LOCAL PRESS

Committee for Kosovo and Metohija adopts report on progress in Belgrade-Pristina dialogue (Tanjug)

The Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija had adopted a six-month report on the progress in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, and one of the main conclusions is that the Albanian side is openly sabotaging the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO), said the Committee Chairman Milovan Drecun. He notes that the Albanian side is sabotaging the complete implementation of the first agreement on the principles for normalization of relations and that the so-called government in Pristina is not sufficiently ready to implement the complete Brussels agreement. “We are especially concerned that there have been increasing tensions in interethnic relations by the Albanian side and intensification of incidents where the victims are Serbs, and on the other side, there are no concrete results in processing those who are provoking such incidents,” said Drecun. He points out that this situation has been repeating over the years, that cases of attacks on Serbs are registered or that if they are registered nothing is done afterwards. “We have also examined some other parts of the Brussels agreements. It is concerning that 23 police members have not been integrated into the Kosovo Police Service. This is an open obstruction by Pristina,” said Drecun. According to him, the Committee assessed that progress has been made with the August agreements, which has also been acknowledged by the EU. “The result of all this is that we have the opening of Chapter 35,” said Drecun. He says that the Serbian government will continue to finance budgets users in this province. “Having in mind the debate on the budget for 2016, we wish to send a message to the Kosovo Serbs that the Serbian government will continue unabated financing of budget users in Kosovo and Metohija,” Drecun told journalists in the Serbian parliament. “This time we will devote more attention to fostering economic development of the Serbs, there will be new jobs in manufacturing,” he said. Asked when the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue could resume and what would be the topic, Drecun said he still didn’t have information on this. Drecun said that, along with the ZSO topic, the agenda should also include primarily issues such as property, return of expelled, the status of the Serbian Orthodox Church and its property. “These are issues from which the survival of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija depends,” Drecun said.

DSS, DPS: Chapter 35 path to recognition of Kosovo (Beta)

The representatives of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and the State-building Movement (DPS) of Serbia assessed that the opening of Chapter 35 with the EU serves to have Serbia commit itself to recognize “de jure” the independence of Kosovo. “The signing of the agreement on full normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo would be an act of final recognition of Kosovo’s independence that the Serbian government has been implementing de facto since 2008, and especially since the signing of the Brussels agreement,” they assessed at a joint press conference at the Belgrade Media Center, the statement reads. The DPS leader Slobodan Samardzic recalled that the negotiating framework adopted by the Serbian government in January 2014 envisaged in item 23 that Serbia and Kosovo need to sign a legally binding document on full normalization of relations. “The goal of Chapter 35 is also the signing such agreement,” says Samardzic, pointing that “the domestic public didn’t have an opportunity to see the negotiating platform that the EU submitted to Serbia”. “The only thing we know is that Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic characterized it as a ‘horrible paper’. It is obvious that the Serbian government will be making additional concessions and implementing obligations that it has towards the EU and U.S., without Serbia having any benefits from this. Serbia will never become an EU member since the EU will not be enlarging,” said Samardzic. Member of the DSS presidency Slavisa Ristic said that the Kosovo topic was very poorly covered in the Serbian media, because it doesn’t suit the authorities to write and talk about it. He accused the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric of performing the state post exclusively in the party interest of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). “Djuric travels around Kosovo and Metohija and creates shows on collective SNS membership of citizens. Allegedly, 2,500 Serbs joined the SNS in Zubin Potok, even though there are around 5,500 voters in the municipality. If this trend continues, the SNS will have more members in Kosovo than the remaining Serbs. The overall point of obvious manipulations and lies is to show that the Kosovo Serbs are thrilled with the policy of the Serbian Prime Minister, which is absolutely not true,” says Ristic. He assessed Djuric’s statement that “the opening of chapters is good news for the Serbs” as “peak of cynicism and political impertinence”, since it is obvious that “the EU does not care about Serbia’s interests, especially not about the interests of the Kosovo Serbs”. Member of the DSS presidency Marko Jaksic criticized the current authorities over the “vassal relationship towards the EU and the U.S.”. “Government officials do not mention the issue of the return of 200,000 expelled Serbs, do not mention the issue of seized and usurped property, nor the return of 1,000 police and army members to Kosovo,” said Jaksic.

