LOCAL PRESS
Margallo to Nikolic: Spain will continue to support Serbia (Tanjug)
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic on Wednesday received Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo, who noted that his country will continue to back Serbia on its EU path. It is a genuine pleasure to speak with great friends, and Spain occupies a special place in our hearts, Nikolic noted. “Serbia is with you and we are very grateful for your support regarding Kosovo’s independence, and your support for Serbia’s path to full EU membership,” a statement from the presidential press service quoted Nikolic as saying. Under the influence of ultranationalists glorifying the Ustasha movement, Croatia is blocking the opening of chapters in Serbia’s EU accession talks, despite an agreement at the highest level that issues should be resolved through dialogue rather than blackmailing, Nikolic said. “I am afraid that there will be a serious fatigue and a drop in the citizens’ optimism regarding full EU membership,” Nikolic noted. “We need to intensify our economic cooperation – Serbia is an excellent destination for Spanish investments,” he said. Margallo thanked the President for strongly supporting the two nations’ friendship, in particular for the support for Spain’s UN Security Council membership and cooperation in international organizations. Spain supports Serbia’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, Margallo underlined, noting that Spain does not recognize Kosovo documents and that it will not enable visa liberalization for citizens from that territory.
EU ministers congratulate Serbia on growth, call for persistence in reforms (Tanjug/Beta)
EU finance ministers congratulated Serbia on the economic growth achieved, stressing that the country had to persevere on the path of structural reforms in order to better prepare for the competition facing it as a future member of the Union, Tanjug’s reporter in Brussels reported on Wednesday. Participants in the 2016 annual meeting of the Economic and Financial Dialogue between the EU and the Western Balkans and Turkey, held in Brussels, discussed a Serbian government document on macroeconomic and structural issues and priority investment projects in Serbia. Serbian Finance Minister Dusan Vujovic told reporters after the meeting that Serbia had fulfilled most of the recommendations from the previous year and the conclusions from today’s meeting had largely been expected. “We are at a critical stage of implementation of economic reforms. Reforms supported by the International Monetary Fund, that is, and these are structural reforms,” Vujovic said.
Hahn: Chapter 23 to be opened, formal decision next week (RTS/Tanjug)
EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn said on Thursday that a way has been found to open Chapter 23 in accession negotiations between Serbia and the EU by the end of June.“We found a solution yesterday evening and we expect a formal decision to be made next week,” Hahn told Tanjug. He made this statement when asked if the opening of that chapter would be unblocked – but did not go into much detail, the agency said. Hahn told a news conference in Brussels that the text of a decision that will state Serbia has met the conditions to open Chapter 23 has been agreed with Croatia, and the text of the common negotiating position of the EU. RTS said it learned unofficially that Croatia had provided “written consent for Serbia to open Chapter 23 in EU membership negotiations”.
Protests in Decani (RTS/Tanjug)
Kosovo Albanians in Decani protested against a Kosovo Constitutional Court decision concerning Monastery Decani. Tanjug is reporting that the protest lasted some 30 minutes, with only Decani Mayor Rasim Selmanaj addressing the crowd. No incident took place during the protest which passed off under heightened security measures.
Earlier, Decani municipal assembly members decided to oppose the decision of the Kosovo Constitutional Court, which confirmed the ownership of the monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Visoki Decani of 24 hectares of land, Radio and Television of Serbia(RTS)reported. The assembly members assessed at an extraordinary meeting that the Constitutional Court’s decision was “illegal, shameful and discriminatory for citizens of Decani, and it prevents, among other things, the economic development of the town.” Addressing the assembly members, Decani Mayor Rasim Selmanaj said that there was still room to legally challenge the recent decision of the Constitutional Court.
Hasani: We are requesting post of head of the Coordination Body and deputy minister (Politika)
“We still don’t know whether prime minister designate for the new government Aleksandar Vucic will invite us for talks, but if he does, we are prepared to accept to be part of it. We would request the post of the head of the Coordination Body for Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja municipalities and the deputy minister of any ministry. I think this is realistic and that those who are selected from our ranks will justify the trust,” Bujanovac Professor Fatmir Hasani, the newly elected Serbian MP, told Politika. Hasani is member of the Party for Democratic Action (PDD), the only Albanian political party that has been regularly taking part in parliamentary elections. Last Monday, Hasani, together with the PDD leader Riza Halimi and Ardita Sinani, who was the head of the this party’s list at the republican elections, attended consultations with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic. He points out that the reception was very fair and that it lasted 25 minutes out of the envisaged 30, and adds: “We have used the time to discuss with the President problems in southern Serbia and of our minority in the Presevo Valley, as well as the possibility of entering the new government.”
