LOCAL PRESS

Dialing code allocated to the geographical area of Kosovo (RTS/Tanjug)

Based on the Brussels agreement and Serbia’s letter, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has allocated the dialing code +383 to the “geographical area of Kosovo”.

Serbia approved this number and in the letter to the EU on 3 December it gave consent that it was giving the dialing code +383 to Kosovo as the geographical area for usage. At the same time, a license should also be issued today for Telekom’s daughter firm in Kosovo and Metohija – MTS d.o.o. Kosovska Mitrovica, for normal operating in the province and with greater signal coverage of the Serbian operator in all Serb regions and with the possibility of using all advanced technologies. Calls with other parts of Serbia are dialed without the dialing code, as in the past, and at the price of long-distance calls.

Djuric enters Kosovo despite the ban (Tanjug/RTS)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric attended the opening of the NIS gas station in Kosovska Mitrovica, despite the ban by the Kosovo Foreign Ministry. After 17 years, the Serbian Oil Industry (NIS) will re-open three gas stations in the north of the province – in Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Kosovska Mitrovica, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija announced.

Scott congratulates Vucic on Serbia’s progress (FoNet)

The opening of two new chapters in the negotiations between Serbia and the EU is a great success, the U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Kyle Scott told FoNet. He voiced his expectation that the Chapter 26 (education and culture) will be open next. The opening of the Chapter 26 was blocked by Croatia on Tuesday, and the ambassador Scott already on Wednesday morning met with the Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. Scott said that the U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden spoke by phone with the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic as well as that the U.S. believed that European integration is important and that bilateral issues should be separated from the process.

Scott: Serbia not expected to choose between Russia and US (Beta/Juzne Vesti)

It’s not either/or – Serbia can be friends with Russia and the U.S. but it needs to voice its opinion on the values of democracy and international law. It can’t, on the one hand, say the annexation of Crimea is illegal as the chair of the OSCE, but on the other hand say “we won’t do anything.” It’s a matter of values, which Serbia should resolve for the sake of its own future, U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Kyle Scott told the Juzne Vesti website in an interview. On the topic of the case of the Bytyqi brothers, Scott said it threw a shadow on relations between the two countries, like the unsolved case of the torching of the U.S. embassy in Belgrade, but added that it was a broader issue too – an issue of the justice system in Serbia. It’s a justice system issue. Unsolved cases dragging on for years are unfair to victims’ families, but also don’t speak too well of Serbia. We expect Serbia to have a working judiciary so there is justice for the Bytyqi family too,” Scott told Juzne Vesti and its 15 Minutes show.

Stefanovic: Croatia dislikes everything about Serbia (Tanjug)

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said that Croatia dislikes the fact that Serbia is economically stronger and moving forward, that Europe and the world see that and that Vucic and Serbia do not allow the trampling of neither its national interests nor its humiliation. He told Tanjug that there are many things that the Croatians are truly upset about both with Vucic and what Serbia is trying to do to protect its national interests. Stefanovic said that Croatia is upset when Serbia clearly and strongly protects its national and economic interests, when it procures new MiG-29 aircraft and other weapons “but not to be the aggressor and attack anyone but to protect its skies and its people”.

REGIONAL PRESS

Ranko Debevec selected for new President of Court of B&H (TV1)

The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of B&H held a session in Mostar on Wednesday and it selected the candidate from the rank of the Others Ranko Debevec for the post of the President of the Court of B&H. Six members of the HJPC voted for Debevec, five voted against and one member abstained from voting. This decision was preceded by fierce discussion, because certain members believed that a Bosniak candidate should have been appointed at this post. According to HJPC President Milan Tegeltija, Debevec was the best ranked candidate, which was the most important criteria. He does not think anyone was jeopardized by this decision, adding that “of three posts, there is always at some moment one ethnicity which may not hold one of the judicial posts”. Tegeltija stressed that tensions must calm down now so that the new Court President takes over the office in a peaceful atmosphere. Jukic is certain that the selected candidate has significant experience and he received excellent grades.

Debevec stated for TV1 that he deservedly won, adding that he will try to improve work of the Court of B&H and will insist on independence of judges in the process of rendering of verdicts. Debevec also stressed that neither him nor any member of his family is affiliated with any political party.

