LOCAL PRESS

Vucic: Serbia blackmailed by Kosovo (Tanjug/Politika/Novosti)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has pointed that Serbia’s priority is the preservation of the stability in the region, as without it all economic measures will be fruitless, and he criticized certain countries that are blackmailing official Belgrade with Kosovo. In the speech he gave at the European Forum in Wachau, Vucic has warned of several concerning signals and events that present a much bigger problem than the dispute between the Serbs and Albanians. He has reminded that recently 28 people were killed in Macedonia, and added he would like to see more stability in B&H, too. The Prime Minister has pointed that the majority of Serbian citizens are still proponents of the EU, but Union’s popularity in the country is on decline, the reasons for that being not economic, but political in nature. The screening process is completed, but none of the negotiating chapters have been opened yet, because some of the European countries are waiting for the finalization of certain issues regarding Kosovo, Vucic noted. He has stressed that after the Brussels agreement in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, several more agreements were signed, and gave the example of the agreement on judiciary, while assessing that it was more difficult for Serbia that the Brussels agreement itself. We are facing harsher stipulations than Romania and Bulgaria, but without complaining. We would not be the poorest country in the EU even if we joined it right now, but our desire is to strengthen the economy even more, said Vucic.

Djuric: ZSO prerequisite for freedom and safety of Serbs (RTS)

The formation of the Union of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) is a prerequisite for Kosovo Serbs to feel safe and free, said the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric in talks with international and Kosovo Serb representatives in Pristina. Djuric told RTS that, 15 years after the conflicts and sufferings, Serbs believed that the best way to achieve that was to form the Union, which is also Belgrade’s main goal in all the talks. Other topics to be on the agenda in the next round of Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in Brussels next week were discussed as well.

Mihajlovic: ZSO will not be a new RS (RTS)

The Head of the Office for Media Relations Miliovje Mihajlovic has told the morning news of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that the formation of the Union of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) was agreed two years ago, but that Pristina has been delaying progress in this field. “The ZSO was supposed to be formed before the local elections, but Pristina has managed to delay it all this time. Talks on this were avoided last month, but Pristina has now announced talks for the first time,” points Mihajlovic. At issue is not reaching of a compromise, but the formation of a strong body that will represent the interests of the Kosovo Serbs. “I don’t expect a NGO or a new Republika Srpska (RS) to be formed. I expect agreement, documents to be collected and for the ZSO to start working,” says Mihajlovic. According to him, the Albanian side is bothered by the fact that a body will be formed in Kosovo and Metohija that will gather Serbs who will determine their own interests. “Pristina is trying to avoid the formation by blackmailing the international community,” adds Mihajlovic. When it comes to telecommunications and energy, he expects also progress in these topics. “Pristina has its own interpretation of the Brussels agreement and it wishes to get out of each topic what it suits them. This is unacceptable. The people who are conducting the talks, primarily the EU, should set things right,” stresses Mihajlovic. “They are counting on the fact that Serbia will agree to everything for the sake of opening chapters. Pristina, but also the EU, should understand that a partial solution cannot bring peace. Only an essential solution can lead to reconciliation,” stresses Mihajlovic. Speaking about the formation of a special court for KLA crimes, he says there is strong pressure from Brussels on Pristina to form the court. “One part of the Pristina political scene is trying to abuse this as lever of pressure on the EU – we will form the court, but you should press Serbs in the negotiations,” notes Mihajlovic. When it comes to the resolution on Srebrenica, which arrived in the Serbian government yesterday, Mihajlovic points out it is yet to be discussed. “Crimes should always be personalized, every crime is itself a tragedy and it should not be abused for some other political purposes. At whatever level it is discussed, Serbia will have a clear stand on the issue of the resolution,” concluded the Head of the Office for Media Relations.

