LOCAL PRESS

UNMIK between rock and hard of the Security Council (RTS)

While Serbia expects the member states of the United National Security Council to influence that the Law on Trepca is repealed, the member states that recognized the self-declared independence of Pristina think that the sessions on Kosovo and Metohija should be held less frequently and call on again for the reduction of the scope of the UNMIK Mission. For those countries that do not recognize Kosovo, UNMIK plays an important role, while Resolution 1244 remains for them the valid document for resolving issues in the southern Serbian province.

When the UNMIK Head assumed office, he expected a stronger mandate of the Mission. Yet, different stands were waiting for him at the UN SC session. The U.S. representative to the UN Isobel Coleman says that UNMIK has fulfilled its mandate and assesses that the time has come to reduce the number of sessions on Kosovo. “The future of Kosovo is not determined in the UN SC, but in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue,” says the French Ambassador to the UN Francois Delattre.  These stands of individual ambassadors are only a continuation of the appeal from Pristina to reduce UNMIK’s scope. The Mission, established in 1999 by Resolution 1244, is status-neutral. It has 362 members, 10 times less than at the beginning. Since then, the tasks have changed, so now it is concerned with promoting peace, stability and human rights. “This request doesn’t surprise me, there will be more requests to take off this topic from the United Nations, because the world organization is the only place that is keeping the main document that speaks of the status, and this is Resolution 1244,” says the Director of Radio Belgrade and a longtime reporter from Kosovo Milivoje Mihajlovic.

The stands on UNMIK and the debates in the SC are divided along the line that divides those who recognize and those who don’t recognize Kosovo. Hence the different views on the state-of-affairs in the province. The Spanish Ambassador to the UN Roman Oyarzun thinks that UNMIK’s work plays an important and necessary role in Kosovo. “We think that lack of progress in several fields points to the fact that its work is twice as necessary,” says the Spanish Ambassador. Russian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Petr Ilichev points out that the decisions of the Kosovo authorities, like the adoption of the Law on Trepca, do not contribute to the improvement of the situation there. “The issue of Serbian property in Kosovo requires greater attention of UNMIK,” says Ilichev.

According to Mihajlovic, the main goal of those who had requested the reduction of Kosovo’s presence at UN sessions is to move, relocate Kosovo from the UN. “This has become a place where, for the first time after 18 years, somewhat different tones on relations in Kosovo and Metohija are being heard. Until now, these reports were balanced. The blame was always divided on Serbian and Albanian, but this report has demonstrated that there is obstruction by Pristina,” stresses Mihajlovic.

Nikolic cabinet claims EULEX denied opinion disclosure (Tanjug)

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and EULEX chief Aleksandra Papadopulo met in Belgrade on Thursday to talk for more than an hour, but EU mission staff in Kosovo “denied in an arrogant and inappropriate way the public disclosure of her stances”, media report the statement from Vucic’s cabinet.

EULEX spokesperson Dragana Solomon told Tanjugthat she has “no comment”. The press service of the Serbian President stated that, despite attempts to harmonize the statement

regarding the meeting between the Serbian President and representatives of the EULEX Mission, this did not happen, and that therefore, no details may be revealed to the public.

“The non-recognition of politics and unilateral declaration of Kosovo’s independence is slowing us down on our path to European integrations and we have to live with that. Despite this, we will continue talking to Albanians. However, if they get so far into receiving the mandate to handle the Serbian heritage in Kosovo in UNESCO, we will lose our motive for dialogue in Brussels”, Nikolic pointed out. He went on to say that he completely understands the constraints of this mission in Kosovo, and that it clearly “has the mandate to create a proper state out of the so-called Kosovo”. The question of survival and remaining of the Serbian people in Kosovo is not just a question of human rights. Whoever breaches these rights is committing a crime. The way Kosovo has been snatched away from Serbia in 1999 is a disgrace for great powers for all times, the Serbian President concluded. He raised the issue of fair trials and the transfer of those who have been unfairly condemned, and who remain in prisons where there are no guarantees that Serbs will be treated in a civilized manner. This in particular concerns Oliver Ivanovic, the leader of party Freedom, Democracy and Justice, Nikolic declared.