Albanians, helped by Serbs, silently occupy south Serbia (Sputnik/B92)
Over the last five years about 11,000 Albanians from Kosovo and Metohija moved to the area of the town of Nis, in the southern part of central Serbia, Sputnik reported citing local estimates. From 2010 until 2015, Albanians from Kosovo have been en masse buying apartments, land and arable land in Nis, Leskovac, Vranje, Kursumlija, Prokuplje. This phenomenon is currently stagnating there, said the report, but added that villages in these municipalities are still the target of realtors from Kosovo. Albanians are most interested in the area around Vranje, along the municipal boundary with Bujanovac, and Toplica (Prokuplje, Kursumlija, Blace) – in other words, villages near the administrative line with Kosovo. “However, the biggest craze was at one time in the city of Nis, where, according to unofficial figures for the last three years, about 1,500 Albanians bought apartments, while the figure has reached 11,000 in the wider area of Nis,” writes Sputnik, but notes there is “no official data on exactly how many Albanians from Kosovo have bought land, and where, in southern Serbia”. Novi Pazar, in southwestern Serbia, is also on the list of desirable locations, but there buyers are interested mainly in farming households, away from the city. This is why media often speculate these are in fact members of the radical Muslim Wahhabi movement. “There has been information that the newcomers to the area around Novi Pazar are very interested in buying property in Apatin (in the northern province of Vojvodina), where a larger number of farms and other properties has allegedly already been bought,” Sputnik reports. In Prokuplje, Blace and Kursumlija, Albanians are particularly interested in buying farms. “They are close to Kosovo and very cheap. Albanians offer several-times higher than realistic prices for the farms in that region, and do not take ownership but instead give the previous owner a special power of attorney, usually drawn up by a lawyer in Pristina, which ‘loans’ the property to the person in question,” the article continued.
Loncar: No harm was done to the guard (Tanjug)
Serbian Health Minister Zlatibor Loncar said last night that the “no harm was done” to the guard who died, nor has anything occurred in his treatment that could have been violation of medical ethics. “Medical documentation that I had requested has arrived and I saw no problems with it,” Loncar told Tanjug. “Nothing intentional was done to Tanaskovic, nor was he poorly treated,” said Loncar.
REGIONAL PRESS
Kavazovic should drop hate speech (Srna)
The statement by Islamic Community leader Husein Kavazovic is scandalous as well as surprising because it differs from his previous amicable statements and kind actions, Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik told Srna. “After a series of concrete evidence that the life of the Serbs and Bosniaks has improved, that trust between the people is growing, we have an insulting statement from the highest Muslim spiritual authority. Reis Kavazovic has incurred damage with his statement to the Islamic Community and himself. Regardless of whether he calls us Serbs or something else, we will support one candidate in Srebrenica this year, not to serve the interests of one people only, but of the whole Srebrenica, which has suffered too much,” said Dodik. Asked to comment on Kavazovic’s statement during a recent gathering of Bosniaks in Switzerland, where he called members of the Serb people “Vlachs” and stated that Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) was a “country of Muslims,” Dodik said he would like to tell Kavazovic that this was not a country of Muslims and that there was no need to fight the Serbs with coats of arms, but that he needed to realize it would be useful if the Serbs, Bosniaks, Croats and everyone else living in B&H did not fight each other but fought unemployment, bad lifestyles, prejudice and exclusivity. “I urge Reis Kavazovic to reject hate speech and the rhetoric of his predecessor, whom we remember as the leading Bosniak politician, and to do all he can as the spiritual leader of his people to make our future better than our past or present,” said the RS President.
