LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: Necessity of further UNMIK engagement in Kosovo (RTS)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic met on the eve of the United Nations Security Council session on the UN Secretary General’s Report on the work of UNMIK with Chairman of the UN Security Council for May, the Permanent Representative of Poland Ambassador Joanna Wronecka. Both sides assessed that bilateral relations were friendly and good, and their readiness for further improvement was confirmed. Dacic presented our opposition to the initiatives of some members of the UN Security Council to change the format and dynamics of the UN Security Council session on UNMIK. He pointed out that the issue of Kosovo and Metohija has not been solved and that the situation on the ground indicates the necessity of the UN Mission’s continued presence and engagement in unlimited scope and unchanged mandate. Dacic confirmed Serbia’s commitment to the dialogue process between Belgrade and Pristina, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

RF on secret training at US base, US on Kosovo recognitions (B92/Beta)

Russia and China have once again opposed initiatives coming from some UN Security Council members to change the format of the UN mission in Kosovo, UNMIK. They hold the same position when it comes to attempts to change the format of the Council’s sessions dedicated to Kosovo. In this way, they supported Serbia’s stance on the issue. Speaking in New York on Monday during the presentation of the new regular report of the UN secretary-general on the work of UNMIK and situation in Kosovo, the representative of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Safronkov, said that UNSC Resolution 1244 should remain the cornerstone of a solution.

Safronkov pointed out that the UN mission in Kosovo should continue to play an important role, since the situation is far from stable, that is, as he pointed out, it has worsened. The situation in Kosovo is far from rosy as the proponents of Kosovo’s independence are representing it, and we are surprised by intentions of withdrawing some of the international forces from Kosovo and Metohija, said the Russian diplomat, adding that this could destabilize the Balkans as a whole.

He also emphasized the need for full implementation of the Brussels agreement, stating this and the creation of the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) is at the center of Russia’s attention. He addressed those who have influence on Pristina to convince it to rein in those who cause tensions, and mentioned the unsolved murder of Oliver Ivanovic and the arrest Marko Djuric in this negative context. Safronkov also said that some members of NATO’s KFOR secretly train members of Kosovo forces at the base Bondsteel. The Russian diplomat, referring to Resolution 1244, asked for an explanation of what kind of training is being conducted in that base. He pointed out that Belgrade has a constructive approach and that Russia is worried about pressure on Belgrade to recognize Kosovo. Safronkov pointed out that there should not be any ultimatums.

Addressing the meeting, the United States suggested that UNMIK is long overdue for drawdown and closure, while France said that resources for the operation of this mission should be adopted to the situation on the ground. US representative Amy Tachco said UNMIK’s reporting period should be extended to six or twelve months with fewer sessions before the Council. She said that normalization between Belgrade and Pristina demands that both countries follow through with full implementation of their Brussels dialogue commitments. “We welcome Kosovo’s launch of the process to form the Association of Serb-Majority Municipalities (ZSO) and we look forward to continued work and cooperation on this important and long overdue task. We also look to Serbia to fully cooperate and engage to finalize implementation of the energy agreement. The long delays on this agreement are having negative effects not just for ordinary citizens in Kosovo, but throughout the region and Europe,” said the US representative. Tachco said her country supports the Brussels dialogue, as well as Kosovo’s membership in all relevant international organizations, including the United Nations. The US strongly encouraged all Interpol members to support Pristina’s membership bid, and called on UN member states that have not yet done so to join the more than 110 member states that have publicly recognized Kosovo as an independent state.

Keefe: UK will stay in Western Balkans region after Brexit (Beta)

Great Britain will continue to be active in the Western Balkans after Brexit and plans to raise the level of its cooperation with Serbia, British Ambassador to Serbia Dennis Keefe told Beta. “We were always one of the most active EU members in promoting integration in the region and we will continue to do that. Our voice will be the voice advocating progress, reforms, reconciliation and a better future for the region,” the Ambassador said, adding that Brexit does not mean the United Kingdom is leaving Europe. Relations between London and Belgrade are complicated because we do not agree on all issues but there is room to improve them and attract more British investors, Keefe said. “Interest exists and is growing. It is not as big as I would like it to be and my team is working hard to support that interest,” he added. The Ambassador recalled that Great Britain secured financial aid to support reforms in Serbia, that Belgrade and London are cooperating in the fields of judiciary and internal affairs, that they are fighting against crime and extremism and cooperating on migrations. “There are issues that we do not agree on, there are topics on which I hope we will agree in future but we have to work on it. It is very important for me as ambassador, that we can build quality bilateral relations and realize many positive things while working on issues we do not agree on,” Keefe said. The British Ambassador said his country wants to support Serbia on its European integration path because Serbia decided to go down that road but warned that it has to continue implementing reforms aimed at freedom of the media and the rule of law. “Membership in the EU means getting in line with the EU common foreign policy and Serbia is obviously in line in some areas and not in others. One of the key reasons for that is Serbia’s relationship with Russia and the question of Kosovo. Those are issues that need to be worked on,” Keefe said. “The key issue in regard to Russia are the common values of European, democratic states which is something that Russia does not respect. We were recently victims of that following the attack and attempted murder using chemical weapons in Salisbury. We saw that countries which Russia supports use chemical weapons in other places such as Syria. That is a very important issue for us, for all of Europe and it is a very important issue of Serbia since, like us, it is a signatory of the Chemical Weapons Convention,” the Ambassador said.

