LOCAL PRESS

Call for minorities to be registered in the special voters list (Danas, 12.08.2014)
The Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government of Serbia has called on all members of national minorities to register themselves in the special voters list by the 18th of August, in the largest number possible.
The statement recalls that after 18 August, the Special voters list will be temporarily closed for a decision on whether the minority is entitled to choose its national council directly, or through the electronic assembly.
The list will, after August 18, be reopened for the registration of new voters, but the decision will not be changed.
“By registering into this list, members of national minorities are entitled to participate in elections for the National Council of their national minority through which they can realize their rights in the field of education, culture, information, official use of language and alphabet,” according to a ministry statement.

Samardzic: Serbia will need to align its policy with the EU (Danas, 11.08.2014)
Extra-parliamentary Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) declared today that Serbia, in regards to the Ukrainian crisis, has already opted for the West, because on its path to the EU, it must change its policy and make it largely compatible with the common foreign and security policy of the Union.

“Serbia will not have many choices, not because it has no choice, but because it has already made one and if it comes to an ‘either-or’ moment, it will opt for the western side,” DSS deputy leader Slobodan Samardzic said at a press conference. He said that should there be taking of sides, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic will be pathetically speaking again. “He will say it is terribly hard, that we are in an exceptional historical situation where if we make a move, we will die of hunger, and if we draw another move, we will die of hunger,” Samardzic said.

He said that at the time of the onset of the cold war, the fact that is increasingly intensified, is that only the policy of military and political neutrality represented by the DSS can yield results, however, he also stated that in this situation, DSS would chose the eastern side because it is “in the interests” of Serbia.

On the occasion of the Constitutional Court of Serbia reviews, which deem the decrees on Cadastre, Registries, and recognition of diplomas, adopted ​​pursuant to the Brussels agreement as unconstitutional, by the then head of the negotiating team, Borislav Stefanovic, Samardzic said, Serbia will find itself in legal chaos and anarchy if the Government of Serbia does not abolish them.

He said that when it comes to the regulation of the cadaster, the deadline is the end of August.

“The time to decide on the other two government decrees is also arriving quickly,” Samardzic said. He said that all actions for collecting aid from the EU for the flooded areas in Serbia are “media actions, which are supposed to be drummed into people’s minds, that the EU is their greatest friend.” Samardzic said that a lot of money is being mentioned and that in fact it does not exist and people cannot get an answer whether the assistance ranging from 250,000 to 600,000 dinars will be initial assistance or the total amount people will receive for the reconstruction of houses. “They did not get an answer because there is no money,” Samardzic said, adding that this is why people have resistance to accept the decisions issued by their municipalities.

Towards Brussels according to the timetable (Vecernje Novosti, 08/12/2014)
Belgrade is ready to continue the dialogue with the European Union, although a chief negotiator has not yet been appointed. Tanja Miscevic: The next screening will be on September 10.
Although the Serbian Government has not yet decided on whom to “assign” the title of chief political negotiator with the EU, and who will be the head of our delegation at the inter-governmental conferences, they say at the Government that European integration is being carried out according to the established timetable.

On the technical part of the negotiations, which refers to “strip-searching” of the content of chapter 35, Serbia is progressing at the predicted speed, and thus 20 explanatory and 14 bilateral screenings were held so far. By the end of March 2015, when it is expected that the screening phase will be completed, another 34 meetings for the remaining chapters will be organized.

Tanja Miscevic, who heads the technical negotiations, told “Novosti” that currently there is a standstill, as EU institutions, including the European Commission, are on collective vacation till the end of August:
– The Brussels meetings will continue on September 10, with bilateral screening for Chapter 1, which relates to the free movement of goods.

By then, and by October at the latest, when Serbia expects the next Inter-governmental conference and opening of first chapters, the Government should appoint our main negotiator with the EU, and according to unofficial information, the closest to that post is Jadranka Joksimovic, Minister without portfolio responsible for the EU:

– Main negotiator is in fact the Chief of Delegation at the International Conferences. We still have officially not agreed on who will that be – Minister Joksimovic says for “Novosti”

Otherwise, according to the documents that define the coordination of the accession negotiations with the EU, the Government can, before any inter-governmental conference, determine and change the head of the delegation and its composition.

AWAITING FOR PAJEVIĆ’S  SUCCESSOR
It has been a year since Milan Pajević resigned as Director of the Office for European Integration, and his successor has not been appointed.
The Government claims this question should soon be resolved, and therefore there is no deadlock in the negotiations with Brussels, because the Office has developed mechanisms for actions and coordination of all state institutions involved in these processes.