SDA: Decision passed through outvoting of Bosniak members; Tegeltija will bear responsibility for the consequences that will follow (TV1)

Reacting to the decision of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (HJPC) of B&H to select Ranko Debevec to the post of the President of the Court of B&H, SDA stated that the HJPC “blatantly violated the provisions of the Constitution of B&H, leaving Bosniaks consciously and deliberately without any managerial position in judicial institutions of B&H”. SDA also emphasized that the decision was passed through “arrogant outvoting of the HJPC members from rank of Bosniaks, whose justified remarks and stances were completely ignored”. SDA also warned that the HJPC members, with President Milan Tegeltija at the helm, who initiated and supported this decision, will have to bear responsibility for the consequences that will follow.

EC will pay special attention to “Sejdic-Finci” issue (Dnevni list)

Croatian Foreign Minister (FM) Davor Ivo Stier said on Tuesday that, on proposal of Croatia, members of the EU agreed that equality of constituent peoples and all citizens of B&H should be observed within the “necessary reform of the electoral legislation in B&H”. The EU Foreign Ministers met in Brussels on Tuesday. Stier explained that Croatia’s proposal was made in cooperation with the Slovak EU Presidency, Germany and France, arguing that equality of Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats, in context of reforms of electoral legislation, is an important message. The EU Foreign Ministers adopted a harmonized statement, which calls on all levels of authorities in B&H to get actively dedicated to preparations pertaining to the EC’s opinion on B&H’s EU membership request. The statement also reminds that the EC, during the process of making of its opinion, will have to pay special attention to implementation of “Sejdic-Finci” ruling.

Plenkovic says no need to dramatize blockade of Serbia’s EU negotiations (Hina)

There is nothing dramatic about the fact that Croatia did not green-light the opening of Chapter 26 in Serbia’s EU accession negotiations and it is in the interest of both countries for Belgrade to approach that issue constructively, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at the start of a government session on Wednesday. He underscored that for the sake of the public and government in Serbia and the Croatian public, the statements that could be heard on Tuesday should not be dramatized.

Commenting on the aggressive rhetoric and attacks by Serbia’s leaders on Croatia because of its blockade of Serbia’s EU accession negotiations, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said on Wednesday that it is not possible to join the European Union with “aggressive rhetoric and performances, but by meeting the requirements.”

Montenegro opposes blockade of Serbia (RTCG)

Former Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, said that he opposes blocking countries that want to become members of the European Union (EU), and that he believed that between integration and stability in the Western Balkans sign of equality.

“You understand that Montenegro opposes any blockages when it comes to the strategic interest of the region, which is progress towards common European goals,” Djukanovic said, adding that he believed that the issue related to the Croatian opposition to the opening Chapter 26 in negotiations between Serbia and the EU would be overcome.

Djukanovic: Lavrov might be allowed to make arrogant statements (CDM)

Former Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic says he represents only the interests of his country, thus rejecting criticism that Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has recently directed against him by saying that Djukanovic “had broken promises and betrayed Russia”.

“The Russian foreign minister, as the representative of a large country, might be allowed to make somewhat arrogant statements, but we have to take into account the vital interests of our citizens” said Djukanovic. He added that Russia had always objected to NATO expansion, not because Montenegro posed a great danger but because the global relations cooled. In that situation, Montenegro ended up “in the line of fire”. “That has not deterred us from our path. We respect the tradition and good relations with Russia, but we are taking steps that are in our interest – the European and Euro-Atlantic integration,” Djukanovic said.

Asked about the attitude towards NATO, Djukanovic said that the key problem in the Western Balkans was instability and that we would not be able to seriously commit to overcoming the deep economic backwardness of the region without solving this problem. He emphasized that the only certain future of all countries in the region will be in full European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

VMRO-DPMNE calls on SEC to not yield to pressures (MIA)

VMRO-DPMNE has been closely monitoring the work of the State Election Commission (SEC) and ‘the latest delay of deciding on the absurd appeals by SDSM and BESA Movement,’ the party said late Wednesday in a press release. “VMRO-DPMNE once gain appeals to SEC to not yield to any pressure and become part of scenarios for post-election engineering that would deny the will of 455,000 Macedonian citizens, which brought 51 parliamentary seats to VMRO-DPMNE. The entire domestic and foreign publics were witnesses to the peaceful, fair and democratic administration of the early elections on Sunday, at which no incidents is recorded. The Sunday’s elections reflected the will of the majority of Macedonian people, who voted for ending the (political) crisis, chose projects and reforms instead of destruction,’ the press release reads.

