LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: We still haven’t decided on Jeremic (Politika)

Speaking on whether the Serbian government will support Vuk Jeremic’s candidacy for the UN Secretary-General, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said the Serbian government has not yet decided on supporting anyone, including Jeremic. According to him, Serbia will be guided by its own interests when making this decision and it will support the candidate who has the highest chances of becoming the Secretary-General and who is Serbia’s friend. “Vucic and I agree on this,” said Dacic.

Dacic expects dialogue to resume (Politika/Tanjug)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic visited on Sunday Gracanica, saying he did not come to Kosovo to send negative messages regarding relations with Pristina. Asked whether Serbia would undertake some steps if Kosovo submits again a request for UNESCO membership, he said: “Belgrade is constructive and Prime Minister Vucic and I had discussed this topic with Federica Mogherini, while Mustafa and Thaci were present also. We insisted, me personally, to agree on this, not to make unilateral moves, and then we all get into a situation where we are fighting each other. Since we didn’t discuss this in Brussels so this was one of the consequences of this, that Kosovo didn’t receive the necessary majority for UNESCO membership,” said Dacic. “This is why we want this to be one of the topics in Brussels, and this could be also discussed by the Serb List representatives with the authorities in Pristina,” said Dacic. He says that the dialogue would resume, that technical groups would talk, and that the high-level dialogue would resume after the elections in Serbia.

Joksimovic: Ball in EU’s court (Beta)

Serbian Minister without Portfolio in charge of European integrations Jadranka Joksimovic said on April 10 that Serbia had fulfilled all of the requirements connected to opening Chapter 23, and that it expected EU institutions to react on Croatia’s opposition to the chapter’s opening. “The ball is now in the EU’s court, because all decisions by member states require a consensus,” Joksimovic told reporters in Belgrade. The minister said that 27 members of the Union approved of opening Chapter 23 and that only Croatia was against it, which is why the European Commission should react before anyone else.

The Committee on EU Enlargement (COELA) working group reached a consensus in Brussels, on 8 April that Chapter 24 be opened in Serbia’s accession talks with the Union in June, but Croatia is still the only member refusing to consent to opening Chapter 23, the EU officials monitoring the COELA meeting told Beta.

Miscevic: Croatia changing already defined conditions (B92)

Serbia has already composed the Action Plan for opening Chapter 23, which concerns the judiciary and elementary rights, based on conditions given two years ago. These conditions were also given by Croatia, as the EU member state, but now they are changing them. Asked why, the Head of Serbia’s negotiating team with the EU Tanja Miscevic told B92: “I have an honest answer to your question – I don’t know”. She explains that Croatia, among other things, is also requesting the abolishment of the law on universal jurisdiction, i.e. trying for criminal offences, which also exists, along with Serbia, in 11 EU member states. Zagreb requests also a different treatment towards their minorities in Serbia. “Most of member states do not have guaranteed seats for minorities in parliaments, but a different principle. That is why guaranteed seats through participation of minorities cannot be a condition set by the EU,” says Miscevic. That is precisely why Belgrade now expects Brussels and other 27 member states to resolve the newly created problem with Croatia.

Djuric: Struggle for survival in Kosovo is conducted with concrete deeds (RTS/Tanjug)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric has stated that the struggle for the survival of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija should be conducted with concrete deeds and pointed out that the Serbian government, with Vucic at the helm, will continue to fight for its people in Kosovo and Metohija and represents the strongest guarantee of the survival of our institutions in the province.

General Bojovic to remain in detention (Novosti)

General Milovan Bojovic, who was arrested by the Kosovo Police in the region of the Merdare administrative crossing, will remain in detention in Gnjilane until a final judgment, attorney from Pristina Zivojin Jokanovic tells Novosti. He stresses that a 250 Euro fine in cash or up to six months in prison is envisaged for this offense. The Pristina authorities treat this as illegal cross of “border”. Jokanovic points to Bojovic’s serious health state so he expects the verdict to be delivered in the course of the week. He also points out that the reports by the Pristina media in Albanian that the general is charged with alleged crimes committed in the region of Lab are untrue since, as he stresses, he was not in Kosovo at that time.