“Patriarch accepted invitation to visit Vatican” (Dnevnik, 12.08.2014)

Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irinej has accepted an invitation to visit Catholic Pope Francis in the Vatican, says Catholic Bishop of Zrenjanin Ladislav Nemet.

“All present members of the Holy Synod, and the delegation of the Holy See were in agreement that this visit should certainly occur,” he told the Novi Sad-based daily Dnevnik, and added:

“Now diplomatic negotiations are ongoing regarding the manner of organizing the visit, which is not the easiest, knowing the schedule of Pope Francis, and also of his holiness, Patriarch Irinej.”
Commenting on the fact there is no agreement in the Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church about the pope’s possible visit to Serbia, which is advocated by the government, the bishop added that Irinej’s trip to the Vatican “would certainly be a huge step forward in every respect.”
According to Nemet, “such a meeting would certainly offer the possibility to discuss also the painful issues, that concern more Serbia and Croatia and less the Catholic Church, such as the Second World War and the events after it.”
A spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Belgrade, Milutin Novaković, said that the decision to invite the pope to Serbia would not be made by the patriarch and the Holy Synod, but by the Holy Assembly of Bishops.
“Among them are many who look at the pope’s visit favorably, and those who hold that the time is not right,” he says.

Process of approving assistance for flooded houses starts (Tanjug, 12.08.2014.)

Around 1,700 orders for payment of assistance to citizens whose houses were destroyed or damaged in the May floods in Serbia have been issued so far, the head of Government Office for Reconstruction and Flood Relief Marko Blagojevic has said.
“Last week, we had nearly 300 applications, and now we have almost 1,700. That means that the process has been initiated,” Blagojevic said in a statement to Tanjug.
The local self-government authorities are now doing a much better job of issuing orders for damage compensation to applicants than last week, he said.
Speaking about complaints about the amounts of financial assistance provided, Blagojevic said that the assistance is determined by a reconstruction programme based on damage categories.
“The money to be used for those purposes has been provided in advance and the amount is not a large one – it would be good if it had been larger. We started from the total amount of assistance, which was subsequently distributed according to damage categories,” Blagojevic noted.
“The task of this office is to ensure that the assistance arrives where it is needed and that it is paid out to people whose real estate property was damaged,” Blagojevic said.

Banks in Serbia will send client data to U.S. authorities (B 92, 12.08.2014.)

Commercial banks in Serbia have started requesting from their clients to allow their account information to be provided to U.S. tax authorities.

This will “soon become an obligation” stemming from an international agreement expected to be adopted soon, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) said on Monday.

Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection Rodoljub Šabić, however, reacted to this new practice by banks in Serbia and requested a special monitoring procedure.
The commissioner’s website says Šabić reacted to media reports that banks were requiring new clients to allow their information about their accounts to be sent to US tax authorities in order to be able to set up an account.
The requirements, if existing, are not in the commissioner’s jurisdiction as such, but they constitute a violation of the law that the NBS should point out, Šabić stated.
Tanjug asked the NBS for an explanation and the bank said the Ministry of Finance notified it on July 2 that a confirmation of Serbia’s intention to join the international agreement on the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) had been signed.
Part of that package is Serbia’s agreement to be included on the list of jurisdictions on the FACTA website, which was included in the ministry’s notification sent to the NBS, the bank stated.
The goal of the agreement is to establish an organized exchange of information in order to better collect U.S. taxes, the NBS explained.
The central bank says it has not issued any recommendations to the banks, but that it would be included in the implementation of the agreement once signed.
Šabić, however, points out that any potential harmonization of Serbian regulations with those of other countries or international organizations require an international agreement that would be ratified by the parliament and become the basis for personal data processing in Serbia.

REGIONAL PRESS

Bosnian committed suicide attack in Iraq (Nezavisne Novine, 12.08.2014)

SARAJEVO — Bosnian Emrah Fojnica, accused of involvement in an attack on the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo, has died in Iraq, “probably while committing a suicide attack.”

The 23-year-old died on Friday, according to the Vijesti Ummeta website, which is close to radical Islamic groups in Bosnia-Herzegovina and elsewhere in the Balkans.