Islamic State graffiti in Zubin Potok (Tanjug/TV Most)

Unknown perpetrators overnight sprayed Islamic State graffiti in Zubin Potok, a town in northern Kosovo, TV Most reported. The graffiti was sprayed on a wall along the highway, near the Ibar Lepenac hydro-power plant. The municipal leadership, headed by Mayor Stevan Vulovic, condemned this act in the strongest terms and appealed on the international community as well as the law enforcement to put an end to these misdeeds. Municipal spokesperson Srdjan Vucinic sent a statement to the television station, reading: “Citizens of Zubin Potok deserve peace, stability and prosperity, therefore such misdeed that cause panic must not be happening, not only here, but anywhere in the world.” In late November, Islamic State graffiti appeared in several locations in the multi-ethnic neighborhood of Bosnjacka Mahala in northern Kosovska Mitrovica. They were also found on the Telekom Srbija building in the town, and on some private Serb-owned homes and concrete fences. Regional Kosovo police chief Zeljko Bojic told Tanjug at the time that the police investigated the scene, took photos of the graffiti, and informed the prosecution.

Serbia, welcome to Chapter 35 (Politika, by Radoman Jovic, former ambassador)

Following the two Brussels agreements with Pristina and the imposed Berlin process, in the course of which Serbia accepted “Kosovo” without the “asterisk” among the five independent and sovereign states of the so-called Western Balkans, the EU has finally took pity to award the current authorities with the opening of the first chapter, the very Chapter 35, “the horrible paper”. With the negotiations on this famous chapter, there is no doubt in this, the “frog” will be cooked in hot water in order to specify more concretely the agreements from the Brussels agreements, which would lead from the already existing de facto recognition to de jure recognition of “the NATO state” in Kosovo. I believe that very few people expect, not even Berlin or Washington, that the closing of this chapter will be a condition for opening other chapters. And, why would anyone do this when they are aware that, in the present conditions of the majority mood in Serbia, the existing Constitution and Resolution 1244, this would be counter-productive precisely in Brussels’ attempt to mold Serbia, by constant reference to Chapter 35, according to its own taste in regard to all other chapters.

However, only several hours before John Kerry arrived in Belgrade for the OSCE summit, he indicated in Pristina something that in no way promises anything good for Serbia, including the negotiations on Chapter 35. Namely, he was quite determined when he said: “I guarantee that nothing that had been agreed in Brussels will harm independence of Kosovo.” And further: “ We have invested a great deal in Kosovo’s future to expose it to risk.” I believe Kerry, since in all past negotiations in Brussels, though the EU is formally mediating, the main “supervisor” is Washington, without whose agreement nothing could have been signed or initialed.  Now, if Washington has been strengthening Kosovo’s independence through the Brussels agreement, will it allow anything different in the negotiations on Chapter 35? Certainly not. True, Germany will also have a little say in this since Serbia is “always loyal” and “we will always be prepared, if it tells or asks us, to fulfill this”.

On the other side, we do not need great political-diplomatic experience or wisdom to realize that the EU is in problems and that it is threatened with cracking at the seams, from the crisis in the Euro zone, via the certain British referendum and the victory of Marie Le Pen at the local elections in France, to the refugee crisis and its own roaming of the International Court of Justice. In such conditions, even if Serbia would be ready to fulfill all EU requests, it is difficult to even foresee some foreseeable time when it could be invited to become a full-fledged member of this unfinished, bureaucratized and non-united political-economic union, which is increasingly turning into a German union.