Eighteen electoral lists declared valid, 11 to be amended (Tanjug)

The Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) declared valid 18 lists by midnight on Saturday, with 11 lists expected to make amendments. RIK received 29 lists for the parliamentary elections.

Parties can withdraw their electoral lists by midnight on 12 April, and RIK has to declare lists valid by midnight on 13 April, and publish in the Official Gazette the final order in which electoral lists will appear on the ballot paper. RIK also stated on Saturday evening that 6,737,808 citizens would have the right to cast their ballots in the parliamentary elections on 24 April.

Faktor plus: SNS 50.9%, SPS 12.3%, SRS 7.8% (New Serbian Political Thought)

According to the latest survey by the Faktor plus agency, the highest rating is currently enjoyed by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) 50.9% (which had 52.6% 15 days ago). The next is the list around the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), which enjoys the support of 12.3% (11.9% 15 days ago). The Serbian Radical party (SRS) has 7.8% (6.1% 15 days ago), the Democratic Party (DS) has 5.7% (6.1% 15 days ago). The coalition Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS)-Dveri has 5.1% (5.5% 15 days ago). The coalition Serbian Democratic Party (SDS)-Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP)-League of Social-Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV) would enter the parliament with 5%, which had the same percentage 15 days ago, while the movement Enough is Enough – Sasa Radulovic would remain below census with 4.5%, which is more compared to the previous survey when it received 3.3%. The survey was conducted by phone between 3 and 10 April.

REGIONAL PRESS

Serbs to support one candidate for head of Srebrenica municipality (Srna)

The Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik appealed on Saturday to all Serb political parties to rally around one candidate for the head of Srebrenica Municipality in order to elect a Serb to this position, which would enable relativization of the farce created about this local community and stop the spiral of bad position of the Serbs. He has recalled there were few Serb candidates in previous elections, which made it easier for a single Bosniak candidate to get elected. He also emphasized that this way would enable discontinuation of the spiral of the bad position of the Serbs in Srebrenica, including the constant pressures and imposition of a kind of responsibility, regardless of the fact that the Serbs themselves suffered greatly in this area, nearly identically as the Bosniaks. Dodik has pointed out that it is important for the SNSD to be on the winning side in Srebrenica and to ensure this victory with the others. He has called on the municipal authorities of all Serb political parties in Srebrenica to agree on this and to involve the party leaderships.

Dodik: Suffering of Serbs in fascist NDH should be declared a genocide (Srna)

