LOCAL PRESS

Nikolic: We will not become EU member if the condition is to recognize Kosovo (Tanjug/Press)

Serbia wants to arrange its state in a manner arranged by EU members, but Serbia has one condition for Europe – that it never requests us to recognize Kosovo, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has said. “We will not be a member of any union that would ask that from us, and I am grateful to all countries that have not recognized independence of Kosovo and Metohija, among them our dear Greece,” the Serbian President told the Corfu TV. When the Greek reporter asked whether he likes this Europe which Serbia wants to be a member of, he replied with a question: “Do you like the Europe you’re a member of” and pointed out that we have no better Europe. “And we are surrounded by the European Union; we want to arrange the state the way EU states are arranged. The EU will hardly find consensus among all its members when it comes to our accession, but we are negotiating,” the President said.

Belgrade, Pristina representatives on IDs (Beta)

The Belgrade-Pristina dialogue at expert level will resume in Brussels today, focusing on the use of IDs of Kosovo residents issued by the Serbian police and the implementation of the agreement on official visits. According to an announcement from the Serbian government, Belgrade’s delegation will be headed by the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric.

The Pristina authorities have decided to ban Djuric from entering Kosovo for an unspecified period of time, after he toured northern Kosovo without prior approval from the Kosovo authorities. The Kosovo police have been ordered to arrest Djuric if he is found on the territory of Kosovo or attempting to enter.According to the provisions of the Brussels agreement, the

Kosovo Foreign Ministry is in charge of issuing permits to Serbian officials for visiting Kosovo.

Serbian IDs still valid (Novosti/Politika)

Despite announcements from Pristina that all those who have Serbian IDs issued in Kosovo will be prevented to enter and exist Kosovo and Metohija, traffic was normal between the southern province and Serbia proper. The ban was not applied, and according to Novosti’s unofficial information at the Jarine and Brnjak crossings, the Kosovo police had not received any official document that would instruct them to proceed in a different manner. Politika unofficially learns that traffic was also normal at the Merdare crossing. Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Goran Rakic told Politika that “citizens gathered yesterday at their own initiative since they are concerned”, stressing that he believes Pristina will withdraw today in Brussels the announcement on suspending IDs issued by dislocated police stated of the Republic of Serbia in Kosovo and Metohija.

Anniversary of the Brussels agreement; Serbs not giving up ZSO (RTS)

Three years ago, Belgrade and Pristina officials signed in Brussels the agreement on normalization of relations. The agreement was also a prerequisite for Serbia’s beginning of membership negotiations with the EU. The key item, and also the biggest, as assessed, success of the agreement – the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) with a Serb majority is still a dead letter. Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Branimir Stojanovic tells Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that peace and stability were achieved with the Brussels agreement, and that the disagreements moved from streets and bridges into offices. Disagreements are now resolved this way, the situation now is more peaceful than before the agreement in Brussels, says Stojanovic. The last set deadline for drafting the ZSO Statute was 25 December last year. The Kosovo government is not hiding that it hasn’t even started with the drafting of this document. “There is obviously not enough will, since the EU must exert pressure on Pristina. We have been ready a long time ago, but Pristina doesn’t want to do their part of the job. That is why it is important that the EU unblocks this process,” says Stojanovic. “The ZSO is the most important thing; it is an instrument necessary for us to survive here. We are very aware of this and this is why we are not ready to give up,” explains Stojanovic. Commenting the problems with IDs, the ban for trucks, Stojanovic says that the Pristina media are placing topics that will draw the attention from other problems. According to him, the Serbs do not have enough political influence in Kosovo and this is why it is important for Belgrade, the international community, the EU to stand as guarantors that the Brussels agreement will be implemented. The ZSO was one of the main reasons over which the Kosovo opposition had been blocking the work of the assembly and organized protests. The opposition also requested the constitutionality of the Brussels agreement, while the Kosovo Constitutional Court gave consent last December to resume with the establishment of the ZSO. Belgrade officials claim that the Serbian side fulfilled all obligations from the Brussels agreement and that it was on Pristina to now fulfill six of 15 items of this agreement, first of which is the establishment of the ZSO.

Defense files appeal against Ivanovic verdict (Tanjug/Politika)

The defense team of Citizens’ Initiative SDP (GI SDP) leader Oliver Ivanovic has filed an appeal against a verdict by which Ivanovic was sentenced to nine years in prison, the GI SDP said in a release on Monday. “We expect the panel of judges at the Appellate Court in Pristina to sit on this issue and revise this shameful verdict as soon as possible and in that way finally put an end to the politically-motivated process and the fixed trial that has been being led against our leader for three years now,” the GI SDP said. The GI SDP said that a press conference at which the process led against Ivanovic would be discussed by his defense team and a number of legal experts would be held in Belgrade on 22 April.

