LOCAL PRESS

Djuric: Ivanovic was not given chance to have fair trial (Blic)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said Sunday that the nine-year prison sentence given to Oliver Ivanovic was a deeply unjust decision that was not based on the facts and events of 1999 and would not be helpful in building up trust in the rule of law and institutions in Kosovo. “I am certain that Ivanovic was not given the right to a fair trial or to do anything legally possible to prove his innocence,” Djuric told Blic. Asked about his expectations from the special court to try crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army, he said that every effort that offered us the hope that at least some of those responsible for crimes against Serbs would be tried should be supported. “The Serbs have a negative experience with international justice. I can therefore only say that we will assist the court as much as we are able to, and it has yet to prove, with its work, of being worthy of our trust,” Djuric said.

Drecun: ZSO – most important topic of upcoming dialogue (Tanjug/RTS)

The formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) will be the most significant topic of the upcoming Belgrade-Pristina dialogue because no progress can be expected in the process until that issue is resolved, the Chairperson of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun said. He told reporters in parliament that Pristina must be stopped from sabotaging the establishment of the ZSO. He added that the verdict to the leader of the Civic Initiative SDP Oliver Ivanovic also puts the issue of rule of law on the agenda. “We should also see how the process will continue and what are its perspectives, since the perspectives will depend on the topics on the agenda,” said Drecun, adding that the key dilemmas in the upcoming Brussels meeting will be how to establish the ZSO and how to resume the normalization process with placing new topics on the agenda.

Witnesses for KLA crimes deployed around the world (Danas)

Witnesses who will testify in trials of crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) before a special court are already part of the witness protection program, and have been deployed around the world, Danas has learnt. Diplomatic sources told Danas that over 400 people have already given statements regarding KLA crimes and probably around 30 of them will testify in court. The information also state that the software containing all the data on the cases to be dealt by the Special Court, and whose headquarters will in The Hague, is fully protected and located in Brussels. The court, expected to be set up during the year, will consist of international judges and be housed in the former Europol building in The Hague, working under the auspices of the EU. Vulin: No unilateral moves in migrant crisis resolution (Tanjug)

Representatives of the countries located along the Western Balkans route pledged on Monday in a meeting in Amsterdam they will act in concert to resolve the migrant crisis and restrain from unilateral moves, Serbian Labor Minister Aleksandar Vulin said. “The conclusion of the meeting is actually what Serbia has been proposing and seeking all this time- that all must restrain from unilateral moves and that we have to act together,” Vulin told Tanjug. Vulin said that the European Commission and participants of the meeting recognized that Serbia had demonstrated a high level of organization and humanity, serving as an example of how countries should resolve problems along the migrant routes. The Amsterdam meeting was held on the sidelines of an informal meeting of EU interior ministers

Koenders: Serbia to harmonize foreign policy with that of EU (Novosti)

“Progress in the process of normalization of relations with Kosovo must be parallel to progress in the negotiations on Serbia’s EU accession. Belgrade should continue strengthening good-neighborly relations and progressively harmonize with the joint EU foreign and security policy. All this is stated in the negotiating framework,” Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told Novosti.

Vucic: SNS and SDPS together at all elections (Tanjug/Beta)

The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and the Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDPS) will run together in the upcoming general and provincial elections, SNS leader Aleksandar Vucic said Sunday, adding that the SDPS was the prime partner of the SNS at the moment. Speaking at a press conference after a meeting between SNS and SDPS delegations today, Vucic said that they had talked about what needed to be done to ensure good future for Serbia, its economic development and meeting all objectives to take Serbia to the doors of the EU by the end of 2019.  “We will run together in the general and provincial elections and will recommend to the municipal and city councils to run in the local elections together as well,” said Vucic. Speaking about the main reasons for entering a coalition with the SNS, SDPS leader Rasim Ljajic said the SDPS had decided to do so because they had worked well together, managing to honor all promises given during the 2014 election campaign, and because both parties wanted Serbia to have a stable government, able to carry out the structural reforms through.

