LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: Countermeasures if EU can’t cope with crisis (Tanjug/B92)

If the EU proves unable to manage the refugee crisis Serbia will be forced to introduce countermeasures, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic warned. He added it would be unacceptable for EU states to be returning refugees from third countries to Serbia, and that he expects to hear the EU’s final solution from EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn when he arrives here on Friday. “Serbia cannot allow itself to become a concentration camp, fenced off and with shut down traffic, while nobody cares. Is Europe capable of managing an organization like the EU? If not, Serbia will be forced to introduce countermeasures,” he told a news conference in Warsaw, Poland, where he opened an OSCE event. Dacic added that Serbia and Hungary agreed to open a highway after border incidents last week, but that the country is now facing closed border crossings with Croatia. “I have been trying to speak on the phone with Croatian colleague Vesna Pusic and ask why freight traffic has been shut down. Have we now, instead of a Europe without borders, once again gained a Europe with an iron curtain, where one EU country can ban traffic with its neighbors,” asked the Serbian Minister. He warned that the migrant crisis, unless Europe reacts, will collapse EU’s structures. According to Dacic, “had European countries used as many soldiers against the Islamic State as they are using on refugees, the crisis would have been solved by now”. He also asked whether tear gas, closure of reads and borders count among European values, and then underlined that “this cannot be EU’s policy – Serbia is asking the EU to react urgently”. Dacic went on to say that European borders get closed only during wartime, describing EU’s reaction to the crisis as being “as if this is happening on another planet”. He stressed that Serbia does not accept the policy of iron curtains and shutting down of highways. According to him, the migrant situation “shows there’s a security crisis, but also one of values, solidarity, and humanness in Europe”.

Djuric: Peace, stability priority interests of all in Kosovo and Metohija (Tanjug)

On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, 21 September, the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said that peace and stability must be the priority interests of all citizens of the southern province of Serbia. “As citizens of the part of Europe that was often hit by wars, we understand all too well the value of peace, but, unfortunately, there are people in Kosovo and Metohija who wish new instabilities. The reason for that is the fact that in such an atmosphere they prosper most easily in political terms,” Djuric noted, adding that peace must be above everything else and above anyone’s selfish political interest. Instead of militarization, both Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija need jobs and economic progress, he said. “Let’s teach our children how to learn and build, instead of how to hate and destroy.  The destiny of tens of thousands of people going across Europe while running away from the devastated countries should remind us once again that it is better even to negotiate 1,000 days than to wage war for a single day,” the Office for Kosovo and Metohija quoted Djuric as saying.

Djuric: Irretrievable damage made (Novosti)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric has assessed that it was the last moment for the “travesty of a court trial to grow into something that at least resembles a regular process”: “Irretrievable damage has already been made to the families of Ivanovic and other accused with the one-and-half-year absence of their loved ones and this cannot be defended with any legal or procedural arguments.”

Djuric: Without imposing solutions for the situation in B&H (RTS)

Serbia opposes the imposed solutions to the situation in B&H, the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said, noting that the sincere hand of reconciliation of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic is a chance that everyone in the region should take advantage of.

Djuric told reporters in Banja Luka, where he represented the government at the Conference on 20 years of the Dayton Peace Agreement “Pogledi” (Views), that Serbia in the Dayton Agreement continues to see the opportunity for cooperation with all countries in the region. “We are strongly opposing any imposition or dictate of unilateral decisions and solutions to the situation in B&H and any form of outvoting of one nation over the other nations is not acceptable for us,” Djuric said. He said that the sincere hand of reconciliation of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to all peoples in B&H and openness for cooperation with the Republika Srpska (RS) and the FB&H, on a fully equal basis, is a chance that everyone in the region should take advantage of. The chance to build a better future together with Serbia represents the opportunity that in economic sense has serious, positive and far-reaching consequences, Djuric added. “For such a position, Serbia expects the support of all political structures, at the entity level and at the level of the B&H common institutions,” noted Djuric. He reiterated that Serbia, as a guarantor of the Dayton Agreement, is interested in the fate of the Serb people across the Drina River, and will continue to support them, in accordance with the international frameworks that are established by the agreement. “The Dayton Agreement undoubtedly brought peace, and to RS the ability to make independent decisions on many issues and that agreement remains important for all in B&H,” concluded Djuric.

