LOCAL PRESS
Pristina’s allegations that Serbia gave up footnote (Danas)
The name “Republic of Kosovo” is not stated in the agreement on energy, which was recently signed by Belgrade and Pristina representatives, but it states in the so-called “disclaimer”, i.e. statement of waiver of liability in the framework of the main text of the agreement. This part notes the stands of both sides regarding property in Kosovo. Namely, property was the obstacle in the signing of the agreement, so, as Danas has learned from Serbian government sources, this part was noted at the insisting of the EU in order to be a subject of further talks. That is why the property issue (Gazivode, Valac) is not mentioned in this agreement. According to Danas, each side in this “disclaimer” presented its stand concerning the property issue and it was agreed for this to be a subject of further talks. Pristina was constantly demanding to include the property issue in the talks on energy, which is not envisaged according to the first Brussels agreement, adds Danas’ government source. “Kosovo considers that, in accordance with the Kosovo Constitution and laws and international law, i.e. UNSCR 1244 and relevant UNMIK decrees, property in the territory of Kosovo is the property of the Republic of Kosovo. Serbia considers that, in accordance with domestic and international law, i.e. UNSCR 1244, property in the territory of Kosovo is the property of Serbia, according to a special provincial regulation and fully in accordance with the Serbian Constitution,” reads the statement of waiver of liability along with the agreement on energy that was published on the website of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija. Let us recall that Kosovo Minister for the dialogue with Belgrade Edita Tahiri has stated that Serbia had accepted in the agreement on energy the name “Republic of Kosovo”, to which the Office for Kosovo and Metohija reacted by saying it was not true and that “those losing have the right to be angry but do not have the right to invent”. The cabinet of the Prime Minister also told Danas that “Republic of Kosovo is not written anywhere”. Tahiri also said in a short report on what was recently agreed in Brussels that Serbia had given up in the agreement, signed by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, from insisting on using a footnote, whereby independence of Kosovo has been accepted in some way. Her report was published on the website of the Kosovo government in Albanian and English, but not in Serbian, even though everything is published in three languages. The Office for Kosovo and Metohija tells Danas that the Brussels negotiations are neutral in status, just as any agreement deriving from this process. The mediator in this dialogue is also neutral in status. “The fact that Pristina is trying to pull out from everything the story on status, proves their unconstructive approach to the dialogue and that the root of the problem is immaturity and unwillingness of the Kosovo political elite to truly normalize relations in Kosovo and Metohija,” stresses the Office for Kosovo and Metohija in regard to the report of the Kosovo Minister. The Office notes that Serbia’s goal in the Brussels negotiations is to reach agreements that would enable a better life for all Kosovo residents along with respecting Serbia’s territorial integrity. If we look for the status issue in every comma, as Pristina constantly does, we will not go far in reconciliation and normalization of relations, the Office adds. “There is no use from the dialogue if everything comes down to the story on status since we will never agree on this. We need to talk about joint interests on which we can possibly agree, about interests that will improve the life and standard of all Kosovo residents and ensure conditions for sustainable coexistence in this region,” the Office for Kosovo and Metohija stated.
Krichbaum: Requirements fulfilled for opening Chapter 35 on Kosovo (RTS)
The Chairman of the Bundestag Committee on the EU Affairs Gunther Krichbaum stated that he was advocating for opening the initial chapters in Serbia’s EU accession talks as soon as possible. Krichbaum voiced his personal conviction that an important success had been achieved in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in relation to the fulfillment of requirements for opening Chapter 35 on Kosovo, and noted that he was personally in favor of opening Chapter 32 on financial control as well. Now, we are waiting on the report of the European Commission that should give a recommendation, and that will happen in mid-October, he told reporters after the meeting of the Committee, during which Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic addressed the MPs. Krichbaum noted that because of his commitment to EU integration and tough, but important reforms, Vucic was particularly appreciated in Berlin.
McAllister: Time for opening chapters with Serbia (Tanjug)
The Rapporteur for Serbia in the European Parliament David McAllister has urged European institutions to acknowledge the progress in the dialogue on the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations by opening the first chapters in the negotiation process with Serbia. It is time to open the negotiation chapters with Serbia, McAllister said in a brief speech at the EP plenary session in Strasbourg. He reminded MEPs that two weeks ago, in a dialogue mediated by the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, the prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo finalized agreements on crucial issues, including an agreement on the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO). McAllister said that it must be acknowledged that the agreements reached in the last round of the Brussels talks represent significant progress in the process of normalization of the Belgrade-Pristina relations.