The website did not specify where Fojnica died, but said only that “according to available information, he went to Iraq to carry out a shahid operation and was killed with a vest on him” – which suggests he probably carried out a suicide attack using an explosive belt.
As reported by the Croatian Index website, Vijesti Ummeta also announced that Fojnica’s father, when informed about his son’s death in Iraq, welcomed it as “a martyr’s death.”
Fojnica was charged along with Melvid Jašarević for attacking the American embassy in Sarajevo in 2011.
Banja Luka’s Nezavisne Novine reported that “no one can accurately say how many Bosnian citizens are currently fighting in Iraq, Syria and other foreign battlefields – but what is known is that those who return will pose a danger for the country.”
Several security experts were quoted as saying that there is a possibility these persons might even attempt to carry out suicide attacks once they are back in Bosnia.
The State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) noted that amendments to the Criminal Code sanction Bosnians who illegally form and join foreign paramilitary and para-police formations.
The newspaper writes that SIPA recently ran checks on 20 Bosnian citizens who in the last two years traveled to Syria and returned, and that they will “most likely” be investigated.

Russian citizen arrested for terrorist financing (Vecernje Novosti, 11.08.2014)
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina ordered an 18-day detention for extradition to Russian citizen Kaleb Kalebov, who was arrested as he is wanted by Moscow Interpol on suspicion of financing terrorism, the Court of BiH announced.
He was arrested on Friday night at the Sarajevo airport on suspicion of having committed the criminal offense of attempted financing terrorism, for which he is in custody.
The time limit in which Caleb’s defense may appeal the extradition to Russia is now running out.

Otherwise, Sarajevo airport border police arrested a citizen of the Russian Federation, thirty-year old K.K., on Friday, on a flight to Istanbul, as it was announced at the time,
He was arrested after the border checks showed that Moscow Interpol issued warrants against him suspecting him of having committed a criminal offense of ‘funding terrorism’, BiH border police clarified.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Serbia Probes NIS Sale to Gazprom Neft Amid UAE Plans (Bloomberg, By Gordana Filipovic and Misha Savic – Aug 11, 2014 )

Serbia opened an investigation into the sale of Naftna Industrija Srbija AD to OAO Gazprom Neft (SIBN) five years after the government signed a 30-year energy pact with Russia that ceded control over its oil and gas market.

Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic “formed a special investigation team to examine all the facts and circumstances related to the privatization of Naftna Industrija Srbije,” his ministry said by e-mail today. Novi Sad-based NIS referred all questions to the governments of Russia and Serbia. Gazprom Neft’s press service wasn’t immediately available for comment.

The sale is coming under scrutiny as Premier Aleksandar Vucic faces growing pressure from opposition parties to disclose details of contracts his government reached with investors from the United Arab Emirates since 2012, including a deal to transfer 49 percent in Air Serbia AD to Etihad Airways. Both NIS and Air Serbia are part of strategic partnership accords Serbia has with Russia and the UAE.

Serbia sealed the agreement to sell its only refiner amid a gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine in late 2008 and early the following year. It sold a 51 percent stake in NIS to Gazprom Neft for 400 million euros ($536 million) in 2009, when the company had 993.8 million euros in capital. The sale also gave the oil-production arm of OAO Gazprom 51 percent in a local gas company in charge of South Stream construction through Serbia.

Gazprom Neft invested 500 million euros in NIS upgrades during the following three years.

The sale was approved by Premier Mirko Cvetkovic, whose ruling coalition in 2008-2012 included the Democratic Party of former President Boris Tadic and the Socialists of former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic.

Serbian Volunteers Destroy Ukrainian Artillery in Donetsk Region (RIA Novosti, 12 Aug 2014)

DONETSK – A group of Serbian volunteers, helping Donetsk militia to fight government troops in eastern Ukraine, says they have repelled an offensive of pro-Kiev military forces, who attempted overnight to break through to a vital motorway.
“Two tanks, belonging to the neo-Bandera [thugs], and one self-propelled gun together with their crews, as well a mountain gun, were destroyed during the fight,” the press office of the Donetsk self-defense forces cited the Serbs as saying.
According to the report, two Serbs were lightly wounded during the standoff, and soon re-joined their battalion.
Reports claiming that volunteers from the Jovan Sevic militia battalion were fighting in the breakaway Donetsk territory – the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic, or DPR – started emerging as early as in May, when a group of Serbs first arrived in the then besieged city of Slaviansk near Donetsk.
Rumor has it that Igor Strelkov, who leads the DPR self-defense forces, knew the Serbian regiment back from the days when they all fought in the Bosnian War, an international armed conflict that took place between 1992 and 1995 and resulted in the internal partition of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The number of volunteers fighting in the Jovan Sevic militia battalion is unknown, but the media claim they have been able to identify the commander as Bratislav Zivkovic.
The battalion has been named to honor Jovan Sevic, the leader of a Serbian hussar cavalry regiment, who in 1751 swore allegiance to the Russian Empire and established the autonomy of Slavo-Serbia, a province that constituted the territories of present-day Luhansk and Donetsk regions in Ukraine.
Several Spanish and Czech volunteers have also reportedly flocked under the banners of the eastern Ukrainian militia, who are striving to fend off the onslaught of heavily-armed government troops.