The RS President Milorad Dodik has said that it is important for the Serbs to make a request to declare the suffering of the Serbs in the fascist Independent State of Croatia (NDH) genocide. “It is important for us to find the strength, financial resources and efforts to further explain the events and sufferings caused in the fascist-genocidal NDH,” Dodik told the reporters, after he attended the central event marking 75 years since the start of the WW II in the former Yugoslavia in the Yugoslav Film Archive in Belgrade. He has stressed that the Serbs cannot accept the attempt by the caricatures to declare Srebrenica genocide, in spite of grand manipulations and pressure. “This, of course, was not genocide, but a great suffering, a great crime. People are hold responsible for this,” said Dodik. He has noted that the Serbs do not hide those who committed crimes in Srebrenica, but cannot accept the qualification such as genocide. According to him, if the world were fair, declaring the NDH crimes genocide would have happened earlier. When you go through the facts of that time you cannot say it was not genocide, but obviously, Europe is not interested in it,” said Dodik. He said there were initiatives which, he believes, should be strengthened, and that there should not be any serious conversation without insisting on it. Dodik has said that the Serbs unjustifiably failed to emphasize and, in some strange way, to insist on it in order not to irritate others. “I think it is a historic moment to request actualization of this issue,” said Dodik. He has reminded that the greatest sufferings of Serbs are related to the 40’s of the last century, as well as to the fact that the Jasenovac Concentration Camp did exist, and was the product of NDH and its fascist ideology which main aim was to destroy the Serbs in all regions, not only in Croatia, but in B&H, too. Dodik has said that there was no social awareness of other nations to protect and defend Serbs at that time. He has recalled that there was a children’s camp in NDH where, according to their data, more than 40,000, children, mostly Serb children, were killed, which reflected the intentions of NDH. Dodik has said that the great Yugoslav idea, which the Serbs were astonished with, was motivated by providing the freedom first, later a state, to other peoples, while the Serbs were demonized at the end of the last century precisely by those who were given the freedom. He has recalled the fact that mostly Serbs were the partisans and the uprisings against fascism in B&H and Croatia started in areas 100% populated by the Serbs, which shows that only Serbs were aware of combating fascism and rebelling against it, while other peoples were not. Dodik has said there were only few members of other nations who were celebrated in songs and movies recorded in the communist regime that should create confusion. He has stressed that it is essential to mark this date, 75 years since the establishment of NDH and sufferings of Serbs, which is a part of the continuity of the Serbs’ sufferings, especially in the entire system of the concentration camps from Jasenovac to Stara Gradiska, which killed more than 500,000 Serbs. “Of course, forgiving is necessary, but finding peace in forgiveness and the fact that so many people, our compatriots, were murdered in such brutal manner, is very hard. It is therefore important that the authorities of both Serbia and RS mark together such important dates in our histories, which are mostly the dates of sufferings,” said Dodik.

RS Assembly unanimously on 9 January referendum (Srna)

The RS President Milorad Dodik has told Srna that, in the coming weeks, the RS Assembly will be deciding on a referendum in the RS in which the citizens will decided whether they support the 9 January as the RS Day and stressed that he expects the unity of government and the opposition about this issue, as confirmed in a joint statement. Dodik has said that by failing to adopt the Law on the Constitutional Court of B&H, the political conditions, from earlier agreement to hold a referendum, have been met, thus there is no constitutional court which could react to the national and referendum based expression of the opinion on it, and that he does not expect the international community to react. “We agreed that, if the adoption of the Law on the Constitutional Court of B&H fails, we go for a referendum with the question “Do you support 9 January as the RS Day?”. There is no reason for anyone to require the consent, because the key thing we were asking for, which is the Law on the Constitutional Court, did not happen,” said Dodik. Commenting on the statement by the judge of the Constitutional Court of B&H, Mirsad Ceman, that if RS fails to respect the decision of this Court on the RS Day, this issue will be reviewed by the B&H Prosecutor’s Office, Dodik has said that the Constitutional Court of B&H promotes political and legal violence, as well as the practice not existing anywhere in the world, and is a voluntaristic authority that makes decisions according to the will of the international community, which is now trying to assume the role of a negative practice – of the High Representative. According to Dodik, the Constitutional Court of B&H, which is deciding via internationals’ votes and imposing political and constitutional will to others, without any constitutional grounds, shows that the people of the RS must go for a referendum and reject such practices? Dodik has said that this decision of the B&H Constitutional Court, which delves into the core, fundamental issues of RS, shows that internationals are trying to create relations in this area. Dodik has pointed out that the fact that the Constitutional Court of B&H has three international judges who generally make up the majority, indicates that B&H is neither sovereign nor an international factor and is governed by the internationals. “This shows that B&H is not a country of understanding and agreements, expressed political will and sovereignty of the peoples, but an international experiment that is to be imposed on primarily Serbs and Croats. This shows there is neither trust nor respect in B&H. The continuation of the work of international judges in the B&H Constitutional Court speaks the best about the intentions of the Bosniaks in B&H, their desire for legal and political domination and the desire to subordinate the other two nations,” said Dodik.