Serbia prepares plan for reaction to greater inflow of migrants (RTS)
Serbia has prepared a plan for reaction with a needs assessment in case of a larger influx of migrants, Danijela Popovic Roko, the Assistant Commissioner for Refugees and Migration told Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS). She said that humanitarian assistance is now provided for the following period that will cover winter, but added that, bearing in mind that the crisis will last, funds are continuously needed and Serbia is in constant contact with international organizations. Between 2,000 and 3,000 migrants enter Serbia on a daily basis, usually from Macedonia, but there are an increasing number of those who enter the country from Bulgaria. Therefore, the response to this problem has to be comprehensive and planned in cooperation with other countries of the region, Popovic Roko stressed.
REGIONAL PRESS
Jerlagic: Erasing Bosnian language a violation of B&H laws, constitution (Oslobodjenje)
Amer Jerlagic, President of the Party for B&H (SB&H), calls on representatives of government, international institutions, as well as judicial institutions, to react without delay and stop the violation of basic human rights and the erasure of the Bosnian language from the education system in Republika Srpska (RS), on the basis of the B&H constitution and laws. He recalls that article 6 of the law on B&H administration 32/02 determines that the official languages in use in the B&H government are Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian. That article, he says, is a general provision arising from general provisions on human rights in B&H, the European Convention on Human Rights, and other documents from that field. He believes that introducing the independent title of “Bosniak language” would be the introduction of an additional language for Bosniaks, which is contrary to the constitution, laws, and international standards, for the reason that an additional language would be arranged for use only for the benefit of minority peoples in a country. “As is known, the Bosniak people are a constitutive people, and for these reasons cannot have both their native language and an additional language, which is attempting to be shown with the aforementioned codex. In article 2, clause 3, sub-paragraph L of Annex 4 of the constitution it states the right to education is a fundamental human right, and because of these reasons prescribed in the law and regulation 7 it as such must be engaged in languages that are used in BiH and according to that, the Bosniak language, as an arbitrarily imposed term, is contrary to the legal norm, they want to show it as an additional second language of the Bosniak people, which is legally, linguistically, and in every other way untrue. Because of this it is contrary to the law and the stated norms, and those who are violating the law must be brought to justice,” he said.
FB&H fovernment lacks 156 million KM for pensions (Dnevni avaz)
The FB&H government has seven days to pay pensions, but it lacks 156 million KM (around 78 million Euros) to do that, reports Dnevni avaz. The government has agreed with representatives of pensioners’ associations to pay pension for August by 15 September. They also agreed that, as of October, pensions will be paid by 5th of the month. If Government fails to meet those conditions, pensioners will launch big street protests. Member of the Governing Board of Pension Fund Omer Omerefendic said he does not have a clue how the government will implement what it promised. “I want to believe that they are able to do that, because otherwise they wouldn’t promise that. I know they had talks with certain commercial banks to get necessary money, but I do not know the details,” Omerefendic told Avaz. The main problem is deficit of 140 million KM of Pension Fund which has accumulated over the last three years.
New arrangement on the IMF loan as late as in November (Faktor.ba)
B&H, actually its entities, will surely enter into a new arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, no one in B&H still does not know when will the negotiations on a new arrangement be completed and how high will it be or when will the first tranche “arrive”. Only in the FB&H, the “hole” in the budget is around 684 million BAM deep, and together with the deficit in the budget of the RS it exceeds one billion BAM for this year. The B&H Ministry of Finance stated that it is uncertain to speak of any conditions at this moment, when B&H has still not submitted the request for a new arrangement and that should be discussed soon, maybe even at the coming session of the B&H Fiscal Council. The next phase is the phase of agreements and negotiations with the partners. “In early October and November it will be discussed with the representatives from the IMF about the new arrangement, as well as about the conditions and modality of the arrangement itself. The amount of means for B&H will also depend on the conditions of the arrangement”, said the Federation Minister of Finance Jelka Milicevic. The Resident Representative of the IMF in B&H Francisco Parodi is currently out of country and he could not comment on the future arrangement between B&H and this financial institution. However, he is in daily contact with the BH authorities whose reform agenda he considers an impressive vision which the IMF supports both by technical expertise and, if necessary, by providing financial assistance. According to the opinions of both the representatives of BH authorities and economic experts, the loan of the IMF, which is approved by the Executive Board of this international institution, is the most favorable and cannot be compared with the loans of commercial banks where BH authorities take loans almost on a weekly basis by issuance of securities, in order to provide payments to the budget users. Indebtedness with the IMF exclusively serves as support for the budgets and, although the perception and wishes of the public are sometimes different, cannot be used for investment in, for example, construction of the roads.
