LOCAL PRESS

Operation Storm anniversary at time of strained relations (B92)

The 21st anniversary of the start of Croatia’s military-police Operation Storm comes at a time of extremely strained relations between Serbia and Croatia. Operation Storm, that started this day in 1995, resulted in the expulsion of more than 200,000 ethnic Serbs from Croatia.

The anniversary of Operation Storm comes as a time of extremely strained relations between Serbia and Croatian. The harsh rhetoric and harsh words are coming from all sides. Serbian officials are pointing out to the rise of fascism and Ustashism in Croatia, with the rehabilitation of Alojzije Stepinac, the overturning of the war crimes verdict against Branimir Glavas, as well as the unveiling of a monument dedicated to Ustasha terrorist Miro Berisic all causing problems in relations. In Croatia, 5 August has for years been marked as Day of Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving for Operation Storm. Last year, a joint session of the governments of the Republic of Serbia and the RS declared 5 August a day of mourning both in Serbia and in the Serb entity in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Youth Initiative from Croatia recently launched an online petition aimed at offering an apology to Serbs because of Operation Storm. The Initiative’s representative, Joco Glavas, admitted that the response has been disgraceful – with only 300 people signing it. The Documentation and Information Center Veritas said that its records contain the names of 1,856 dead and missing Serbs during and after the campaign, of which the fate 1,019 has been determined so far. 837 people are still listed as missing, of which 613 civilians, including 308 women, according to a statement. Veritas specified that 1,206 victims (65 percent) were civilians, of which about three-quarters older than 60 years. Among them were of 546 (29 percent) women, of which about four-fifths were older than 60 years. About 130,000 members of the Croatian Army took part in Operation Storm, supported by NATO, as well as units of the Croatian Defense Council (HVO) and the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina (AB&H). They entered the capital of the former Republic of Serb Krajina (RSK) Knin on 5 August 1995. The attack on the area came despite the fact it was under UN protection, while representatives of the former RSK in Geneva and in Belgrade rejected a proposal of the international community about a peaceful resolution, the so-called Plan Z-4.

Weak resistance was offered by the approximately 40,000 members of the RSK Army and about 10,000 people from the armed formation of Fikret Abdic’s former Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia. Operation Mistral, that followed Operation Storm, saw Croatian army in conjunction with the 5th Corps of the AB&H kill 655 and expel some 125,000 Serbs from the territory of 13 municipalities in Bosnia-Herzegovina. A first instance judgment passed by the Hague Tribunal in April 2011 determined that Operation Storm was a joint criminal enterprise led by then Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, and that its purpose was the forcible and permanent removal of the Serb population, and the settling of Croats in that area. The tribunal then reached e second-instance verdict in November 2012 and acquitted those it had put on trial – Ante Gotovina and another former Croatian general, Mladen Markac. They were found not guilty of the persecution of the Serb population from the Knin Krajina in 1995. In the first-instance verdict Gotovina was sentenced to 24 years, and Markac to 18 years in prison. The Hague Appeals Chamber acquitted the defendants on all counts, although the crimes specified in the first instance ruling had not been negated.

Vulin: Our reception of EU to depend on EC’s reply (Beta)

Serbian Labor Minister Aleksandar Vulin said that Serbia’s further perception of the

European Union will depend on the European Commission’s reply to a letter from Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. He told reporters in Belgrade that he had not perceived the answer from EC spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic as a reply, because a spokesperson is not someone who can give a relevant political answer. “Vucic’s letter deserves an appropriate political reply and I am sure there will be one, and what that reply will be will largely define how Serbia and its citizens will perceive the EU,’ said Vulin. He added that Serbia would not agree to an artificial equalization, according to which we were all slightly to blame.

Stefanovic: Serbs will not keep quiet to fascism and Ustasha crimes (RTS/Beta)

“I want to say just one thing to the newly appointed HDZ leader – tell your mom and dad to keep quiet and the Serbs will never keep quiet in the face of fascist and Ustasha crimes,” Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said in reaction to Plenkovic’s statement. Stefanovic said that no one has the right to keep silent and not mention the hundreds of thousands of victims killed by Ustasha-Nazi Croatia which conducted policies in World War II that included camps for children. “Serbia will never keep quiet about the crimes against Serbs and the Serb people,” Stefanovic said.

