that they would boycott upcoming elections if Rama government would not resign in favor of a caretaker government. In a meeting held Wednesday, leaders of opposition parties, including Democratic Party’s Lulzim Basha, agreed to not register their parties at the Central Election Commission  for the general elections scheduled to be held on June 18, if opposition ‘s condition for a caretaker government is not fulfilled. Opposition says that the caretaker government would be the only guarantor for free and fair elections in the country. “Opposition coalition expresses determination to prevent any electoral process manipulated by the crime in power and drug’s money,” a statement issued by opposition parties, said. The decision comes hours after the opposition leader, Lulzim Basha, met with U.S. Ambassador in Tirana, Donald Lu. Opposition supporters continue to occupy the square in front of the Prime Ministry building since Feb. 18. The opposition has also boycotted the parliament, and has vowed to remain out of the Assembly until Rama’s resignation. Rama on the other side, has ruled out any option to resign, saying the governments come to power through election and leave the power if they lose elections.

Basha: Drugs money, parliamentary elections at risk (ADN)

The leader of Democratic Party (DP), Lulzim Basha had a meeting on Wednesday with OSCE-ODIHR mission representatives that are conducting an analysis of the pre-electoral situation in Tirana.  The Democrat leader laid the stress on the fact that June 18 electoral process is at risk due to the executive’s failure to implement the decriminalization law while sharing power with incriminated individuals and known bandits. “The electoral process is at risk due to the conspicuous sum of drugs money amounting to EUR several billion each year. The left wing executive has not reflected after the latest recommendations of OSCE-ODIHR for the elections of 2015, which were a backward step in the aspect of economic standards,” said Basha. He also underlined that Prime Minister, Edi Rama has ruined every electoral process after gaining power through the free vote’s violation, electoral irregularities and intimidations. “Central Election Committee (CEC) has shown partiality through the resistance toward the decriminalization law while openly defending the PM Rama’s and his connections to the organized crimes interest,” declared the DP leader.  After introducing the OSCE-ODIHR representatives with the country’s current situation Basha stressed that the caretaker government is the only warranty for free and fair elections.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

‘Overture to a Coup’: Macedonia’s Crisis May Lead to Country’s Disintegration (Sputnik, 9 March 2017)

Macedonia is sinking deeper and deeper into a severe political and institutional crisis. Three months on from snap parliamentary elections held in December, a new government still hasn’t been formed. Speaking to Sputnik, Svetin Chilimanov, former advisor to the Macedonian president, warned that the crisis may lead to the country’s disintegration.

Asked to provide some insight into Macedonia’s ongoing political crisis, Svetin Chilimanov, former advisor to the president, told Sputnik that if the parliamentary opposition moves forward and attempts to form a government without presidential approval, this will become a sort of ‘overture to a coup d’état’, because such a cabinet of ministers still won’t be able to take the necessary instruments of power into its own hands by constitutional means.

“The legitimacy of such a government would be challenged, and not just in Macedonia itself, and would likely result in serious tensions,” Chilimanov warned. “It is absolutely obvious that all of this has been invented in order to provoke such a reaction, because the demands of the Albanian parties run contrary to the country’s constitution,” he added. Chilimanov recalled that opposition leader Zaev has repeatedly, and for several years now, indicated that he works actively with officials and ambassadors from other countries. “It’s clear that he has support from outside the country, especially from those states where social democratic parties are in power. He himself named the individuals who helped him during the election campaign; among them were members of the former Obama administration. He had apparently worked on some sort of project along with foreign countries, and when it became clear that he could not win the December elections, he turned to Albanian voters.” In other words, Chilimanov noted, “Zaev led two campaigns – one for the Albanians, and the other for the Macedonians who supported him.” Worryingly, the expert noted, Zaev has even hinted during the campaign that he might annul the Ohrid Agreement, a peace deal signed by the government and ethnic Albanian separatists back in 2001, in favor of an agreement more favorable to the Albanians. “Albanians,” Chilimanov said, “understood this as a proposal for the country’s federalization and division.”

At the same time, Chilimanov warned that the president’s authority is by no means unlimited, meaning that the Constitutional Court might revoke his decision not to give a mandate to the opposition government. Such an eventuality wouldn’t end the crisis, but create a situation of dual power which could only further exacerbate the crisis in the Balkan country.