LOCAL PRESS

US supports Serbia’s reforms and EU path (RTS)

Serbia has invested a lot of efforts to stabilize the situation in the region and will not renounce that goal regardless of the fact that not everyone in the region is ready to share the burden of that task with Serbia, said Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic in talks with US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland in Belgrade. Serbia is responsible towards the future of the region and is not responding to sporadic provocations on the part of its neighbors, he said. Nuland said that the US supported Serbia’s EU course and greeted the progress in reforms aimed at modernization of the country. Nikolic assessed that it was good that the British resolution on Srebrenica had not been adopted by the UN, but criticized the fact that, on the very following day, the European Parliament passed that resolution. Serbia has invested a lot of efforts to relieve tensions in the Balkans and, due to the reforms conducted in the past few years; it has deserved to be admitted as a full-fledged EU member-state, underlined Nikolic.

In talks with Nuland, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said that Serbia was firmly in favor of EU membership, while she told him that US was ready to help Serbia on that course and also to contribute to Serbia’s energy security. The two discussed bilateral relations, Serbia’s EU integrations, the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and the situation in the region, with special focus on B&H and Macedonia. Vucic stressed that Belgrade intended to continue talks with Pristina in order to reach solutions to contribute to regional stability. Nuland also met with Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, in his capacity of the OSCE Chair. He told her that the priority remained the finding of a generally acceptable solution to the Ukrainian crisis, the establishment of peace and gradual normalization of the situation through continuation of dialogue within the OSCE. Nuland said that the US supported Serbia as the OSCE chair in its attempt to establish peace in Ukraine through the implementation of the Minsk agreement. Nuland also talked with civil society representatives and stressed the important role of the opposition in democratic control of the government. On that occasion, the leader of the Democratic Party (DS) Bojan Pajtic told her it was important that Chapters 23 and 24 in talks with the EU should be opened as soon as possible as that will contribute to democratization and reforms in Serbia. On her Balkan tour, Nuland also visited Dubrovnik, where she took part in the Croatia Forum and paid a visit to Sarajevo, Pristina, Tirana and Skopje. She is also to visit Podgorica. She told the countries in the region to take advantage of the moment and invest additional efforts in democratic reforms and that the US would stand by them on that course.

Shultz: Serbia key country in region (FoNet)

The President of the European Parliament Martin Shultz has stated that Serbia is the key country in the region, adding that Serbia’s readiness for compromises did not pass unnoticed in Brussels. “The key place in the region belongs to you and your country, you can build bridges,” Shultz told the Serbian MPs in parliament, adding that Serbia and the EU will have to head in the same direction in the foreign policy as well. He said that he commends Prime Minister Vucic for attending in Srebrenica the commemoration to the victims of “the biggest war crime after World War II”, FoNet reports. Schulz expressed gratitude to the Serbian government for initiatives and engagement in view of stability improvement in the region and voiced expectation that the first chapters in Serbia’s EU talks would open by the end of the year.

Djuric: I expect dialogue to resume soon (Tanjug)

“I expect a new round of the dialogue in July,” the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric told the press in Brussels, where he headed the Belgrade delegation in the technical dialogue. He says that today they mostly discussed the Union of Serb Municipalities and the implementation of the agreement on the judiciary where there are many elements that have yet to start functioning. He noticed that the Pristina delegation had a somewhat different stand from what Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa represented at the last round of the dialogue with Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, but didn’t wish to specify what this difference was. “I can only say that it is pointless for expert teams to go one step forward or backward in relation to the stands of the prime ministers,” he said, adding that one should adhere to the established framework.

Progress made regarding status of employees in ZSO (Novosti)

Belgrade has accepted Pristina’s proposal for the future employees of the Union of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) to have the status of “public sector employees”, Novosti has learned. Even though the Serbian side insisted that the ZSO employees have the status of state officials, the formulation “public sector employees” is also acceptable for Belgrade since it makes it clear that the ZSO is not an NGO, as the Albanian side has viewed it. If the final version of the agreement on ZSO is set in the following days, this would open the possibility of organizing by the end of July a prime minister round of the dialogue where Aleksandar Vucic and Isa Mustafa would initial this agreement, and most probably the agreement on telecommunications.