Joksimovic: Regional stability not only our responsibility (Tanjug)

A stable Western Balkans is in the best interest of the EU and its member states, but this is not only a responsibility of Serbia, says Serbian Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic. “I do not know who has an interest in tensions escalating in the region,” Joksimovic told Tanjug in a comment on the latest developments in the region and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s letter warning the European Commission of an anti-Serb policy in Croatia.

Serbia and Vucic’s government have demonstrated a clear commitment to better relations and overcoming past rhetoric and actions, she said. “At the same time, this does not mean Serbia must remain silent in the face of the worrying messages and moves by Croatia, which are definitely not the values the post-war EU was based upon,” she said. Regional stability and reconciliation being among the political conditions for EU accession, for us as a candidate country it is important that others, too, show a sense of responsibility, she said. “And we have made that point clear to the EU,” Joksimovic said.

Albanians (il)legally purchasing falts in Nis (Politika)

Over the past two decades, mostly prior to 1999 and the years right after the end of the NATO aggression on Serbia and the FR Yugoslavia, a large number of Albanians from Kosovo and Metohija and Serbia’s south has been massively purchasing real estate – flats, houses, premises and agricultural land in the region of Vranje, Leskovac, and Nis. Politika learns that a large number of Kosovo Albanians have been purchasing flats in Nis according to a very simple system that bypasses all applicable laws and bans. Serbs, as regular buyers, officially purchase real estate from owners, but in fact, they are only mediators and work for “percentage”. Serbian citizens receive money from Kosovo Albanians to purchase a real estate. Prior to the entire process, mediators – Serbs from Kosovo or Nis and the vicinity who find a real estate of interest for some Kosovo Albanian – sign in court a preliminary contract of sale with the owner of a flat or house. The same day, the mediator signs a contract on a money loan, for example 50.000 Euros that he receives from an Albanian “friend” from Kosovo. According to the contract, the loan needs to be returned usually within two months, and the contract states as guarantee the real estate for which there is already a preliminary contract. The next day, the “mediator” as the buyer certifies with the owner a regular contract. But, the mediator doesn’t return the loan within the deadline, and then the Albanian automatically becomes the owner of the real estate because there is an item in the contract that is activated in case the loan is not returned within the deadline.

Terrorist cells occupy Kosovo, Balkans under great threat (Kurir)

The repatriates from the battlefields in Syria and Iraq, and the formation of terrorist cells represent great peril for the Balkans, experts have warned. According to them, the situation is most alarming in Kosovo, but Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are also in danger. In a statement for Kurir, Radio Belgrade Director Milivoje Mihajlovic has explained that the terrorist group Al-Nusra Front, which crashed a Russian helicopter several days ago and wreaked on the bodies of the killed soldiers, has its own cells in Kosovo. The Al-Nusra front has been using the weakening of Islamic State (IS) in Syria to increase its influence, thus sending fighters to Europe. Over 200 jihadists have returned to the Balkans in the past 18 months, mostly in Kosovo, Macedonia and Bosnia. “There is this so-called firearm cult in Kosovo, among the people that took part in the wars in 1998 and 1999. Due to the boom of social networks, it has become much easier to recruit new members for terrorist organizations. In a security and political sense, that Islamist terrorism is the greatest threat for the stability of the region, because Bosnia, Macedonia, and Kosovo are the reservoir where young Islamists are recruited from,” Mihajlovic has warned. Macedonian President Gjorgje Ivanov also stressed that Macedonia is under threat of foreign terrorist fighters. Ivanov has warned that a second migrant influx is coming, and that the regional crisis and conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa have increased the risks to endanger the safety of our country. “There is still a high risk of threats of foreign terrorist fighters,” the President concluded.