US sent plan for Kosovo, unacceptable for Vucic? (Blic)

“The US and Western countries have submitted their principles, but this is not good enough for us. We cannot receive one single municipality, the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) will receive a statute, but it is unknown what status it will have,” said an unnamed sourced for Blic. The daily writes that Vucic is not satisfied with the plan so he didn’t respond anything to the proposers. It is also noted that the West had ignored the stand of the Serbian state leadership, that there is no acceptable option if Pristina gets everything and Belgrade nothing. Vucic received more than what Serbia had been receiving in the past, which is a positive circumstance in the whole situation, but this is still not acceptable for him. He is aware that this is an indecent proposal of the West, with which he cannot go before citizens,” Blic’s interlocutor says.

The daily notes that US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell, EU Deputy High Representative for Foreign Policy Helga Schmidt and a British representative took part in the drafting of this non-paper document. The daily writes that the proposal was on the table of the Serbian President prior to his trip to Moscow, so it is presumed that Vucic discussed this with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that he had informed him on Serbia’s stand. According to Blic, Wess Mitchel presented parts of the plan to Serbian NGOs, openly saying that Serbia must accept this. “If Vucic doesn’t accept it, there are those who will, but then this is the end both for him and for Serbia,” Blic conveys what Mitchel had told several representatives of the NGO sector. According to this paper’s sources, he even spoke at one meeting about money and mentioned the sum that the West could offer for the acceptance of this plan.

Spanish PM decides to snub EU-Balkans summit over Kosovo (Tanjug/B92)

Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy will definitely not participate in the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia, due to his country’s position on Kosovo. Spain does not recognize the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo. “It was clear from the beginning that Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy does not want to attend due to Spain’s position on Kosovo’s status,” Tanjug reported on Tuesday, citing a senior EU official. A lower ranked diplomatic official will still represent Spain at the summit, it has been announced in Brussels. At the end of April, Madrid ensured that a joint declaration that will be announced in Sofia is signed only by EU member-states, and not candidates and potential candidates. The purpose was to avoid having the signature of the Spanish prime minister on the same document as the signatures of officials of a territory that has proclaimed itself to be a state – i.e., of Kosovo. In late March, Rajoy told his Bulgarian counterpart, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency and will host the summit, that he would have problems with the Balkan summit in Sofia, and threatened not to come because of Kosovo.

REGIONAL PRESS

Eight HNS parties will have joint performance in elections (FTV)

Following the session of the Croat People’s Assembly (HNS) held in Mostar on Monday, President of the HNS, leader of HDZ Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) and Croat member of B&H Presidency Dragan Covic stated that there is no point in further discussion on changes to the Election Law of B&H. In his opinion, all options to implement a decision of the Constitutional Court of B&H have been already used and further activities will violate all democratic relations and principles. Covic added that politicians in B&H failed to address this issue in the past two years, trying to find a solution in the past two months, for the problem that was ignored for two years. He also dismissed the possibility of adoption of technical changes to the Election Law. According to announcements, the HNS and HDZ B&H will be dealing with performance at the upcoming general elections in October, as of Monday’s meeting. Covic announced that eight parties within the HNS will have joint performance in the elections, with the possibility of individual performance in some Cantons where there is no chance to endanger the status of the Croat people. Covic said that HDZ 1990 and one more party will have individual performance in the elections, with the possibility of joint performance at the state level. Leader of HDZ 1990 Ilija Cvitanovic told FTV that joint performance is possible only for the seat of a Vice President of Republika Srpska. Cvitanovic said that negotiations with partners within the HNS and five partners outside the HNS – who are dissatisfied with HNS policy – are ongoing.

SNSD and HDZ B&H agree to form coalition after general elections (RTRS)

SNSD leader Milorad Dodik met with HDZ B&H leader Dragan Covic in Mostar on Monday. Following the meeting, Dodik and Covic told media that SNSD and HDZ B&H agreed to form a coalition after the upcoming general elections in B&H, stressing that SNSD and HDZ B&H expect great election victory. Covic stressed that given that the B&H Election Law was not amended, HDZ B&H has to organize itself with its partners in order to achieve a convincing election victory and calmly wait for implementation of election results. “Given that this year there will be a rotation in chairmanship over the B&H Council of Ministers (CoM) which will go to representatives of the Serb people, we discussed creating an ambiance in which we will be able to form authorities after the elections without major delays and without having to wait,” Covic underlined. Dodik stressed that SNSD, with its partners, expects to achieve its biggest election victory yet, expressing regret that amendments to the B&H Election Law were not passed. The SNSD leader underlined that he absolutely supports the principle according to which one people is not electing representatives of another people, adding that evidently there is still ignoring of reality in B&H. “I want to say that we expressed interest in having stable and fair conditions for elections and I believe that elections should definitely be implemented,” Dodik said.

US Embassy: Covic was clearly never interested in compromise (Dnevni avaz)

HDZ B&H leader and member of the Presidency of B&H Dragan Covic told the media on Monday that there is no use of talking about amendments to the Law on Elections of B&H in this year, because the Central Election Commission of B&H has already scheduled the elections. The US Embassy to B&H reacted to Covic’s statement and said that they were surprised to hear him say something like that. “It seems that Mister Covic was not interested in reaching compromise before, and he is not interested in compromise now.” The US Embassy explained that there is still a possibility to work on a part of the Law that refers to the indirect election of officials in the House of Peoples of the Federation of B&H parliament. “Late solution is still better than no solution if it means authorities can be formed after the elections. It is even less democratic not to be able to implement the election results. If the leaders want to make a draft of a one-time solution, it would be their choice and as such would not be a precedent. The US Embassy, and our colleagues, is going to continue to assist this process and work with those political parties dedicated to ensuring the respect for the will of people who are going to vote on October 7,” reads the statement.

