LOCAL PRESS
Dacic: Belgrade not conducting talks on recognition of Kosovo’s independence (RTS/Tanjug)
Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Belgrade was not discussing recognition of independence of Kosovo with Pristina representatives, nor has it ever suggested such a possibility. “We have put it clearly that the dialogue is status neutral and we have never taken any formal actions that would lead to recognition of independence,” he told a regular monthly press conference in the Foreign Ministry. Recalling that Kosovo Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhai had spoken both at the conference in Berlin and at the UN SC session in New York about the signing of a peace agreement, recognition of independence of Kosovo and membership in international organizations, Dacic called that an “attempt of abuse of Belgrade’s good will”. He said he hoped Serbia would open negotiating Chapters 32 and 35 by the end of the year, whereas Chapters 23 and 24 are planned for spring.
Pavicevic: There will be no crossing gates (Politika/Tanjug)
The administrative crossings into Kosovo will remain unchanged and there will be no crossing gates, state symbols or changes to the existing crossing regime, the Serbian government’s liaison officer in Pristina Dejan Pavicevic has said in Brussels. “Pristina’s claims that some kind of border crossings will be built are simply not true,” Pavicevic told reporters following another round of the technical dialogue on integrated control of the administrative line, held under the auspices of the EU. The agreement reached with the Pristina delegation at the meeting includes additional lanes and booths, but not construction of permanent facilities at the six crossings into Kosovo, Pavicevic explained. “They proposed some kind of walls and barrier gates for the crossings, which was not accepted,” Pavicevic noted, adding that plans for arranging the crossings were initialed. The head of the Pristina delegation Edita Tahiri said earlier that an agreement was signed on construction of permanent border control facilities at the six checkpoints towards Kosovo, but Pavicevic dismissed the claims as manipulation. “As before, the people will be crossing the administrative line with identity cards, and what is changing is that it will be easier for them to access the checkpoints and get through them. The project will be run by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), whereby the UN will make a return to the process of the dialogue on the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations,” Pavicevic said. He particularly thanked the members of Belgrade negotiation team, which included people from several relevant ministries and agencies.
Belgrade-Pristina talks, under EU auspices, have continued in Brussels. Today’s talks are being held in the bilateral format, which means that the two teams have separate talks with European Commission representatives. The dialogue began with talks between the Belgrade expert team and the EC one and the main topic was phytosanitary inspection at the crossings, and is to continue with bilateral talks on Chapter 35 of the negotiating process. The Belgrade delegation is led by the head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric.
Mihajlovic: Agreement with Kosovo is not interstate (RTS)
The Serbian government Office for Media Relations has announced that Serbia will not sign any interstate agreement with Pristina. The Head of the Office for Media Relations Milivoje Mihajlovic has pointed out that only agreements that will make life easier to residents in Kosovo and Metohija will be initialed. “Serbia will sign agreements on energy, telecommunications, everything that will make life easier to residents. No inter-state agreement will be signed, that is a spin that is supposed to raise Hashim Thaqi’s rating,” said Mihajlovic. Asked how important it is for citizens that the checkpoints at the administrative crossings will be prefabricated or of solid material, he said that “this is once again Pristina’s political coloring”. “That is already an established manner for the Brussels talks to be interpreted differently in Pristina, these were technical talks and I understand that Pristina is politically coloring this although there is no reason for this,” assessed Mihajlovic. The report on Chapter 35 will be clearer after the fulfillment of the assumed obligations in the sphere of telecommunications, energy, drafting of the statute of the Union of Serb Municipalities, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija stated. Mihajlovic pointed out that Serbia’s interest was to open and conclude as soon as possible Chapter 35 that refers to normalization of relations with Kosovo and Metohija.
Serbian soldiers along with UN and EU in Africa (Beta)
The Serbian parliamentary Committee for Defense and Internal Affairs adopted the decision on participation of members of the Serbian Army in peace mission in the Central African Republic. Serbian soldiers will join the United Nations and European Union troops most probably in the course of this month. Participation is planned for a total of 75 members, primarily medical personnel. The Committee also adopted security agreements with the U.S. and Algeria. The agreements imply mutual exchange and protection of data in the sphere of defense. “This agreement refers only to bilateral data of two countries, and everything else will be discussed at other levels,” the State Secretary in the Defense Ministry Zoran Djordjevic said.
