LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: Kosovo special challenge over terrorism (Beta)

“Serbia has special surroundings where there are strong centers through which the aggressive ideology of the Islamic State is affirmed, including recruitment and sending of foreign terrorist fighters to crisis hotbeds. The territory of the autonomous province of Kosovo and Metohija is a special challenge where the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters is largely expressed,” Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said in Madrid at the high level meeting of the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee. “We are undertaking intensified measures on an operative scale, which are aimed at stepping up the security of external borders and hindering entrance of foreign terrorist fighters or their transit through Serbia, monitoring and preventing travel to conflict regions, as well as creating conditions for establishing a data base towards preventing movement and more efficient monitoring. Serbia is ready to contribute, in coordination with partners throughout the world, in combatting terrorist threats and phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters on a national, regional, European and global scale. We attach particular attention to the institutions from the UN system as the undisputed leader in the world,” said Dacic in Madrid.

Kozarev: Stefanovic caused irreparable damage to Kosovo Serbs (Tanjug)

Deputy Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Dusan Kozarev has stated that the former negotiator with Pristina Borislav Stefanovic caused irreparable damage to Serbia and Kosovo Serbs with a series of irresponsible moves, and that it is appalling that he is now lecturing about protection of national interests. “We respect the stand of every deputy, but it is appalling that Borko Stefanovic is lecturing the government about protection of national interests,” Kozarev told Tanjug. He says that those who brought in EULEX to Kosovo and Metohija in replacement of the United Nations, those who set barricades and then ran away, those who agreed for diplomas of all 28 Kosovo universities to be recognized in Serbia but not the diploma of the only Serbian University in Kosovska Mitrovica to be recognized, should not defend Serbia from Kosovo’s UNESCO membership. Serbia should not be defended by those who signed the abolishment of license plates in Kosovo and Metohija and who signed the handover of the cadaster to Pristina without previously resolving the issue of property of tens of thousands of Serbs. “The fact that the party to which Stefanovic belongs doesn’t even exist in the southern province, where it didn’t cross census, is the best indicator what residents in Kosovo and Metohija think about such a policy,” says Kozarev. He adds that Stefanovic also created the agreement on regional representation based on which Kosovo has become member of dozens of regional and international organizations. “But what did the Serbs ever get in return? One thing is certain, Stefanovic could certainly expect a street in Pristina for his merits,” said Kozarev.

UNMIK as letter carrier (Politika)

Pristina’s request for UNESCO membership was sent through UNMIK, whereby the international mission in Kosovo and Metohija has violated this way its jurisdictions, opines the Serbian Ambassador with UNESCO Darko Tanaskovic. “If one interprets correctly (the mandate), UNMIK could not accept the role of a letter carrier,” said Tanaskovic.

Disputable Serbian license plates from northern Kosovo and Metohija? (Danas)

It was not possible to confirm yesterday in the EU headquarters, Belgrade and Pristina negotiating teams the announcement from high diplomatic circles in Brussels whether the Memorandum on Motor Vehicle Insurance will enter into force on 5 August. Informing the public about the postponement of the implementation of the Memorandum, the cabinet of the chief negotiator for technical issues and Minister without portfolio Edita Tahiri announced last week the resumption of the negotiations on this topic for 5 August. The Belgrade team claims it knows nothing about this date, while the spokesperson of the EU High Representative says that, for the time being, there are no new moments except that both sides need to work on technical conditions for implementing the agreement on insurance. Diplomatic speculations – that, due to the implementation of this Memorandum, Serbian license plates from northern Kosovo and Metohija will not be possible to use any further – are also without confirmation. However, both negotiating sides insist on the fact that the issue of license plates, as part of the agreement on the freedom of movement, has nothing to do with the agreement on vehicle insurance. Danas’ sources unofficially recall that the earlier set deadline between Belgrade and Pristina for using Serbian license plates in Kosovo and Metohija has expired a long time ago, as well as that the current UNMIK “KS” license plates have limited expiration date.

Patriotic bloc: Small chances (Danas)

The Patriotic bloc of Kosovo and Metohija, comprised of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), Dveri, Serbian Radical Party (SRS) and several citizen associations, assessed yesterday that the authority in Belgrade is revolted justly against Kosovo’s admission to UNESCO, although chances to prevent this are quite modest, even though it didn’t prevent Pristina’s membership, as was the case with the International Olympic Committee, in places where it could have prevented this, and even didn’t vote against its membership. The statement reads that “Belgrade committed itself with the Brussels agreement that it will not prevent Kosovo’s membership in various international organizations and institutions”, as well as that “Ivica Dacic, former prime minister, openly offered UN membership to the self-declared republic of Kosovo”.