Pristina imputing army (Novosti)

The government in Pristina is looking for a way to transform the Kosovo security forces into armed forces by “by-passing” the expected ramp of Serb deputies. According to this scenario, they will not go for constitutional amendments, for which they need the votes of Serb deputies, but they would only amend the Law on the Kosovo security forces by including in it the legal decrees on armed forces, and they would be further called “security”. Kosovo Deputy Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly Jasmina Zivkovic tells Novosti that in case the Kosovo security forces are transformed into armed forces by way of law, then only a simple majority of deputies would be necessary and the Serb votes would not be mandatory. The Chairperson of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun tells Novosti that introducing armed formations through the “small door”, even if an army is not mentioned in their name, is unacceptable for Belgrade: “This would only disturb inter-ethnic relations and threaten stability. Let us recall that the Kosovo security forces were created from the Kosovo protection corps, the latter being a complicit in the pogrom of the Serbs in 2004. Furthermore, UNSCR 1244 does not envisage other armed forces in Kosovo and Metohija, apart from international forces.”

Miscevic: Serbia’s progress in Serbia’s EU process (RTS)

The Head of Serbia’s team in the negotiations with the EU Tanja Miscevic has told the morning broadcast of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that she notes Serbia’s progress in the cumulative process of EU integration, in the process of the dialogue on normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, so that the first chapters could be opened. “We also expect soon the necessary documents from the European Commission – the report from the screening of Chapter 35, as well as their negotiating position, whereby chapters could be opened and mid-December is most often mentioned as the moment for opening the first chapters over the procedure, including the one that has been waiting since August last year,” said Miscevic.

Roth: Reached required progress in normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia – prerequisite for opening relevant chapter with Serbia (Politika)

Minister of State for Europe at the German Federal Foreign Office Michael Roth says he believes that the first chapters in EU accession negotiations with Serbia will be opened this year. “We would like to see Serbia become a member-state of the EU, but it requires further progress in some areas, such as democracy, rule of law, independence of judiciary, freedom of the media and the fight against corruption,” Roth said in Belgrade. Responding to the question whether Berlin would enable the opening of chapters, he said that there was obviously a misunderstanding and that this was not in the jurisdiction of Berlin but the European Commission in Brussels that was conducting EU accession negotiations. “Germany is a close partner of Serbia’s on the long and definitely hard road to the EU. You can rely on the fact that my government and the Bundestag will support the process in a constructive way,” explained Roth. He reminded that the required progress had been made in the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, which is a precondition for opening the relevant chapter.

REGIONAL PRESS

B&H leaders quarrel at Peace Deal Conference (Nezavisne/BIRN)

A high-level conference aimed at evaluating Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) progress since the 1995 Dayton peace agreement was marred by verbal tussles between politicians from different ethnic groups. The conference at Banja Luka’s Banski Dvori cultural centre on Saturday, attended by senior politicians from the region and key international representatives, began with a dispute between the president of Bosnia’s Serb-led entity Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, and top Bosniak politicians. The row broke out when Dodik said that the Dayton deal that ended the 1992-95 war was a failure. “Dayton had an essential mistake because it has allowed B&H to survive,” he said. Dodik, who recently came under local and international criticism after launching an initiative for a referendum to challenge the authority of the Bosnia state judiciary, also used the conference to complain about the international community, which he alleged had changed the original Dayton agreement in favour of the Bosniaks. The Bosniak member of the country’s tripartite presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic, responded by saying that Bosniaks got support from the international community because they are “ready for cooperation”. “I do not know where it would take us if we were all behaving like Milorad Dodik,” Izetbegovic said. He argued that the main problem of the Dayton peace accord was that it has been treated by all sides as a smorgasbord “where you take whatever you like and can ignore whatever you dislike”. The Croat chairman of B&H’s presidency, Dragan Covic, also complained about changes to the Dayton peace accord, which he claimed had altered the balance between all three ethnic groups which was established by the original deal. “By doing so, we have disrupted relations of equality,” Covic said. The conference also underlined opposing views among key international players. The deputy chief of mission of the US embassy in Sarajevo, Paul Horowitz, said Dayton was successful from the perspective of ending the suffering and destruction of the war. He also stressed that it was not true that the US was against the B&H Serbs and said Washington had financed many projects in RS. B&H High Representative Valentin Inzko, the top international official in the country with responsibility for overseeing the continued implementation of Dayton, said that Dodik’s initiative to hold the referendum on the state judiciary, which is scheduled for mid-November, violates the 1995 peace agreement. However, Aleksey Semenihin from the Russian embassy in Sarajevo insisted that the West should close down the Office of the High Representative. “It is high time that the mechanism of the protectorate in B&H comes to an end because it is impossible to make someone happy by force,” Semenihin said. At the end of the conference, the participants agreed on a set of conclusions praising the Dayton peace accord as the basis for future peace and stability in B&H. “In the period ahead of us it will be necessary that politicians in B&H and all those who make decisions invest more efforts and energy into the goals around which consensus exists or could be achieved,” one of the conclusions said. The conference was greeted with skepticism by some commentators in B&H. The conference was the first in a series of events planned by different local and international organizations to mark the 20th anniversary of the peace accord, which was worked out at an American military base in Dayton, Ohio on November 21, 1995, and officially signed in Paris on December 14 that year.