Data related to criminal association and abuse of office found during search in Kumanovo home (Republika)

Data related to criminal association and abuse of office found during search in home of Kumanovo police chief. The Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for organized crime and corruption said Wednesday a search was carried out in the home of the Kumanovo police chief late on Tuesday, not activities for his detention. The search order was issued by a pre-trial judge from the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption within the Skopje Basic Court.

Orban congratulates Gruevski: Elections results show that VMRO-DPMNE is irreplaceable (Republika)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has sent a message of congratulations to VMRO-DPMNE leader Nikola Gruevski following his party’s victory in the early general elections in Macedonia. “The elections results clearly show that VMRO-DPMNE is still an irreplaceable on the political scene. I wish you success in upcoming negotiations on forming a new government,” Orban wrote in his message. “I assure you that Hungary is ready to support Macedonia’s aspirations for integration into EU and to help in dealing with the migrant issue”, Orban’s message reads.

Russian Foreign Ministry: Will of Macedonian voters to be respected (Republika)

The early parliamentary elections in Macedonia, despite the exceptionally tense political situation, were conducted in a peaceful atmosphere. International observers, including a group of Russian representatives, did not register any major violations of the universally accepted standards, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation said on Wednesday. According to the results, it added, no political party managed to secure an absolute majority. “We call on all political forces in Macedonia to respect the will of the voters, act within the Constitution and avoid counterproductive outside influence in the formation of the new government. We believe that Macedonian politicians are aware of the degree of responsibility in upholding the stability and the inter-ethnic harmony in Macedonia, which is indispensable factor for peace in the Balkan region as a whole, reads the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Russia, as said in the statement, expects the priorities of the new government of the Republic of Macedonia to be balanced and focused on strengthening peace and security on the European continent.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Only Some Serbian Presidential Hopefuls Are Called ‘Killers’ (BIRN, by Dejan Anastasijevic, 15 December 2016)

The pro-regime media are busy pinning flakey murder allegations on two likely opposition contenders for the presidency – while keeping silent about the more serious allegations hanging over the other two.

You don’t have to be a murder suspect in order to run for Serbia’s top job – but you may become one anyway. Less than four months ahead of the Serbian presidential elections, the official list of candidates remains uncertain. But even before the campaign has started, two out of the four most likely to run are already being implicated in murder cases, and the remaining two have similar issues. Take Vuk Jeremic, the former foreign minister who recently competed – and lost – in the race for the position of United Nations Secretary General. As soon as Jeremic started eyeing up the Serbian presidency as a potential candidate of the united opposition, Belgrade’s nasty tabloids concocted a story that he was somehow involved in the unresolved death of two soldiers in October 2004. The soldiers, who were on guard duty, were found dead with gunshot wounds at their post in Topcider, Belgrade’s largest army base. The initial investigation concluded it was murder/suicide, but the probe was reopened after forensic evidence showed that a third person – or persons – was likely involved. Who killed them and why is still a mystery, but speculation abounds. Most of it revolves around the rumour that the base was then a hiding place for the fugitive Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, who has in the meantime been captured and put on trial at the UN war crimes court in The Hague. Now the Serbian tabloids claim that they have finally cracked the case: the soldiers were allegedly killed by “NATO headhunters” who were trying to capture Mladic in order to extract the reward for detaining him, and Jeremic was directing them and covered their tracks. The sole basis of this allegation is a statement from one of the witnesses, that Jeremic, who was a foreign policy adviser to President Boris Tadic at the time of the murders, somehow heard about the guardsmen’s death ahead of military top brass.

The very idea that NATO operatives could penetrate a well-guarded army compound in Belgrade, kill two soldiers in broad daylight, and then escape unnoticed, is preposterous.

It’s even more preposterous to imagine young Jeremic, an Oxford and Harvard scholar, as their guiding hand. But it wasn’t preposterous enough for Serbian state prosecutor’s office, which ordered police to interview Jeremic just two days after the tabloid story came out.