REGIONAL PRESS

FB&H government adopted reform agenda (Nezavisne)

Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FB&H) adopted the text of the Reform Agenda for B&H for the period 2015-2018. The text of the reform agenda has not been known to public or to the members of the B&H legislature. “Reform agenda is closely linked to the objectives of the new EU economic governance in the Western Balkans and in accordance with the program of economic reforms, as the basic element which should encourage a comprehensive structural reforms to maintain macroeconomic stability and improve the growth and competitiveness,” reads the text. Furthermore, according to the text, the implementation of the Reform Agenda will commence without a delay. “A broad set of medium-term priorities, as outlined below, will be processed into concrete measures and initial ventures, which will be prepared and implemented in the coming months of 2015 and early 2016, with each institution individually. That is, these initial measures and ventures will be developed in consultation with international financial institutions and the EU and will lead to further precise measures that will move the reform agenda from its initial stages further in to the medium term. The state of public finances at all levels of the government in B&H is such, that it is necessary to implement fiscal consolidation that will gradually lead to a reduction in the budget deficit, in the medium term, and lead to a reduction in public debt levels. Therefore, the B&H authorities have opted for a strong three-year fiscal consolidation program. Regarding this objective, and avoiding the unfavorable external financing conditions, B&H authorities expect the conclusion of the financial arrangements with International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Commission, which will provide the financial support during the implementation of fiscal consolidation measures”, states the text.

Alliance of Independent Unions of B&H seek dismissal of the FB&H government (Oslobodjenje)

The Alliance of Independent Unions of B&H announced protests by its membership on the day the Federation parliament takes up the proposed labor law on its agenda, which the Federation of B&H government approved and passed on in parliamentary procedure. The unions seek the dismissal of the government because they believe the law hurts the rights of workers. They will seek from parliamentary parties that they indicate with signatures whether they support such a law. Ismet Bajramovic, Alliance President, released these conclusions at a press conference in Sarajevo during an extraordinary session of the presidency. He especially emphasized that the alliance was expelled from the social dialogue on this law, led in the past in the Social Economic Council, and that after this they proposed unsuccessfully a continuation of negotiations.

“So, the negotiations on the law were not completed, but the alliance could not participate last week in them,” said Bajramovic. He calls this a gross violation of the social dialogue in relation to the unions, and especially condemns Federation of B&H Prime Minister Fadil Novalic, seeking that he answers why the government considered and approved the law last Thursday, and not this week. The labor law that the government approved in draft form is considered by Bajramovic and other presidents of several independent branch unions, participants at the press conference, to be fatal to workers and they predict it will provoke serious consequences if it moves forward. Selvedin Satorovic, president of the primary school teachers’ union, called it a “fascist law”, while Sinan Husic, president of the miners’ union, said that it is not a labor law for B&H, but rather for the International Monetary Fund.

Russian government offers guarantees for Ratko Mladic release (Press/Nezavisne)

The Russian government will offer guarantees to the Hague tribunal for the provisional release of Serb General Ratko Mladic, Press reports. According to the daily, this decision of the Russian government was based on Mladic’s medical records made by the team of Russian doctors who recently visited and examined Mladic in detention unit in Scheveningen. The examination showed that Mladic is of poor health condition. Preliminary results of medical examination were sent to Moscow. Meeting of the members of Mladic defense and Russian diplomats in the Netherlands should be held today at the premises of the Russian Embassy in The Hague.