SPS Presidency authorizes Dacic to negotiate on coalition (Beta)

At the SPS session on Sunday, the SPS Presidency has authorized the leader of this party Ivica Dacic to talk with coalition partners – the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (PUPS) and United Serbia (JS) on forming again a joint election list. Dacic also said that the SPS thinks that it would be irresponsible towards Serbian citizens to make any kind of agreements with the “new DOS (Democratic Opposition of Serbia) and old right-wing parties”, since nothing can be good for Serbia from this.

Seselj: Support to Vucic if he gives up EU (Tanjug)

The leader of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Vojislav Seselj announced that this party will take part independently at the upcoming elections, since it never makes pre-elections coalitions. We could support Vucic’s government if he gives up the EU, says Seselj. He says that the SRS has been constantly offering Vucic, for the past a year and a half, to give up the EU, and to turn towards Russia.

REGIONAL PRESS

Naser Oric trial starts on Tuesday (Srna)

The trial of a wartime commander of so-called Army of B&H in Srebrenica, Naser Oric and his comrades Sabahudin Muhic charged for the crimes against Serb prisoners in 1992 in the Srebrenica and Bratunac area should start tomorrow in the Court of B&H. The B&H Court confirmed on September 9, last year, three counts of the indictment against Oric and Muhic, for crimes against prisoners of war. The accused pleaded not guilty on October 19, before the Court of B&H. Oric’s defense lawyers filed a motion on November 9, asking the Court to order the suspension of the proceedings for the war crimes in Srebrenica, against his client due to the fact that he has already been tried for these crimes in The Hague and was acquitted. The tribunal in The Hague rejected the request of Oric’s defense to suspend the proceedings before the Court of B&H on December 11. At a status conference held on November 24, the Prosecutor Miroslav Janjic announced the interviews of 30 witnesses, some of whom will be a protected witness, and presenting of 63 pieces of material evidence. Oric is out on bail, with limited movement and the obligatory weekly reporting to the relevant police authorities. He was extradited to B&H on June 26, from Switzerland, where he was arrested on June 10 on a warrant issued by Serbia for war crimes committed in the villages around Srebrenica.

Dodik: I’m willing to call the elections in the RS, if the elections at a B&H level are being held on the same day (Srna)

President of Republika Srpska (RS) Milorad Dodik said that he would be willing to call elections in RS, if the elections at the Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) level are going to be held on the same day. Dodik, who is the President of the SNSD, said that this is his response to the opposition in the RS, which is constantly asking for the elections.

Dodik interested in cooperating with Marine Le Pen’s National Front (Klix)

“The RS is committed to consistent compliance with the Dayton Peace Agreement, which not only stopped the war, as highlighted selectively in one part of the international community, but also established the political system in B&H,” said the RS President Milorad Dodik in Banja Luka during the meeting with the delegation from France led by the Head of the National Front’s delegation to the European Parliament and Deputy President of the group “Europe, nation and freedom” in the European Parliament Edouard Ferrand. “Dodik informed members of the delegation from France about perennial devastation of the Dayton Peace Agreement by the high representatives that run to the detriment of RS authorizations,” it was stated from Dodik’s cabinet. Dodik said that the RS is committed to preserving peace and ensuring stable structures in this area. Furthermore, Dodik congratulated Ferrand and members of the delegation on excellent results on the last regional elections in France. He also thanked National Front for interest they have been showing in the RS and expressed expectation that, the statement said, as a doubtlessly significant factor of French political scene, they will continue with the policy which shows understanding for the position and problems that the RS faces with. “Such balanced attitude of the National Front towards RS opens possibilities for future cooperation with this party,” the statement says. Dodik and Ferrand expressed desire for a tight cooperation across all levels between the RS and France. The National Front party in France is led by Marine Le Pen.​

Krivokapic SDP will not support the government (RTCG)

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) will not support the government because of the destruction of the parliamentary dialogue, said the leader of the party, Ranko Krivokapic. Social Democratic Party (SDP) of Montenegro, the junior partner in the ruling coalition in Montenegro decided not to support the government of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic in the vote of confidence in the parliament, which is scheduled to take place this week. “The main board and the SDP Presidency unanimously decided not to support the government in the destruction of the parliamentary dialogue,” Krivokapic told reporters after a meeting of the Central Committee.