Pavicevic: I do not believe that the incidents are an accident (Tanjug)

Serbian government liaison officer in Pristina Dejan Pavicevic said in Zociste near Orahovac, that he did not believe that the latest incidents in Kosovo and Metohija were an accident. Pavicevic said that the incidents had become even more frequent, especially in Gorazdevac. I am planning to talk to authorities in Pristina and with the international community as we need to do our best to protect citizens and prevent such incidents from happening, said Pavicevic.

REGIONAL PRESS

SDP proposes no confidence vote in FB&H government (Dnevnik.ba)

The opposition MPs, SDP will submit proposal for no confidence vote against the government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FB&H) at tomorrow’s session of the FB&H House of Peoples, the party’s Presidency decided today. The proposal will be submitted because the government of FB&H, in the last month, “does not reflect the majority will of MPs”, and because “ministers are not actors of the parliamentary debate and constructive discussions that would enable more efficient work of the parliament”. The proposal is also triggered by the fact government “has neglected needs of workers, miners, pensioners and other social categories”.

With anti-SDS campaign, Dodik could cause conflicts among RS Serbs (Oslobodjenje)

Aleksandra Pandurevic, member of the presidency of the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS), said at a press conference in East Sarajevo that Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska (RS), is leading a continuous, unscrupulous campaign against the SDS, which she calls not just political but a physical confrontation. She added that they are already receiving threats from certain “blind followers” of his, and recalled that a similar campaign calling for lynching was led against Branislav Garic, the late president of the SDS, whose epilogue is known. Pandurevic said that Dodik with his untruths is bringing divisions among the people in RS and fears that it he could cause conflicts among Serbs in the entity. Commenting on Dodik’s allegations that the SDS is a party of lackeys who receive instructions from the British embassy in B&H, she said that no one from the SDS had any meetings whatsoever with representatives of that embassy, except those of protocol, and that they are prepared to show Dodik all their materials if they prove their statements. Pandurevic says that Dodik in 1998 had an “alliance with foreigners” when the tanks of SFOR removed Nikola Poplasen from the RS presidential palace and expelled Tomislav Nikolic, Aleksandar Vucic, and Vojislav Seselj from the RS, while today he has an “alliance with criminals” in the framework of which tens of millions of KM have gone missing from Birac, Bobar Bank, the RS treasury, and in other affairs. Asked about the attack on Aleksandar Vucic, she stressed that this was an assassination attempt that represents the culmination of a several month campaign of hate led against him and President Nikolic, and that politicians from Sarajevo are responsible for the attack. Pandurevic considers the letter from the group of delegates to the House of Representatives sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in which they gave support to the adoption of the resolution on the Bosniak genocide at Srebrenica to be a repeat of the situation in 1991, when “against the will of the Serb people a referendum was called” and “politicians from Sarajevo are not aware that they dragged B&H into hell”.

Joint statement on the planned RS referendum (Dnevni avaz)

The Head of the Delegation of the European Union to B&H, EU Special Representative Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, joined by U.S. Ambassador Maureen Cormack, British Ambassador Edward Ferguson, French Ambassador Claire Bodonyi, German Charge d’Affaires Adrian Pollmann and a representative of the Italian Ambassador travelled to Banja Luka to emphasize their shared concerns about the proposed referendum on the state-level judicial institutions. We recognize and agree that there are significant problems with the court and prosecutorial system in B&H at all levels, including at the state level. But the Structured Dialogue on Justice has achieved some important results in the processing of war crimes and in paving the way for an Appellate Court at state level. A new national strategy for reform of the justice sector in B&H offering a framework for legal reforms has been prepared and harmonized between all levels of government. We want to work together in a spirit of partnership with the authorities in the RS, and in other parts of the country, to strengthen the judiciary throughout B&H, to guarantee its independence and impartiality, and to improve its performance and efficiency in order to restore public faith in its institutions. At the same time, the state level judicial institutions are critical to the sovereignty and stability of B&H. We are deeply concerned that the proposed referendum would represent an unconstitutional attempt not to reform but to undermine and weaken those authorities, and would thus pose a direct threat to the sovereignty and security of the country as a whole. This cannot be tolerated. The last thing that B&H needs is an unnecessary confrontation which would undermine rather than support our partnership, and the reforms which we agree are needed. From the EU perspective, the planned referendum would also seriously harm this country’s EU accession path by casting doubt over the ability of B&H to adopt binding legal agreements which will be respected throughout the country. The EU has tried to shift the focus of political leaders onto the real social and economic problems which people in this country face on a daily basis. As well as stabilizing the economy and creating new jobs, particularly for young people, the reform agenda includes measures to strengthen the rule of law and to tackle corruption. A referendum, with no legal value, on a question which challenges the principles of the B&H constitution would run counter to addressing these pressing issues, and would be a waste of money that could be used to address the real economic and social needs of the RS people. Concerns about the justice system are real and important. They are shared by ordinary people, as well as politicians. We are impatient to work constructively with the RS authorities, and with others, to address these problems, and we therefore ask for responsibility, dialogue and cooperation, said the joint statement.