On the border of census DS, Enough, DSS – Dveri (Danas)

The Democratic Party (DS), the coalition of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and Dveri Movement, “Enough” are on the edge of census, according to a survey conducted by Danas. The coalition around the Serb Progressive Party (SNS) is supported by 50.6 percent of the voters, followed by the list of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and United Serbia (JS) supported by 11.4 percent of voters, then the Serb Radical Party (SRS) with 8.2 percent. The coalition SDS-LDP-LSV supports 6.9 percent of voters, followed by DSS-Dveri with 5.6 percent and “Enough” with 5.3 percent. The DS, according to research conducted from 11 to 17 April, is below the threshold and has the support of 4.9 percent. Research shows that at the moment 53 percent of adult respondents are going to vote while the rest are abstainers, undecided or those who do not want to answer for whom they would vote.

REGIONAL PRESS

Central census bureau still without agreement (Srna)

The Central Census Bureau failed to reach an agreement on a uniform programme for data processing of the census of population, households and dwellings in B&H on Monday in Sarajevo. Director of the B&H Statistics Agency Velimir Jukic has told reporters that he will inform the B&H Council of Ministers on current negotiations in the coming days. “You will be informed on our next steps, but the B&H Council of Ministers will be informed on our meetings and the outcomes,” Jukic told reporters after a meeting of the Central Census Bureau. He has pointed out they will try to find a solution to this issue in the coming period, hoping that the results of the census held in 2013 will be published within the legal time limit. Stating that 196,000 census forms (questionnaires) are controversial, Jukic has said that there were three proposals for residency determination reviewed at the meeting. He says he is not certain when the next session of the Central Census Bureau will be held. Director of the Repubublika Srpska (RS) Statistics Institute, Radmila Cikovic, has expressed disappointment that there was no agreement reached on a uniform program for data processing of the census of population, households and dwellings after four-hour-long session on Monday. Director of the Federation of B&H Statistics Institute Emir Kremic expressed the hope that, with the increased engagement of people in the statistics agencies, the census results could be published within a legal time limit. The legal deadline for publishing the results of population and housing census in B&H is July 1. An obstacle to publishing the Census results is a formulation of a permanent resident in B&H. For months, through their representatives in the B&H Central Census Bureau, the Bosniaks have refused to accept that a permanent resident of B&H is one who lives, works and goes to school in B&H.

B&H hopes to agree new arrangement with IMF in May (Klix/Srna)

B&H can hope for a new arrangement with the International Monetary Fund of about EUR 500 million to stabilize public finances and support the budgets of the country’s two entities, Bosnian media said on Monday, reporting on a visit by state and entity officials to Washington for talks with IMF and World Bank representatives over the weekend. The IMF’s Sarajevo office said in a press release that it had been agreed that an IMF mission would visit Bosnia in May and resume talks on a package of tax, financial and structural reforms on which the approval of a new credit arrangement depended. IMF and WB representatives held productive talks with the B&H officials, with both sides confirming they were committed to reaching an agreement on an ambitious economic reform programme, it was said. B&H Council of Ministers Chairman Denis Zvizdic told Klix portal the B&H officials asked for an expanded three-year arrangement in the amount of EUR 537 million, voicing confidence that an agreement would be reached in May. Republika Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic has stated in Washington that a new arrangement with the IMF is almost certain and pointed out that the final details will be defined in the first half of May. “It is almost certain that we will have a letter of intent completed and agreed in a month, a month and a half, but will also go for a new arrangement with the IMF,” said Cvijanovic.

Another German MP slams Croatia for blocking Serbia-EU talks (Hina)