Ivanic: Kavazovic’s statement shows we must maintain RS (Srna)
B&H Presidency member Mladen Ivanic condemns the statement by Islamic Community leader Husein Kavazovic that “a Vlach should not be allowed to head Srebrenica” asserting that this message shows the Serbs how paramount it is to maintain the RS and their role in the B&H institutions. “The statement deserves absolute condemnation and shows that religious leaders are too much involved in politics in a very wrong way,” Ivanic told Srna. Kavazovic has divided and further brought the Bosniaks away from the Serbs and insulted the latter, said Ivanic. “This statement may even have harder consequences than those caused by Bishop Komarica,” said Ivanic. The Presidency member does not see how Kavazovic may apologize for what he said, because he didn’t make a mistake saying those words, convinced that the wider public would not hear what he really intended to say. “What he actually thought is a catastrophe for Bosnia and Herzegovina and that’s why such statements have to be roundly condemned,” said Ivanic, voicing hope that Kavazovic’s statement would be condemned by the public in Sarajevo too, not just by the Serb representatives. If it is not condemned by the public in Sarajevo, it will mean that this is a dominant view of the Serbs in B&H, which would be a total catastrophe, said Ivanic. “It only goes to show how paramount it is that we all maintain RS and that we do not give the B&H institutions to anyone else, but maintain our role fully,” said Ivanic. During a recent meeting in Switzerland, Islamic Community leader Husein Kavazovic called the Serbs the “Vlachs” and called on the Bosniaks to register and vote in the upcoming local elections in Srebrenica and not allow a “Vlach govern Srebrenica.”
Meholjic: Kavazovic incites intolerance and hatred (Srna)
Hakija Meholjic, the head of the Srebrenica board of the Social Democratic Party, roundly condemns the public appeal by Husein Kavazovic, the leader of the Islamic Community in B&H, “not to allow a Vlach to head Srebrenica,” saying it is inappropriate and unacceptable for religious leaders to meddle in politics. “Kavazovic’s statement is unacceptable. It calls for hatred and humiliation, brings a rift and distrust among the people living here. Such statements cannot contribute to reconciliation or co-existence or return,” said Meholjic. He notes that Kavazovic’s statement is shameful and could lead to a deterioration of inter-ethnic relations and some sort of anxiety and fear in the returnee population from similar responses and reaction of the Serb side. “It’s easy for Kavazovic and politicians in Sarajevo to present different options, but they should come here, spend some time here and see how the people live, so that they could say things or give advice. They should learn from us and see how common people of both ethnicities living here respect and help each other,” said Meholjic. It is the mission of religious figures, especially religious leaders to preach tolerance, understanding, mutual respect and respect of customs and lifestyles of others, call for peace and respect and not meddle in politics or incite hatred and anxiety among the people, which Kavazovic does, continuing the practice of his predecessor Mustafa Ceric, asserted Meholjic. “Kavazovic has better things to do. May he spare us his care because not only does he provoke inter-ethnic intolerance and distrust, but his messages also lead to divisions among the Muslim population too, since many disagree with his statements, messages and the way he wants to resolve the issues he is neither in charge of nor competent for,” said Meholjic.
Inzko, called on religious and political leaders to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric (Srna)
The High Representative to B&H Valentin Inzko called on all religious and political leaders in B&H to refrain from inflammatory rhetoric and dividing moves. The SDS President Mladen Bosic said that the statement of the Head of the B&H Islamic Community, Husein Kavazovic is an insulting message for Serbs. The head of the SDS Caucus in the B&H House of Representatives, Aleksandra Pandurevic, says that she is not surprised by anti-Serb statements of Banja Luka Bishop Franjo Komarica so much as she is surprised by statements of Kavazovic, who should apologize.
Sefik Dzaferovic informed about the terrorist activities of the infamous El-Mujahid squad (Srna)
Sefik Dzaferovic, the war-time chief of the Zenica Security Service Centre and current deputy of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) in the B&H House of Representatives, was informed about the terrorist activities of the infamous El-Mujahid squad, which is corroborated by documents, reports and telephone transcripts.
B&H Presidency accepted the invitation to attend a NATO summit (Srna)
The meeting of the President of the parties that make up the parliamentary majority at the B&H level was held yesterday afternoon in Sarajevo, and they discussed the country’s path towards Europe, NATO, the census, excise tax, etc. The B&H Presidency at the session accepted the invitation of the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg, addressed to the B&H Presidency Chairman Bakir Izetbegovic, to participate in the NATO summit in Poland, in Warsaw, which will be held on 9 July this year.