Pushkov: Russia expects Serbia’s support for lifting of sanctions (Tanjug)

The head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Aleksey Pushkov voiced hope that Russia will have Serbia’s support when a decision on lifting the sanctions against Russia is made in January 2016. During the meeting with Serbian Deputy Parliament Speaker Veroljub Arsic, Pushkov said that Russia also expects Serbia’s support at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Helsinki, where draft resolutions on confronting neo-Nazism and lifting the sanctions against Russia will be presented. Puskhov noted that respect of the Minsk Agreement and a normalization of the situation in eastern Ukraine are a priority for Russia, which is a pre-requisite for the start of the process of lifting the sanctions, the Serbian parliament said in a statement. He said that Serbia’s candidate for the secretary general of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly can count on Russia’s support. Serbia’s position is that all problems must be resolved through dialogue, and not through sanctions, Arsic noted.
He said that the friendly relations and the exceptional cooperation between the two countries are reflected by the fact that Russia has not recognized independence of Kosovo and Metohija.

Ljajic: Oric arrested during relaxation of relations (Kurir)

“It is surprising that Naser Oric was arrested at a time when Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic did most for the relaxation of the relations between Belgrade and Sarajevo, and when he sent very friendly and open messages of cooperation with all Bosniaks,” stated Serbian Minister of Trade and Tourism Rasim Ljajic. Regardless of the circumstances, we will strive to keep developing the positive climate between the two countries, he told Kurir. Ljajic believes that someone from the government ought to attend the marking of the 20^th anniversary of the crime in Srebrenica, especially since all other countries of the region will have their representatives there. The Minister has confirmed that on 23 June, one of the topics of the talks in Brussels will be the area code number for Kosovo, but Serbia will stay on its position – agreeing only if it is registered as an area code, which cannot be appointed without the approval of Serbia.

Nikolic not going to Sarajevo (Tanjug)

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic is not travelling to Sarajevo tomorrow, Tanjug was confirmed at the B&H Presidency. Earlier, Tanjug was told at the Serbian President’s cabinet that the Bosniak member of the B&B Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic proposed this morning to Nikolic to postpone his visit, initially planned for 16 June, so it can be held under more favorable political circumstances.

REGIONAL PRESS

After his arrest, Serbia sent a new warrant for Naser Oric to Switzerland? (Klix.ba)

Naser Oric, the War Commander of Srebrenica, was arrested, as it seems for now, according to the new warrant that the Swiss authorities’ prosecution office received after his arrest a few days ago at the entrance to Geneva. “I am concerned over the behavior of the Swiss authorities. During the arrest and interrogation of Naser Oric, they presented an arrest warrant that was issued for him in February last year, which has been deleted after our protests. Therefore, these arrest warrants do not exist and that it is confirmed by Interpol itself. Interpol emphasized that, in this case, any cooperation cannot take place through their channels. However, suddenly after his arrest, a new warrant with very similar content appeared at the place of that previous one, “said Oric’s lawyer Vasvija Vidovic, adding that she has not seen its content in details. On the other side, the Swiss authorities claim that they are a serious country and that arrest of Naser Oric had its basis. “We will call that in question since they did not have the warrant at the time of his arrest, and they had to have a valid warrant or an arrest warrant, which was not the case at the time,” said Vidovic. Even though Oric’s attorneys do not want to reveal the way of defense, nor to speculate on the dates and the progress on the case of Naser Oric, we found out that Oric is being accused for crimes in Zalazje, and the way of the investigation led by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Serbia, is at least odd. It is obvious that some kind of very intimate communication between Serbia and Switzerland is in effect, and the Lawyers blame the B&H Prosecutor’s Office for the arrest without any basis

Dodik and Lavrov to talk about British resolution & PIC meeting on June 18 (Srna)

The Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik says he will discuss the British initiative for the adoption of a resolution on Srebrenica at the UN Security Council with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a meeting on June 18. Dodik said there will also be talk of the latest session of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) which had discussed Srebrenica. “I haven’t had a chance to see the communiqué that was adopted at the latest session of the Peace Implementation Council in Sarajevo and I can’t comment on it but I will have a chance to talk about certain topics that were part of the discussion with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting on June 18,” Dodik said. At the PIC session held June 9/10 in Sarajevo, the Russian Ambassador did not disassociate himself from the term “genocide at Srebrenica” adopted in the communiqué.