Russian intention to apply Ukrainian scenario of frozen conflict on B&H (Bosna danas)

Russian intention to destabilize the situation in B&H became evident with the two latest moves by Moscow: to support the referendum on state judiciary in the Republika Srpska (RS) and to request provisional release of Serb war-time general Ratko Mladic. For Russia, it is important to destabilize B&H in order to apply the Ukrainian scenario of frozen conflict here. It is hard to believe that Ukraine can progress toward EU and NATO with rebel regions in the East. Those regions, supported by Moscow, can produce always new conflicts and keep the country in chaos. Let’s recall that something similar has happened in Georgia, where Russia created and maintains two separatist regions: Abkhazia and South Ossetia. By supporting all those rebel regions, Russia prevents those countries, all led by Western-oriented central governments in Kiev and Tbilisi (or Sarajevo), from stabilizing and moving toward EU and NATO membership. The situation in B&H is quite the same. The central authority, which includes equally Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs is Western-oriented. Russia found a partner in Milorad Dodik, the RS President. Moscow officially supported the referendum in the RS in a statement by Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson last week. The referendum would challenge the authority of the state level court and prosecutor’s office on the territory of RS, which means it would amount to coup d’état and would have serious repercussions on the stability of the country. It is interesting that Dodik first time announced the possibility of holding the referendum on judiciary on June 25, only several days after meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Dodik met with Lavrov on June 19 in St Petersburg to ask him to veto the resolution on Srebrenica genocide in the UN Security Council. Lavrov then supported Dodik, although it had remained unclear whether Russia will veto the resolution. Some claim that Moscow asked Dodik to destabilize situation in B&H in exchange for the Russian veto in the UN. It is interesting that Dodik and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation a night before the voting in the UNSC, and that the public was never informed about the content of the talks. Nezavisne novine, the daily close to Dodik, published short information that the two of them talked on the phone, but did not give more details. Some, again, speculate that Putin demanded from Dodik to destabilize the situation in B&H, in exchange for the Russian veto. Dodik responded to this request, and announced the referendum on state judicial system, while Russia vetoed the resolution on July 8 at the UNSC session. Another move by Moscow to destabilize the situation in B&H was the decision by the Russian government to offer guarantees for provisional release of Serb war-time general Ratko Mladic from ICTY detention unit, due to his health condition. Mladic is charged with war crimes including genocide. His release, which is not likely to happen, would add salt to the wound of the victims, and could serve no other purpose but to raise tensions in B&H and the region.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Kosovo Parliament Rejects Serb Minister’s Cyrillic (BIRN, by Una Hajdari, 28 July 2015)

A ministerial document written in the Cyrillic alphabet used by Serbs was rejected by the commission for legislation, highlighting the language differences which continue to cause problems in Kosovo

A document in Cyrillic was rejected on Monday during a meeting of the Kosovo parliament’s commission for legislation, with its head Albulena Haxhiu saying that the format was not “typical” and requesting a legal interpretation of the issue. “As you saw, the proposal made by the Ministry for Communities and Returns came in a different format, one which is not typical for the parliament of the Republic of Kosovo, with the logo of the parliament in Cyrillic,” said Haxhiu during the meeting. “Without a correct interpretation of this by parliamentary bodies, I think we should not proceed with the proposals from the Ministry for Communities and Returns,” added Haxhiu. The document was submitted by the Minister for Returns and Communities, Dalibor Jevtic, a Serb, and included legal aid proposals. But Jevtic said that the use of Cyrillic, a script commonly used by Serbs, should not be considered an obstacle. “My institution respects the rights of all communities in Kosovo, as the constitution guarantees the rights and differences of all communities,” Jevtic told BIRN. “I think we have much more important issues to deal with, and should not deal with irrelevant problems,” he added. He said that he had received official emails and correspondences in Albanian, which he claimed was a violation of the law on languages. Language barriers provide one of the biggest problems in the relationship between the two main ethnic communities in Kosovo, Albanians and Serbs. A vast majority of the population does not speak the language of the other, apart from people from the older generation who still speak Serbo-Croat, the official language of Yugoslavia. The Law on the Use of Languages, passed in 2006, during the UN Mission in Kosovo administration and before Kosovo declared independence in 2008, says that Albanian and Serbian and their alphabets enjoy equal status in Kosovo. “Albanian and Serbian and their alphabets are official languages of Kosovo and have equal status in Kosovo institutions,” says Article 2 of the law. The law further specifies that “all official documents shall be kept and issued in the official languages” and that the “official names of official institutions shall be displayed in the official languages.” However, the term “alphabets” is only directly referenced in Article 2, with further references to the use of languages – even in parliamentary commissions – not specifying the use of alphabets. Other Slavic languages, such as Bosnian, are not official languages at the central level in Kosovo but determined at the municipal level when a certain percentage of the population or language group is present. It is commonly assumed that having documents and speeches at the central level translated in Serbian is sufficient for other language groups, due to their similarity. However, having all the documents at the central level written in Cyrillic would make it more difficult for the Bosnian community, which uses the Latin alphabet. An OSCE report on the use of languages in Kosovo published in June 2014 said that the use of Serbian in official communications is still not fully implemented. “More than seven years after its promulgation, the Law on the Use of Languages remains only partially implemented due to insufficient human and financial resources, often accompanied by an insufficient understanding of municipal obligations and a lack of political will,” said the report published by the OSCE mission in Kosovo. It is not uncommon for street signs that feature both official languages to have one of them defaced with graffiti, depending on the dominance of either community in the area – although most street signs use Latin script for the Serbian-language names of towns and institutions.