Izetbegovic: B&H is at historic crossroad and it will have to defend itself from those who try to push it from right path (Klix.ba)

B&H Presidency Chairman Bakir Izetbegovic has stated at the opening of one of the most modern centers for training of police officers that B&H is at a historic crossroad and it will have to defend itself from those who try to push it from the right path. He added that B&H Presidency members talked to “great friend of B&H” German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week and asked that a candidate status for the EU membership is approved to B&H as soon as possible and that B&H gets recommendations for its next steps, which, along with coalition agreements, should be priority in work of future governments. Izetbegovic concluded that this is a chance to speed up the EU road of B&H. He also said that the EC’ Strategy contains answers to all issues which bother B&H at the moment and he added: “Inflammatory rhetoric and glorifying of war crimes will have to stop, bilateral issues with Croatia and Serbia must be resolved under the supervision of the EU. We have to speed up economic reforms, implement rule of law and fight against corruption and organized crime.” Izetbegovic travels to Sofia on Wednesday to attend EU-Western Balkans Summit where, according to him, a clear, European perspective of B&H and other countries from the Western Balkans will be confirmed. He believes that if B&H approached the Euro-Atlantic integration faster, the room for acting of destructive powers will be narrowed down. He added that the goal is that B&H becomes a member of the EU and NATO respectively in the next eight to ten years.

Dodik: Russian Federation has been most principled guardian of international law in B&H since signing of DPA (Srna)

Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik told Srna news agency that the Russian Federation has been the most principled guardian of international law in B&H since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement (DPA) and that none of the officials of that country ever said, either publicly or secretly, anything that was contrary to international law and the Agreement itself. Dodik rejected, as he said, all untruths presented by political analyst from the Berlin-based Democratization Policy Council Bodo Weber. According to Dodik, Weber presented speculations related to the alleged secession of the RS and talks on the subject with Russia, telling Weber that Russia is a too serious state and its President Vladimir Putin is a too serious statesman to discuss this topic with him before, during and after Crimea.

Meeting of members of Migration Coordination Body held in Sarajevo to discuss increasing number of migrants in B&H (FTV)

The Coordination Body for the Migrant Issues of B&H held a session in Sarajevo on Monday and discussed the increased number of migrants registered in B&H, in the past five months. Attendees of the meeting announced formation of operative headquarters that will be tasked to coordinate activities, while B&H authorities will enable adequate accommodation and dignified treatment of migrants. The CoM is expected to draft an action plan aimed to tackle this situation on Tuesday. Chairman of B&H Council of Ministers (CoM) Denis Zvizdic addressed a press conference and announced that the issue of adequate accommodation of migrants – located mainly in the Sarajevo Canton and the Una Sana Canton – will be urgently solved soon. B&H Minister for Human Rights and Refugees Semiha Borovac stated that the Ministry for Human Rights and Refuges, B&H Ministry of Security and the aforementioned coordination body decided to open doors of the refugee center in Salakovac for migrants. B&H Minister of Security Dragan Mektic assessed that the character of the currently-present migration crisis is more complex than the one that was present in 2014. Mektic said: “We will provide the necessary capacities. There is still enough room in our reception centers, but the problem lies in the fact that the migrants do not want to move right or left from the route”.

Director of the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs of B&H Slobodan Ujic stated that this institution is capable not only to register migrants, but to establish identity of all of them and in cooperation with other security agencies, take their fingerprints and exchange all operative data with agencies in B&H and the neighboring countries. The reporter concluded that most likely, migrants will be located at the territory of one entity only in B&H, as the RS President Milorad Dodik and RS Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic strongly oppose reception of migrants and transfer responsibility for this situation at the state level.  The reporter warned that four years after the migration crisis emerged, B&H may face with hundreds of thousands of migrants, bearing in mind that some estimations say that around 50,000 of them are located in Greece and even more in Turkey. According to FTV, the migrants want to reach the EU but if Croatia closes its border, B&H may become the final destination. US Ambassador to B&H Maureen Cormack also attended the meeting.

Kovacevic: Meeting of Coordination Body for Issue of Migration in B&H represents another attack on RS (RTRS)

Spokesperson for SNSD Radovan Kovacevic said on Monday that the meeting of the Coordination Body for the Issue of Migration in B&H, which was held in Sarajevo on Monday, represents another attack on the RS because the RS government’s position that no decision of the B&H Council of Ministers (CoM) which is adopted without the consent of the RS and which is related to taking certain measures in the territory of the RS will not be accepted is being ignored. Kovacevic said that it is interesting to hear that the meeting in Sarajevo was attended by the US Ambassador to B&H, as well as by ambassadors of several EU countries, but it was not attended by those who will come across migrants in the field, noting that he is primarily referring to the RS’ institutions because, according to Kovacevic, all migrants will first enter the territory of the RS.