Li Manchang: China not changing stand on Kosovo (Novosti)
“China has a lot of understanding for Serbia’s stands towards Kosovo and Metohija. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 is the basis for resolving this issue. I know that more than 100 countries have recognized independence of Kosovo, but the Chinese government remains on its position and doesn’t intend to change it,” the new Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Serbia Li Manchang tells Novosti in an interview. In his first interview since he assumed duty, he points out not only his love towards Serbia and Belgrade, where he studied in 1978 and where he served several times later on, but also the wish for strategic partnership of the two countries to expand. “Big projects, from the bridge over the Danube, the E-763 highway, to the Kostolac power plant, testify about this partnership. The long friendship of the two nations has also been seen recently in the assistance in the floods.”
Can our relations be improved?
“Last year’s visit of President Nikolic contributed to further strengthening of strategic partnership. Now I devote great attention to the visit of Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to China on 9 and 10 September. He will be taking part in the summer Davos and talk with our prime minister. I expect a great deal from this visit.”
What is Serbia’s place within the mechanism of cooperation China – Central and East European countries?
“Within cooperation of China and 16 countries of Central and Eastern Europe, we presently have most projects with Serbia. For example, the Chinese side has given a loan worth more than $200 million for the bridge that is being built; the same amount was given for Kostolac, $300 million for the E-763 highway. The Chinese bank has given a very favorable loan worth $800 million. I want Serbia to be the backbone of that cooperation, and I think that it deserves both geographically and politically.”
Is the world threatened with a large-scale conflict that could be triggered by the conflict in Ukraine?
“It shouldn’t. The crisis in Ukraine is a disaster that reminds of the tragedy of the former Yugoslavia. The Chinese government is appealing to all interested parties to resolve the Ukrainian crisis by way of negotiations as soon as possible. When it comes to the hot spots in other regions, the entire world should aim at extinguishing them politically and not by force.”
Ristic: A fugitive in my own country (NSPM)
Former Zubin Potok mayor Slavisa Ristic is today a fugitive in his own country. EULEX, working according to the regulations of the self-declared Kosovo state, has issued orders for the arrest of Slavisa Ristic, as well as for the current Zubin Potok Mayor Stevan Vulovic. The former is charged with “endangering UN and affiliated staff and aggravated murder”, while the latter is charged with “organizing the escape of persons deprived of liberty.” Following the case of Oliver Ivanovic, but also other Northern Kosovo Serbs, these two latest Kosovo Serb politicians from Zubin Potok (the former elected according to Serbian laws, and the latter after the Brussels agreement) have decided to, each in their own way, but also in agreement with Belgrade, get away from EULEX and the institutions of the self-declared Kosovo state, hoping that the official Serbian authorities will find some solution and protect them from an otherwise certain destiny of being locked behind bars in a room with four walls indefinitely, i.e. “pending an investigation”. “The essence is to prosecute and remove all of us who have been defending Kosovo and Metohija against the project of a separatist Kosovo over the past 14 years and who have been in the institutions and leading the Serbs. Once they behead the Serbs, by removing all of those who had been leading them, and have political knowledge and experience of the struggle against separatism, then they will much more easily expel the remaining Serb population, which is the final goal of this project. All of this started after the famous Brussels agreement, and especially after the so-called Kosovo elections…This is an extremely difficult position for a man to bear. I can’t live outside of the province of Kosovo and Metohija and away from my home forever. I can’t be on the run for ever. My family is under pressure. My wife was summoned by EULEX to give a statement on my whereabouts. This can’t be endured and I hope the state will adequately react. All of this shows that the Serbs have been fooled, both with the Brussels agreement and with the Kosovo elections. Now you see that the Community of Serb Municipalities is an absurd story, lost from the very beginning…Belgrade has betrayed the Serbs in Kosovo,” Ristic told the New Serb Political Thought (NSPM) in an interview.