B&H Chief Prosecutor: There is no case against Dodik (Nezavisne)

Chief Prosecutor of the B&H Prosecutor’s Office Goran Salihovic said that a case against the RS President Milorad Dodik does not exist in this judicial institution. Salihovic highlighted that three or four cases against Dodik have been closed until now, and that “the Dodik case, does not exist”. “There was something against Milorad Dodik, for example ‘a kilogram of gold’ case, but the majority of those cases are closed,” Salihovic said. He claims that the Prosecutor’s Office is not under political pressure and that all acts and activities of police agencies are being implemented on the basis of laws. Furthermore, Salihovic emphasized that it is not the job of the Minister of Security of B&H Dragan Mektic to arrest him. “We respect the law and implement all activities on the basis of the law. Of course, the Minister cannot arrest anyone nor it is his job. He is a politician and can say anything,” Salihovic pointed out. Speaking of the investigation regarding the population census in B&H, Salihovic said that he acted preventively with the aim of determining whether there are elements of a criminal offense, because it would be an enormous damage for B&H if the results are not obtained.

Serbs from Mostar for unique Mostar and equality of all three nations (Klix)

Representatives of the Coordinating Committee of Serb Organizations in Mostar presented on Thursday their proposal of basic principles of organization of Mostar which, among others, foresees territorial and administrative organization of the city as a unique whole and protection of vital national interests of all three constitutive nations in executive and legislative city authority. Dusan Golo, President of Coordination which gathers all cultural and political organizations of the Serb nation in Mostar, highlighted that the Coordination advocates for organization of Mostar as a one unit of local administration, with stationary administration and unique government and budget. When it comes to electoral rules, representatives of Serbs believe that the local elections in Mostar must be held at any cost because the current situation is totally unacceptable for the Serb nation. They propose that minimum and maximum quotas of councilors for all three constitutive nations and caucuses of nations in the City Council are kept, and that all 35 city councilors are elected from one electoral unit. Moreover, the Coordinative Committee of Serb Organizations believes that, in addition to the protection of vital national interest in the City Council, that principle should also be embedded into the executive authority, i.e. the City Administration of Mostar. “We propose the introduction of two deputy mayors who would not be from the same nation, and who would be a medium for protection of vital national interest,” said the Coordination member Predrag Supljeglav, pointing out that this primarily refers to the issue of recruitment in city administration and execution of the city budget. When asked to comment on other proposals of organization of Mostar that appeared in public in the past several days, Golo said that the proposals of the strongest Bosniak party SDA (Party of Democratic Action) and the strongest Croat party HDZ B&H (Croatian Democratic Union) are not acceptable for the Serb nation because in those proposals both parties demand rights exclusively for their nations.

OHR: International Community will never support a divided Mostar (Patria/Novo vrijeme)

It is still uncertain whether local elections will be held in Mostar or not, and this difficult political issue seems to remain without solution so far. Speaking about the Proposal of report on the work of the interdepartmental work group for amendments to the election legislature in B&H, Salko Sokolovic, delegate of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of B&H, stated that six months have passed in vain in this operation. “Mostar is a difficult political issue. In order to resolve it, some previous issues such as whether the Constitutional Court of B&H had the right to interfere with foreign legislature must be resolved. Many previous issues must be solved in order for the Mostar issue to be solved,” Sokolovic added. However, the Office of High Representative in B&H (OHR) states that when the high representative enacts a law instead of national authorities, that law is in no way different from those passed by relevant authorities and can be a subject of consideration by the Constitutional Court of B&H at any moment. “We invite SDA and HDZ B&H to continue with the dialogue, as well as other parties, to negotiate with genuine intentions, with the aim of implementing the judgment by the Constitutional Court of B&H, so that the voters in Mostar can finally elect their local representatives. What we want to see is repeated determination for unified Mostar as a city for all the people of Mostar. Mostar should be a city where fundamental rights are respected, such as the right of the people of Mostar to elect their local representatives. Politicians owe that to the citizens of Mostar,” stated the spokeswoman of OHR Ljiljana Radetic. OHR states that there is one thing that the international community cannot support – the division of Mostar, and they reiterated that many times.