Ambassadors urge B&H HoR Collegium to urgently adopt Proposal of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interests in B&H (Dnevni avaz)

Ambassadors of the US and the UK, Maureen Cormack and Edward Ferguson, Head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) and EU Special Representative Lars-Gunnar Wigemark and Head of the OSCE Mission to B&H Bruce Berton have sent a letter to members of the Collegium of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of B&H Mladen Bosic, Sefik Dzaferovic and Borjana Kristo, warning them about the importance of the adoption of the Proposal of Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interests in B&H. According to the letter, the conflict of interests is widespread throughout B&H. “Maintaining of trust is one of the most important elements for functioning of the authorities, and the trust in the institutions in B&H is continuously suffering the consequences of unresolved conflict of interests,” reads the letter and points out that B&H HoR adopted laws in the past, even in situations when they did not have an opinion of the Council of Ministers of B&H. In a conclusion, the ambassadors wrote that B&H HoR Collegium must act without delay and deal with the current deadlock.

Changes to B&H Election Law in regular parliamentary procedure (Fena)

B&H House of Peoples decided today not to accept request of B&H House of Representatives to discuss the Proposal Amendments to B&H Election Law in urgent procedure. Seven delegates voted in favor of this request, while eight were against. Delegates also rejected to discuss the mentioned Amendments in shortened procedure, which means that this matter will be discussed in regular procedure. The Proposal Amendments, which were earlier supported by B&H HoR regard optical scanning of ballots, introducing of video surveillance in voting posts and taking of fingerprints.

Croatian President calls for changes to Election Law in B&H (Hina)

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic called on Monday in Mostar on politicians in B&H to come to an agreement on amendments to the election law, saying that that was vital for forming stable government that will lead the country into negotiations with the European Union. “Every moment has to be utilized in efforts to amend the election law. If that won’t be possible, then I truly hope that politicians will show absolute responsibility for the future of the state and that they will agree on a stable government,” Grabar-Kitarovic told reporters. She added that B&H was faced with the most important period, opening accession negotiations with the European Union, and that is why it is necessary to have a stable government to run the state when opening and conducting those negotiations. “That truly requires a stable government that will implement reforms that aren’t always popular,” Grabar-Kitarovic said after she gave a talk at Mostar University on Croatia’s support to Southeast European countries on their journey to the European Union. She said that she would discuss amendments to the election law with the Croat member of the B&H Presidency Dragan Covic. During her talk, the president underscored that Croatia would advocate reforms in B&H that will secure equal status for the Croat people.

Asked by those attending to comment on the fact that Croatia’s support is often perceived by Bosniak politicians as meddling in Bosnia’s affairs, Grabar-Kitarovic said that national, minority and individual rights aren’t an internal matter of any country. “The equality of all three constituent peoples in B&H has to be secured in all aspects. Croatia is a guarantor of the Dayton and Washington agreements and will continue to do so. We also have the constitutional obligation to defend the status of Croats abroad,” she said and added that Croats in B&H were not a minority but an equal people in their homeland. She added that it was in Croatia’s strategic interest for countries in Southeast Europe to continue on their Euro-Atlantic journey, adding that there were some ‘players’ who were creating disturbances and inciting religious, national and other forms of antagonism and violent extremism.

Economy Minister Dalic resigns (Hina)

Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Martina Dalic on Monday resigned over the Agrokor email scandal, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and she told a press conference.

After talks yesterday and day before, Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Martina Dalic and I decided that she should resign, Plenkovic told reporters. Dalic said that, in agreement with Prime Minister Plenkovic she had submitted her irrevocable resignation as she had become a burden and a liability to the prime minister, the government, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the ruling majority over the Agrokor case. The scandal involving Dalic continued yesterday with the publication of new correspondence between her and the consultants and lawyers who had worked on the law on emergency administration in systemic companies, dubbed Lex Agrokor after the ailing Agrokor conglomerate, prompting the opposition to demand an early election.

Junior coalition partners still support government (Hina)

The president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) Milorad Pupovac said on Monday, following the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Martina Dalic over the Agrokor email scandal, that the entire process concerning the debt-laden Agrokor food and retail conglomerate “was safely decontaminated as far as the political aspect is concerned.” “As far as other aspects are concerned, other institutions are in charge of that,” Pupovac said. “We will resume talks within the ruling coalition and we will most definitely see what needs to be done to complete the full consolidation of the process, a segment of which was contaminated,” the SDSS chief said. Pupovac underscored that his party respected the prime minister’s decision regarding Dalic’s resignation, saying it was the result of an assessment of what is good for the government, the ruling coalition and the continuation of the consolidation process in Agrokor. The deputy parliament speaker from the ranks of the Italian minority Furio Radin said it was good that the prime minister had asked Dalic to resign over the scandal, saying that Plenkovic could continue to count on his support.

Zaev available for leaders’ meeting when everyone is back in Macedonia (MIA)

I am available for a leaders’ meeting, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said in Rosoman on Monday, responding to a reporter’s question if there would be a meeting initiated by the opposition.