Bosic: Serb representatives will not support decisions on the population census (Srna)
The SDS President Mladen Bosic said at a press conference in Istocno Sarajevo that Serb representatives will not support decisions on the B&H population census which are against the interests of the RS or are illegal. Meanwhile, the RS Statistics Office sent the letters to the director of the B&H Statistics Agency Velimir Jukic, the Chairman of the B&H Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic, and members of the Council of Ministers, and relevant domestic and foreign institutions, saying that activities surrounding the processing of the population census data results should be objective. Demographer Stevo Pasalic says that RS must seriously deal with the issue of the B&H population census since data which Jukic wants to publish, in the long run, can shake up the constitutionality of peoples in B&H.
VMRO-DPMNE: We will respect Constitutional Court’s ruling (Telegraf.mk)
The ruling of the Constitutional Court of Macedonia to annul the decision for the Macedonian Parliament’s dissolution of January 2016, and the decision for changes to the decision for the Macedonian parliament’s dissolution of February 2016, does not match VRMO-DPMNE’s viewpoints but the party still announced it will respect it. “We will respect the Constitutional Court’s ruling. We believe that does not match the party’s viewpoints, but the Constitutional Court is an institution that must be respected in the country, and we will respect it as such,” read the party’s press release. As a Christian-democrat party, VMRO-DPMNE believes that elections are the only way to legitimize a government, and that the people are those who can give or take a party’s ruling. “As a party we were prepared to participate in the elections on 5 June, and to give the people a chance to express their positions on the political situation in the country,” the release of VMRO-DPMNE read.
New protest in Skopje against President’s pardoning decision (Telegraf.mk)
The civil movement ‘Protestiram’ resumed the protests in Skopje, Strumica and Tetovo on Wednesday, calling once again for rescinding of President’s Gjorge Ivanov decision to pardon all of those under investigation over a wiretapping scandal. In Skopje, the protesters as usual kicked off their march outside the offices of the Special Public Prosecution (SPO) to express their support for the institution tasked with investigating probes arising from the wiretapping scandal. This evening a stand was opened in front of the SPO, where citizens were signing written statements, affirming their participation in the protests and in painting of state institutions, which, as said, would be handed over to the police station where NGO activists had been summoned earlier today for an interview. Opposition SDSM leader Zoran Zaev, Vice-President Radmila Sekerinska and PEI leader Fiat Canovski were also part of the ‘Colorful Revolution’, which this evening pelted the buildings of the Ministry of Justice and the Parliament with paint.
Gruevski: SDSM Failed in to sway public opinion, now left to rely on biased Special Prosecutor (Telegraf.mk)
VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski says that the campaign of opposition SDSM party to sway public opinion using the publication of wiretaps has failed, and that SDSM was facing a major electoral defeat which forced it to withdraw from the agreement to hold elections. Gruevski adds that SDSM leader Zaev has brought the country and himself in dire straits and is hoping for help from his outside supporters, primarily in using the Special Prosecutor’s Office that was established to investigate the wiretapping affair. “Zaev knows very well in what kind of a mess he put the country and himself. He hopes that those who dragged him this far will help him out of it. He knows that not only is VMRO-DPMNE not finished, but if he had gone to the elections, he would have been finished as a politician. Many people in SDSM, who are better able to make political calculations, are actually hoping this is the case and realize that, while Zaev leads the party, he can only do damage, but can never win power. Now that the elections have been cancelled, he bought some time for himself, so he can make additional mischief and manipulations,” Gruevski said in the first part of an interview with Telegraf.mk. Gruevski says that VMRO-DPMNE continues to support the Special Prosecutor’s Office as an institution. “We support the idea of an independent body that will fully investigate the matters that Zaev tried to misconstrue last year. We want to have it cleared up because we are innocent of the charges SDSM’s leader subscribed to us in his dirty operation for which he himself said that was the work of a foreign intelligence service, and the whole of Macedonia heard him say it. But the people working in this institution showed too many weaknesses in the past six months, too much unprofessionalism and we must express our disappointment and concern. We are a small country, with a small capital and everybody quickly learns everything here, about behaviors and intentions. Unfortunately, we can’t see the SPO acting with professionalism, unbiased approach, non-partisanship, presuming innocence and acting equally toward everybody. We see quite the opposite”, Gruevski