REGIONAL PRESS
Inzko: I hope voters will look for concrete answers from politicians when they decide for whom to vote (Fena)
“I have two sets of expectations for the upcoming election campaign and the elections themselves. My expectations from politicians and candidates is that they provide clear explanations on how they intend to tackle the most pressing problems facing citizens such as job creation as well as how they intend to unlock progress towards Euro-Atlantic integration,” said the High Representative to B&H Valentin Inzko in an interview with Fena. He emphasized what we don’t need is another election campaign of scare-mongering and gutter politics. “My expectations of voters are very simple – that they turn up at the ballot boxes on 12 October and vote. My message is: if you don’t vote, you let others decide your future for you. It is as simple as that’’, said Inzko. He added he is encouraged by reports that several NGOs will actively monitor the election process all the way through from the campaign stage to the counting of ballots. Commenting on the fact that there are more political candidates for individual offices, especially for the Bosniak Presidency member, Inzko finds that it is a positive trend to have genuine competition for posts. “There are new faces, there are old faces. There are positive candidates and less positive ones. There are candidates who have fulfilled their promises and others who have not. There are many options out there. I hope that voters will look for concrete answers from politicians when they decide who to vote for – in particular answers on how politicians are going to solve key problems facing citizens in particular job creation and the fight against corruption’’, underlined Inzko. Assessing whether the response of the current authorities to the natural disaster, which endangered tens of thousands of people in both B&H entities and caused damages in the amount of several billion BAM, was adequate, Inzko said that given the magnitude of the disaster, the relief effort was and remains a big logistical challenge. “I remain shocked by what I saw when I visited as many municipalities as I could in the immediate aftermath of the floods. What was positive is that the people I met reached out to help each other – they were not interested in administrative boundaries and they were not interested in the names of the people they were helping – ethnic affiliation was not an issue. The people of this country want to come together to build a better future for themselves and their children and I have no doubt whatsoever that they are looking for politicians who can heal this country and make this happen rather than constantly opening up the wounds of the past so they can rule on the basis of fear’’, said the High Representative.
New arrests to follow in B&H (Dnevni avaz)
The B&H State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) confirmed that the interrogation of 16 suspects continues. SIPA spokesperson Kristina Jozic has stated that she doesn’t know how long the criminal investigation will take, specifying that the people arrested on suspicion of having committed a criminal offense of terrorism must be handed over the B&H Prosecution within 72 hours at the latest. “Following the completed criminal investigation, according to the instruction of the competent prosecutor, a decision will be passed on their further status,” said Jozic. SIPA Director Goran Zubac didn’t wish to provide any kind of information on the conducted operation and its results, but announced new arrests.
Serbia is not installing a secret Russian military base (Mina/Beta)
Serbian analyst Aleksandar Radic claims the Emergency Situations Center in Nis, southern Serbia, is not an attempt to “secretly install a Russian military base,” B92 reports. “The center of Nis is exclusively designed for the needs of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations. It’s not a secret attempt to install a military base, but there are strong groups in Serbia that are creating paranoid situations and confusing foreigners with inaccurate information,” this military-political analyst told the Beta news agency. He added that “in a hypothetical case of direct Russian military presence in Serbia,” the center in Nis would be neither useful, nor otherwise. “There are other points, if such a fantastic political scenario of direct Russian military presence in Serbia were to be imagined. This purpose can be served by any military infrastructure, not just in Nis,” Radic said. According to him, Russian planes and helicopters are not constantly stationed in Nis, but only in accordance with the needs, while the center also has storage facilities for materials and technical equipment “that the Russians use for maintenance of the aircraft that they put out fires with throughout the Mediterranean.” Commenting on the claims that EU’s pressure on Serbia “to take a tougher line toward Russia” would grow, Radic predicts this will culminate in late September and early October, when Serbia will host a joint Serbian-Russian military exercise. “The government of Serbia is caught between what it wants as a strategic choice – to join the EU, and the desire to maintain good relations with Moscow. Given that the war in Ukraine will continue, the pressure on Serbia will culminate at the end of September, when the Serbian Army will hold military exercises with Russian paratroopers,” thinks Radic. According to this analyst, the drills will get media exposure, and so serve as a pretext for even stronger pressure on the authorities in Belgrade. “We are entering a period of increasing pressure on Serbia, even in those areas where Western countries have good cooperation with Moscow. It is quite understandable that the West has this attitude towards EU candidate countries, because these countries are often required to do more on some issues than member-states themselves,” said Radic.
Montenegro deserves NATO invitation, Croatian foreign minister says (Dalje)
Croatia believes that Montenegro is ready for NATO membership and that there is no need to wait for the end of 2015 to invite it to join, Croatian Foreign and European Affairs Minister Vesna Pusic said in Newport on Thursday. Pusic was attending a two-day NATO summit in the Welsh city. The foreign ministers of NATO member states met with their counterparts from four membership aspirants – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Georgia.