Finally, I should offer my response to the question at the beginning of the text: will the “frog” be cooked through the negotiations on Chapter 35. No, because the “frog” is still tough and it needs to be well softened through all chapters (read: robbed). The “frog” will cook itself the day, if that day ever comes, when the “frog”, outworn, submits an official request for full-fledged membership, where it needs to describe its borders and enter the exact number of its inhabitants. Well, only then will that be de jure recognition of the first NATO state in the world.

Until then we will be swearing that we will never recognize Kosovo and many of us will believe in this. What generation will live to see this? Mine will certainly not. I would not like that my great-grandchildren, thank God for them, would ever accept this.

REGIONAL PRESS

Vucic: We follow the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Srna)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said today that Serbia pays special attention to the situation in B&H and Republika Srpska (RS) and that after his returns from Brussels he will hold a meeting with RS President Milorad Dodik. “Last night, I spoke briefly with Milorad Dodik. Particularly following the situation in B&H and the RS,” Vucic said when asked about the constitutional crisis in the RS. He added that after he comes back from Brussels, where he’s traveling on Monday, he will meet with Dodik in Belgrade and openly talk about everything.

Dodik: SIPA could have caused an armed conflict (Srna)

The RS President Milorad Dodik said Thursday in Banja Luka that the operation conducted by the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) in Novi Grad was a rough provocation.

“The SIPA has annulled all the cooperation results that have been achieved so far and decided to ignore the RS institutions by searching the Police Station Novi Grad in delicate circumstances that could have caused an armed conflict. It did not happen in Novi Grad due to the conscience,” Dodik said in a special session of the National Assembly of RS. He urged the MPs to adopt the conclusions of the RS Government, including the one to terminate the cooperation with SIPA, the B&H Court and Prosecutor’s Office due to the unconstitutional action conducted by the SIPA. “We have been forced to reach such conclusion and we believe that no one will tempt our determination. We have to say clearly to everyone that we are serious and will not give up, and that this termination of cooperation will last until the procedures are established in accordance with the competences in B&H,” Dodik said. The SIPA members conducted on Thursday a comprehensive operation in Novi Grad ordered by the Prosecutor’s Office related to processing of war crimes, and arrested five Serbs.  The Government of RS, at whose request a special session of the National Assembly was convened, reached conclusion on Thursday to break cooperation with SIPA, the B&H Court and Prosecutor’s Office due to the unconstitutional action conducted by the SIPA.

Salkic: Government and National Assembly instigate armed conflict (Vijesti.ba)

The RS Vice President Ramiz Salkic said that the reaction of the RS government and National Assembly regarding the actions of SIPA was hasty. “The conclusions of the RS Government and National Assembly have elements of the attack on the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) and the elements of causing a chaos and instigating armed conflict between the law enforcement agencies,” said Salkic, who is a Bosniak. According to him, “given the arming carried out by Ministry of Internal Affairs of RS, purchasing of rifles and hiring of new employees,” it appears that “someone in RS is preparing for a serious radicalization”. Salkic stresses that all institutions should do their job and that all those who are suspected of war crimes should be brought to justice. “I hope that the B&H Court, Prosecutor’s Office and SIPA will continue doing their job and that they will take certain measures against those who call for the destruction of these institutions,” he said. Salkic added that OHR and Peace Implementation Council in B&H are obliged to protect the Constitution. “It’s time for OHR and the international community to take this seriously,” he said. Government and all institutions of RS terminated cooperation with B&H Court, Prosecutor’s Office and SIPA. The RS Assembly supported this decision at an extraordinary session.