INTERNATIONAL PRESS
Germany and Serbia to work more closely amid refugee crisis (DW, 7 September 2015)
In light of the current refugee crisis, Germany and Serbia have announced plans to work together more closely. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also praised Serbia for its efforts to meet EU membership demands. Speaking at a press conference with her Serbian counterpart in Berlin on Monday, Merkel said Serbia had been “significantly” affected by the refugee crisis. Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic added that the issue concerned “not only the European Union but the whole of Europe.” Serbia is currently one of the most important transit countries for refugees traveling to western Europe from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan. After arriving in Greece, many continue their journey through Serbia and Hungary before seeking asylum in Western Europe. Over the weekend an estimated 20,000 refugees arrived in Germany having followed a similar route.
Clampdown on Balkan asylum
At the moment, however, many people from the Western Balkans are also attempting to seek asylum in Germany. Merkel said she and Vucic had agreed that Serbia was a “safe country of origin,” reiterating, however, that there was no reason for asylum applications from Serbia.
Vucic supported Merkel’s comments, adding that laws should be adopted in Serbia which entail consequences for Serbian asylum seekers. The prime minister failed, however, to elaborate on his proposal, stressing only that there should be no incentive for Serbians to seek asylum in Germany. Bavarian authorities in southern Germany took matters into their own hands last week when they opened the country’s first reception and deportation center expressly for Balkan migrants.
Efforts to become EU member
The pledge for closer cooperation between Germany and Serbia on Monday came as the latter continues to work toward becoming an EU member state. Merkel praised the country’s recent efforts to abide by EU guidelines, with particular reference to the normalization of relations with Kosovo. There had been “significant substantive progress,” Merkel said, adding that the move had provided a “very important stimulus” for enabling EU accession negotiations.
Germany Curbs Balkan Rights to Claim Asylum (BIRN, by Dusica Tomovic, 8 September 2015)
Germany has said it is adding Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro to the list of ‘safe countries’ that will make it more difficult for people from those countries to win asylum in Germany.
Germany on Monday announced that Kosovo, Albania or Montenegro would be classified as “safe countries of origin”, which means that people who come to Germany from those countries will be sent back more quickly, as few will be able to obtain asylum status. Germany has already designated all EU states plus Ghana, Senegal, Serbia, Macedonia and Bosnia as “safe countries”, which means that asylum claims from nationals of these countries are likely to be rejected.
The move came as Germany on Monday unveiled its first overall plan to deal with the growing influx of refugees entering the country. The plan, introduced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vice-Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, in Berlin, includes increasing budget and manpower resources for taking in refugees, as well as measures to speed up the processing of asylum applications. Merkel said Germany would add 3 billion euros to the 2016 budget and provide another 3 billion euros to the German states and municipalities to handle record numbers of asylum seekers. Under the plan, asylum applicants from the Western Balkan countries are as a rule to be made to stay in preliminary reception centers, where the authorities will help set up winter-proof accommodation for 150,000 people. The maximum length of stay for the refugees there is to be extended from three to six months. The refugees are to be obliged to remain in residence there for that period. Applicants who have been rejected are to be deported to their home countries more quickly than they have been in the past. “Whoever can be shown to be ineligible for permanent residency must leave the country,” Merkel said, also announcing that social benefits for those subject to deportation will be reduced. The government is also planning a type of mini-immigration law to help people from the Balkans, however. “People from these states who can provide evidence of employment or a training position will be able to work here,” the Chancellor said. German Minister of Labour and Welfare, Andrea Nahles, said that in the next five years Germany should provide 20 thousand work permits for six Western Balkan countries, regardless of people’s qualifications. In an interview with Der Spiegel last week, Nahles said the candidacy for membership in the European Union with the countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro, cannot be discussed while at the same time people from these countries come to Germany just over asylum laws. According to official data, almost 40 per cent of all asylum seekers in Germany came from the Balkans. In August, the leaders of Kosovo and Montenegro said they believed Germany should designate their countries as “safe” countries. Kosovo’s Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and his Montenegrin counterpart, Milo Dukanovic, made their wishes clear in letters to the European Parliament. “We are in favour of Kosovo being classified under German law as a safe country of origin,” Mustafa wrote, adding that political persecution or torture did not exist in the Balkan nation. Dukanovic’s letter struck a similar tone. “Montenegro meets all of the conditions to be classified as a safe country of origin in the spirit of the German law,” Dukanovic wrote. He added that he saw no reason why any citizen of Montenegro “must seek asylum in a European or other state.”