Democratic front urges opposition to leave Montenegrin parliament (Beta)

Montenegro’s opposition Democratic Front representatives speaking in front of several hundred people assembled in Podgorica late on Jan. 24 urged the opposition to leave the parliament if the government gets its support and join the Front in protests until the cabinet of Milo Djukanovic is toppled. At the rally in front of the Montenegrin parliament, Democratic Front leaders Andrija Mandic and Milan Knezevic said that the opposition Positive Montenegro would be guilty of political corruption if it backed the government in parliament on Jan. 25, which the party has hinted it would do. The parliament will have a confidence-in-government debate on Jan. 25, which was earlier requested by Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and a vote on Jan. 26.

Pupovac, Linta discuss new Croatian Government (Beta)

President of the Serb National Council in Croatia Milorad Pupovac said that the new Croatian government was the first after a long time whose platform did not say anything about a minority policy, let alone the exercise of Serb rights in Croatia, the return of refugees, the rights of people who lost their rights during the war, the revitalization of return areas in Croatia or making advancing in the area of minority policy President of the Alliance of Serbs Miodrag Linta described the new Croatian cabinet on Jan. 23 as “anti-Serb”, since it was elected thanks to the votes of the Homeland coalition, led by the Croatian Democratic Unity and war crimes convict Branimir Glavas. “The Croatian Democratic Union has been running an anti-Serb campaign for three years, supporting the destruction of bilingual plates in Vukovar and in Krajina,” Linta explained in a press release. Linta also recalled that the new Croatian PM, Tihomir Oreskovic, and his deputy, Tomislav Karamarko, were openly opposed to the use of the Cyrillic script in Vukovar, de facto calling for a violation of the 2002 Constitutional Law on the Rights of Ethnic Minorities.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Kosovo Fails to Integrate Serbian Civil Protection Members (BIRN, by Sanja Sovrlic, Valerie Hopkins, 25 January 2016)

In spite of an agreement on re-integrating members of the Serbian Civil Protection Corps into Kosovo institutions, many of these people remain in working limbo. It seemed so simple on paper. Under an EU-brokered agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, almost 500 former employees of the ethnic Serbian “Civil Protection Corps” were to be integrated into the relevant Kosovo state agencies. Kosovo announced that the process of integration was complete on January 12. In reality, implementation of the deal, one of several agreements signed in Brussels that seeks to bring Kosovo’s restive Serb-majority north under Pristina’s authority, has not run smoothly. Little has gone according to plan, Veroljub Petronic, a former adviser on civil protection in the northern municipality of Zvecan, said. Zvecan has been a municipality in the Kosovo system since 2013 but the old Serbian-run municipal structures, where Petronic works, still operate. “Under the agreement from Brussels members of the Civil Protection Corps were supposed to resign from Serbian institutions and Pristina was supposed to open a call for employment for Serbs in the north of Kosovo in 19 ministries and agencies,” Petronic recalled. “But we haven’t resigned and Prishtina has not open the call for work,” he said. “They couldn’t publish a call for work because then it would be public,” he explained. The competition was intended only for former members of the Civil Protection force and was not there an “open” call. Kosovo institutions have created 483 job places for people who worked in Serbian institutions in northern Kosovo. Eighty firemen began work in July 2015, and in September another 25 went to work in the prison service. But since then the process of reintegration has slowed. “The main problem is that there was not enough transparency in presenting the open positions, but it went ministry by ministry, agency by agency,” Petronic said. “The Serbian side evidently did not try hard enough to present the new work places in Kosovo institutions on time.” Petronic says he and another 377 would-be Kosovo employees have signed “acts of appointment” – but this is not the same as an official contract and they have not started working yet. “Everything is uncertain,” says Petronic. “One year is a trial period, and it is quite possible that we will be in a situation where Belgrade doesn’t have our back and Pristina doesn’t either – and what comes after? “It seems very possible that some people could get fired,” he added. After the 1998-99 conflict ended, northern Serbian–majority areas in Kosovo refused to acknowledge the existence of Prishtina-based institutions and continued to function as part of Serbia. At the time, members of the Civil Protection Corps manned barricades along the main roads in northern Kosovo. They also acted as a first response unit, putting out forest fires, cleaning ice and snow from the roads, and repairing bridges. The barricades have been disbanded and most of the property owned by the Civil Protection has been handed over to the Pristina government in accordance with the agreement. But Petronic worries that despite the integration of some former members of the Civil Protection force, Kosovo institutions are not ready to react rapidly in the event of a natural disaster in northern Kosovo. He is also concerned about the reception that he and his colleagues will encounter once they start working. Kosovo Albanians have the wrong idea about the Civil Protection force, he says, and he worries that they will hold it against him and his colleagues. “Pristina exaggerated the role and function of Civil Protection by considering it a paramilitary force, which is not true,” he concluded.