Josip Juratovic, a member of the Bundestag and its foreign affairs committee, on Monday supported his colleague Guenther Krichbaum, who criticized Croatia for blocking the Serbia-European Union accession negotiations. “Croatia’s attempt to block Serbia in issues that can be solved bilaterally is a waste of precious time which Croatia should and could use for its better future, which lies in good neighborly relations,” Juratovic of the SPD party told Hina. He agreed with Krichbaum’s criticism of Croatia for blocking the opening of Serbia-EU negotiations on policy Chapters 23 and 24. “Croatia itself was admitted to the EU relatively unprepared in chapters 23 and 24 so that it could be an example and a partner” to Western Balkan countries in the pre-accession process, Juratovic said. “Unfortunately, Croatia’s policy has let down the EU’s expectations and is creating an increasingly bad image both on the domestic and on the foreign policy front.” He said Krichbaum’s criticism carried weight because he chaired Bundestag’s influential committee on EU issues and that Krichbaum, a CDU lawmaker, was known also as a big critic of Serbia’s policy. Juratovic said he did not know “the official position of the German government” but that, given that “the highest representative body of a democratic society is the parliament, it would be good to consider more seriously the image of Croatia’s policy which, both in terms of the domestic and the foreign policy, is very bad.” He said “there are many social and political initiatives for peace, stability and development in the region which remain in the shadow of political populism, which unfortunately creates unnecessary tensions, and bombastic headlines create an entirely unrealistic picture of the relations in the region.”

Stoltenberg praises Montenegro for great progress (RTCG)

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told the Podgorica-based media on Monday that Montenegro had made great progress, notably in the rule of law, including the fight against organized crime and corruption, adding that new laws have been adopted and that now the emphasis is on their enforcement. The process of joining NATO is not the end of the journey for Montenegro, but it is the beginning of a new phase. The process of joining is a new challenge and requires the continuation of reforms, including further strengthening of the rule of law and fight against corruption, Stoltenberg said. He underscored that NATO membership was the matter of national interest and that it was extremely important for the Montenegrin public to be well informed about the country’s responsibilities as well as of the benefits NATO membership brings. Stoltenberg also said he expected NATO foreign ministers to sign Montenegro’s accession protocol during a ministerial meeting set for 19-20 May in NATO headquarters in Brussels. Once the protocol is signed, Montenegro will officially be invited to join NATO and it will take part in almost all meetings of the Alliance as an observer, he added. Thus, Montenegro is on the verge of becoming the alliance’s 29th member.

International community invites Macedonian party leaders for meeting in Vienna on Friday (Telegraf.mk)

The international community is planning a leader meeting aimed at finding a solution to the crisis between the leaders of the four biggest political parties from Macedonia, which will be held in Vienna on Friday, the EU delegation in Skopje confirmed. VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski, SDSM leader Zoran Zaev, DUI leader Ali Ahmenti and DPA leader Menduh Thaci were formally invited by the three Euro-parliamentarians that were involved in implementing the Przino Agreement, Ivo Vajgl, Eduard Kukan and Richard Howitt. EU enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn, EU and US ambassadors to Macedonia Aivo Orav and Jess Baily are also supposed to attend the Vienna meeting. During his visit to the US, Commissioner Hahn expressed concern Saturday about the situation in Macedonia and appealed to the parties signatories of the Przino agreement to return to the negotiating table and to return the country back on its the Euro-integration path. To that effect, he announced another mediation attempt, together with the Euro-Parliament members. VMRO-DPMNE and DUI deem that 5 June elections should be held and that after the initial postponement from April 24 there should not be another additional postponement. The ruling parties believe that elections are the only way out of the crisis and that the opposition does not want elections because it is afraid of bad ratings. On the other side, SDSM considers that elections should be postponed indefinitely and that current circumstances, such as an unrevised electoral roll and no reforms in the media, are not right for holding elections. EU fears the situation in Macedonia might escalate, especially after the daily protests of opposition supporters that might spiral out of control easily.

Tumultuous week ahead: VMRO-DPMNE and SEC Prepare for elections, SDSM for boycott (Telegraf.mk)

A turbulent week is expected to arrive on the Macedonian political scene. After the State Election Commission announced it was ready for the 5 June elections, the preparations for the early ballots are underway, Telegraf.mk reads. The first thing that needs to be done is to make the electoral roll available for public insight, so that each citizen can verify whether his or hers name features the list. The majority of the commission members have no dilemmas that the elections will take place in the best of orders. However, the SDSM-led opposition does not share that position, and it still voices strong concerns regarding the voters’ registry revision and the so-called “phantom voters”. The conduct of the European Union during these moments is baffling, as it does not condemn the SDSM calls for boycott, although Brussels said the State Election Commission is the authority that should say whether there are fit conditions for holding early parliamentary elections. The political situation in Macedonia has been rendered additionally complicated after President Gjorge Ivanov announced a general abolition act, with which he halted all legal proceedings led against politicians and their associates belonging to both the ruling parties and the opposition. The chief of state later gave further explanation of his move – the person who wishes to be abolished should submit a written demand to his cabinet. So far, several politicians have or will file such a request to the president – those are: Nikola Gruevski, Saso Mijalkov, Zoran Zaev, Trajko Veljanoski, Branko Crvenkovski, and Vladimir Taleski. However, what presents greater causes for concern is the radicalization of the protests organized by associations some believes are close to SDSM and Soros. Regular incidents occur during their protests, with injured police officers, demolished state institutions, while certain experts are openly discussing the prospects of Macedonia seeing a ‘Ukrainian scenario’, which is again not condemned by the EU. The Civil Movement for Macedonia’s Defense (GDOM) announced it will hold public gatherings over the week. Their representatives say the association is getting more and more support from the citizens. According to GDOM, Macedonia cannot fall into the arms of those who mean the country harm and that only the 5 June elections are the solution to the imposed political crisis.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Serbia determined to join EU despite bloc’s ‘problems’ (Reuters, by Aleksandar Vasovic, 19 April 2016)