Stefanovic: Constructive cooperation with EULEX (Beta)

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic and Alexandra Papadopolou, concurred in Belgrade that mutual cooperation in the previous period was constructive, but that there was room for its improvement, stated the Interior Ministry. Stefanovic stressed that there was still no progress in the investigation into the killing of a member of the Gendarmerie, Stevan Sindjelic, in the Ground Security Zone in 2014, and said that Serbia expected help from EULEX in solving that case. According to the statement, he also voiced concern over the jeopardizing of the fundamental rights and liberties of the Serbs in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, and that Serbia expected support from EULEX in all situations in which the safety and security of the Serb community were in jeopardy.

Drecun: Brussels stand that agreed cannot be changed is important (RTS)

The Chairman of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun has told the morning news of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that the Pristina side had tried to change the reached agreement on telecommunications, but that Brussels firmly reacted with the stand that what has been agreed cannot be changed. He says that Belgrade now expects the EU position to be the same on other issues, most notably when it comes to the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO). According to Drecun, Pristina does not want to present the agreement on telecommunications as important for the quality of life of everyone in Kosovo and Metohija, instead presenting it as a political issue. Drecun thinks that Pristina wants to contest both the question of Telekom Srbija’s property, and the dialing code to be assigned to Kosovo.

Explaining the agreement on telecommunications, Drecun stresses that Pristina didn’t receive an international dialing code. “If this was a state, then they would receive on their own, they wouldn’t have asked this from Serbia. This is our number and we can withdraw it,” he said. Drecun points out that those who wish to present the agreement on telecommunications as a step towards independence of Kosovo are not right, and that best proof for this is that Pristina wants to change the agreement.

Commenting on Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic’s address at the UN Security Council session this week, dedicated to Kosovo, Drecun said it was very strong, concrete, and sent a message to the international community on the issue of property. “It was a successful address and I hope the international community will accept Serbia’s arguments, and that this will probably be a very important step toward finally making Pristina put the issue of property on the agenda of the process of normalization of relations in Brussels, and to reach agreements about that,” he said. He notes that the issue of the ZSO is the key issue in the negotiations: “If the ZSO is not established, there will be no process of normalization of relations with Pristina. This must be clear to all, to Pristina, Brussels, Washington, and the whole international community. The issue of the survival of the Serbs is the establishment of the ZSO. Pristina must implement what has been agreed, and we will continue to insist on that.”

Vucic: I did not pay to see Obama (Beta)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic stated that he had not paid two million dollars in order to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama. “I did not give them a single dinar. Imagine me giving them two million dollars, or two million anything. That is unbelievable. Anyone in this country can make things up,” Vucic told reporters in Cuprija after the opening of the Chinese factory Eurofiber.

Center for peacekeeping operations marks anniversary (Beta)

The Day of the Center for Peacekeeping Operations of the Serbian Armed Forces was celebrated on 17 November with a ceremony held at the Center, marking six decades from the landing of the first peace corps from this region within the U.N. forces in Sinai, in 1956. The day was also marked throughout the world, by 320 Serbian members currently engaged in 10 peacekeeping missions of the U.N. and the EU and by the veterans – participants of the missions in Sinai, Angola, Iraq and Iran, the Defense Ministry has stated. The deputy commander of the Joint Operative Command of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, Maj. Gen. Slavoljub Janicijevic, recollected that the day that was being marked was an important one, because the landing of the Yugoslav army in Sinai in 1956 was a great accomplishment.