Lukac: RS Interior Ministry not a criminal organization to be searched in such manner (Srna)

The RS Interior Minister Dragan Lukac has said that the search of three locations in Novi Grad, including the police station, is inappropriate, provocative and precedent in treatment accorded to the RS Ministry of Interior. “The B&H Court has concluded that the RS Interior Ministry will either hide or destroy the evidence filed in the police station in Novi Grad. I protest strongly against such practice, because the evidence could have been destroyed over 23 years. Neither has anyone done it nor the evidence was filed in the Police Station Novi Grad,” Lukac said in a special session of the RS Assembly. He has said that such operation conducted by the competent authorities of B&H is the maximum distrust that does not lead to good cooperation in B&H between the police and security institutions. “This is a humiliation of the RS Interior Ministry because this ministry is not a criminal organization to be searched in such manner that someone exempts information documents from. They could have received information documents from us, but they decided to search the Police Station Novi Grad instead,” said Lukac. He noted that members of the SIPA informed the RS Interior Ministry on Wednesday that it will take measures and actions the day after in Novi Grad in order to execute the orders of the B&H Court and Prosecutor’s Office. “They informed us that they would arrest five people on suspicion that they committed war crimes and search three locations, which were not disputable. However, according to the order of the Court of B&H, we were not informed which locations were supposed to be searched. We saw one of them was the police station,” explained Lukac. He recalled that the Ministry of Interior of RS has assisted SIPA so far in many operations ordered by the B&H Court and Prosecutor’s Office.  Lukac has proposed to the RS Assembly to accept the conclusions of the RS government, including the one to stop cooperating with SIPA, the B&H Court and Prosecutor’s Office due to the unconstitutional action conducted by SIPA.

RS Prime Minister invites High Representative to remove her from the office (Fena)

The RS Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic said last night that she has heard that there is a list with names of the RS officials who should be removed from office, and invited the High Representative Valentin Inzko to remove her. “I call on the High Representative to remove the RS Prime Minister, because it will once again mean that the RS has won and the High Representative has lost, and that the B&H has ultimately lost the opportunity and the chance to achieve certain agreements on its own,” Cvijanovic told reporters.

Izetbegovic: RS has no right to act this way (Bosna danas)

Commenting on the decision of the RS government to terminate cooperation with the SIPA, B&H Prosecutor’s Office, and the Court, member of the B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic said that the RS has no right to act like that. He said this in Ankara at the press conference, after the meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. According to him, everyone in the country must respect the law and act in accordance with it, or will otherwise suffer the consequences. He added that the RS President Milorad Dodik is behaving in a similar way for ten years. At the same press conference, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the visit by the members of the B&H Presidency Dragan Covic and Bakir Izetbegovic is going to deepen cooperation and strengthen relations between Turkey and B&H. “We once again underlined that Turkey is with B&H in all fields. We have once again expressed support for Euro-Atlantic integration of B&H”, Erdogan said. He also stressed a need to further expand the cooperation between Turkey and B&H. “We agreed on the need to expand the scope of cooperation. I would like to say that we are determined to continue joint activities with B&H in all fields, including political, economic, trade and military relations”, the Turkish President concluded.

Foreign officials: Powers of state institutions must not be challenged (Fena)

Judicial institutions and law enforcement agencies at the state level have the authority to operate at full capacity throughout the territory of B&H, Office of the High Representative (OHR) said in a statement. This statement is supported by the EU Delegation/EUSR, Embassy of the United States, Embassy of the United Kingdom, Embassy of Germany, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Embassy of Spain, Embassy of Japan, Embassy of Turkey, Embassy of France, Embassy of Canada, and Embassy of Italy. “This jurisdiction must not be challenged and should be fully and unconditionally respected. The entities have a constitutional obligation to comply with the decisions of the institutions of B&H. Questions on the specifics of SIPA actions carried out by order of the B&H Prosecutor should be directed to those institutions,” reads the statement.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

EU and Serbia to begin membership talks on December 14 (dpa, 10 December 2015)