The other potential opposition candidate, Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic, is also a murder suspect, according to the same tabloids. This case is much older and occurred in 1993, when a friend of Jankovic’s stole his handgun and used it to commit suicide. Jankovic, who was nowhere near his friend at the time, was briefly questioned and immediately released. Somehow, the old files, including the gun’s serial number and a photocopy of Jankovic’s permit, were leaked to the selected press, who claim that the Ombudsman killed his friend and staged a suicide to cover it up. Although there’s not a shred of evidence for any of those claims, they are being repeated over and over by government-friendly tabloids and are being carried by popular commercial TV stations, so at least some of them will stick during the campaign. It is even more worrying that the prosecutor’s office, which usually tiptoes around politically sensitive cases, was so eager to have Jeremic questioned, although he most likely will not be charged. The result is that the reputation of both Jeremic and Jankovic is tarnished ahead of the race, and once the campaign officially kicks off, things are likely to get worse.

Now let’s take a look at the third candidate, Vojislav Seselj, leader of Serbian Radical Party. Unlike Jeremic and Jankovic, he has already declared that he will run for president. Seselj spent nine years at the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague, ICTY, where he was tried for his role in organising ethnic cleansing and other atrocities during the Yugoslav wars. Eventually, he was acquitted in the first degree, but the prosecution is appealing against the verdict. The funny thing is that almost no one in Serbia has questioned Seselj’s innocence, even though that his trial in The Hague was ridden with all sorts of irregularities. The same media that are involved in character assassinations of other would-be candidates treat the ultra-nationalist Seselj as a perfectly respectable mainstream politician. His statements, often outrageous and insulting, are printed on the front pages, and he has access to political talk shows that only government officials enjoy. The allegations that he was responsible for the deaths or expulsion of tens of thousands of Croats and Bosniaks do not hurt him one bit – in fact, it seems they are only aiding his campaign.

It is not yet clear whether Tomislav Nikolic, the current president, will run, but his closet is also not skeleton-free. In 2005, the human rights activist Natasa Kandic accused Nikolic, who was a part of Yugoslav Army expedition force in 1991, of killing two elderly Croatian women near the town of Vukovar. Nikolic, who was Seselj’s right-hand man at the time, sued for libel and won – Kandic could not substantiate her claim. This case is now forgotten, and was not even mentioned during Nikolic’s 2012 presidential campaign.

So, all four leading candidates for the post of President of Serbia have some sort of murder allegations pinned to their names. That ought to tell you something about the state of the country – and what it takes to be a politician here. The fact that the allegations, which are wrapped in wild conspiracy theories, seem to work, while accusations of war crimes don’t do any political damage, tells you more.

Bosnian Serb Soldiers Make ‘Suicide’ Threat in Retirement Row (BIRN, by Maja Garaca Djurdjevic, 15 December 2016)

Demobilised soldiers from Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska have threatened to protest and claim they are considering suicide if they are not granted the early retirement to which they are entitled.

Demobilised soldiers who say they have been denied early retirement by the Republika Srpska authorities have vowed to protest outside the entity’s National Assembly and claimed they were willing to commit suicide if the government doesn’t grant them early retirement and pensions or reinstatement into military service. A representative of the 348 demobilised soldiers, Branko Vukovic, told BIRN that a number of them have court rulings which guarantee them early retirement. Vukovic said that if their demands are not met, they will rally outside the Republika Srpska National Assembly in the centre of Banja Luka on the entity’s ‘statehood day’ on January 9, and some were prepared to consider committing suicide. “If a soldier kills himself because of their lies – because of the way they have been punishing soldiers for their involvement in the war – they had better beware,” he said.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Human Rights Ombudsman told BIRN that the 348 soldiers were given the status of retired military personnel on September 1, 2010, but have not yet received pensions. In May this year, the Human Rights Ombudsman sent a recommendation to the Republika Srpska government and the entity’s pension fund urging both to immediately fulfil their legal requirements and grant the demobilised soldiers early retirement, a spokesperson for the Ombudsman said. Amendments made in 2010 to the state law on service in the country’s armed forces said that professional soldiers can only serve up to 35 years of age in the country’s army, after which they should be granted early retirement status.

Bosnia’s mostly Bosniak and Croat entity, the Federation, implemented the amendments, but Republika Srpska has not. Soldiers who addressed Republika Srpska’s pension fund were asked to sign a declaration stating that they will not seek the recognition of their rights, as spelled out in the amended state-level law, in exchange for a payment, the Ombudsman’s office told BIRN.