PM Zaev pointed out, however, that all participants should be in the country for the leaders’ meeting to happen. President Gjorgje Ivanov is in Turkey at the moment, while the Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov is in The Hague. “I am available,” Zaev said, “to meet with the opposition leader if he considers it necessary. They have asked for a leaders’ meeting, and I am available to give them information before we attend the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Sofia. I am ready, of course, to hold the leaders meeting after the summit, as well, when everyone can attend. “But the opposition leader should initiate this, and I am available to coordinate and organize the meeting with him.” Asked if he would meet with Greek PM Alexis Tsipras on May 17 to come up the final name solution, Zaev said the upcoming meeting was not one of the scheduled, long-awaited ones. The meeting, he said, is to happen on the margins of the EU Summit, which all EU PMs will attend along with Western Balkans PMs representing the EU candidate countries. “I don’t know the exact date of our meeting yet,” Zaev said. “All I know is that the Greek side confirmed we’d find the time to meet on the sidelines of the Summit. The goal is to summarize what we’ve discussed so far and to confirm the conclusions we’ve made, while at the same time providing guidelines for the ministers.” He said time was short and that rumors were circulating about a final decision on May 17, but this was not the case since crucial issues had not yet been addressed. “I believe,” Zaev said, “that above all we need to be creative and committed. I’d like to know whether we’ll be given a date for the start of EU negotiations before the Summit of the Council of the EU, and then the one of the European Council, in late June. “Until then, we should have some kind of a solution, even if it is to realize that Greece and Macedonia have to go through an internal process of consultation. Because, as I’ve said before, the process should be supported by everyone, if possible.”

President Ivanov asks for MoFA reports on outcome of last name talks round (MIA)

President Gjorge Ivanov has not been briefed about the outcome of the last meeting of the Macedonian and Greek Foreign Ministers, Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kotzias respectively, with the UN mediator Matthew Nimetz, the President’s Office said Monday in a press release.

The President Office has thus far asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) for written reports on the 24 January 2018 Davos meeting of the Prime Minister of Macedonia and Greece, Zoran Zaev and Alexis Tsipras, as well as for the Greek and Macedonian MoFAs draft texts of bilateral agreements on ironing the differences over the name. Ivanov’s Office also asked for reports on the bilateral Dimitrov-Kotzias talks. President Ivanov considers that the Macedonian public should be also informed about the course of name negotiations, the press release reads.

It further notifies that the President had returned home from Turkey in response to PM Zaev’s statement that a leaders’ meeting on the pace of name negotiations would be scheduled when all participants in such gatherings were at home. ‘President Ivanov wrapped up his visit to Turkey and returned home yesterday.’ his office said.

Greek gov’t sources: One of our two clear conditions is neighbor to change constitutional name (MIA)

Erga omnes compound name and a change to the constitutional name are the two conditions under which Greece will support Macedonia’s membership to NATO and the EU, Greek government sources say, denying claims published in Monday’s Estia newspaper article titled ‘fYROM free to enter NATO under clause of international accountability’. “The current government,” Greek government sources say, “is negotiating the name of fYROM focused on a single criterion: the best interest of the nation, setting two clear conditions to secure it — a compound name and erga omnes use. “That means changing the constitutional name of the neighbor as a prerequisite for our support for EU and NATO. Bearing this in mind, the article in Estia is not based on reality.” According to Estia, the international agreement to be signed by both sides will not include a solution regarding the erga omnes aspect, including instead a clause for international accountability, which would be a guarantee for the Greek government, MIA Athens correspondent reports. “This would be a clause that could lead to an annulment of the international agreement between Greece and Skopje, but could not undo Skopje’s integration in the international organizations,” the newspaper writes.

Macedonia and Bulgaria kick off expert debate on historical, educational issues (MIA)

The governments of Macedonia and Bulgaria have set up the joint multi-disciplinary commission of experts on historical and educational issues and the joint inter-governmental commission in accordance with the countries’ Treaty on Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation.

The expert commission is expected to have its first meeting in Sofia in the coming days. The government has appointed university professor Dragi Gjorgiev – member of the National History Institute and the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts – as coordinator of the joint expert commission, while Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov has been named chairman of the joint inter-governmental commission, government spokesman Mile Bosnjakovski told MIA on Monday. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, using positive international experiences in regard to similar processes, has completed the procedure for the establishment of commissions – the joint multi-disciplinary commission of experts on historical and educational issues and the joint inter-governmental commission in accordance with the Treaty on Friendship, Good Neighborliness and Cooperation signed by Macedonia and Bulgaria. The coming phase involves regular meetings of the commissions according to the jointly defined dynamic, tasked with advancing the countries’ bilateral cooperation for the purpose of further improvement of the good neighborly relations between Macedonia and Bulgaria,” said spokesman Bosnjakovski.

Bulgaria unveiled the names of the members of the joint multidisciplinary expert commission, including its head, last week. Angel Dimitrov, Bulgaria’s first ambassador to Macedonia, will be at the helm of the commission. Speaking to the media, he said that the negotiations with the Macedonian counterparts would be difficult and that he hoped the structure of the Macedonian commission would be such ‘it will enable the talks to have normal development.’ He pledged the Bulgarian team would demonstrate ‘good intentions contained in the friendship treaty.’ Some Bulgarian media, citing a statement of a former rector of the Sofia University, have reported that the maiden meeting of the joint expert meeting will take place tomorrow in Sofia. Macedonia and Bulgaria signed the friendship treaty in August 2017 in Skopje. The agreement entered into force in February 2018.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

New EU focus on Kosovo provides Pristina and Belgrade with historic opportunity – UN official (UN News Centre, 14 May 2018)

Efforts to calm tensions between Belgrade and Pristina that came to a head with the arrest, “theatrical” parade and expulsion of a lead negotiator from Kosovo, must be redoubled if “real progress” is to be made on the ground, a senior United Nations official said on Monday.