Zeljka Cvijanovic welcomes the message of international representatives (Srna)

The RS Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic welcomes the message of international representatives that they want to work together in a spirit of partnership with the authorities in the RS and other parts of B&H, saying that RS is for partnership with everyone and that it believes that everyone should work together, but that in order for such partnership to truly work, there should be mutual respect. When asked to comment on the joint statement of the Head of the Delegation of the European Union to B&H, EU Special Representative Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, and ambassadors of the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany on a planned referendum in the RS, Cvijanovic pointed out that the RS wants the partnership but that everyone needs to know that it has become unbearable for the RS, even though it is the best functioning part of B&H, to always be blamed for something, and added that the problems faced by B&H are not faced by the RS. “It is unbearable that the protocols of certain embassies demand from us to remove the symbols of RS when their ambassadors come to meetings because it allegedly ruins the sovereignty of B&H. The RS is a Dayton category, and if they defend the Dayton principles, as they say, then they must accept this, not just because it suits them. They must treat all the victims of the 1990s war equally when they tell us about reconciliation,” said the PM. “As for justice, it has to be equally attainable to all and that’s exactly why we need to work together to fix the judicial system. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen such an approach from the international community over the past years, but it’s still not too late to fix things,” Cvijanovic told Srna. She underlined that referendum was no threat to partnership. It will show what the citizens of RS think about such B&H judiciary and also appeal for things to be regulated in an adequate manner.

Bosniak politicians covering up the case of attack on Vucic (Srna)

The chairman of the SNSD caucus in the House of Representatives of the B&H Parliamentary Assembly Stasa Kosarac says he resents the fact that five days after the scandalous attempt at lynching Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, the Council of Ministers, Prosecutor’s Office and state-level police agencies in B&H have done nothing to find, arrest or prosecute the organizers and perpetrators of the heinous attack. Kosarac has told Srna that it is more than obvious that the organizers and political patrons of the attack on Vucic sit on top of the Bosniak political elite in Sarajevo and dictate through their yes-men in the Council of Ministers and Prosecutor’s Office a cover-up of the whole case and protection of a group of extremists who carried out the attack in Potocari. “No way will Council of Ministers Chairman Denis Zvizdic do anything. He abused his position by acting illegally and outside his authority in order to prevent the RS police, upon orders of Bakir Izetbegovic, to protect Prime Minister Vucic. Even less will be done by B&H Security Minister Dragan Mektic, who thanks to his blind loyalty to the Party of Democratic Action, has no idea who is in charge of what or what he was supposed to or had to do in order to prevent the attack in Potocari,” says Kosarac. He expressed a belief that the scandal on an international scale will not end in the Prosecutor’s Office, whose main prosecutor Goran Salihovic receives direct orders from Bakir Izetbegovic and the SDA top. “How can you expect the organizers and perpetrators of the attack in Potocari to be arrested by the prosecutor who hid the case of Naser Oric from himself and whom it took at least three days, after Oric was arrested in Switzerland, to take the case which had not been opened for six years? What is Goran Salihovic, who sent a luxury car to pick Naser Oric up at the Sarajevo airport and who released Oric only a few hours later, going to do?” asked Kosarac. He told the representatives of the international community that the problem does not lie in Banja Luka, which today is making a decision to call a referendum against, as he said, unconstitutional, imposed and controlled judicial institutions at the B&H State level. “Foreign officials have no business in Banja Luka. They should go back to Sarajevo and solve the problem where it emerged, for which they themselves are responsible to a great extent,” said Kosarac.