Croats Eye Using Serbia to Skirt Russian Ban (BIRN, By Sven Milekic, 11 August 2014)
As Croatian exporters ponder repackaging goods in Serbia to evade Russia’s import ban, Serbia says it won’t let itself be used for sanctions-busting.

Serbia says it will crack down hard on countries trying to evade the Russian ban on EU food imports, which try to repackage their goods inside Serbia.
The warning comes after reports in local media that Croatia’s Employer’s Association, HUP, advised local food exporters to repackage products in neighbouring Serbia to skirt the Russian ban.
Russia imposed the ban last Thursday in retaliation to EU and US sanctions imposed on the Kremlin for its perceived role in the conflict in Ukraine.
The ban has come as a jolt to Croatian foodstuff companies with significant exports to the Russian market, such as Cromaris, Ostrea, Sardina, Podravka, PIK Vrbovec, Vindija and Belje.
These companies have to calculate which is the cheaper option: find new markets or repackage goods in Serbia – which is not part of the EU, has not backed Western sanctions and is unaffected by Russias moves. Croatia joined the EU as its 28th member in July 2013.
Milka Kosanovic, from the HUP, said that the Russian market had potential and many companies had been banking on increased growth there.
“Due to the size and consumer habits, it is a very interesting market,” she said. “It’s hard to say whether it will be more cost-effective to await the end of the sanctions, or invest in repackaging. We have to see if the sanctions stay for a year,” Kosanovic added.
The Kremlin said that the sanctions will last for one year.

Boris Teski, from the Croatian consultants agency Instar, advises exporters not to wait for Russia to change its mind. “The costs of repackaging will not be so high,” he said.
“Repackaging is a constant part of the business, the only problem is to find the channels through which they will be placed on the final market,” Teski said.
However, a Serbian minister said Belgrade was in no mood to allow other countries to use it as a conduit for goods going to Russia.
Trade Minister Rasim Ljajic commented on Sunday that “every attempt to sell food, fruit and vegetables from the EU to Russia through Serbia will be stopped”.
Ljajic said that if Serbia did not act on that front, its own exports to Russia would be in jeopardy.
“Any producers or exporters who try to make a profit by deception will be penalized,” he warned.

Ljajic said foreigners were free to set up companies in Serbia and export goods to Russia – but the goods had to come from Serbia.
Serbia has high hopes of boosting its own presence on the Russian market as a result of the Russian ban on foods coming from the West.

Dip in Unemployment Cheers Croatia (BIRN By Sven Milekic, 12 Aug 14) 

The number of unemployed in Croatia has fallen below 300,000 for the first time since July 2012.

Croatia’s Employment Bureau, HZZ, on Monday reported that the number of unemployed adults fell to 296,094 in July and again to 294,988 on Monday, 11 August.
The last time the number fell below 300,000 was in July 2012, when the jobless total was 298,690.
The number of unemployed fell in July by 8,831 or 2.9 per cent compared to June, and by 20,152, or 6.4 per cent, compared to July 2013.
The fact that only 5,247 or 27.1 per cent of newly employed persons in July were employed in seasonal work is seen as a cause for optimism, since this is 1,155 people or 18 per cent less than in July 2013.
The unemployment rate has now fallen for the fifth consecutive month, or for a sixth, if August is included.
It remains to be sees how the numbers change after the peak touristic season ends, when the contracts of the bulk of seasonal workers will end.
The downward trend is partially attributed to a combination of new work in tourism, government measures such as paid vocational training and investment in public work. Erasing some people from the jobless registry also influenced the number.
Croatia’s unemployment rate in June, at 16.3 per cent, remains significantly higher than its EU neighbours Slovenia – 10.1 per cent – and Hungary – around 8 per cent. It is also higher than in its ex-Yugoslav neighbour Montenegro – 13.4 per cent.
However, the jobless rate in Croatia is slightly below that of  Serbia – 20 per cent – and is significantly better than in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where 46.6 per cent are jobless.

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Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ. The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.