Serbia is determined to join European Union despite the bloc’s “problems” but will do nothing to jeopardize its good relations with Russia, Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said. Dacic is also deputy prime minister in Serbia’s ruling coalition that is expected to win four more years in power in Sunday’s general election. The government opened negotiations on EU membership last December, and hopes to complete them by 2019, but opinion polls show Serbs are increasingly skeptical about the benefits of joining given the painful economic restructuring required.

Years of euro zone crisis and Britain’s June referendum on whether to leave the bloc have also clouded the EU’s image. “Clearly, the EU has problems. There’s no international institution without problems in its functioning,” Dacic told Reuters in an interview on Monday evening.

“Serbia is neither Norway nor Switzerland to say it does not need the EU. (Brexit) is a danger to the EU, not to our determination to enter the EU,” he said. Serbia’s ties with Russia, with which it shares Slav and Orthodox Christian history, and its link with rising power China, will not be harmed by plans for accession to the EU, Dacic said. Serbia relies heavily on Russia for gas and sees Russia as an important market for its agricultural exports. It holds military exercises with both NATO countries and Russia and has no plans to join NATO. In 2014, Serbia refused to join Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and its backing of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, despite EU pressure to align its foreign policy.

“Serbia has no intention of making any moves that would jeopardize its EU path, but neither will it make any moves that could jeopardize ties with our traditional friends, including Russia,” Dacic said. The 28-nation EU is Serbia’s biggest trading partner and investor and two former Yugoslav republics – Croatia and Slovenia – are already EU members.

(Editing by Adrian Croft and Raissa Kasolowsky)

What Went Wrong? Macedonia’s Crisis Of Democracy (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, by Gordana Knezevic, 19 April 2016)

“Don’t be afraid to dream of justice and freedom,” Macedonian activist and author Xhabir Deralla wrote in a recent blog post. Deralla is the head and co-founder of Skopje-based CIVIL — Center for Freedom, an NGO focused on peace and reconciliation. Getting through to his office has not been easy in recent days, due to the chaos engulfing the city and the country for the second time in less than a year. The most recent demonstrations in the Macedonian capital were triggered by a blanket amnesty issued by President Gjorge Ivanov for more than 56 officials accused of wide-ranging fraud and corruption — including election violations, illegal wiretapping, and backroom business deals. The investigation of the corruption allegations was one of the key measures agreed to as a way out of last year’s political crisis, when Macedonians took to the streets to demand the resignation of the government in the wake of the wiretapping scandal. However, five months into the independent probe, the president concluded that the time was right to pull the plug and hold elections in June as if nothing had happened. I have long envied the Macedonians because they managed to gain their independence without a war, unlike virtually every other constituent republic of the old federal state of Yugoslavia. Just 10 years ago, Macedonia was poised to become a member of NATO and EU accession talks were progressing well. The official view in Brussels was that Macedonia was the most promising of the EU’s otherwise mostly unruly Balkan proteges.

So what went wrong?