REGIONAL PRESS

Collegium for European Integration established (BHT1)

Inaugural session of the European Integration Collegium was held in Sarajevo on Thursday. The Collegium is the highest political and organizational body in the Coordination Mechanism that ensures harmonization of stances and removes possible blockades on B&H path towards the EU. The Collegium is tasked to coordinate key activities in the European integration process of B&H. Chairman of B&H Council of Ministers (CoM) Denis Zvizdic will be the Chairman of the Collegium, while Federation of B&H Prime Minister Fadil Novalic and Republika Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic will be Deputy Chairmen of this body. Prime ministers of the cantonal governments will be members of the Collegium.

The Collegium will be convening at least two times a year and even more often if necessary. Participants in the session discussed the Collegium’s Rules of Procedure, the Rules of Procedure of the Ministerial Conferences, as well as the Ministerial Conferences’ instruction book.

Commenting on the session, Zvizdic told the press conference that these documents are in the final phase of harmonization. He added that technical and expert suggestions were accepted and they will be included in the documents in the upcoming week, which will create conditions for 11 Ministerial Conferences. Zvizdic noted that he expects the conferences will be established and start operating not later than in the next 30 days.

Cvijanovic said that none of the aforementioned documents were adopted at the session in order to avoid possible mistakes. According to Cvijanovic, the fact that the session was attended by representatives of the cantonal and entity governments and B&H CoM shows that the highest level of coordination or the best understanding needs to exist at the level of executive authority.

Ivanic: OHR was supposed to be abolished long time ago (Hayat)

Serb member of B&H Presidency Mladen Ivanic took over the chairmanship on Thursday and he will be the Presidency Chair for next eight months. The first one to congratulate him was Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who is sure that Ivanic will contribute to development of relations and progress of two countries. Vucic assessed that the cooperation of Serbia and B&H represents a backbone of peace and stability in the region. Ivanic said that focus of his policies will be on the EU accession of B&H and added that there is enough political agreement for that. On the first day of his mandate he went to London and met with UK Foreign Minister Boris Johnson. Ivanic said his goal is the change of political ambient, promoting topics that have positive aspect – European topics.

Asked if he expects Nikolic’s visit during his mandate, Ivanic said his visit depends on relations between Nikolic and B&H Presidency member Bakir Izetbegovic and reminded that one Nikolic’s visit was cancelled at Izetbegovic’s request due to the arrest of wartime commander of Army of RB&H in Srebrenica Naser Oric, while the second one was cancelled due to attack on Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic in Srebrenica. In an interview for ‘Sputnik’ new agency, Ivanic said that the OHR was supposed to be abolished a long time ago, and added that the time of removals, which is announced by High Representative Valentin Inzko, has passed. Speaking about tensions between Sarajevo and Banja Luka, Ivanic said that these are topics for Dodik and Izetbegovic.

Former ministers of Herceg-Bosna mark anniversary of establishment of Croat Community of Herceg-Bosna (FTV/N1)

The 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Croat Community of Herceg-Bosna (HZHB) was marked in Mostar on Thursday, with officials from the parties in the Croat People’s Assembly (HNS) saying that Croats and B&H survived in the 1992-95 war thanks to the establishment of HZHB. On that occasion, participants called on representatives of three constituent peoples in B&H to launch negotiations on reorganization of B&H on principles of federalism and decentralism in order ensure equality of Croats in B&H. Croat member of the Presidency of B&H and leader of HDZ B&H Dragan Covic said there would be no B&H or Croats today without Herceg-Bosna, adding that it is high time to resolve internal issues in B&H and ensure equality of all three peoples.