Draskovic: Montenegro has realized that without joining NATO there can be no EU integration (Pobjeda)

Montenegro has understood the causal link between NATO and EU integration. They understood that NATO integration is a condition for the EU integration. Why? Because NATO means to choose the road, and to guarantee security and political safety on that road, while membership in EU is just a journey that could last for quite a long time, said Vuk Draskovic, leader of Serbian Movement for Renewal, in his interview to Pobjeda. “Serbia officially aims to join EU, while being against joining NATO. In Montenegro, fortunately, there is no such confusion. This causal link is apparent in Serbia as well. As the number of those who are firmly against NATO rises, the number of those who are in favor of EU integration decreases,” Draskovic said.He explains the strengthening of the right in Serbia.“Left and right are turned around in today’s Serbia, and often they are the same. The main rift between parties and citizens is: Europe or Russia. Those who prefer Russia declare Europe and USA to be national enemies, and they consider themselves to be on the right. For them however, Russia is only ‘the motherland’ if it is in hostility with Europe and USA. Russia that denies the democratic system of the West, Western science, culture, lifestyle. Russia from Stalin’s times. These are not people on the right; they are neo-Bolsheviks, in accordance with anti-Western Serbian Orthodox Church. Similar chaos reigns on the Europe side of Serbia as well. They do want to join EU, but not NATO, they condemn Milosevic’s war and other crimes, but they are against opening secret files on those crimes,” Draskovic said.

Race for the UN Secretary General: Luksic to officially present his agenda on Tuesday (Pobjeda)

On 12 April in New York a race for the Secretary General of United Nations will begin. The candidates will present their programs and try to win the position of the chief world diplomat. The candidate of Montenegro’s Government Igor Luksic will participate in the informal dialogue of UN General Assembly, during which he will present his program and vision of future activities and development of the UN system, Ambassador Milorad Scepanovic said to Pobjeda. He is campaign coordinator for Montenegrin candidate. On Tuesday, Luksic will officially present his program for the first time, to 193 member states of UN and General Assembly.

Three policemen injured in clashes with migrants at Macedonia’s southern border (MIA)

Three members of the Macedonian security forces were injured Sunday morning in clashes with migrants at the Macedonian-Greek border, the Interior Ministry informs. The injured men were taken to a hospital in Gevgelija. Whether they were seriously injured still has not been disclosed. The clashes occurred after an organized group of migrants from the make-shift camp at Idomeni tried to cross the border and enter into Macedonia. The migrants threw stones at the Macedonian police, which responded with using shock and tear gas bombs. Several foreign media reported that there are a few injured migrants as well, including children who inhaled tear bomb gas. For now, there have been no official reports on how many migrants were hospitalized. Currently, the situation at the border, where army and police security is boosted, is stable and peaceful, and the migrants have returned to the Idomeni camp. The regional crisis management center reported that at about 10:30 am on Sunday, three well-organized groups comprised of 500-700 people tried to illegally cross into Macedonia from 3 locations between the border elevation 59 and the village Moin by damaging the protective fence.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Rise in Blank Ballots Predicted in Serbian Election (BIRN, by Sasa Dragojlo, 11 April 2016)

Ahead of the election on April 24, analysts say a likely rise in the number of ‘white’ – blank – ballot papers will undermine the legitimacy of Serbia’s political system and elites.