Zana Trajkoska, director of the Skopje-based School of Journalism and Public Relations, said in a telephone interview that people have had enough of corruption and are horrified at the prospect of a brazen suspension of the rule of law, which is the upshot of President Ivanov’s amnesty. The most recent U.S. State Department report highlighted that political interference, inefficiency, cronyism, and nepotism, violations of the right to public trial, and corruption characterized the judicial system. Among those under investigation, in the now-suspended probe, were members of the president’s security detail and powerful businessmen. Such “persons of interest” were not publicly known — until now — which raises the question of how the president was able to know about — and pardon — individuals under secret investigation by an independent body. I met Trajkoska last summer in Skopje and we discussed the state of the media in the country. At the time, I remember thinking that her opinion of the extent of government control over the media may have been exaggerated. My impression was that Macedonia was in slightly better shape than some other parts of the former Yugoslavia. In hindsight, Trajkoska might have been right. Experts have reported an environment of fear surrounding the media, and one that encourages self-censorship. The country’s political crisis has also highlighted serious concerns over selective reporting and the lack of editorial independence on the part of the public-service broadcaster, Macedonian Radio Television. According to the 2016 Freedom House Nations in Transit report on democratic progress, the largest decline was Macedonia’s, where its scores dropped in six of the seven categories. For now, Macedonia’s integrationist dream appears to be on hold. The main stumbling block to Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration is the dispute with Greece over the country’s official name, which is also the name of a region of northern Greece. At the NATO Bucharest summit in 2008, Macedonia was meant to receive its invitation to join the alliance. It never arrived, thanks to Greek opposition. That dispute continues to have a serious impact on regional stability at a time when Europe needs the Balkans, or at least the cooperation of Balkan states — and Macedonia in particular — over a number of issues, notably the influx of refugees.

The Greek objection seems petty. There are almost a dozen “Macedonias” — from Alabama to Virginia in the United States, which no one seems to object to — but ethnic nationalism is still a winning ticket in the wider Balkans. The “Macedonian question” has been used by Greek politicians to whip up domestic support ever since the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. Historically, the wider region of Macedonia has been a sphere of influence for Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece, and each has tried to imprint its own language, culture, and identity on all or part of it. After World War II, numerous villages in northern Greece with a Slavic Macedonian population were resettled, the names of places were changed, and the people who stayed behind declared themselves Greeks. Perhaps this past still haunts Greek political leaders. Or perhaps history — and names — have unusual power in this part of the world. Regardless of which party is in power in Athens, Macedonia continues to be denied its own name and has to live with a clumsy substitute: “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” (sometimes unofficially abbreviated as FYROM). Itself not averse to using ancient history to play modern politics, the Macedonian ruling party has responded to the Athens veto by vowing to build an “older and more beautiful” Skopje, with more ancient gods depicted in the center of the city than one can see in some parts of Greece. Macedonia has also declared itself a cradle of ancient Greek civilization, and the first person one encounters at Skopje airport is none other than Alexander the Great — otherwise known as Alexander of Macedon. The Macedonian government has used the name issue to position itself as the defender of the nation’s honor and patriotism. People who have criticized the government on any account have been declared traitors, a convenient — and time honored — way of silencing those who cried out against corruption. In the latest twist, the parliamentary speaker has announced that elections will go ahead on June 5 as planned, although the opposition and NGOs insist that conditions have not been met for a free and fair vote.

In a telephone interview, Deralla from CIVIL — Center For Freedom said that he’s not sure if the ruling coalition was, in fact, ever elected. “The voter list is a major issue of concern for the Macedonian public. The election commission initially announced that around 500,000 names on the register were suspected of not being eligible voters. The figure was later reduced to 300,000, then 200,000, and finally 89,000,” Deralla said. “Two years ago, my organization conducted its own investigation and concluded that 120,000 to 150,000 of those on the register were ‘phantom voters,’ as we referred to them. The figure initially reported by the election commission exceeded even our estimate of the extent of [electoral] fraud.” To put this into perspective, the total number of eligible voters in the 2014 Macedonian parliamentary elections was 1,779,572, with a turnout of 54 percent in the second round of voting. The initial figure cited by the election commission would mean almost one-third of all voters were not eligible. The opposition and NGOs say that in order for free and fair elections to take place, voter lists have to be reviewed and adjusted, individuals suspected of fraud and corruption must stand trial, and the media must adhere to the basic standards of impartiality and objectivity during the upcoming election campaign. That may seem like a forlorn hope today, but the protesters in the streets of Skopje are undaunted, just as they were last year when they eventually forced the government to concede.

I managed to again get in touch with Trajkoska, the director of the journalism school. She sounded indignant but determined as she set off on her daily protest march from the special prosecutor’s office to the Macedonian parliament: “We meet every day at 6 [p.m.] and our slogan is: ‘No Justice, No Peace!'” Perhaps once again Macedonians are actually ahead of the rest of the region. We may be witnessing the dawn of another dark age in Balkan politics, a time of authoritarianism, extreme nationalism, and corrupt governments everywhere, from Zagreb to Skopje to Belgrade. But no one has drawn a line in the sand with quite the determination of the Macedonian protesters, who have made it clear to their leaders: “This far, and no further!”

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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.