LOCAL PRESS

Djuric: Serbia satisfied with UN position regarding UNESCO issue (Tanjug/RTS)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric received yesterday the Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office in Belgrade Ms. Simona Mirela Miculescu, whom he has acquainted with the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue process and problems of the Serb community in the province.  Djuric pointed out that Serbia was satisfied that the United Nations maintained a consistent position on the issue of the efforts by the provisional institutions of the self-administration in Pristina to ensure membership in UNESCO for the self-declared Kosovo. Djuric also said that the return of internally displaced people to Kosovo and Metohija was one of Belgrade’s priorities, assessing that the UN, with its capacities, can greatly contribute to a successful realization of this process. “We are doing everything to help people return to Kosovo and Metohija. The active role of the UN in that process is very important, because this would give additional strength and legitimacy to our efforts,” said Djuric, recalling that, compared to similar post-conflict regions, the return of displaced to Kosovo and Metohija is among the most unsuccessful. Miculescu said that the United Nations Office in Belgrade will take advantage of every opportunity to take part in forums and working groups aimed at resolving the issue of displaced from Kosovo and Metohija.  Djuric also pointed out that the United Nations, especially the UNMIK Mission in Kosovo and Metohija, should take advantage of every opportunity to continue to help the endangered Serb community in the province. Miculescu assessed in the talks that more attention needs to be devoted to reconciliation in normalization processes, starting from the transition of a reactive, to a more proactive, communication of the parties in the dialogue. Djuric explained that this is certainly the interest of Belgrade which is trying to leave on the side the status issues in the normalization process, in order to reduce the potential for conflict in the communication between the two sides.

Dacic: Kosovo’s admission to UNESCO unacceptable (Tanjug)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic stated in the talks with the Russian Ambassador to Serbia Aleksandr Chepurin that Serbia finds unacceptable the initiative for Kosovo’s UNESCO admission scheduled to be discussed next month. Dacic and Chepurin conferred on the practical steps that will be taken in this respect ahead of the meeting and during the meeting of the UNESCO Executive Board in Paris in October, reads a statement issued by the Serbian Foreign Ministry.

Dacic: EU again demonstrating double standards (RTS/Tanjug)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has stated that yesterday’s statement by the spokesperson of the EU High Representative Maja Kocijancic on how Serbia needs to treat the Albanian minority “once again demonstrates the existence of double standards”. He recalled that only a month ago Tove Ernst from the media service of the European Commission said that the EU didn’t have authority in view of minorities in regard to the ban on using the Cyrillic script in Vukovar, and that this authority was with the member states that pass decisions on minorities. “But, yesterday, Kocijancic stated that Serbia was obliged to treat the Albanian minority in accordance with EU standards and conventions. So how is it possible that there are two criteria for Serbia and Croatia? I suppose the rights of national minorities are a universal category, or are they valid only for Serbia?” wondered Dacic. He assessed that it was also possible to justify the formation of the so-called community of Albanian municipalities over double standards, which is an illegal and illegitimate institution since Albanian deputies are not a majority in two of these three municipalities, “but that the EU was silent regarding the ban on the Cyrillic script and public resurrection of Fascism and Ustasha movement in Croatia”. “Only when Maja Kocijancic says a word anout the problems of Serbs in Croatia will she be able to have the moral right to lecture Serbia,” concluded Dacic.

Patriarch Irinej to Irina Bokova: Kosovo membership in UNESCO endangers Christian heritage (Politika)

Destruction of Orthodox sanctities, including those on the UNESCO heritage list, lack of property protection towards facilities of the Serbian Orthodox Church and desecration of Serbian cemeteries, are some of the reasons over which Kosovo should not be admitted to UNESCO.

The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church has sent a letter to UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, warning that the acceptance of Kosovo’s membership bid would endanger the Christian cultural heritage and the Serbs’ religious and human rights. In the letter signed by Patriarch Irinej, the Synod points out that the OSCE has documented systematic post-war destruction of at least 392 Serbian Orthodox cemeteries in Kosovo and Metohija, which are still in deplorable condition. The most important Serbian Orthodox sites are still protected by the police, and Decani Monastery is under strong KFOR protection, while thousands of exiled Serbs are unable to return. This clearly shows that the Serbian Orthodox heritage in Kosovo and Metohija is still in serious danger, exclusively from ethnic Albanian extremists who find their inspiration in the “ideals” of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, and today, unfortunately, even more in the fanaticism of radical Islam, the Synod warns. The SPC believes that the matter of the Serbian Orthodox heritage in Kosovo must be included in the Brussels dialogue on the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations, as a highly sensitive issue for the international relations and the multiethnic future of Kosovo and Metohija, the SPC states in the letter to Bokova.

Gasic visits NATO Command in Naples (Politika)

Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic visited NATO’s Allied Joint Force Command in Naples (JFC Naples) and in a meeting with its commander, Admiral Mark Ferguson, underlined Serbia’s commitment to building a partnership with the NATO through Partnership for Peace (PfP). Gasic and Ferguson discussed the military cooperation between Serbia and the NATO within the framework of the PfP program, and the cooperation between the Serbian Army and KFOR, the Serbian Defense Ministry said in a release. The Minister pointed out that Serbia’s dedication to building a partnership with the NATO has been confirmed this year by the adoption of the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) and the recent ratification of the PfP Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) by the Serbian parliament. The cooperation will continue based on the need to strengthen the capacities of Serbia required for the participation in the UN and EU operations, he added. This is the way for our country to make its contribution to the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy, in line with the clearly set foreign policy priority of Serbia, which is to join the EU, said Gasic.