said. In the interview, Gruevski declined to say which are the external parties that are supporting Zaev, saying that as a politician he can’t damage the interests of the country, but added that “the majority of the public is pretty much in the clear” on this issue. Speaking about the protests organized by SDSM in the past month and a half, Gruevski said that the NGO groups organizing the protests are largely funded by the George Soros network of organizations, which often engage in bizarre indoctrination of young activists. “The trainings are led by leading organizers of the Soros group, and from what we’ve heard, the goal is to recruit young and perspective people with money and plenty of free travel, which is the main motive for them to come to these lectures and brainwashing attempts. Those who eventually fall out from the program, who do not succumb to this indoctrination, are told to stop coming, so that the money can be focused on the ones who can be more effective. A participant told me that in a training in 2009 all present were asked to climb on a table and step on the VMRO-DPMNE program. Completely crazy stuff. Or, they were asked to repeat in a chorus “This Government Is Not Good”. Things that would shock a person. These lecturers and attendees are later tasked to go on TV programs and fiercely attack VMRO-DPMNE and its Government, to write editorials, some of them get to be journalists or to lead programs and news sites, plenum meetings or protests, public debates, and to write negatively about us abroad, to prepare thousands of letters and emails for foreign news outlets and commentators whom they persuade that there is a lack of freedom and democracy in the country”, Gruevski said. According to the former Prime Minister, VMRO-DPMNE is facing two opposition groups an official one in SDSM, and an unofficial group in the Soros network of non-Governmental organizations. Gruevski says that the Soros NGOs are active organizing protests when VMRO-DPMNE is in office, organizing protests, but when SDSM holds the Government, then they usually work on projects supporting he Government. “This is not the case only in Macedonia. You see this in other countries, mainly in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.In these past two and a half decades, VMRODPMNE relied solely on the people and we work to be as much as we can to its service. To meet our obligations toward the public, and to fulfill their expectations. SDSM is oriented toward its sponsors from abroad, and work in their service, not in service toward the people”, Gruevski told Telegraf.mk in his interview.
INTERNATIONAL PRESS
Putin to Hold Talks With Serbian Prime Minister Vucic Thursday – Kremlin (Sputnik, 26 May 2016) MOSCOW – Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Serbian Prime Minister Alexander Vucic in Moscow later on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“Serbian Prime Minister Vucic is in Moscow on a private visit and while he’s here in Moscow he will meet and speak with President Putin,” Peskov told journalists.
European intellectuals call for replacing Croatian culture minister (Liberation, 25 May 2016)
The French newspaper Liberation on Monday published an open letter as part of a petition calling for the replacement of Croatian Culture Minister Zlatko Hasanbegovic. The letter says he is a revisionist historian and sympathizer of the Ustasha regime and that because of that Croatia does not abide by the fundamental values of the European Union. “Zlatko Hasanbegovic is using the post-war totalitarian violence to discredit the fight against fascism which he perfidiously mixes with communist crimes, which is a distortion of the truth. In his speeches and publications, he brings into question historical truths and the basic values of our political union. He was not chosen for his competencies in the field of culture but to promote the ideology he stands for,” the letter says. The letter details his controversial statements and moves before and after becoming minister, saying that one of his first steps upon taking office was to abolish the Non-Profit Media Commission, after which he got rid of unsympathetic Croatian Radio-Television journalists, and that he exposed members of the Electronic Media Council to growing pressure, disregarding the concern expressed by many organizations, including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. “Because of all that, we are calling for joint action because there is no room in Europe and Croatia for an ideology based on the revisionism he stands for. This isn’t about an opinion or political sensibility, but an expression of our attachment to the basic values in the foundations of the European project,” the letter says. Among the many who signed it are Italian Marxist theoretician Antonio Negri, Bosnian Oscar winning director Danis Tanovic, Berkeley professor Judith Butler, conservative French philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, Italian Nobel winner for literature Dario Fo, former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell, former Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, European activists Etienne Balibar and Chantal Mouffe, French activists and Nazi hunters Beate and Serge Klarsfeld, Croatian actress Ursa Raukar and Croatian human rights activist Mario Mazic.