Serbian ‘Asylum Seekers’ Want Only Money From Germany – Prime Minister (Sputnik, 28 July 2015)

Serbian people are immigrating to Germany for the money only, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said.

MOSCOW – According to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Albania were among top 10 nationalities of asylum seekers in Germany in 2014, comprising over 60,000 of applications. “They are not asylum seekers. They want only German money,” Vucic said Monday in an interview with Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. According to Vucic, the Serbian government is making significant efforts to improve the quality of life in the country but it needs Germany’s assistance as well. Vucic noted his government was improving the living conditions of the Roma ethnic minority, a group leaving for Germany in droves. Wages in Serbia are among the lowest in the Balkans and in Europe. According to the Serbian national statistical office, the average net wage in the country was some $407 in June 2015. According to the most recent Eurostat data, Serbia is among the five European countries with a minimum wage lower than $270, while the minimum monthly wage in Germany, France and the Netherlands is not less than $1380. On Sunday, head of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) Horst Seehofer said Germany must lower benefits to asylum seekers from safe countries of origin and urged the European Union to reestablish a strict visa regime with the Balkan states.

Preacher Harun Mehicevic believed to have bought land in Bosnia near suspected Jihadi training camp (Australia Sunday Herald, by Stephen Drill and James Dowling, 26 July 2015)

A CONTROVERSIAL Melbourne Islamic preacher is believed to have purchased land in Bosnia in an area where there is a suspected Jihadi training camp. Bosnian security services have told the Sunday Herald Sun that Harun Mehicevic has bought land in the village of Osve, 130km north of Sarajevo. At least 12 ISIS fighters have been seen training in the village before heading into battle in Syria, according to international reports. The Sunday Herald Sun is not suggesting that the 12 ISIS fighters were training on land owned by Mehicevic. The Bosnian State Investigation and Protection Agency said it had been monitoring a number of people in the region suspected of preparing for a terrorist act. “SIPA continuously collects, analyses and exchanges … interesting information with other law-enforcement agencies in connection with eventual planning, preparation, organising or recruitment for the performance of a terrorist act,” it said in a statement. “Within the framework of its activities SIPA found out that a person with the initials H.M. purchased a house on the territory of this settlement.” Mr Mehicevic declined to comment when asked by the Sunday Herald Sun about the Bosnian property this week. He closed the door when pressed about the purchase, which was believed to have been made two years ago. Islamic State recruiter Neil Prakash. Mehicevic came to Australia as a Bosnian refugee in the early 1990s. He took Australian citizenship in 1996.

MELBOURNE ISIS NURSE EXTRADITED AFTER AIRPORT ARREST

Members of the local Bosnian community said they had never known Mr Mehicevic to have a job since coming to Australia. He was briefly the director of a small company according to company records and his wife also held shares in a childcare company. Mr Mehicevic makes regular trips back to Bosnia and his home town of Mostar, which is 241km south of Osve. It was thought the preacher was in his homeland when Australian Federal Police raided the Al-Furqan centre in 2012. A community member said he continued to travel to Bosnia but it was not known that he had ties to Osve. He has told his followers they should not make the oath of allegiance to Australia and its “kuffar government”. Mr Mehicevic ran the now closed Al-Furqan bookshop in Springvale South, which had been raided by counterterrorism officers several times. Sevdet Besim, 18, and Harun Causevic, 18, who have been charged over an alleged plan to attack a police officer on Anzac Day attended the centre. Numan Haider, who was killed by police when he attacked them outside a police station last year, also visited the centre. Australia’s leading Islamic State recruiter Neil Prakash has also been linked to the bookshop. Michael Keenan, Federal assisting Counter Terrorism Minister, said the Australian Government does not comment on specific cases.