Bosnian Schools Boycott Over Language Row Spreads (BIRN, by Elvira M. Jukic, 8 September 2015)
More Bosniak parents in the east of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity have joined a boycott of schools in a dispute over an official decision to rename the Bosnian language Bosniak.
Parents of some 130 Bosniak children from a primary school in Krizevici near the eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik have joined a schools boycott in a dispute over the name of their language. Pupils remained outside class as protests grew against the decision of the Republika Srpska government to rename the Bosnian language “Bosniak”. By Tuesday, a week after the new school year started, more than 500 Bosniak schoolchildren had joined the boycott in six schools in the Zvornik municipality. Bosniak politicians warned that the protest could soon spread to the rest of Republika Srpska, wherever Bosniak children attend schools. “This is the first step,” media reports cited Ilijaz Miralemovic, a member of the [main Bosniak] Party of Democratic Action, SDA, on Zvornik town council, as saying. “Just like today in Krizevici, the boycott will in future most likely spread to all other schools where Bosniak children attend classes, until this problem is resolved,” he said. On Tuesday, Republika Srpska Education and Culture Minister Dane Malesevic’s office reported that he had received a death threat in connection with the row. The education ministry said in a press statement that Malesevic’s office received a phone call on Monday during which an unknown person insulted the minister and his staff in ethnic and religious terms and because of the language dispute, threatened to “carve the Bosnian language on his forehead” and kill them all. The dispute began a few years ago when Bosniak parents in the Serb-dominated entity demanded a curriculum that would better reflect their ethnicity. It escalated at the end of the last school year in June when the Republika Srpska education ministry instructed all schools to start using the term “Bosniak” instead of the usual term “Bosnian” for the language. Bosnian, Croatian and Serb were the terms for the three almost identical official languages that were used by Bosnia’s three constituent peoples. The term Bosniak for the language was never used. “A ‘new language’ cannot be introduced,” Nedim Civic, a deputy in the Republika Srpska Assembly and one of the protesting parents, told BIRN. After several failed attempts to reach a solution with the education ministry, the Bosniak parents from Zvornik now want to meet top state and entity leaders but also are demanding stronger engagement from the international community, Civic added. The Office of High Representative, OHR, tasked with overseeing the Dayton Peace Accords that ended the 1992-95 war in Bosnia, has refused to comment on the problem but has instead urged the domestic actors to talk to one another. “The General Framework Agreement for Peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina… contains the text of Agreement in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian language…so the [1995] Peace Accords knows three official languages in Bonsia and Herzegovina,” an OHR statement for BIRN said. Muhizin Omerovic, one of parents whose two children have been boycotting school in another eastern Bosnian village, in Konjevic Polje, over the curriculum, told BIRN that the problem with the education of Bosniak children had long existed all over the Republika Srpska but that not all the parents were brave enough to speak about it. “We were criticized but now it is clear that it is a problem elsewhere, too,” he told BIRN, “I just hope that everyone will keep their dignity and be tolerant in all of this.” However, as Civic – whose daughter is skipping school for the second week now in Snagovo near Zvornik – explained to BIRN, the goal of parents from Zvornik is not to establish a new temporary school but to find a solution to remain a part of the entity education system. “We don’t want extraordinary classes, we want to be a part of the education system in Republika Srpska, we want our children to go to school here,” he said. “However, one of our conclusions is that if all possibilities are exhausted, we will opt for civil disobedience”. The problem is meanwhile spreading to other parts of the country and to Serbian pupils. In one of the primary schools in the district of Brcko – the self-governing administrative unit, which is is populated by all three main ethnic groups – Serbian parents have refused to send children to classes because some teachers were Bosniaks. “Politics are involved in all this. I hope we will solve the problem we have,” the head of the education department in the Brcko government, Niko Stoparic, told the media.
Bosnian police arrest 4 war crimes suspects (AP, 8 September 2015)
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Bosnian police have arrested four men, including an active officer of the state intelligence agency, suspected of committing war crimes during the country’s 1992-95 conflict. A statement from the prosecution office said Tuesday the men were senior members of the Bosnian Serb police during the war and that they are suspected of illegally imprisoning, beating and torturing Muslim Bosniak civilians in the northeast city of Janja.
The statement says the torture resulted in the death of three civilians while many others suffered lasting physical and psychological damage. The suspects were arrested in the northeastern town of Bijeljina. More than 100,000 people died in the conflict.