Bratislav Nikolic: How I enrolled Strpce in the SNS (Politika)

The decision for more than 3000 residents of Strpce, which has 6900 residents, to change collectively the party dress and cross over from the Independent Liberal party (SLS) led by Slobodan Petrovic to the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has taken aback the political public in Kosovo and Metohija. The President of the Strpce municipality Bratislav Nikolic, at whose recommendation so many residents of this Kosovo town had decided to join the Progressives, says this is no surprise.

Why did you decide to cross over to Aleksandar Vucic’s party and not some other? Is it only because the SNS is in power?

“It is not crucial for us that the Progressives are in power. We were drawn by a serious policy of the Serbian government officials and the SNS leader Aleksandar Vucic, and Marko Djuric’s serious work on the ground. We left the SLS a year-and-a-half ago, and we weren’t members of any party. We wanted to join the SNS because Vucic deals with concrete problems of citizens; he had difficult Brussels negotiations and ensured the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities. Marko Djuric, as the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, gathered together all Serbs into one list and enabled the Serbs to be a strong and compact political whole.”

There is word that there are disagreements in Kosovo among Serb political representatives on the Serb (Srpska) List?

“Those are the remainders of Serb divisions and I wouldn’t attach much attention to them. We will resolve all the problems we have with Belgrade’s help, if necessary.”

What is your relationship with the SLS, which you left?

“Correct. There is only one man in that party now, its leader Slobodan Petrovic. I don’t know about other members.”
What recommended you to cross over to the SNS ranks?

“At the last elections in the Serb community in Strpce only the SLS List defeated the Serb List that was supported by official Belgrade. Since 2009, when I was elected president of the municipality for the first time, I fought for the rights of the Serbs and I knew what I wanted. I focused in my first mandate on resolving capital infrastructural projects.”

What distinguishes the Strpce municipality from other Kosovo municipalities?

“We do not have large migrations of the population. More people are born here than those who die, while 700 families from the entire province settled in our municipality. We helped these people find jobs and built houses and apartments for them. Our advantages are raspberries and tourism.”

REGIONAL PRESS

Pendes, Mogherini signed agreement on participation of B&H in EU operations (Fena)

B&H Defense Minister Marina Pendes and the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini signed in Brussels the Agreement on establishing a framework for the participation of B&H in the EU crisis management operations. This agreement represents a general framework for participation of both military and civilian staff of B&H in EU crisis management operations. The agreement does not accept explicit obligations in the sense of mandatory contribution and participation of B&H armed forces, police forces or civil representatives of B&H in EU crisis management operations, but the signing of it is a necessary prerequisite for possible contribution and joint participation in operations. Pendes said that the signing of this agreement represents an important step that demonstrates the intention and readiness of B&H to contribute to the joint safety and defense policy of the EU and a strong boost to B&H’s EU integration process.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Migrants Keep Sneaking through Hungary’s Razo-Wire Fence (AP, by Mike Corder, 16 September 2015)

ASOTTHALOM, Hungary — Small groups of migrants are continuing to sneak into Hungary from Serbia, a day after the country sealed its border and began arresting asylum-seekers trying to breach the new razor-wire barrier.

Early Wednesday, police on horseback surrounded a group of 14 Afghans, including five young girls and an elderly woman, in a field close to the fence made up of three rolls of razor wire.

Small groups of young men also walked along roads leading away from the border. One asked a passing reporter: “Is this the way to Budapest?”

The evidence of crossings came a day after Hungarian police arrested at least 174 migrants for illegally breaching the border or damaging the fence.

Refugees seek alternative ‘Balkan’ route into EU (euronews, 15 September 2015)

Hundreds of refugees stranded on the Serbian Hungarian border are now desperately searching for an alternative route into the European Union. It follows Hungary’s decision to close its frontier which seems likely to drag new countries into the crisis. Buses that would normally carry migrants from Serbia’s southern border with Macedonia northwards have reportedly been rerouted away from Hungary’s razer-wire fence towards EU member Croatia. As Croatia braces itself for the influx, Serbia’s Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said Hungary’s decision is unsustainable. “Our job is of course to make Serbia as safe as possible, but also to care about these people and make sure that we are human enough. But this a European problem, this is not something that can be easily solved, not even in one country of Europe and especially in Serbia that is one of the smallest European states.” Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has defended his country’s policy, saying he is following established asylum rules. “If someone claims to be a refugee, he will be asked if he filed an asylum request in Serbia. And if he did not file it, since Serbia is a safe country, it will be rejected.” This year around 200,000 migrants seeking refuge from war and poverty in the Middle East have crossed into Hungary. The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR now expects the numbers to fall but for now there are hundreds at the border with nowhere to go.

EU-Bosnia-Herzegovina Agree On Participation In Crisis Management (RTT, 15 September 2015)

The European Union on Tuesday said it has signed an agreement with Bosnia-Herzegovina for participation in EU crisis management operations. The High Representative/Vice President of the Commission Federica Mogherini and the Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Marina Pendes, in Brussels signed a Framework Agreement on the participation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in EU crisis management operations. The agreement will set out a legal framework for the possible future participation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the full range of EU-led crisis management military operations and civilian missions. It represents a step towards more structured cooperation between the EU and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the security field.

The EU has a close relation with the country in this field, as the first EU Common Security and Defence Policy Police Mission – EUPM – was launched in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2003, providing support to police structures until June 2012. The EU Military Operation EUFOR Althea launched in 2004 is still present in the country, supporting BiH efforts to maintain the safe and secure environment and supporting capacity-building and training of the BiH Ministry of Defence and BiH Armed Forces.

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