REGIONAL PRESS

Reactions to the HDZ B&H – SDA failed meeting (TV1)

Delegation of HDZ B&H with party leader Dragan Covic at helm failed to show up at a meeting on Tuesday evening with coalition partner SDA, led by its leader Bakir Izetbegovic. According to HDZ B&H, the meeting was not even scheduled and the whole thing was a well-designed fraud. B&H Presidency member Mladen Ivanic stated on the phone that the entire drama could be avoided by reaching an agreement on coordination mechanism in institutions, by gathering B&H Presidency, B&H Council of Ministers Chair and entity presidents and prime ministers. “That way no one could have any remark,” he said. In an interview for Vijesti.ba portal, Head of OSCE Mission in B&H Jonathan Moore stated that Covic was entitled to react, being a member of B&H Presidency and HDZ B&H leader, but added that the agreement was not directed against Croats. HDZ B&H is against the coordination mechanism because they want to strengthen the position of cantons. Izetbegovic explained on Tuesday that at the meeting with RS President Milorad Dodik and EU Delegation to B&H, it was agreed to introduce a quorum and obligation for everyone to attend the sessions, after being notified five days in advance. “Of course, nobody will be outvoted and everything will be done by consensus,” Izetbegovic said. Reporter wondered if Covic is against the agreement because he used to make things work out as he imagined. Izetbegovic stressed that no level of authority that has competences can be ignored, because they can always block things. According to Ivanic, certain crisis exists, but not of dramatic proportions. He said it can be solved with some good will. “I think that cantons should be included in line with their constitutional competences,” Ivanic said. “Believe it or not, one of solutions was that the entire process would be stopped if only one of more than 1,000 participants in the Coordination Mechanism is absent. Everyone on the list, up to 80 participants in some of the working groups, would have to attend the sessions in order to be able to make a decision. It would be impossible,” Izetbegovic explained. Although SDS leader Mladen Bosic harshly reacted after the Izetbegovic-Dodik meeting, saying that the agreement is not binding for the Alliance for Changes, Ivanic said he has no problem with such agreement, as long as the content is acceptable. B&H Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Mirko Sarovic expressed hope that he will have a chance to see the agreed document, and explained that almost all issues were harmonized with RS authorities during talks. Covic refused to comment and announced holding a press conference on Thursday.

Cavara: Federation of B&H is in crisis, talks between SDA and HDZ B&H are inevitable (Oslobodjenje)

Federation of B&H President and Vice President of HDZ B&H Marinko Cavara stated for the daily that the Federation of B&H is in crisis at the moment, that the relations among the ruling political parties are damaged, and that the meeting and talks between SDA and HDZ B&H are inevitable. According to him, reforms are being slowly implemented and what has been done is not sufficiently promoted. He also pointed out that cases of outvoting of Croats by Bosniaks are present both in the Federation of B&H government and the Federation of B&H Parliament, which shows the crisis in relations. “Self-will of one people in these areas never brought anything good, which is why I am worried. Especially because of the feeling that important matters are decided outside the institutions,” Cavara stressed. He further noted that only agreement of constituent peoples can serve as ground for good live in the Federation of B&H and B&H. “Strange is the behavior of SDA leadership to suddenly organize a separate political meeting with oppositional SNSD after a literally long-term ‘political war’ and to present it as rescue for the country,” Cavara said and he reminded that SDA blocked the arrangement with the IMF while SNSD blocked adaptation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, blocking in that way the country’s road to the EU integration. According to him, this clearly proves mutual trade outside the institutions. “We must strengthen institutions, instruments of the legal state and equality before the law and the Constitution…” Cavara underlined.