“There is no other viable option. However, for that to happen there is a clear need for exercising leadership, to stand up to challenges” even if there are “short-term political costs,” said Zahir Tanin, the head of the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), addressing the Security Council on Monday. “A new focus by Brussels [the European Union] at all levels provides a mutually beneficial opportunity for Pristina and Belgrade to leave the current difficult moment behind and to take the dialogue to the next stage of real progress,” he added. In his quarterly briefing to the 15-member Council on the situation in Kosovo and the work of the UN Mission, Mr. Tanin said that UNMIK continues to focus on creating an atmosphere which allows for compromise in good-faith. “Our efforts are aimed at sustaining peace, ensuring we remain at the forefront of monitoring and analysing the situation and reinforcing strategic coordination with members of all UN entities, as well as international partners” alongside the authorities in Kosovo, he said. He described the recent Kosovo Trust-Building Forum, which brought together UNMIK, the European Union Rule of Law Mission, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and more than 100 community leaders, to discuss ways of building a positive path for the future. “Multiple focus groups worked to strengthen understanding across community divides. The resulting outcomes identified by participants provided a roadmap for objectives to be implemented in Kosovo,” recalled Mr. Tanin of the Forum, urging all leaders in Kosovo to move forward with more trust, compassion, understanding, and clarity. Turning to Kosovo’s relations with the rest of Europe, Mr. Tanin, who is also the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Kosovo, said a number of steps must be taken, including a security agreement with Montenegro and strengthening the rule of law and human rights portfolios.

In that vein, he noted the approval of a new draft of the Kosovo criminal code, introducing stricter penalties for offences related to corruption and misuse of official duty. Concerning the protection of cultural heritage, he described progress in the so-called “special protected zones” and said the world was watching how the Government was handling construction near the Visoki Dečani Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in western Kosovo.

Interview: Serbia’s Vucic insists ‘I’m obsessed with Kosovo’ (Financial Times, by Lionel Barber and Ben Hall in Belgrade, 15 May 2018)

An ultra-nationalist firebrand in his youth, the president now sees EU membership as a catalyst for economic reform

From the balcony of his presidential office in Belgrade’s sombre New Palace, Aleksandar Vucic surveys the neatly trimmed gardens below. On this spot, he whispers, King Alexander and Queen Draga of Serbia were defenestrated in an army coup in 1903. When the king clung to the balustrade his fingers were hacked off; his wife’s body mutilated. “There is no Alexander who survived in power,” says Mr Vucic, with a touch of melodrama. His words are a not-so-subtle reminder of the constraints the self-styled moderniser faces as he edges along the path of economic reform, political stabilisation and, one day, potential EU membership. A previous pro-western Serbian leader, Zoran Djindjic, was himself assassinated in 2003, a suspected victim of organised crime. Serbia’s western destiny is also far from assured: as a “swing state” in the Balkans it has traditionally hedged its bets between the European powers, Russia and Ottoman Turkey in the 19th century. Moreover, Mr Vucic, a bear of a man at 6ft 6in (1.99m) tall, remains an ambiguous figure. He started in politics as an ultra-nationalist firebrand who vowed shortly after the Srebrenica massacre in 1995 that “for every Serb killed, we will kill 100 Muslims”. He served as information minister under Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian leader accused of war crimes, and espoused Serbian expansionism in the former Yugoslavia. But in 2008, Mr Vucic and some colleagues broke with Vojislav Seselj, the radical nationalist ideologue, and founded the pro-EU Serbian Progressive party. “You start to ask yourself whether those [radical] things are the only things worth fighting for,” he says of his chequered past.Today he backs EU membership as a catalyst for change, final proof that Serbia has escaped the nightmare of the Milosevic years marked by fanatical nationalism, the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia, hyperinflation and rampant warlords. “Another war would ruin this country and destroy the future of the Serbian people forever.” But to qualify for EU membership, Mr Vucic must first resolve the disputed status of Kosovo, the ethnic Albanian-majority southern province whose 2008 declaration of independence from Belgrade has been recognised by most western powers. Most Serbs, though, still regard it as the birthplace of the nation and the Serbian Orthodox church. They remain staunchly opposed to secession. “I’m obsessed with Kosovo,” Mr Vucic confesses. “Without resolving that problem everything I have achieved so far won’t be sustainable. The first crisis will kill us.” Courted by China and the United Arab Emirates as well as Serbia’s occasional ally Russia, Mr Vucic, 48, is now seen by EU leaders, and especially Germany’s Angela Merkel, as the best bet to bring his country into the European mainstream. Critics counter that the EU has struck a Faustian pact with Mr Vucic. The hope is that the carrot of membership will induce reform, with the prospect of joining the EU by 2025. But that means meeting stiff conditions on strengthening democratic institutions and tackling corruption as well as resolving Kosovo. This year may well prove a decisive test, starting with a summit of EU and western Balkans leaders in Sofia on Thursday intended to inject fresh impetus into the bloc’s enlargement. The cynics suspect Mr Vucic is playing along — and that the EU will accommodate him in the interests of regional security. Having won 55 per cent of the vote in last year’s presidential election, he is the undisputed master of the political arena. Nine television screens in his office suggest a man who keeps tabs on everything — and everybody. Some fear he could end up as another Viktor Orban, Hungary’s liberal-turned-nationalist leader, who complied with the EU’s rules to gain membership only to attack it from within. The parallel, says Mr Vucic, is “99 per cent crap”. Another analogy for some is Viktor Yanukovich, the former Ukrainian president who played the EU off against Russia — until he was ousted by a popular uprising. Mr Vucic was Vladimir Putin’s guest of honour at the Victory Day parade in Moscow last week. He starts his working day at 6.30am with a Russian language lesson. But he rejects the notion that he could become a “fifth column for Putin in Europe”. He says he has always been clear with the Russian president that “Serbia remains on its EU path”. Overall, Mr Vucic’s approach owes something to the legacy of Marshal Tito, the postwar ruler of Yugoslavia who founded the Non-Aligned Movement and performed a balancing act between the western powers and the Kremlin. Optimists looking for signs of Serbia’s EU vocation point to Novi Sad, the country’s second city, located on the northern plains. Here the Austro-Hungarian empire left a deeper imprint than the Ottomans. In 2022 Novi Sad will be the European capital of culture, a chance to showcase its thriving arts scene and creative industries. Sitting on the terrace of the city’s Petrovaradin fortress, looking over the Danube river, Dusan Kovacevic recalls the “explosion of energy” of the 1998 student protests in the city against Milosevic that marked the beginning of his downfall. Mr Kovacevic now runs the EXIT music festival, one of the largest in Europe with 150,000 attendees. Each July, it takes over the fortress in an event akin to a Glastonbury-on-the-Danube.