Inzko: RS has the right to a referendum only on judiciary and corruption in RS (klix.ba)

Valentin Inzko, the High Representative in B&H, reiterated in Banja Luka that the RS does not have the right to a referendum that will concern the institutions of B&H. “The RS has the right to a referendum within its competences, for example on the judiciary of the RS, corruption in the RS, but it cannot have the jurisdiction for the entire country. Everything that is at the state level should be resolved at the state level,” said Inzko. He also reiterated that, as the High Representative, he has several instruments at his disposal, including the “Bonn powers”. Answering the question when the action by the Office of High Representative in B&H and the presence of the OHR in general might be expected, Inzko said that it is still not time to think about the international factors leaving B&H. “The presence of the High Representative and the OHR is lowering, we used to have 800 employees and there is around a hundred of them today; even 60.000 soldiers used to be here once, and there are a lot less soldiers here now”, said Inzko and said that the final decision on this issue will be brought by the Council for Peace Implementation.

Dodik: Referendum on judiciary not violating the Dayton Agreement (Srna)

The RS President Milorad Dodik says that it is absolutely not true that by calling a referendum on the B&H Court and Prosecutor’s Office the RS is violating Articles 3.1.G, 3.5.A, 3.B and 6.E of the Dayton Peace Agreement, as the High Representative to B&H, Valentin Inzko, claims.

“Valentin Inzko sees things that do not exist. If he takes a good look at these Articles, he will see that there are no competencies for the B&H judiciary,” Dodik told Srna. Inzko, said that by calling a referendum on the B&H Court and Prosecutor’s Office, RS is violating Articles 3.1.G, 3.5.A, 3.B and 6.E of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Entities – the most important in overall relations in B&H (Srna)

The RS President Milorad Dodik said in Banja Luka that the Entities are the most important in overall relations in B&H. “Everyone favors the B&H Council of Ministers and B&H institutions, but essentially, the Entities are of the greatest importance,” Dodik said at a conference titled “20 years since the Dayton Agreement – Views,” noting that many think that B&H is in crisis and that it is falling apart. Dodik said that today, B&H is a place of the imposed political love and a training ground for the International Community. He said that the international law is being violated in B&H by international community representatives and noted that former High Representative Paddy Ashdown admitted to having violated the Dayton Agreement. President Dodik noted that the B&H Constitution says that there are three ministers in the B&H Council of Ministers and that now the Council has ten ministers. “Someone is trying to make a government of the Council of Ministers. We believe that the Dayton Agreement made a political system that must be respected, but we have the reality which is absolutely different from the Constitution,” Dodik said.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Serbia Says Border Closures Are Hitting Economy (BIRN, by Igor Jovanovic, 21 September 2015)