Vojislav Seselj Seeks Political Resurrection in Bosnia (BIRN, by Danijel Kovacevic, 26 May 2016)
With his popularity boosted by his war crimes acquittal, Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj is hoping to stage a political comeback among Bosnia’s Serbs as well as in his home country.
Banja Luka
Vojislav Seselj is hoping to pick up his political career where he left off when he went to The Hague to stand trial at the UN war crimes tribunal in 2003. Seselj’s Serbian Radical Party, which has been active in Serbia and Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska throughout the past two decades, has been weakened by his prolonged absence. Its political space in both countries has meanwhile been occupied by mainstream parties which have moved to the right and assumed positions based on Serb nationalist and patriotic sentiments. Amid growing conservatism and nationalism as well as increased public frustrations with mainstream parties across the region, Seselj sees ample space for a political revival and is making big plans for his comeback, as long as the Hague Tribunal confirms his acquittal in its appeals ruling, sources close to the Radical Party chief told BIRN on condition of anonymity. According to these sources, Serbia remains Seselj’s main focus, but he is also keen to engage more actively in Republika Srpska and use his popularity there to gradually rebuild his base on both sides of the Drina river. But some analysts believe that his comeback bid is likely to fail. “His old rhetoric still can find an audience today, but not as much as in the 1990s,” Tanja Topic, a Banja Luka-based political analyst at the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, told BIRN. While his party’s standing has improved after it got back into the Serbian parliament at last month’s elections, Seselj still has neither the resources nor the infrastructure to make a significant step forward in Republika Srpska, argued Topic. “He is the kind of man who gets a lot of attention from the media so people tend to think that his influence is bigger than it really is. His party infrastructure in RS is small and the political territory that he claimed is now occupied by other political parties with more or less the same political matrix but formulated differently,” she said. Seselj also faces other problems. The main one is his inability to travel outside Serbia until the appeal at the Hague Tribunal is over. Another is a legal problem with a competing trio of Serbian Radical Parties which currently operate in Bosnia.
Bosnia’s rival Radical Parties
In the first few years after the end of the Bosnian war, the local branch of the Serbian Radical Party, established and led by Nikola Poplasen, was among the two or three strongest parties in Republika Srpska. In 1998, Poplasen even won the presidency of Republika Srpska as the joint candidate of the Radical Party and the Serb Democratic Party, SDS. But in 1999, Poplasen was removed from office by the country’s international overseer, High Representative Carlos Werstendorp, for refusing to nominate Milorad Dodik as the entity’s prime minister designate.
The Bosnian branch of the party weakened further after Seselj voluntary left for The Hague in 2003. Eventually it split and three rival Radical Parties were established in subsequent years, but their influence and public support remained frail, while their ideologies moved away from Seselj’s original hardline positions. Today, only one of the three, the Serbian Radical Party of Republika Srpska, SRS-RS, has any MPs in the Republika Srpska National Assembly. Its president Milanko Mihajlica and vice-president Sinisa Ilic both have seats. As a member of the Serb opposition bloc, the Alliance for Change, the SRS-RS is also a part of the ruling coalition at the state level, alongside Bosniak and Croat parties. This is one of the reasons why Seselj does not recognise the SRS-RS and denies any connection with it, although it is the sole legal successor to his own party. Another of the splinter parties is the Serbian Radical Party – Vojislav Seselj, the SRS-VS. The party is led by the longtime president of Seselj’s party in Republika Srpska, Mirko Blagojevic. Seselj does not support the Serbian Radical Party – Vojislav Seselj either. He became furious when Blagojevic recently tried to get the Bosnian Radicals to unite and run together with Nikola Poplasen in the upcoming local elections. He forbade Blagojevic from using his name, but Blagojevic, who is a lawyer, managed to secure a court decision allowing him to use it. Seselj said he will raise the issue with the local courts and Bosnia’s Central Election Commission, but if he fails and Blagojevic does not change his mind, the country’s political scene will witness yet another paradox – a party running in the local elections under Seselj’s name which does not have his support. The third Radical Party, and the only that is currently recognised by Seselj, is the Serbian Radical Party, SRS, led by Dragan Djurdjevic, the speaker of the city council in Bijeljina. Djurdjevic played a key role in the recent political coup in Bijeljina, when he switched sides, joined the caucus led by the ruling Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, and helped them take the majority on the council away from the SDS for the first time since 1991. However, Djurdjevic’s SRS has very poor infrastructure in Republika Srpska, particularly in the administrative centre of Banja Luka, where it formally exists but is politically invisible. The SRS is strongest in Bijeljina and East New Sarajevo, but that was not enough for it to make any important gains in the 2012 local elections or cross the three per cent threshold to win parliamentary seats in the 2014 general elections.