EXIT is a showcase for a youthful, multicultural city that avoided the sectarian violence that consumed most of the former Yugoslavia. In Belgrade, 50 miles to the south, a very different riverside development is taking shape. Along the Sava river, 100 hectares of sheds and derelict buildings have been cleared for upscale apartments, luxury hotels and a shopping mall. The €3.5bn Belgrade Waterfront project is backed with Emirati money. In Serbian government circles, they refer to “his Highness”, meaning not Serbia’s Crown Prince Alexander but Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed whom Mr Vucic has met 20 times by his own account. But after bulldozers were sent to flatten buildings and goons cracked a few heads, the development triggered the biggest anti-government protests in 20 years. Standing on the roof terrace of an unfinished block of flats, Sinisa Mali, the young Belgrade mayor, rattles off statistics like a Manhattan real estate salesman. Mr Mali, who once worked at Credit Suisse, is a Vucic party man on the rise. “The idea of this project was to create a symbol of change in Serbia. This is a game changer for us.” For Mr Vucic’s critics, the Belgrade Waterfront is a glitzy façade that distracts from a moribund economy weighed down by cronyism, corruption and shady finance. Mr Vucic retorts that he has run fiscal surpluses for three years following an IMF programme during which he cut pensions and froze wages. Unemployment has halved to 12.9 per cent. The government hopes for 4 per cent growth in gross domestic product in 2018, after lagging far behind much of eastern Europe. Foreign investors are looking for opportunities in sectors such as mining. With encouragement from both Belgrade and Beijing, China’s Hebei Steel took over Serbia’s largest steel plant in Smederevo east of the capital, saving thousands of jobs. Mr Vucic cultivates the image of a man who gets things done. Some business figures agree and generally his opponents are regarded as weak, divided and tainted by corruption. “It’s easy for people to bad-mouth things and do nothing,” says Branko Zecevic, a metals and mining entrepreneur. One bright spot is a booming IT sector in Belgrade which is growing by 30 per cent a year. But to many it is an exception that proves the rule: the growth owes much to a cadre of highly educated Serbs who serve foreign clients under foreign contracts, unhindered by the state or government cronies. It is “employment by PayPal”, says Goran Gocic, a writer. The worry is the number of departing young Serbs — already running at 30,000 each year, out of a population of 7m. The exodus, say the president’s critics, is a grim verdict on today’s Serbia. Beyond fiscal consolidation and privatisation — no mean achievements — Mr Vucic has shied away from cleaning up corruption. The governing party is estimated to have some 600,000 members, almost one-tenth of the population, who also make up the majority of all public sector employment. The implication is that membership — and the payment of party dues — is a prerequisite for employment, promotion or a contract. “If you want to exist you have to enter the crony system,” says Danica Popovic, a professor of economics at Belgrade University. “Everything remains the same, only the faces change.”

Sasa Radulovic resigned as economy minister after four months when his reform plans were blocked by the previous coalition government. A former businessman, he describes Serbia as a “party-ocracy”, where the “ruling party is looking to get its hands on any institution, any source of money over a certain threshold, any development that could weaken their grip on power”. This pervasive political control means that “economically Serbia is pretty much dead”, he says.

Mr Radulovic’s undiluted pessimism reflects the frustration of being in an opposition which Mr Vucic has relentlessly squeezed, curtailing broadcast airtime and controlling political messaging through clever polling techniques. However, the president does acknowledge that emigration is a serious problem, while the economy remains vulnerable to a change in foreign investor sentiment, especially if regional tensions flare up. “We just need to get it done and move on,” says Mr Mali, the Belgrade mayor, referring to a settlement on Kosovo. “Otherwise everything will go sour.” The prospect of EU membership for Serbia, while distant, remains a vital factor. For Mr Vucic, it offers a civilising influence not just for his country but also the western Balkans region with an untapped market of 18m people, if only political and economic barriers could be lifted. For Brussels, EU membership offers the leverage to demand democratic standards such as media freedom, plurality and the rule of law which, some argue, were skated over in the last round of enlargement to the east, notably for Bulgaria and Romania.