Belgrade – The European Union will launch membership talks with Serbia on December 14, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said Thursday. “Next Monday, the EU and Serbia will open the first two negotiation chapters, chapters 32, financial control, and chapter 35 which deals with the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina,” Hahn told the Serbian parliament in Belgrade. The EU approved the membership talks nearly two years ago, but delayed the formal start of negotiations until Serbia moved forward in the normalization of ties with its breakaway province Kosovo. The European Commission, the EU‘s executive arm, ruled in a report in November that Serbia had achieved enough for the negotiations to get underway. Serbia needs to continue the normalization process with Kosovo while reforming its judiciary, public administration and economy, fighting corruption and discrimination and strengthening freedom of expression, Hahn said. “Serbia needs these reforms not because of the EU, but because they have the potential to modernise Serbia, bringing benefits to its people,” he said. Serbia is the largest of the countries that emerged from the disintegration of Yugoslavia. Two of the former federal republics, Slovenia and Croatia, are already members of the EU. Serbia‘s membership talks, divided into 35 chapters defining various areas, are set to last for years. The last chapter, on relations with Kosovo, is unique to Serbia‘s case because of its relations with the former province which Belgrade refuses to recognize. Five of the EU 28 member states – Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia – also do not recognize Kosovo.

Serbia to complete EU reforms by 2019: PM (Xinhua, 10 December 2015)

BELGRADE — Serbia plans to complete all European Union (EU)-related reforms before 2019, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said after meeting EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn here Thursday. Vucic said he and Hahn would further discuss obligations after EU negotiations at an upcoming summit in Brussels on Dec. 14 where Serbia will officially open first chapters of the EU acquis, 32 and 35. Serbia wishes to complete all EU related reforms by 2019, “and then it’s up to the EU to accept us as a member,” Vucic said mentioning 2020 and 2022 as possible years of Serbia’s EU accession. Chapter 32 of the EU acquis deals with financial control while Chapter 35 is “other issues” which, for Serbia, refer to the dialogue with authorities in Pristina and implementation of the Brussels agreement adopted in 2013 which sets course for the EU-mediated dialogue between the two sides and normalization of relations. Vucic said that Serbia will have to do hard work on Chapter 35 as it requires cooperation with Kosovo Albanians, within the EU-mediated dialogue between Serbia and authorities in its southern province of Kosovo. “Chapter 35 is tough, we are not hiding that, but we are the ones who create our own future. I hope that attacks on Serbs (in Kosovo) will stop, but mostly we managed to maintain their safety,” Vucic said, adding that welfare of people on Kosovo and Metohija will demand more effort and cooperation between Serbs and Albanians. Hahn said that Serbia will open Chapter 23 (Judiciary and fundamental rights) and Chapter 24 (Justice, freedom and security) in the middle of 2016, which have high importance on Serbia’s harmonization with the EU.

Bosnia Arrests Five for Bosanski Novi War Crimes (BIRN, by Denis Dzidic, Danijel Kovacevic, 10 December 2015)

Five men have been arrested on suspicion of having committed war crimes against Bosniaks in the Bosanski Novi area in 1992 – a move which has infuriated the Bosnian Serb authorities.

The state prosecution said on Thursday that Ljuban Babic, Ranko Balaban, Rajko Karlica, Mirko Odzic and Milenko Brcin have been arrested for alleged war crimes against Bosniak civilians in Bosanski Novi, in the country’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity. The alleged crimes involved acts of torture, abuse, detention and theft of private property, the prosecution said.

But a senior Bosnian Serb official said that the arrests were “an attack on the constitutional order”. The State Investigation and Protection Agency has been searching police premises, municipality offices and public utility buildings in Bosanski Novi to gather evidence. “The persecution of almost the entire Bosniak population from that area happened as a consequence of the crimes committed,” the prosecution said in a statement. “Besides that, the murder of 27 Bosniak civilians from the villages of Agici and Ekici was committed in the local district of Maslovare [in the Bosanski Novi municipality],” the prosecution announced. Dragan Lukac, the Bosnian Serb interior minister, told media in Banja Luka at a press conference organised after the arrests that the Republika Srpska government has asked the ministry to quit all cooperation with the State Investigation and Protection Agency and the Bosnian state-level prosecution office. “This is an attack on the constitutional order,” said Lukac. The Bosnian Serb entity parliament is to hold a special session on Thursday to discuss the arrests in Bosanski Novi. After questioning the suspects, the state prosecution will decide whether to file a custody motion.