The Seselj-Dodik courtship
Until he rebuilds his party infrastructure and finds new activists and members in Serbia and Republika Srpska, Seselj will be forced to make careful steps on the two separate but interlinked political scenes, which are dominated by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik. According to experts, Seselj is likely to try to stay close to the ruling elites, until his party is in a better state to compete by itself. In Serbia, Seselj has been applying a two-pronged approach – trying to undermine and possibly even replace Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, a former Radical Party official who he believes betrayed him, without agitating Vucic too much. In Republika Srpska, Seselj seems to be moving closer to Dodik, who is still perceived as the strongest defender of Serb nationalist interests and remains a thorn in the side of the international community. “We will support Dodik as long as he defends RS while relying on Russia in the defence of Serbian national interests. We also have critical remarks about his authority and procedures,” Seselj told local media in March. This relationship came into the spotlight few weeks ago, after Dodik came to Bijeljina to celebrate newly established majority in that city’s council. When Dodik joined local officials in a Bijeljina restaurant, he was greeted in front of the TV cameras not by one of his own Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD party, but by Dragan Djurdjevic of the SRS. The incident was generally perceived as a proof of the strengthening of bonds between the SNSD and the SRS, as well as between Dodik and Seselj, with Djurdjevic acting as his proxy. As well as in Bijeljina, a coalition between the SNSD and the SRS was also established in East New Sarajevo, a Serb-controlled municipality, where at the beginning of May the two parties signed agreement to jointly run in the local elections. According to sources close to Seselj, the formalisation of this cooperation between the SNSD and the SRS would probably not have happened without prior consultations between Dodik and Vucic. “It would be wrong to assume that cooperation between the SNSD and the SRS comes without approval by Serbian Prime Minister Vucic,” Vlade Simovic, a political analyst from Banja Luka, told BIRN. “Dodik is trying to maintain good relationship with Vucic, and considering the past relationship between Vucic and Seselj, it is hard to imagine that the leader of the SNSD would make a deal with Seselj’s political branch in RS without asking Vucic for his opinion,” Simovic said. Analyst Tanja Topic suggested meanwhile that Seselj would set himself limited political goals but seek to use his nationalist rhetoric as a disruptive influence. “His main goal today in RS is to raise the political temperature and tensions between Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats. He will focus on the local election and on the local authorities, rather than on the entity or the state level, because he can’t expect to win a seat in either the RS or Bosnian parliament any time soon,” she predicted.
72 Points of Discord: Erdogan Ready to Flood Europe With Migrants (Sputnik, 25 May 2016)
The World Humanitarian Summit wrapped up in Turkey’s Istanbul on Tuesday, with Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatening the EU that Turkey would scupper the deal if Ankara was not granted its key demand of visa-free travel within the Union; Angela Merkel, in turn, warned that the demand is unlikely to be met.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the EU that the Turkish parliament would block any laws related to the Turkey-EU deal on migrants, if Ankara was not granted its key demand of visa-free travel within the European Union. “If that [visa free travel] is not what will happen… no decision and no law in the framework of the readmission agreement will come out of the parliament of the Turkish Republic,” Erdogan said at the close of the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul on Tuesday. “Our foreign ministry, our EU affairs ministry will have discussions with the Europeans. If there is a result then great. If not, then I’m sorry,” the Turkish president added. The comments come in the follow up to German Chancellor’s remarks that the target day for the completion of the visa-free procedures is unlikely to be met. Following her talks with Erdogan, Angela Merkel said on Monday that Turkey still needs to fulfill all of the conditions set by the European Union before its citizens can get visa-free travel by July 1st.