Prosecution opens investigation into Boska privatization by Milorad Dodik (BN TV)

The B&H Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into the privatization of department store “Boska”, which was carried out in 2008, when Milorad Dodik was the RS Prime Minister. According to BN TV, Dodik enabled owners of “Zextra” and “Delta” companies, Dragan Djuric and Miroslav Miskovic, to illegally acquire the property in the center of Banja Luka and funds amounting to tens of millions KM. It is estimated that RS budget has been damaged by about 30 million KM by the controversial privatization of “Boska” and actions thereafter. Well informed sources told BN TV that Prosecution conducted the preliminary investigation and has opened an official investigation into the privatization of the department store “Boska”. The RS government signed a contract for sale of the “Boska” shares with the consortium “Zextra Delta Group”, which was not registered as a legal entity, and whose owners are Miroslav Miskovic (Delta) and Dragan Djuric (Zextra). A notary Irena Mojevic informed government that she does not want to certify the contract, as the consortium is not a legal entity and cannot be a party in an agreement. These warnings were not enough for the government, which found another notary, Milenko Delic, to certify the contract.

New terrorist threat: Bosnia and Herzegovina, mujahedeen’s are coming! (Nezavisne)

“We are Islamic caliphate” is the name of the new video that was released a few days ago in which terrorists marked Western Balkan countries as their target. The video shows Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia as targets of terrorists. They said they will carry out terrorist attacks and conquer those countries.

“Rejoice Bosnia and Herzegovina, the mujahedeen are coming, and the dead head will fall”, goes the message for B&H. There are similar messages for other countries.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Macedonia PM to go as part of EU-brokered deal (EUobserver, by Peter Teffer, 15 July 2015)

Macedonia’s four largest political parties have reached a deal that will see prime minister Nikola Gruevski resign and is hoped to ease tensions in the former Yugoslav republic. The agreement was brokered by EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn, three MEPs, and the EU and US ambassadors to Skopje. The EU commission announced the deal on Wednesday morning (15 July). Under the deal, Gruevski’s government “will submit its formal resignation to parliament in due time to enable the new government to be sworn in on 15 January 2016”. His party will nominate a new prime minister to lead the transitional government, whose tasks “shall be limited to the organisation of the early parliamentary elections”, to be held 24 April 2016. The political crisis began in February when opposition party SDSM released wiretaps that showed corruption in Gruevski’s ruling party. In May, the political crisis turned violent when 14 ethnic Albanians and eight policemen died during a police raid. The violence triggered EU member Bulgaria to send soldiers to its border with Macedonia as a cautionary measure. In June, politicians reached an EU-brokered agreement, but some details, such as the future role of Gruevski, were left to discussion. These details have now been addressed. Among them is also that SDSM will return to Macedonia’s parliament, which it had boycotted, on 1 September. The opposition party will also nominate several (deputy) ministers, to be appointed on 20 October, who will stay on in the transitional government. The deal also established a special prosecutor who will investigate “the interception of communications”. This investigator will start by 15 September. In a social media message, commissioner Hahn said the agreement “keeps the door open [to Macedonia] for the Euro-Atlantic perspective”, i.e. the possibility of an EU and/or Nato membership

Macedonia parties agree on path to April 2016 election, defusing crisis (Reuters, by Kole Casule, 15 July 2015)

SKOPJE – Macedonia’s main opposition party will return to parliament and the prime minister, hit by a scandal over widespread phone-tapping, will resign ahead of an election next April under a deal brokered overnight by the European Union. The EU had already clinched an agreement that elections would be held by April 2016, two years ahead of schedule, but enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn returned to Skopje on Tuesday to flesh out the deal. He emerged from marathon talks shortly before 2 a.m. (midnight GMT) to tell reporters: “We have an agreement, an agreement signed by the leaders of four parties. I am grateful for their achievements.” Conservative Gruevski has been on the ropes since January over a slew of phone-taps leaked by the opposition and involving, among others, him and his closest allies. The opposition says they expose extensive government control over journalists and judges, meddling in elections and the appointment of party faithful to public sector jobs. The scandal brought tens of thousands of people into the streets in support of either side in May, and raised fears of unrest in a country that only narrowly avoided full-blown civil war in 2001. Under the deal, the opposition Social Democrats will return to parliament in September, ending a boycott since early 2014 over what it says was a rigged election. In October, a new interior minister will be appointed, with candidates to be proposed by the opposition. Gruevski will then resign 100 days ahead of an election set for April 24. A special prosecutor will be appointed to investigate the wire-tap scandal. “Nikola Gruevski will resign and he will not lead the government that will organise the elections next year,” said Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev, who has been releasing the wire-taps that he says were leaked to him by whistleblowers. Gruevski, leader of the ruling VMRO party, said the 100-day resignation rule would be applied before all elections in future. “In our case, it means that VMRO will nominate a temporary prime minister for a period of 100 days starting from January 15, 2016.” (Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