Izetbegovic disturbs relations between Dodik and Covic (EuroBlic)

The partnership between SNSD and HDZ was shaken by the agreement on the coordination mechanism reached by SNSD leader Milorad Dodik and SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic on Sunday. Deputy President of HDZ B&H Borjana Kristo did not want to directly confirm this and she only briefly said that the Sunday’s meeting without representatives of Croats was “a harsh violation of election will in B&H”. Kristo assessed that the international community too contributed to the current situation “because they brought us to where we are and now they are telling us that we need to reach an agreement and take responsibility”. Secretary General of SNSD Luka Petrovic claimed that Dodik’s meeting with Izetbegovic was not a meeting at the level of parties, therefore it cannot have any influence on relations with HDZ B&H. “They realized that Republika Srpska (RS) must be asked for its opinion and they had to accept a meeting with authorized representatives of the RS”, Petrovic noted. Political analyst Pejo Gasparevic said that there will be a brief period of time of somewhat more reserved relations of HDZ B&H with SDA and SNSD. “Croat representatives are angrier with SDA because cantons, which they claim are neglected, are in the Federation of B&H. However, they are surely not happy because of the fact Dodik accepted such an agreement with Izetbegovic either. However, overall Croat-Serb relations in B&H will depend on relations between Serbia and Croatia as well,” Gasparevic concluded.

Dodik sends letter to Izetbegovic and Covic (Glas Srpske)

Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik sent a letter to Chairman of the B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic and Croat member of the Presidency of B&H Dragan Covic, informing them that he approves for the objections of Croat people representatives, namely HDZ B&H, to be put into the agreement on the Coordination Mechanism. “If Croats believe something else should be built in the Coordination Mechanism so the cantons are involved in the decision-making process – that should not be a problem. The Coordination Mechanism should and must follow the constitutional structure of B&H and I do not see a reason why such objections should not be accepted and built-in in its final form,” stated Dodik for Glas Srpske on Wednesday, and underlined that the current situation can be resolved immediately. Daily noted that Covic finds the agreement reached between SDA and SNSD unacceptable because it did not involve Croat representatives and because it diminishes the role of cantons in the Coordination Mechanism. Dodik stated that he did not attend the meeting to work against someone: “The meeting was organized by EU Special Representative and Head of the EU Delegation Lars-Gunnar Wigemark. It was hard to dismiss the invitation and ignore it. I was not the one to choose the participants of the meeting. I did not know, nor did I have any inclination there was a problem, but I also did not try to undermine or diminish the importance of the meeting from the position I hold.” He also noted that the Coordination Mechanism adopted by the Council of Ministers of B&H in January, which was not acceptable for the RS, would not have been adopted if HDZ B&H ministers did not vote for it. “I was to understand that HDZ agreed with the Coordination Mechanism adopted in January. Covic later said we should sit down and see what the objections are,” said Dodik.

Plenkovic: Serbia cannot lecture Croatia (Hina)

Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) leader Andrej Plenkovic, responding to a call by Serbia’s minister of justice for Brussels to react to alleged glorification of terrorists and neo-Nazi ideology in Croatia, on Wednesday said that Serbia “cannot lecture” Croatia as member of the European Union (EU) which had fulfilled all its requirements. Serbia is just at the start of accession negotiations with the EU and cannot lecture Croatia, which is a member of the Union and which has satisfied Europe’s high criteria and standards, Plenkovic said when asked to comment on Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic’s call to Brussels to reprimand Zagreb “for glorifying terrorists and neo-Nazi ideology”. “Serbia is yet to seriously face up to its recent past and undergo a catharsis. As a candidate for EU membership it should not be lecturing a country that is a member of the Union. Serbia as a candidate cannot cause legal insecurity for Croatian citizens and in particular Croatian veterans,” Plenkovic told reporters in reference to Serbia’s controversial law on regional jurisdiction for war crimes that Croatia does not want to apply to Croatia. Asked to comment on a proposal by the president of the Serb National Council, Milorad Pupovac, for Croatia to designate one day in the year to mark the civilian Serb victims in the wake of Operation Storm, Plenkovic said, “naturally we express regret for all civilians victims of the war and those during and in the wake of Storm. However, the Croatian judiciary has proved, by trying all those crimes, that it is ready to work independently on reconciliation within Croatian society and set an example to other”s” Plenkovic underscored. He added that on the eve of Victory Day and Homeland Thanksgiving Day he hoped tension would calm down because “Croatia is a country that respects minority rights, including the rights of the Serb minority”.