Hungary’s PM urges building of fence on Bulgarian, Macedonian borders with Greece (RT, 22 January 2016)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has called for the creation of a fence along the Macedonian and Bulgarian borders with Greece to curb the influx of refugees. In the previous year, similar fences popped up on Hungary’s borders with Serbia and Croatia. “If we cannot secure the outer border [of the EU], regardless of how costly or demanding that is, we will destroy the Schengen regime by ourselves,” Orban said when speaking during his visit to Slovenia on Friday. Orban said that Hungary had already exported rolls of razor-wire material to Slovenian, Macedonian and Bulgarian borders to handle the flow of migrants and refugees coming from the Middle East and Africa. Earlier Hungarian FM Peter Szijjarto warned that Greece was incapable of protecting its borders from the influx. He said that Hungary may request help from Bulgaria and Macedonia if Athens keeps on letting migrants to enter the country. “If Greece is not willing to take part in this solution … we need the Bulgarians and Macedonians to talk to,” Hungary’s FM Peter Szijjarto said on Tuesday. Greek PM Alexis Tsipras told that EU needs to come up with specific steps to deal with the migrant crisis and a well-thought-out relocation plan. “We need more Europe,” he told at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos this week. Last month the EU’s border agency, Frontex, promised it would increase its presence in Greece. The EU planned to replace Frontex by creating a rapid reaction force, consisting of 1500 members. “If it were not tragic I would laugh when I hear European officials speaking about hundreds of Frontex officers being the solution – it’s not the case,” Szijjarto said to that adding that, if needed, Hungary could erect a fence on the Romanian border in the shortest terms possible. “If we have to build a fence there, we are ready from the next day,” he said. European continues are going through the worst migrant crisis since World War II, with the number of new arrivals expected to increase this year to 4 million by the end of 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund. In 2015, over one million refugees arrived in the European Union, the International Organization for Migration reported. Most of the asylum seekers came from Syria, where a civil war has claimed the lives of 250,000 people and displaced 12 million others since 2011, according to UN figures, but also from Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Eritrea, Mali and other countries. EU members have been taking various measures to handle the crisis. Last year, Hungary built fences along the Serbian and Croatian borders to limit the refugee flood after the government estimated that more than 1,500 illegal migrants were arriving in the country every day. The move was denounced by the EU and the UN refugee agency. Hungary’s suit was followed by Slovenia and Austria who also erected fences of their own to relieve the migrant pressure at their borders. At the beginning of January, Denmark stepped up border controls on the German border and Sweden extended identity checks on all travelers. Sweden said it was refusing entry to people without any photo identification. Austria has recently employed army troops to stop the incoming migrants from transiting through Germany and not apply for asylum there. Macedonia has closed its border with Greece to migrants upon a request from Slovenia. The president of the European Council has warned that Europe has “no more than two months” to get the refugee crisis under control, otherwise the borderless Schengen zone may collapse. Just in the previous week Austria’s chancellor, Werner Faymann, announced that the country had “temporarily canceled” its adherence to the Schengen agreement. Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, has also warned that the EU has “six to eight weeks” to save the Schengen system of border-free travel. He feared that due to improved weather conditions the rate of crossings will quadruple.