N1 reports that the HZHB was established on November 18, 1991 as special territorial and political unit in territory of Republic of B&H. Reporter noted that two years after HZHB was established, it was pronounced as Croat Republic Herceg Bosna (HRHB). Numerous war camps were established in HRHB; thousands of Bosniaks were banished from their homes and many religious (Muslim) and cultural objects were destroyed. First-instance verdict of the ICTY against HZHB political and military officials revealed extent of atrocities committed under the aegis of HZHB. Namely, Jadranko Prlic, Slobodan Praljak, Valentin Coric, Bruno Stojic, Milivoj Petkovic and Berislav Pusic were aimed to carry out ethnic cleansing of B&H territory controlled by Croats. The verdict also reads that final goal of the JCE was creation of ‘Great Croatia’ and that former President of Croatia Franjo Tudjman was coordinating all these activities. Final-instance verdict in this case should be issued by mid-2017. Reporter noted that despite all verdicts, idea of HZHB still lives in political statements of some B&H Croats. Reporter reminded that according to the Washington Agreement, competences of HRHB were transferred to the Federation of B&H Government in 1996. Bosniak member of B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic said that establishing of HZHB, as well as crimes committed in following period, have undermined relations between Bosniaks and Croats. On the other hand, some analysts deem that pro-Bosniak parties would be responsible in case idea of the third entity in B&H is implemented.

Candles lit at start of Vukovar Remembrance Day commemorations (Hina)

Commemorations on the occasion of Vukovar Remembrance Day, observed on 18 November, started on Thursday evening with the lighting of candles and lanterns in the yard of the Vukovar General Hospital. Attending the ceremony were top state officials, including President Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic and government ministers. The central commemoration, with a procession through the city, is scheduled for 10am on Friday. Events are organized to commemorate 18 November 1991 when Vukovar fell into the hands of more numerous forces of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) and Serb paramilitaries, after which around 22,000 Croats and members of other non-Serbs were expelled and several thousand Croatian soldiers and civilians interned in Serb-run prison camps. Atrocities were committed against the defense forces and civilians.

General Gotovina appointed special adviser to defense minister (Hina)

Retired General Ante Gotovina was appointed Special Adviser to Defense Minister Damir Krsticevic under a decision signed by Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic at a government meeting in Vukovar on Thursday, the defense minister said. “I am very pleased that my great friend and our hero has accepted my proposal and this engagement. I am confident that the general, with his knowledge and competence, will make a considerable contribution to national security and the development of the Croatian Armed Forces. It is my desire to continue encouraging the engagement of former professional soldiers and officers who helped in creating our Homeland and who can certainly also help in maintaining national security,” said Krsticevic.

DF protests in December (Pobjeda)

Democratic Front (DF) has officially started preparations for organizing the protests which, according to plans of that political group, should start in December, Pobjeda reports. Front leaders Andrija Mandic and Nebojsa Medojevic have confirmed that information in separate statements. A preparatory meeting where activists from the town presented a plan for protests was held in Niksic on Tuesday. The formal aim of the protest, according to the newspaper, was the same as last year: the formation of a transitional or minority government, which would prepare new parliamentary elections which would be held together with presidential.

Due to the risk of escape: Dikic and his accomplices in custody for two more months (CDM)

The High Court in Podgorica decided that the former head of Serbian Gendarmerie Bratislav Dikic and 13 people suspected of establishing criminal organization and terrorist attempt should be remanded in custody for two more months, CDM learns.  “Detention is extended due to the circumstances suggesting that there is a risk of escape if the defendants are released, since they are foreign nationals, as well as that there is a risk of influencing accomplices”, the High Court stated.  According to the Special Prosecutor’s Office, the accused group intended to violently overthrow the government and kill Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.

Holub: Macedonian elections must be reliable and credible (Telegraf.mk)

It is clear that the December elections provide an opportunity for Macedonia, for politicians to pull the country out of the crisis and to move forward towards the Euro­-Atlantic integration. However, the elections must be reliable and credible and we hope that after the elections we can cooperate with the new government on reforms and to discuss ways to improve the situation. We hope that it will have good impact on the municipalities as well, said Lukas Holub, official of the EU Delegation to Macedonia.  He added that this year EC once again recommended opening of accession negotiations with Macedonia however it is conditioned with credible elections and implementation of necessary reforms.