Thaci: We trust NATO maps (RTCG)

The President of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, said at the debate on the agreement on the demarcation with Montenegro that “the demarcation issue does not exist as a national problem”. For the first time the Kosovo government and the opposition are facing views in the hearing of the disputed issue of border demarcation with Montenegro. “Kosovo has not lost even a meter of its territory. Also, I want to clarify that the Kosovo institutions made demarcation, and not rewriting the history,” said Thaci. He added that the Kosovo authorities “believe NATO Maps, not the Yugoslav experts”. “It is not only a question of demarcation with Montenegro, but of political maturity and the ability of Kosovo to act in accordance with international obligations,” said Thaci, adding that, without demarcation, there will be no visa liberalization for Kosovo. Thaci said that demarcation was one of the conditions of statehood. “The Republic of Kosovo has to meet this criterion and define border with all neighboring countries, including Montenegro. Therefore, without clear borders, there will be no visa liberalization,” Thaci said. His speech was boycotted by deputies of the opposition Self-Determination Movement.

Paunovic: Kosovo’s parliament on the ratification in August (RTCG)

Milan Paunovic, who led the Montenegrin team during negotiations on the demarcation of the border with Kosovo, announced that he had learnt that the Kosovo Assembly would vote on the ratification of the agreement between Montenegro and Kosovo during this month. He told RTCG public broadcaster that as far as Montenegro is concerned the issue was solved by signing the agreement and that the discussion in the Kosovo Assembly that was held on Wednesday confirmed that this was an internal political issue in Kosovo. Paunovic called into mind that the negotiations on the issue had lasted for three years. “Our and Kosovo’s commission do not have the mandate to draw new boundaries, but to identify, harmonize and determine the existing borders, as well as former republic, cadastral and administrative ones. And that’s what we did,” Paunovic said, RTCG news portal carried. He said that former Kosovo president Atifete Jahjaga’s move to form an international team of experts was wise. “They were impressed by the way of negotiations. By signing the agreement, the two countries committed themselves, in accordance with Article 12, to ratify it. Montenegro already did that at the end of last year in order for the agreement to come into force. This means that within two years after its entry into force, national borders defined by the contract should be marked,” he said. Asked if Kosovo opposition politician Ramush Haradinaj’s statement that the agreement would fail was realistic, Paunovic said that it would not happen. “Sooner or later the agreement will be ratified and in Kosovo’s parliament,” said Paunovic. As he said, the positions of representatives of the US and EU, who fully supported this agreement, were confirmed again.

Croatian political analyst Davor Gjenero Gjenero: Baresic’s monument an unfortunate act without justification (Pobjeda)

Croatian political analyst, Davor Gjenero, evaluated for Pobjeda daily that the erection of the monument to Miro Baresic in Drage, municipality of Pakostane, is an unfortunate act, which does not bring anything good to anyone. He expressed the belief that “a stupid political decision at the local level will not affect the good relations between the two countries”, noting that he was sure the leadership of the HDZ and the SDP both believe so. Baresic, whose monument was erected, was convicted of the murder of Yugoslav ambassador Vladimir Rolovic in Sweden. Everyone who belongs to the Liberal political field cannot justify the erection of a monument to anyone who, at any stage of life, used terrorist methods. However, this is not a message sent by the State at the national level. The monument was erected in one small municipality, which is a traditional stronghold of right-wing radicals. This was their political decision, Gjenero said. He adds the monument is, however, a “big slap to the leadership of the HDZ, which is now trying to transform itself into a Europe-oriented, moderate Christian-Democratic Party, and whose two high-ranking officials were present at the unfortunate act of opening of this monument”. “This is what gives this monument national significance and importance,” explains Gjenero, adding it is a shame that people who do such things are not thinking about the consequences. Montenegrin Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a protest note to the Croatian Embassy in Podgorica due to the erection of the monument. Gjenero points out that in Croatian dominant policy, when it comes to both left and right wings, nobody thinks of any tightening of relations with Montenegro. “I believe the whole democratic Croatia fully understands that Montenegro had to react in this way in this situation because the victim was its citizen,” he said. Commenting on the assessment of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia, Nebojsa Stefanovic, that events in Croatia are reminiscent of the “resurrection of the Ustasha movement”, Gjenero says it is a ridiculous and completely unfounded statement. When it comes to relations between Croatian and Montenegro, whoever is in power in Croatia will lead the same policy of support to Euro-Atlantic integration, concluded Gjenero adding that the monument will not affect Croatian ratification of Montenegro’s accession protocol for NATO membership due this fall.