A sharp rise in the number of blank ballots in the Serbian general election will throw a question mark over the political system’s legitimacy, experts have said. A recent poll by ProPositiv agency suggested that more than 5 per cent of the voters will deliberately spoil or annul their ballots in this way. The phenomenon became noticeable in the 2012 election, when several influential intellectuals started a so-called “white ballot” campaign, designed to pinpoint the lack of real choices in the vote. More than 4 per cent of votes, around 170,000 in all, were deemed spoiled during the subsequent count. Last week’s ProPositiv survey suggested that the upcoming April elections could see a record number of voters showing their dissatisfaction by leaving the ballot paper blank. Stefan Aleksic, a political scientist and a publicist, told BIRN that the phenomenon reflected a global crisis in the legitimacy of political elites by resentful citizens who feel there is a lack of real democracy. “The people are bitter since they feel the politicians all are the same. The rise of ‘white ballots’ shows how political elites are alienated from society,” Aleksic said. In Serbia, people do not see real alternatives, since most mainstream parties have much the same political and ideological programs, he added. “Even when we change the politicians in power, we feel we are not changing anything. The differences are cosmetic,” Aleksic continued. Vesna Rakic Vodinelic, a law expert and one of the promoters of the “white ballot” action in 2012, said nothing much had changed in the last four years. Vodinelic is now a member of Nova Stranka, a party formed on the eve of the 2014 elections, which is in coalition with the Democratic Party in the elections. She told BIRN that the crisis in the political system had remained unaltered or had got worse. “If the statistics are right,” she said of the recent poll, “it is an extremely large number, which shows the enormous distrust of people towards the political system. It is a sign of a strong lack of legitimacy,” Vodinelic said. She added that this would be the highest percentage of people annulling their ballots in the whole of Europe in decades. Speaking on Radio Free Europe last week, Vodinelic also expressed concern about the Hague tribunal’s acquittal of Vojislav Seselj, leader of the extreme right Serbian Radical Party. His rising popularity could further destabilize Serbia, she noted. “The rise of the hardline rightists is a trend in Europe but also in Serbia. If this continues, we will be cornered,” Vodinelic concluded. The ProPositiv survey suggested that most people who said they spoil their ballots are former voters for the Democratic Party and Progressive Party.

Migrants Stuck in Limbo in Serbia After Balkan Route Closure (AP, by Dusan Stojanovic, 10 April 2016)

PRINCIPOVAC, Serbia — Walking a winding path inside a thick oak forest at the border between Serbia and Croatia, Jiyan Ali cannot believe his misfortune: he barely made it to Europe across rough seas and rugged mountains, only to be abruptly halted just meters away from his dream destination — the European Union. The 20-year-old Kurd from Rojava, Syria, has been stuck on the Serbian side of the frontier together with some 200 of his fellow refugees since early March when Balkan countries suddenly shut their borders for migrants escaping wars and poverty in their home countries. Now there is no legal way for the group to move forward to the heart of Europe, or backward toward Greece or Turkey, and they are stuck living in a rundown former psychiatric hospital in a country that cannot offer them work or other opportunities they desperately seek. As officials focus on the EU-Turkey deal to return migrants from Greece to Turkey and on the tens of thousands stuck near Greece’s border with Macedonia, Ali and some 1,000 other Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis stranded in Serbia feel abandoned by the international community. “We are forgotten,” Ali said while making his daily routine with a few of his refugee friends. The routine involves walking toward the border on a narrow dirt path to an old and rusty wire fence that marks the no-man’s land between the two former Yugoslav republics, and to have some fun by jumping with one foot inside what they believe is Serbia and the other inside Croatia, an EU member state. “Balkans, Europe, Balkans, Europe,” Ali and his friends chuckle, with their laughter echoing inside the dense forest with blossoming spring leafs and wild flowers. No border guards were seen on Friday on either side of the border, which in the 1990s was a heavily mined frontier between the two Balkan wartime foes. “I sometimes think, this is Balkans, this is Europe. I only need a few steps to cross,” Ali said. “I don’t know how smart is it to make that step, but maybe it is better to use the smugglers to make it there.” With their hope, patience and money running out, the migrants stuck in Serbia are increasingly turning to people smugglers to try to get out of the impasse. Local aid workers say that some 100 people try daily to cross from Serbia to Croatia or further north to Hungary, but most of them get caught. Also, some 130 new migrants arrive daily in Serbia, mostly through Bulgaria, using clandestine crossings, officials say. “I am here for two and half months,” said Amir Eskandari, a 17-year-old from Afghanistan who is traveling alone and wants to get to Germany. “I tried three times to Hungary, two times to Croatia. Police caught me every time. I’ll keep on trying.” Over a million people have used the Balkan route to reach further into Europe since last year, mostly heading for Germany or other wealthy EU states. Ehsan Rahmatjan, 20, from Herat, Afghanistan, says he has had enough of waiting for the borders to reopen. He just wants to go back home. “I think I will decide to go back because I came up to here by smugglers … I had lots of bad experiences, dangerous things. So, I don’t want to try by smugglers again, it’s dangerous, it’s very hard. I don’t know, maybe I go back.”