Dunovic: SDA and HDZ B&H want the SNSD in the FB&H government (Oslobodjenje/Patria)

The office of Milan Dunovic, Vice President of the Federation of B&H, issued a statement today, Patria reports. “Vice President Dunovic will continue to perform all the duties assumed by the aforementioned function until the end of his mandate. The expectation of resignation from the position of Vice President on the part of the SDA and HDZ B&H represents an effort to bring the SNSD into the FB&H government. This is corroborated by the fact related to voting by the HDZ B&H and SDA for Nikola Spiric in the B&H Parliament, in the selection of a joint commission for oversight of the Intelligence and Security Agency. The Democratic Front, by submitting resignations from their ministerial positions in the FB&H government, proved that the law is more important than the government. However, Vice President Dunovic and the Democratic Front will do everything necessary to prevent the entry of destabilizing factors like the SNSD into the FB&H government. Respecting the constitution and laws is the basis of every progressive and democratic society,” Dunovic’s office said in a statement.

“B&H will be the last country to adopt declaration on denying Srebrenica Genocide” (Oslobodjenje)

Jelko Kacin, the author of a proposal to adopt a declaration on Srebrenica in the European Parliament and former member of that parliament, after a presentation at the International Conference on Research, Documentation and Prosecution of Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), held in Sarajevo, said that it has long been known that B&H will be the last country that will adopt a declaration that prohibits the denial of the genocide at Srebrenica. “From the very beginning it was clear that this would be the last country to donate to victims. Here there is a selective approach to victims, my victims are greater, and theirs aren’t victims. This isn’t a modern approach, this is a matter that pulls B&H into the past, and I think that 20 years after Srebrenica enough time has passed to understand that B&H has been stepping backward for 25 years now. The time has come to dedicate ourselves to the future, to have a positive energy toward both the dead and the living. If you want to see B&H as an equal, prosperous, and functional state on the path to the EU, you should do something; you should offer a hand to your neighbor. It needs to be done here in B&H,” said Kacin. He recalled that Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, would visit B&H in the near future. “I think that Angela Merkel’s visit is a real opportunity here in B&H, whether you are a Bosnian man or woman, Croats, Serbs, Muslims, Jews, Roma, Bosniaks, because some things don’t go at home. Because when a foreigner comes and when they explain something, then it is understandable and it is accepted, unfortunately this is the case. This is proof that breakthroughs inside B&H and the relationship toward Srebrenica are needed, not toward the victims but for the living and for future generations,” believes Kacin.

Incidents in Split and Zenica residue of Nazi heritage (Srna)

Belgrade-based historian Dragomir Andjelkovic has told Srna that the swastika at a stadium in Split, Croatia and an incident in Zenica where people walked over the flag of Israel are repeated cases of Nazi heritage in B&H and Croatia which are today manifested in anti-Serbian feeling, but from time to time in the grossest forms of anti-Semitism too. Andjelkovic recalls that during WWII, B&H was part of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and that a big number of Croats and Muslims supported the Nazi regime and took an active part in the military formation and political structures of the Ustasha-Nazi state. Unlike many other countries that sided with Nazis, and later on were de-Nazified, B&H and Croatia did not go through that process, he says. Andjelkovic notes that the Croats and Muslims were amnestied for what they did during WWII because of the Yugoslav cause and the fact that they divided the Serb antifascism through it. “They not only avoided the punishment but also the process of de-Nazification, a treatment for the disease of Nazism,” says Andjelkovic. The remains of such Nazi heritage exist to this day; they are manifested in anti-Serb feelings and hatred against Serbs, but from time to time they are expressed in glaring forms of anti-Semitism, he points out. “The world should think about this. There is so much talk about the prevention of Nazism while in some places in Europe it is allowed to legally express Nazi heritage,” concludes Andjelkovic. A swastika was drawn on the grass of Poljud Stadium in Split during a Croatia-Italy football match, which took place on Friday evening. During the European 2016 qualifier between Israel and B&H in Zenica on Friday evening, the B&H fans walked over the Israeli flag as seen in the photographs published before the game.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Risks rising for migrants entering Europe through Balkans – UN (RT, 13 June 2015)