Many of those who refused to do so took their cases to court and won, but still failed to get early retirement status from the Republika Srpska authorities. Vukovic, a demobilised soldier from East Sarajevo, also sent a letter to Republika Srpska National Assembly speaker Nedeljko Cubrilovic last week pleading the men’s case. “The soldiers demand that the assembly, in line with the clauses of its rule book, enforce its own law and grant the soldiers the right to early retirement,” Vukovic wrote in the letter. “If it is unable to do so, the soldiers plead to be returned to professional military service, to their jobs which were seized from them fraudulently,” he added. Vukovic told BIRN however that he was sceptical that the letter would have any effect.

“This letter will have no influence on them,” he said. This was the second letter that Vukovic has addressed to Cubrilovic over the issue this year. In April, in response to his first plea for help, Vukovic was told that the National Assembly can’t resolve the issue on its own without the willingness and help of other institutions.

Post-Election Tension Nears Danger Level in Macedonia (BIRN, 15 December 2016)

Tension in Macedonia following Sunday’s tight election is growing, as both main political blocs claim victory at the polls and each side’s patience starts to run out.

Far from resolving the long-standing political crisis in Macedonia, Sunday’s tight election outcome hints at an even tenser situation that could easily spill over into violent incidents, observers warn. “We have a tie position in both political blocs, numerous combinations for assembling a new government and a serious threat of ethnic conflict among Macedonians,” political analyst Daut Dauti told Deutsche Welle. Tension on the ground between the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party of former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and the main opposition Social Democratic Union, SDSM, led by Zoran Zaev is already dangerous, experts say.

On Tuesday night, in the northern town of Kumanovo, special police units entered the home of local police chief Stojance Velickovic, reportedly in search of alleged evidence of election rigging. Velickovic, who was appointed by the now outgoing interim Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski, who comes from the ranks of the opposition, said the whole event was a set-up organized by the VMRO DPMNE party. Local residents and opposition supporters gathered in front of Velickovic’s home in his defence, before he came out to assure people that he would not be arrested. The stand-off there comes after both the ruling and opposition parties on Monday accused each other of trying to steal the election and exchanged threats.

After the State Election Commission, DIK on Monday said preliminary unofficial results showed that VMRO DPMNE had won 51 of the 120 seats in parliament and the SDSM had won 49, the opposition demanded a repeat vote in some areas where they detected irregularities. Zaev warned that Gruevski must not be allowed to form a government before such irregularities are addressed, adding that both parties could either end up having 50 MPs or that the opposition could yet have one more MP than VMRO DPMNE.VMRO DPMNE official Vlatko Gjorcev responded to this with a threat. “VMRO DPMNE does not plan to allow Zaev and a handful of people around him to steal the democratic will of 453,000 citizens. If someone tries to steal that, their patience will grow into anger,” he told a press conference on Tuesday. The SDSM won just a few fewer votes than VMRO DPMNE, almost 437,000 thousand. Meanwhile, as the DIK readies to hold an open session on Thursday to decide on the opposition parties’ complaints, there are calls on social networks for ruling party supporters to gather in front of the DIK building Skopje as a form of additional pressure. Observers fear even a small spark right now could start a fire. Former Macedonian ambassador to Albania Eleonora Karanfilovska Ratcliff said Gruevski – who along with his party leadership are under investigation for high-level crimes by the Special Prosecution – will use every opportunity to stay in power. “Gruevski’s power is seriously compromised but ‘Gruevski-ism’ – a system of firm rule and corruption with a wide number of supporters in all social spheres and at all levels of governance, which has created many ‘pawns’ – is still very present,” she wrote on Facebook. “These soldiers of Gruevski will be the strongest barrier against any change … in defending their own positions, not that of the party, they will be brutal in their self-defence,” Karanfilovska Ratcliff warned. Constitutional Law Professor Svetomir Skaric sees the only way out in a formation of a technical government that would prepare the country for yet another election. “A non-party person that would form the new government is a necessity because with this election outcome none of the parties has the legitimacy to impose itself and [and name a new] Prime Minister,” Skaric said. Under the constitution, the new parliament should be established by the end of this month at the latest. The deadline for forming a government is February 16.