However there are still disputes between the EU and Ankara over the 72 requirements laid out by the Union that Turkey needs to meet in order to earn visa-free access to the Schengen area by the end of June. The 72 requirements listed in the Visa Liberalization Roadmap apply across the areas of document security, migration management, public order and security, fundamental rights and readmission of irregular migrants. One of the sticking points relates to Turkey’s broad anti-terrorism laws. Changes to the legislation were among the conditions set by the EU under the agreement. The EU wants Ankara to narrow its definition of terror to stop prosecuting academics and journalists for publishing “terror propaganda.” Another point of discord is the sudden resignation this month of former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who was widely seen in Brussels as a more amenable figure than the combative Erdogan. Some of the EU member states have also sounded alarm over issues including a law to strip MPs of immunity, which critics have said was a step meant to sideline pro-Kurdish politicians, and Erdogan’s drive for a presidential system in the country. Merkel said that she voiced her concern to Erdogan over “the decision to withdraw immunity from every fourth lawmaker in the Turkish parliament,” which she said is something “that causes deep concern.” “The questions I had in this connection have not been fully cleared up,” Merkel said following the talks with her Turkish counterpart. “Turkey is supposed to fulfil criteria? What criteria are these I ask you?” Erdogan raged in return on Tuesday. “[The EU] should not keep trying to impose criteria on us. This is Turkey,” he added.
Erdogan furthermore complained that certain Latin American countries whose citizens are exempt from visa requirements to travel to the Schengen zone, did not have to fulfill the same criteria as Turkey. He also wondered why Turkey, which is an EU candidate country and part of the bloc’s customs union, would have to fulfill 72 requirements. In addition, the Turkish president also said that the Union was not delivering on its promise to deliver aid for Syrian refugees. The EU had pledged up to 6 billion euros ($6.7bln) as part of the deal. “When you look at what has been done so far, we see that they are not keeping the promises they made,” said the Turkish leader. Under the EU-Turkey agreement, migrants who have arrived illegally in Greece since March 20 are to be sent back to Turkey if they do not apply for asylum or if their claim is rejected. For each Syrian migrant returned to Turkey, the EU is to take in another Syrian who has made a legitimate request. Angela Merkel’s concerns were earlier echoed by European Parliament President Martin Schulz, who also reiterated that there will be no visa liberalization for Turks in Europe until Erdogan meets all the conditions set. “We see that Turkey under Erdogan is on the way to a one man state,” Schulz told the Cologne daily, Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger, referring to the lifting of parliamentary immunity for opposition MPs. He also expressed concerns over the change in the prime ministership, after Ahmet Davutoglu stepped aside and was replaced by Erdogan’s ally Binali Yıldırım. Similar concerns were also voiced by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker earlier in May. “We fixed criteria for visa liberalization, there are 72 of them and number 65 says that the Turkish government must review the anti-terror law,” Juncker said earlier at a conference on Europe at the German Foreign Ministry voicing concerns over Turkey’s anti-terror laws.
Merkel Under Pressure
Meanwhile, Mikhail Neizhmakov, head of the Center for International Politics at the Institute of Globalization and Social Movements, told Radio Sputnik that Merkel’s comments are the result of serious pressure the Chancellor is experiencing at home. “There is a picture portrayed in the German and European media that Merkel is trying to please and flannel Erdogan,” he said.
“Therefore she needs at least to display a readiness to stand up to Erdogan, to show that she does not blindly and silently follow Erdogan and Ankara, but is ready to show who the master is here,” he said. The political analyst added that the Chancellor’s rhetoric could simply be a performance or part of a bargain between Ankara and leading European countries. Merkel will then convey that it won’t be an easy walk for Ankara, and Erdogan also needs to make some sort of concessions. Turkey-EU Deal is a ‘Bargaining of Merchants, Where Each is Pursuing His Own Profit’
Meanwhile, another political analyst and journalist Yuri Svetlov reminded Radio Sputnik that almost a half of those polled in France, Germany and United Kingdom (49%) think Turkey will never join the European Union or that it will take more than a decade to do so, according to a Sputnik.Polls survey. However, he added, it matters little. “If the leadership of the leading EU countries need Turkey in the EU for some political reason, they will accept it into the Union,” he said, adding that Ankara has been trying to get access into the bloc for almost 40 years already without any foreseeable progress. “This is not a conversation among partners who are interested in finding a common solution to a common task. It is a bargaining of merchants, where each is pursuing his own profit. And the bargaining will go on,” he said.