“Three of the four aspirants come from our region, therefore this is about our immediate interest. All three have been halted in a way, although a decision on opening intensive dialogue with Montenegro will be made (at the summit). Croatia’s position is that Montenegro is de facto ready and that one needn’t wait for the end of 2015 to decide on inviting it, which I also stressed during the discussion,” Pusic said. She said there was also talk about the need to launch active cooperation with Bosnia after next month’s elections there in order to reactivate the suspended Membership Action Plan. Pusic said the situation in Macedonia, which is on standby because of a dispute over its name with Greece, was worse than before and that the country should absolutely be invited to join NATO. Pusic also took part in a meeting on the prevention of sexual violence against women in conflicts led by William Hague, the British prime minister’s special envoy on the prevention of sexual violence in conflicts. Also in attendance were representatives of Japan, Canada and Denmark.
INTERNATIONAL PRESS
Police in Kosovo Target Suspected Islamic Radicals (ABC News, 4 September 2014)
Kosovo police say they are questioning a Muslim cleric and have searched 10 locations including offices of two organizations believed to fund Islamic radicals.
Police said that the cleric, identified by Kosovo media as Shefqet Krasniqi, a leader of prayers in a main mosque in the capital Pristina, is suspected of inciting religious hatred. They say electronic devices were seized during the operation conducted in five major cities across Kosovo on Thursday.
Last month 40 people were arrested in a major operation targeting Islamic radicals suspected of fighting In Iraq and Syria alongside the Islamic State group. They have been ordered detained for 30 days.
Kosovo is secular but its majority ethnic Albanians are overwhelmingly Muslim.
Serbia to Refrain From Using Reserves for Long-Term Dinar Prop (Bloomberg News, by Gordana Filipovic, 3 September 2014)
Serbia’s central bank will refrain from using reserves for long-term dinar interventions as investor risk aversion grows from of the Ukrainian conflict and state delays in fiscal consolidation and IMF loan talks.
The National Bank of Serbia in the capital Belgrade will continue to smooth short-term causes of dinar volatility, though it won’t act against longer trends, Governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic told reporters in Belgrade today.
“Talks with the International Monetary Fund on a new agreement have led to greater investor risk aversion,” said Tabakovic. The Ukrainian crisis “is not going to be resolved in a day or two or a few weeks’ time and we are not prepared to spend substantial amounts of cash from the reserves.”
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Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic is hoping to lure investment to the European Union candidate country to restart growth and boost job creation amid signs that the economy will face a third recession in five years, while more than 20 percent of the nation of 7.2 million people is unemployed.
The dinar was trading at 118.1858 per euro at 2:58 p.m. in Belgrade, or 1.2 percent weaker than the start of August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The central bank has sold a net 725 million euros ($953 million) this year so far to keep the currency relatively stable, Tabakovic said.
The central bank will continue to weigh causes to dinar volatility and act against short-term oscillations rather than long-term trends, she said.
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“Our goal is not to have volatility that could serve speculators and lead to unjust redistribution of wealth,” said Tabakovic, a senior official of the ruling Progressive Party of former nationalists.
Dinar Decline
This week’s dinar decline was triggered yesterday when Societe Generale SA (GLE)’s strategist Regis Chatellier recommended selling Serbian dollar bonds maturing in 2021 and buying South Africa’s 2019 dollar bonds instead.
“That doesn’t mean that Serbia’s bonds are worth less, it only means that some other country offers greater profit for hot capital,” Tabakovic said.
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The government is expected to start talks with the IMF before the end of September, she said.
The central bank will do its best to keep the dinar stable and watch its impact on debt repayments by households and the government, as well as on inflation, which will remain within the target band even if the government raises power prices by 12 percent.
Budget Draft
Serbia needs to draft a supplementary 2014 budget that targets a consolidated fiscal gap of less than 8 percent of gross domestic product and offer a savings plan to discuss with the IMF.
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Finance Minister Dusan Vujovic said on July 13 that he would aim for a three-year IMF program, with spending cuts most probably to come through lower public wages and pensions.
The country is not at risk of a credit-rating downgrade, while Vucic’s government “has been in talks with international creditors to replace some more-expensive debt with cheaper borrowing,” Tabakovic said without elaborating.
Official: 5 Miners Buried in Bosnian Mine Collapse (Associated Press, by Sabina Niksic and Amer Cohadzic, 5 September 2014)
An official says five men are still buried inside a coal mine that had collapsed and trapped 34 miners in central Bosnia.
Esad Civic, the manager of the Zenica mine, said Friday the rescue effort has been halted after emergency workers pulled out 29 miners.
Rescuers say they have not been able to reach the remaining five men, who are still inside the pit some 500 meters (1,600 feet) below the ground. Officials would not confirm that the men were dead but their chances of survival were not immediately clear.
The 29 other miners who escaped looked tired and shaky but not seriously injured.