VMRO-DPMNE starts elections campaign from Ohrid, SDSM from Prilep (Telegraf.mk)

Traditionally, the VMRO-DPMNE’s election campaign will begin in Ohrid. For several consecutive cycles the campaign starts in Ohrid. The Opposition SDSM will hold the first rally in Prilep. On the gathering his address will have the party leader Zoran Zaev, who is also carrier of the fourth electoral unit, which includes the Prilep region also. DUI will present the candidates lists on Sunday after which they will start with the official campaign.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Feud Over Macedonian Key Court Erupts Into Open (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 18 November 2016)

Simmering tension in Skopje’s Criminal Court over the contoversial Court President, Vladimir Pancevski, has burst into the open since a number of fellow judges publicly demanded his removal.

Macedonia’s top court is in a state of unprecedented turmoil after 15 colleagues of Court President Vladimir Pancevski demanded he stop pressuring fellow judges and misusing his position for personal vendettas and called on him to resign.

“The judges no longer want to be hostages to the overall situation,” lawyer Zvonko Davidovic said. “They have been silent so far… but it is positive that they recently gathered the courage to pinpoint all the problems they are facing and raise their voices.”

On Thursday, the Macedonian Academy of Science, MANU, said it was “worried by the condition of Macedonian judiciary” that it said was a result “of the undermined justice system in which political and personal interests take priority over human freedoms.”

After being sued last week for trying to influence a fellow judge, Ilija Dzolev, whom Pancevski in return sued for “falsely reporting a criminal act”, 15 colleagues of Pancevski on Tuesday told him to stop misusing the court and, in a signed letter to the Judicial Council, demanded his dismissal. The judges accused Pancevski of misusing the court’s official website to wage a personal feud with Judge Dzolev. “It is unacceptable that the court’s official website be used for the publication of personal correspondence and standpoints of the Court President, who has been using his office from a position of strength,” the judges wrote to the Judicial Council, adding that personal relations between judges are now “completely distorted”. In his response on Wednesday, Pancevski insisted that the letter was part of a “smear campaign” against the court waged by “certain outcasts”. Equating himself with the institution he leads, Pancevski told the media that the court was “being spat on without any arguments”.

The head of the Judicial Council, Zoran Karadzovski, on Wednesday refused to start a procedure based on the letter, insisting that the judges’ signatures on the letter were not legible.

Over the past year, ever since the Special Prosecution, SJO, was set up to investigate allegations of high-level corruption, Pancevski has been accused of following orders from top politicians to obstruct the work of the SJO. He has denied the claims. However, the court that he presides over has in the past year rejected almost all demands from the SJO to detain and secure the presence of suspects in court.

Civil right activist and law expert Mirjana Najcevska told Fokus weekly that the recent crisis over the court and the revelations of many misuses there “is one of the most significant turning points in the process of the re-animation of Macedonian democracy”. The tensions have spilled over into other fields as well.

In another letter published this week by the media, members of the court’s administration accused Pancevski of harrassment. This situation escalated on Tuesday when a dissatisfied court administration employee was accused of assaulting the court’s spokesperson, which he denied.

After the incident, Pancevski accused the court employee of being an opposition activist, which was widely reported in the pro-government media.

The turmoil in and around the court comes at less than a month before the December 11 early general elections that it is hoped will resolve the long-standing political crisis in the country.

Clinton-lands (The Economist, 18 November 2016)

The end of an era in Kosovo, Bosnia, Serbia and beyond

PRISTINA, the capital of Kosovo, is one of very few places that can boast a statue of Bill Clinton. The gold-painted monument depicts the former American president raising his arm in a gesture meant to evoke leadership, but which more closely resembles hailing a taxi. Ethnic-Albanian Kosovars venerate Mr Clinton for his role in the war that freed their country from Serbian rule and established a UN-administered protectorate in 1999, and led to independence in 2008. But the statue’s gleam has faded and its veneer is beginning to chip—much like the legacy of the Clinton era in the Balkans. Just as Mr Clinton shaped the western Balkans during the wars of the 1990s, those wars shaped his foreign-policy views—and those of his wife. The liberal interventionism espoused by Hillary Clinton was forged in the American efforts to bring peace to Bosnia and Kosovo. When backing military action in Libya in 2011, Mrs Clinton invoked the memory of the massacre at Srebrenica in 1995. Balkan countries expected Mrs Clinton to continue her muscular efforts to build an international liberal order if she were elected president.