Macedonia: 1,224 citizens have registered in State Election Commission (Telegraf.mk)

So far, a total of 1,224 voters have filled in a form confirming their personal data thus regulating their voting right, the State Election Commission (SEC) said Wednesday. On 26 July, the SEC published a list of 39.502 citizens who need to apply in order to be allowed to vote in the coming early elections. Irregularities in the data of these citizens were detected during the cross­-checking of the electoral roll. They will have to register at the SEC by August 19 in order to regulate their voting right and to present a valid personal document for a check­ up before being included in the edited electoral roll.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

The Balkans: Backsliding, Bankrupt, and Vulnerable (World Affairs, by Gordon N. Bardos, 4 August 2016)

“It’s like 1965, but instead of listening to the Rolling Stones everyone is still playing Lili Marlene.” This is how the Bosnian performance artist Damir Nikšić recently described the situation in his country, and much the same could be said for the rest of southeastern Europe. Last year German chancellor Angela Merkel even warned that if Europe did not resolve the migrant crisis there could be conflict in the Balkans. While open conflict seems unlikely for now, there is much for Europe and the Balkan countries to be alarmed about well beyond Europe’s migration concerns. For six years in a row, Freedom House’s Nations in Transit has recorded democratic backsliding in the Balkans. Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2016 lists Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo as the most corrupt countries in Europe (apart from former Soviet republics). Bosnia and Kosovo also provide more jihad volunteers per capita than any other countries in Europe. In Croatia, nostalgia for the World War II fascist Ustaša movement has reached alarming proportions, and relations between Zagreb and Belgrade are at their lowest ebb in at least a decade. In Macedonia months of anti-government demonstrations and increasing tensions between Albanians and Macedonians have led a prominent political observer to remark that “we are a country in disintegration.” In Serbia, journalists complain that there was more freedom of the media under Milošević than there is now. Over the past two years, mobs have torched government buildings in Sarajevo and Skopje, and exploding tear gas canisters are a regular feature during sessions of Kosovo’s parliament. Why do these tensions persist and grow in southeastern Europe? Much of it can be attributed to the policies coming from Brussels and Washington. First, the assumption that the appeal of EU and NATO membership would encourage leaders in the Balkans to implement serious democratic reform has proven overly optimistic. Moreover, Western diplomats have been more focused on diminishing the Kremlin’s influence in the region rather than on encouraging democratic reform. In a recent analysis of the “NATO at any price” approach to the Balkans predominant in Washington and Brussels, Besnik Pula has pointed out that,

A new generation of autocrats has been taking over the region, sometimes with the direct complicity of overzealous American policymakers and distracted EU officials . . . Both U.S. and EU policymakers have been willing to turn a blind eye to corruption, which plagues the region’s governments, and have either downplayed or ignored the creeping rise of autocratic rulers . . . [who] are well-coached in telling Western diplomats what they want to hear, while blatantly undermining democratic principles and the rule of law at home . . . U.S. and EU policymakers need to ask themselves if oligarchs, autocrats and kleptocrats, who happen to be pro-Western, are any better than Putin—or helpful for the West’s long-term interests in the region.