Bosnian Serb seeks court referendum in fresh challenge to Bosnian state (Reuters, by Gordana Katana, 14 July 2015)

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik pushed on Tuesday for a referendum on the authority of Bosnia’s national court over ethnic Serbs, stepping up a challenge to the country’s integrity two decades after it emerged from war. Dodik asked lawmakers in the autonomous Serb Republic to back the referendum, arguing the court was biased against Bosnian Serbs. The proposed vote comes after Dodik’s ruling SNSD party in April made it official party policy to push for a referendum on the Serb Republic’s secession in 2018 unless the region is granted greater powers. The latest initiative will deepen concern in the West that Bosnia risks unravelling 20 years after a 1992-95 war in which 100,000 people died. The Serb Republic and a Federation of mainly Muslim Bosniaks and Catholic Croats make up post-war Bosnia, joined by a weak central government in a highly-decentralised and unwieldy system of ethnic quotas. While the Bosniaks and Croats on the whole want greater integration with the West, Dodik has sought to strengthen ties with traditional Serbian ally Russia. “The number of indictments and verdicts against the Serbs before the national court proves irrefutably a selective approach to justice, which aims to lay blame exclusively on the Serb people,” Dodik told the Serb Republic parliament. Foreign powers overseeing the peace in Bosnia issued a statement warning that the Serb Republic parliament may only call referenda “on issues falling within its competence”. Russia, however, which is also a member of the Peace Implementation Council alongside the United States, European Union and others, did not sign the statement. Serbs in particular were angered last month after Switzerland decided to extradite Bosniak wartime commander Naser Oric to Bosnia, rather than Serbia, after he was arrested by Swiss police on a Serbian warrant for war crimes against Serbs. Bosnia argued it was pursuing its own case against Oric, which Dodik says is a farce.

Balkan journalists face threats and intimidation, says report (The Guardian, by Roy Greenslade, 15 July 2015)

Human Rights Watch urges EU to intervene in countries seeking membership

Investigative journalists talk of intimidation, death threats and smear campaigns as they go about their work

Journalists in several Balkan countries work in hostile environments that affect their ability to carry out their work, says a report issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The report, A difficult profession: media freedom under attack, documents attacks and threats against journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia.

It is based on interviews with 86 journalists, most of whom report on sensitive issues such as war crimes and corruption, in the Balkan countries. Among the cases it details is that of Štefica Galić, editor-in-chief of an online news site in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who was assaulted in 2012 as she prepared to screen a documentary about her late husband. The couple had saved Bosnian Muslims from being deported to concentration camps during the war. Days before the attack, Galić had reported death threats but the police had told her not to take them seriously. After international organisations intervened, her case was investigated and a local government workers was convicted in October 2013. She received a three-month suspended sentence. And Galić continues to receive frequent threats. In a short viedo made to accompany the release of the report, journalists tell of similar experiences. They include Jeta Xharra, of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network in Kosovo, who says: “It’s a minefield… you have to watch your back”. Another Kosovan investigative journalist, Artan Haraqia, reveals the threats to him and his family over his reporting. In Macedonia, Tomislav Kezarovski explains why he went to jail for investigating the death of another journalist and in Montenegro, Milka Tadić Mijović , executive director Weekly Monitor, relates how journalists are smeared by the authorities. High ranking officials regularly sue journalists and media outlets for defamation in civil courts. Reporters reporting on sensitive issues have been subject to smear campaigns. A pro-government daily newspaper accused one journalist in Kosovo of being a Serbian spy and said she had “shortened her life” by reporting on whether local governments had carried out their campaign promises. Women journalists have been the target of offensive stories using sexually explicit language. A pro-government newspaper in Montenegro referred to one female journalist as “a prostitute”. HRW detailed cases where current affairs TV talk-shows in Serbia went off the air due to political pressure. In Serbia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, political interference also includes arbitrary financial and administrative inspections of media outlets. None of the countries have adequately investigated the attacks on journalists and the threats they face. “The western Balkan countries have been touting their move toward democracy for two decades, but intimidation and attacks on journalists puts a damper on democracy,” said Lydia Gall of HRW who compiled the report. She said: “The EU should push the countries to call a halt to intimidation and prosecute crimes against journalists as part of the EU membership negotiation process. “If the EU is serious about its own membership criteria it should make respect for media freedom a priority in its negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia,” Gall said.

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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.