Mrs Clinton’s defeat and the victory of Donald Trump herald difficult times for Kosovo and uncertainty in the Balkans at large. Mr Trump’s win has emboldened Russia’s authoritarian president, Vladimir Putin, a friend to Serbia and Serb nationalists in neighbouring Bosnia, and an implacable enemy of Kosovo’s very existence. That in turn may encourage Turkey to wield its influence among Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania. Balkan countries’ dreams of becoming fully fledged members of a prosperous and united European Union are beginning to fade.

In Belgrade a candidate in Serbia’s presidential election celebrated Mr Trump’s victory in America by playing a song in parliament urging the president-elect to expel Muslims and join forces with Mr Putin. In Moldova, Igor Dodon won the presidency on November 13th by boasting of his closeness to Mr Putin and to the Orthodox church, defeating a pro-European, anti-corruption rival. A candidate campaigning on a Russia-friendly ticket won Bulgaria’s presidency on the same day.

Montenegro’s government has accused Russian and Serbian nationalists of plotting to murder its outgoing prime minister, Milo Djukanovic, on October 16th, the day of its elections. The aim, says the government, was to stop Montenegro’s accession to NATO, which is nearly complete. (Some think Mr Djukanovic’s allies made up the story to win votes for his party.)

Alarmed by Russian muscle-flexing, the region’s Muslims are looking to Turkey’s authoritarian leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On November 14th the new Turkish ambassador to Bosnia delivered a speech emphasising the “common history of our peoples”, an appeal sure to conjure up historical memories of the Ottoman “yoke” among Serbs and Croats.

Yet those hoping that America’s change of regime will allow them to upset the balance of power bloodily established in the break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s may be disappointed. Nationalist Serbs had hopes that George W. Bush, Mr Clinton’s successor, would help them reverse some of their losses in the Balkan wars. Instead, Kosovo declared independence with full American backing during his term. One diplomat in the region speculates that the effect of a Trump-Putin friendship will be the reverse of the one that Serbs hope for, causing Russia to lose interest in the region. Mr Putin’s main reason for meddling in the Balkans has been to strike back at Western countries for supporting sanctions against Russia and helping Ukraine. With Mr Trump in the White House, he may have much less cause to retaliate.

Dimitar Bechev, a Bulgarian academic and author of a recent a book on Russian influence in the Balkans, warns against exaggerating the role of outsiders. Bulgarian and other Balkan politicians exploit networks extending into Russia as sources of influence and cash, especially in the energy business. But for the most part they make decisions based on their own interests, not those of outsiders.

The problem is that playing pro-Russian cards—or pro-Turkish ones—is generally intended as a distraction from the failure to deal with the urgent tasks of boosting employment and improving schools and health care. It leads countries away from the efforts to build democracy that have been a priority of the EU and, until now, America.

“From a governance point of view we are falling apart,” says Alida Vracic, a Bosnian analyst at SWP, a German think-tank. Balkan countries’ slow progress towards joining the EU has made matters worse. In their annual reports on western Balkan countries that have yet to join, published on November 9th, the European Commission said none had made much progress towards adhering to the EU’s membership standards. Macedonia is going backwards.

Unsurprisingly, the populations of the Balkan countries are shrinking. Young people are migrating when they can to more prosperous European countries with brighter prospects. Those who remain are in danger of adopting Mr Putin, Mr Trump or Mr Erdogan as their role models. As Mr Clinton’s statue flakes, so does the allure of the EU and the Western example.