The UN refugee agency said on Friday that migrants trying to get into Europe from the Middle East and Africa through the Balkans are facing increased dangers from accidents on the railways they follow, as well as violence and abuse from criminal gangs. Over the last two years, in addition to migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean, the so-called ‘Western Balkans route’ through Macedonia and Serbia has jumped in popularity, AP reports. Although it is less dangerous than crossing the sea, the risks of taking the Balkan route are growing, as the number of migrants using it rises. Most of them come from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Somalia, according to the UN. The number of illegal crossings though the Balkans have jumped seven-fold from 6,391 in 2012 to 43,357 in 2014. In Serbia alone, 22,000 asylum seekers were registered in the first five months of 2015 and 10,000 of these were in May. Civil society organizations in southern Serbia are dealing with up to 200 asylum-seekers every day in need of humanitarian assistance, according to UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards. In Serbia asylum seekers are not detained and the UNHCR is working with the authorities there to increase the support available. However, Macedonia is now amending its laws on temporary protection to make sure refugees crossing the country can get some legal help and humanitarian support. The sheer number of people trying to get into Europe has hit the headlines across the continent. The European Commission has proposed a quota system to distribute asylum seekers among member states, but this was immediately rejected by at least 10 EU members, including the UK, France and Spain. Even Germany, which has in recent years been more accommodating to migrants and refugees, dubbed the idea “courageous but divisive.” A number of EU politicians have come out with increasingly harsh rhetoric on the issue. The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the problem should be handled outside the EU until migrants have their individual cases evaluated. “Migration is dangerous. I don’t consider it right that they send refugees to us. We think they should be stopped within Serbia,” he said. So far this year, Hungary has received more than 50,000 asylum seekers compared to just 2,157 in 2012. Some EU politicians have gone even further. Kristiina Ojuland, Estonia’s former foreign minister, said: “We should start a pan-European campaign to collect signatures to ensure not a single so-called refugee gets across the Mediterranean.” Olli Sanders, a deputy councilor in Helsinki, Finland said: “It would require the forced sterilization of African men, which will effectively discourage them from trundling into our country.” His party later renounced his comments. Italy, which along with Greece has been dealing with the brunt of the migrant crisis, expects to receive up to 200,000 refugees this year, and has been pushing the rest of the EU to do more to help. Sources in Brussels have admitted the EU’s migrant distribution plan is now in tatters and that migrants will only be redistributed within the EU on a voluntary basis. The problem has raised political tensions in Italy, with the head of the anti-immigration Northern League Matteo Salvini saying: “Europe doesn’t give a damn” about immigration quotas. The fact that the issue is a Europe-wide problem is backed up the migrants themselves, many of whom say they are trying to get to Germany, Sweden or the UK. Many hundreds of them are waiting in northern Italy until Germany reopens its borders next week, after tightening security as a result of the G7 meetings in Bavaria. Dan Glazebrook, a political writer and journalist, said that some European countries are themselves to blame for the current refugee crisis. “We’ve had European countries, Britain in particular, in total denial about their role in in creating the refugee crisis and mainstream parties responding to the rise of the far right by adopting ever more hostile rhetoric towards the migrants themselves,” he told RT.

Back from Syria and Iraq, Bosnian fighters pose threat at home (Reuters, by Daria Sito-Sucic, 11 June 2015)

Bosnian fighters returning from Syria and Iraq are forming regional militant networks that pose a direct threat to security in the Balkans and beyond, a study warned on Thursday. The returnees have formed links extending to Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo, said the non-profit Sarajevo-based Atlantic Initiative, and may be radicalizing youngsters on the margins of society. “Once a destination country for foreign fighters in the 1990s, Bosnia is now the country of origin for volunteers in other people’s wars,” said Vlado Azinovic, a co-author of the report. Drawing on both intelligence sources and open documents like court records, it said a total of 192 Bosnian adults and 25 children, aged 5 months to 17 years, had traveled to the conflict zones of Syria and Iraq from spring 2012 to the end of 2014. Of these, 156, mostly men, had gone there to fight, making Bosnians one of the larger contingents of foreign jihadists from Europe. More than a third of the 156 had previous criminal records, and their ages ranged from 18 to 74. Although the majority of Bosnian Muslims are moderate, some have embraced a radical Salafi form of Islam under the influence of foreign fighters who arrived in Bosnia during its 1992-95 war to fight alongside Muslims against Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats. While 115 adults have stayed in Syria or Iraq with no apparent intention of returning, 51 have returned to Bosnia, “battle-hardened and ideologically radicalized”, according to the study. Twenty-six were killed in combat. The report called for better coordination among Bosnia’s fragmented police forces, still divided along political and ethnic lines, and for increased monitoring of the Internet and social networks, which have become the key media for radicalizing and recruiting young people. Last year Bosnia introduced prison terms of up to 10 years for those who organize, recruit or finance the departure of citizens to fight in foreign countries. Twelve people were indicted in May for fighting for Islamic State in Syria. A Muslim preacher is currently on trial for publicly inciting and recruiting people to go to fight in Syria and Iraq.

(Editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and Mark Trevelyan)

‘Reforms Yet to Pay Off’ in Bosnian Serb Entity (BIRN, by Katarina Panic, 15 June 2015)

The government of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska is implementing a third round of economic and social reforms, but local businessmen and entrepreneurs still see no positive effects from previous changes. While the Republika Srpska, RS, government is working on its third set of economic and social reforms that it began to implementing in early 2015, local businessmen and private entrepreneurs say they still do not see any positive effects from the previous rounds of reforms. “Not only that we did not get any benefits [from reforms] yet, but it is not even visible when we could get them,” a visibly irritated Miroslav Turnsek, manager of Prijedor-based biscuit factory Mira, told BIRN. Turnsek, like most other businessmen and economists, complain that the economic and social situation in the country is becoming unbearable. Political tensions, omnipresent corruption, dysfunctional yet expensive administration and complicated administrative procedures have scared off most domestic and foreign investors, pushing the country’s economy into freefall and leading to record high unemployment. Last year, the EU and the rest of the international community began work on a set of reforms which, in the opinion of many international and local experts, could improve the economic and social situation in the country and bring it closer to EU membership by starting to adjust Bosnia’s legislation and governance procedures in line with EU standards. While this set of reforms is still under discussion, the RS government decided to forge ahead with its own reform agenda six months ago. In the first two sets of reforms, the RS government introduced some fiscal relief but also strengthened the authority of and sanctions available to tax and financial inspectors and communal police. In recent weeks, the RS government prepared its third set of reforms, which will aim to improve bankruptcy procedures to prevent businessmen from accruing huge debts, abandoning indebted companies and starting afresh with new ones – something that has become a regular practice among unscrupulous businesspeople. RS officials have been boasting that the economic situation and business environment in that entity, although not perfect, is still better than in the rest of the country. “RS is one of the biggest construction sites in the region,” RS President Milorad Dodik said earlier this week at an economic forum in the Serbian capital Belgrade. He added that RS possesses “considerable investment opportunities.”

Investor concerns

The third set of reforms is expected to be discussed by the RS National Assembly at its next session but the timing is still unknown due to the deepening political crisis there. However, opposition parties, local businessmen, entrepreneurs and experts are becoming increasingly critical and restless, as a result of not seeing positive effects from previous reforms. Some of the few foreign investors said they would have never come to RS had they known how bad the political, economic and social environment was for businesses, but now they cannot leave. “You cannot give up just like that since you don’t want to lose the money you already invested,” one Italian investor in Prijedor told BIRN, speaking on condition of anonymity. Another businessman, who came from Norway to invest in the Prijedor region, said the business environment in RS was akin to apartheid. “There are people who are working and they are black, and there are people who are in power and they are the white men. It is just as simple as that,” he said. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) reported last month that the outlook for economies in south-eastern Europe is improving on the back of quantitative easing in the Eurozone, the weaker euro and lower commodity prices as domestic policy factors become increasingly important. At the same time, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank say the Bosnian economy is starting to recover. Yet local people and the business community see the situation quite differently. “I see no signs of recovery or progress,” Turnsek said, adding that because of this situation he had to abandon plans to build a new factory in RS. “This is not a good message for investors.” Banja Luka-based economist Sinisa Pepic told Balkan Insight that the RS government has shown no willingness to include local and international experts, or civil society organisations in the creation of a long-term development strategy for the entity. “That document needs to be based on expertise not politics, and it should be a Holy Bible for any political group that could get into power in the future,” he said.

“Ad hoc reforms can only bring ad hoc results or, even worse, no results at all.”