Tanja Miscevic, a former academic who is now Serbia’s chief EU negotiator, says the country will be held to higher standards than other eastern European states. “We are the latecomers,” she says. “On the one hand, it is a tougher and longer process. On the other, this is something we have to do for ourselves.” The most pressing test is Kosovo. EU officials want Mr Vucic to sketch out his proposals in the coming months to kick-start talks with Kosovo’s leaders. The 28-member bloc is not imposing its own solution because Spain and four others refuse to recognise Kosovo’s independence, largely for fear of setting secessionist precedents for their own countries. Serbia’s foreign and defence ministers have openly backed the idea of partition, retaking the northern part of Kosovo where much, but not all, of its Serbian population lives. But this is a non-starter for western powers who fear it will open a Pandora’s box of border disputes in the region. Nor are they likely to backtrack on independence, as some Serbs imagine. The most likely settlement would involve autonomy and power-sharing arrangements akin to Northern Ireland for Serb-dominated areas, in return for recognition of Kosovo’s statehood, but even that would be a step too far for many Serbs and would still face the hurdle of a referendum, where Mr Vucic could expect fierce resistance from several quarters, including the Serbian Orthodox church. “Hello,” said Irinej, the 87-year-old Patriarch, as he welcomed the FT in Belgrade. “You are British or American? Are you going to take Kosovo away from us? We are not going to give Kosovo away at any price. We are European. We are in favour of joining the EU but not if Kosovo is the price.”  Mr Vucic could still prevail in a referendum, given his political dominance and grip on the media, says one expert on Kosovo who declined to be named on security grounds. Last March, the expert says, an Orthodox priest was arrested together with a male religious teacher dressed as a woman. In their car, the police happened to discover 27kg of cannabis. It was too good to be true for Serbia’s feverish tabloids — and also served as a message to the Church: oppose us and we will discredit you. Mr Vucic says he is not running in a popularity contest, and has no desire to be “likeable or loveable”. He casts himself not as the last but certainly as the best hope for his country. “Serbia has produced more history than it could consume,” he says, quoting Winston Churchill, “the most important thing to keep is peace and tranquillity.”

Kosovo main ‘hurdle’ on Serbia’s path to EU: President Vucic (AFP, 14 May 2018)

Kosovo remains the major “hurdle” blocking Serbia’s path to European Union membership, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Monday, urging concessions from Pristina. “The only big problem that I see as a real obstacle in our European path is the Kosovo issue,” Vucic, an ultra-nationalist turned pro-European, told AFP in an interview.

Serbia, which hopes to join the EU in 2025 at the same time as Montenegro, staunchly refuses to recognise Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence and still considers the country as its southern province. Kosovo and Serbia both aspire to join the European Union, but Brussels has made clear that is not going to happen until the former foes normalise relations with a legally binding agreement. “After all it’s all about Kosovo, whether we’ll be able to do that or not,” Vucic said, speaking in English. “And of course it’s more about Serbs but it’s also about the other side and they have to get a very strong message from the EU and from the West that they need to make some concessions as well,” he said. Having launched negotiations under EU auspices in 2011, the two sides signed a deal five years ago in order to improve the every day lives of their citizens.

– Not ready for concessions –

However, their dialogue has been stuck since Pristina failed to allow the Serbian minority in Kosovo to form an association of municipalities where they hold a majority. Vucic has been involved in that dialogue with Pristina since he became deputy prime minister in 2012, then prime minister two years later and president last year. He said Kosovo Albanians were not ready to make any concessions. “They think that it is about time that Serbia recognised the full independence of Kosovo and that’s it. They need to do nothing about Serbs, about Serbia, and they just need to wait. “I’m not ready to speak in concrete terms but they need to make some concessions in the real term of the word. If they are ready we can reach something, if they are not ready that’ll be very bad news for all of us,” Vucic said.

– Pandora’s box –

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic is among those who have proposed an exchange of ethnic Albanian-populated southern Serbian territory with north Kosovo where Serbs are in a majority.

However, Vucic has never publicly endorsed it. The idea has been branded as dangerous by the international community, but Vuvic told AFP, “the most dangerous thing is to have a frozen conflict because one day someone might defreeze it.” “I’m listening the West saying that would be the worst solution because it will open a Pandora’s box, but Western countries opened Pandora’s box 10 years ago by recognising Kosovo as an independent state.” However, the EU itself has been divided over the issue, with Spain, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Cyprus failing to recognise Kosovo’s independence. On Thursday EU leaders will meet with their Balkans counterparts in Bulgaria, seeking to boost ties and to counter growing Russian influence in the region with promises of eventual EU membership. Serbia, along with five other Balkan nations — Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro — is growing impatient, with the EU putting expansion on hold four years ago. Serbia is considered a front-runner to join the EU by 2025, according to a recently unveiled new European Commission’s strategy for the region. However, in addition to solving the Kosovo question, Serbia will also be required to align with the 28-member block’s foreign policy, including on close ally Russia. But Vucic, who has repeatedly said Serbia would not follow the EU in imposing sanctions on Moscow, does not seem too worried about the EU line on Russia. “We have to comply with EU politics just before we enter European Union and in the best case scenario for us it will be within seven years and I hope that by that time it will be a completely different situation in the world,” he said.