Don’t let them in: As Bosnia bids to join EU, experts say ex-Yugoslav state is now ’breeding ground’ for terrorism (The Sun, 10 April 2016)

BRITAIN’S security will be put at risk by letting Bosnia join the EU, it was claimed last night.

Experts said the former Yugoslav republic, which is home to three million Muslims, has become a breeding ground for terrorists. Around 300 radicals have left to fight with jihadis in Syria and Iraq. The black flag of IS is also flown in some villages. Yet Bosnia has applied for EU membership after being recognised as a candidate country. If successful, its citizens would have greater freedom to enter the UK, sparking fears of an attack by extremists. Bosnian weapons were used in the 2015 terror attack on the Charlie Hebdo magazine offices in Paris. Some of the firearms used in last November’s IS attacks on the French capital, including the Bataclan theatre massacre, were also sourced in Bosnia. Brexit campaigners have also warned that UK taxpayers will have to send millions of pounds to prop up Bosnia’s struggling economy — cash which could fall into the hands of terror groups.

‘Bosnia is a safe house for radicals’

Anti-EU campaigners have already slammed plans to admit Turkey, which shares 750 miles of border with Syria and Iraq. With plans to enlarge the European Union even further, Bosnia is now being lined up to join. The European Commission has pledged more than £1.1billion over the next three years to boost Bosnia’s transport links. Bosnian leaders are demanding candidate status by next year, paving the way to become a full member after 2020. The move is backed by Britain and Germany. But Tory MP Peter Bone, co-founder of Grassroots Out, said: “The EU should not be even considering Bosnia as a potential member state.  “Although Bosnia’s accession is not as imminent as Turkey’s, the very fact that the EU is in talks with a country which has become a hub for Islamic terrorists proves that the UK’s continued membership of the EU will put our national security at risk.” Balkan expert and former US Security Agency adviser John Schindler has described the country as a “safe house for radicals”. About 300 Islamist fighters have been radicalised in Bosnia — more per head of population than any other European country. They include two of the world’s most wanted terrorists. Bajro Ikanovic has commanded the largest IS training camp in northern Syria for many years. Also wanted is Nusret Imamovic, a leader in Nusra Front, a group tied to al-Qaeda in Syria. While most Bosnian Muslims are moderates, several thousand are Salafists — followers of the Sunni interpretation of Islam.

It was introduced by North African and Middle East fighters who arrived in the 1992-95 wars between Serbs, Muslims and Croats. German investigators believe there are a dozen places where Salafists have assembled radicals undisturbed by the authorities. Three years ago, the International Crisis Group warned that Islamism and nationalism were dancing a “dangerous tango” in Bosnia. Recently, the authorities counted 64 illegal Muslim communities suspected of radicalism. Mr Bone added: “With youth unemployment in Bosnia running at 60 per cent, the highest rate in Europe, British taxpayers will have to send millions of pounds. “The only way Brits can be sure Bosnian terrorists won’t come here freely, and our money will not be sent there, is by voting to leave the EU on June 23.” Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: “A Remain vote is not a vote for the status quo but for an EU looking to expand in the future to include Bosnia, Turkey and more. For the sake of security, we must leave the EU and take back control of our borders.”

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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.