Second, the international community’s diplomacy in the region, though with good intentions, has in the end revealed itself to be short-sighted in the search for quick fixes. Many of the institutions and processes the West imposed in the 1990s to promote reconciliation and foster stability have instead frozen hostilities and created weak and corrupt states now completely dependent upon the international community for subsistence and survival. With regard to reconciliation, the region is stuck in a quagmire of seemingly endless and draining international judicial proceedings. While the Nuremburg Trials lasted less than a year and the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal lasted for two and a half, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has now been in existence for more than two decades. Similarly, western supervision of post-WWII Germany ended within a decade and full sovereignty was returned to Iraq sixteen months after the 2003 invasion, but Bosnia’s international protectorate has now lasted more than twenty years. Meanwhile, the EU accession rules are being manipulated by member states in the Balkans to prevent their neighbors from joining. Greece has blocked Macedonia’s accession efforts for over a decade, Slovenia did the same to Croatia for several years, and Croatia now seems intent on doing the same to Serbia. The problems Bosnia, Kosovo and Serbia will cause each other if their turns ever come are obvious. Concurrently, enlargement fatigue, the Greek debt crisis, the migrant crisis, and now Brexit have distracted Brussels from developing and implementing a coherent Balkan strategy. As one exasperated regional diplomat noted about his dealings with Brussels, “The Americans make you an offer you can’t refuse. The Europeans make you an offer you can’t understand.” Third, international economic policy towards the region has in many ways been counter-productive. Financial austerity measures imposed on Greece by creditor states and international lending institutions, as Paul Krugman has argued, have had the effect of driving down economic activity in the country, exacerbating Greece’s debt-to-GDP ration. Meanwhile, Bosnia and Kosovo have the highest youth unemployment rates in Europe—despite being the beneficiaries of some of the largest international aid programs in history—many of which, it bears noting, are driven more by the demands of Beltway lobbyists and special interests groups rather than economic logic. Brussels and Washington need to set a new course for southeastern Europe. While EU and NATO accession for the Balkan countries are undeniably positive goals, our current strategies have taken the region’s democratization and reconciliation processes too far off course.

Stoltenberg’s cabinet: Reforms do not stop with membership (European Western Balkans, 31 July 2016)

BRUSSELS – Montenegro has made significant progress in reforms in the area of intelligence services and army, but they will not and should not stop even when Montenegro becomes a member of NATO. Threats to common safety change all the time, it was said from the cabinet of Secretary General of the Alliance Jens Stoltenberg. James Appathurai, Deputy Assistant Secretary General, said that when it comes to intelligence sector, Montenegro has worked hard to reform it. “New legal framework has been made, new leadership chosen and a space has been created for recruiting new generation of officers, with knowledge of language and technology needed in the 21st century. Montenegro needs to carry on this path, improving its services and capacities”, he said to MINA Agency. Montenegrin Army has been reconstructed and reformed, he said. “It did not become bigger, but better – better trained, better equipped, more professional. Montenegrin soldiers have significant experience after past few years of working with NATO allies”, he said. Montenegro is a worthy contributor in Afghanistan, and that is something that should be encouraged and continued. “As far as the intelligence sector and the army go, many reforms were made in order for Montenegro to become ready and invited to the Alliance. But the reforms do not stop with the membership. Alliance and its members need to continually develop, modernize and adjust to threats to our common future, because they are changing all the time”, Appathurai said. Their main goal is safety of citizens of the Alliance. Appathurai said that in terms of international safety, situation in Western Balkan has progressed since the 90s. The positive trend continues. “NATO is giving its support through invitation to Montenegro, encouragement to Macedonia and BiH, partnership with Serbia, and KFOR work in Kosovo. At the same time, all of us are facing threats such as terrorism, extremism and radicalism“, he said. According to him, close cooperation between executive branch, intelligence services and armed forces is of vital significance in any threatening situation. “A lot has been achieved, but it can always be better. We will continue to promote new possibilities for cooperation”, Appathurai said. He said that it was not possible to accurately say when will the process of ratification of Montenegro’s Accession Protocol be over, keeping in mind that it depends on parliaments of 28 member states. “Seven members have ratified the Protocol so far, which is great progress, considering that the Protocol was signed on May 19th. Judging by previous experience, the end of the year seems a little too optimistic, but beginning of 2017 is quite possible. Each new member added makes the time longer – when Albania and Croatia joined, there were 26 members, and when Montenegro joins, there will be 29”, he said. Appathurai said that Brexit cannot influence NATO’s Open Doors Policy. “The policy remains unchanged. Secretary General and UK Government where clear in their statement that UK remains a strong and dedicated member of NATO”, he concluded.