Serbian leaders have urged neighbouring countries not to close their borders against the influx of the refugees, saying that Serbia is suffering significant economic damage.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said the closure of international borders due to the refugee crisis was damaging Serbia’s economy. On Saturday, after Hungary and Croatia closed a number of border crossings with Serbia to stop the refugees, Vucic said Serbia would weigh the economic impact during the next seven days. To resolve the issue, Vucic on Saturday said he had urged the Hungarian Prime Minister, Victor Orban, to open the Belgrade-Budapest highway for traffic and that he hoped that Croatia would open its borders with Serbia. “We will continue to treat the refugees the same way we did. We were trying to find ways to open all the roads in order to help our economy develop,” the Prime Minister said. On Friday, the transport of goods from Serbia was possible only at two border crossings, at Kelebija with Hungary, and Batrovci with Croatia. However, on Sunday evening Croatia closed Batrovci crossing as well which means that all eight border crossings between two countries are sealed. Mahmud Busatlija, a Belgrade-based economist, told BIRN that Serbia could face damage if the borders are closed for a longer period. “Serbia is a transit country and some trucks will now try to go through Romania and Bulgaria if the borders with Croatia and Hungary remain closed,” he said. “We need to be recognized as a safe country for foreign investments,” he said. “With closed borders and a refugee crisis we will not be able to attract foreign companies to open facilities,” he added. Dusan Nikolic, from the International Transport association, on Sunday said some of their drivers were waiting for 30 hours at the borders. Serbia could suffer most damage when it comes to the export of agricultural products, he suggested. “Those are the products that Serbia exports most, such as apples. We ordinarily drive the apples to Austria and Germany, and they are not driven in temperature-controlled trucks, so they could rotten,” Serbia’s Tanjug news agency quoted Nikolic as saying. He noted that even new cars from the largest exporter from Serbia have to be transported through the border to Croatia. Bojan Djuric, from the Serbian Chamber of commerce, said the potential damage for Serbia could be up to 21 million euros daily. “It is hard to measure the damage. In normal circumstances we have goods transported through Batrovci and Kelebija worth some 21 million euros a day,” Djuric told Tanjug. Hungary and Croatia closed most border crossings with Serbia in order to prevent a large number of refugees from entering their countries through Serbia. Around 150,000 refugees crossed Serbia in 2015 in order to reach EU member states. Most of them travelled through Hungary. On Sunday, the Horgos 1 crossing, closed on September 17, was reopened by Serbian and Hungarian interior ministers, Nebojsa Stefanovic and Sandor Pinter. The two ministers removed the barricade together. “The reopening of the crossing is the proof that Serbia and Hungary, as responsible states, can manage this crisis properly,” Stefanovic said. Aleksandar Vulin, the Serbian Minister of Labour, visited the Batrovci crossing, the only open crossing with croatia, and said Serbia was suffering economic losses because of Croatia’s decision. “We must protect our economic interests and we have to ask… for compensation for the losses,” Vulin said on Saturday. “Does any country has a right to protect its interests by striking at the interests of another state?” he asked.

Hundreds at Serbia pride march call for solidarity with migrants passing through country

(Associated Press, by Jovana Gec, 20 September 2015)

BELGRADE, Serbia — Hundreds attending a tightly-secured gay pride event on Sunday in Serbia called for solidarity with tens of thousands of migrants passing through the Balkan country in search of a new life in Western Europe. The colorful pride march was held in the capital, Belgrade, thanks to thousands of riot police in full gear deployed in the downtown area to protect the gathering from right-wing extremists and soccer hooligans. Police have detained several extremists for planning to attack the event. In 2010 extremist groups and soccer hooligans attacked another gay pride gathering in the conservative Balkan country, triggering clashes that left more than 100 people injured. Anti-gay sentiments are high in the traditionally macho culture, but government has pledged to boost human rights as the country seeks membership in the European Union. Opponents include the Serbian Orthodox Church, whose priests have taken part in anti-gay marches. One of the pride organizers Goran Miletic said Sunday that he regretted the event had to be guarded by police and “that we have to fight for our rights this way.” Activists at Sunday’s pride in Belgrade said migrants, like gays, were seeking their basic human rights to be able to live and work freely. A black-and-pink banner read “Europe, Open Your Gate” to the men, woman and children fleeing war and poverty. “We feel for our friends in trouble,” said liberal playwright Biljana Srbljanovic. “Let’s reach out to them and give them hope they, like us, will fulfill their rights.” Thousands of migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and other troubled countries of the Middle East, Africa or Asia have passed through the Serbian capital in the past months, many camping in parks in the open.

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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.