LOCAL PRESS

Brnabic: Serbian government support Kosovo Serb decision (Beta)

The Kosovo Serbs and Serb List representatives have the full and unreserved support of the Serbian government for their decision to join the new Kosovo government headed by Ramush Haradinaj, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said in Cacak on Wednesday. They took a responsible decision despite the irresponsible criticism from some in Serbia. They are the people preserving Serbia in Kosovo, people who stayed there, who are defending our interests in Kosovo responsibly and together with no internal feuds, Brnabic said after visiting an elementary school.

Speaking of the European integration process, Brnabic said that to her Serbia’s path to the European Union is equally important as the destination because the country adopts certain standards on that road. She said she hopes that the EU will be prepared to open the door to new members in the coming period and that the reforms Serbia is implementing will contribute to its development.

Dacic: No reactions of international community to excesses in Croatia (RTS)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has told the morning news of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that one cannot hear a reaction of the international community and Brussels to the nationalistic excesses in Croatia. He notes there is a wall of silence and that he is not happy because of this. However, he is certain that there would be reactions if the excesses happened in Belgrade.

Commenting the arrest of the people in the Red Cross in Kosovo and Metohija, Dacic says this is a continuation of pressures on the Serb people. He says we need to be prepared and to have legal teams that will fight and offer support to citizens. He says this is a message to the Serbs that they can be accused of everything. “Look at where we are when the Red Cross is considered an enemy,” says Dacic. He points out that the international community was angered when he reacted to the lies from Pristina. He says that 580,000 Serbs used to live in Croatia, but today there are less than 200,000 of them, that around 150,000 Serbs used to live in Sarajevo, and around 40,000 used to live in Pristina. “We cannot say that this data doesn’t exist anymore,” said Dacic, noting that the international community is angry when he harshly reacted to the fact that the abolishment of the UN mission is being requested. “So what do we need to do? To applaud and look how other countries recognize Kosovo?” wondered Dacic.

Speaking about the internal dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija, he says that it is important that it has been launched since the Kosovo issue has been mostly used in two ways. The first is the avoidance of the topic and transferring the “hot potato” to somebody else, and the second is the usage in campaigns for different nationalistic rhetoric that have nothing to do with the reality, said Dacic.

Commenting the speech of EC President Jean-Claude Juncker when he said there is no EU enlargement by 2019, Dacic says this is not different compared to what Juncker had stated earlier and that he was even a little milder now. Dacic thinks that the EU will either continue enlargement or it will have a process of slowly dying out. “Enlargement is curing for the survival of the EU,” said Dacic.

Speaking about relations with Russia and the US, Dacic says when “elephants argue, the grass usually gets damaged”. When it comes to harmonizing the joint foreign and security policy with the EU, he notes that we have a deadline until we join the EU but we don’t know when this will occur. “I hope the conflict between the West and East will end. If it doesn’t, then we are all in a big problem, including the EU. We should pay attention to our interests, everything is changeable,” said Dacic.

Office for Kosovo and Metohija: Shameful operation (Beta)

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija has announced that the operation of the Kosovo police and the detention of the members of the Red Cross of Kosovo and Metohija is shameful. The Office stated that the ROSU operation has the least to do with the Serbs and the work of a humanitarian organization and that it represents a clash between old and new political structures in Pristina and the internal Albanian clash, which is a result of the transition of authorities in the provisional self-government institutions. Calling it shameful, the Office for Kosovo and Metohija has stated that it most harshly protests over the detention of members of the Red Cross of Kosovo and Metohija and the intrusion of the police into its facilities, and warns that abuse of humanitarian issue for political purposes cannot bring good to anybody. We demand international representatives in Kosovo and Metohija to prevent attempts of intimidation of the Serb nation and endangering the existence of socially vulnerable citizens,” reads the statement.

Red Cross officials released (RTS)

Secretaries of the Red Cross from the municipalities of Pec, Gracanica and Dragas – Momo Dimic, Sveta Zivic and Zecir Zurapi – were released after they were detained last night in the operation conducted by the Kosovo police special units. Zivic, as well as secretaries of the Red Cross in Novo Brdo – Dragan Stojanovic, in Vitina – Tomislav Rakic and in Obilic – Zoran Vasic, are supposed to report to the police today for an informative talk.

Office for Kosovo and Metohija: Former officials conducted damaging policy on Kosovo (Tanjug/B92)

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija said this in a statement on Wednesday, responding to what it termed the former officials’ current campaign to mislead and misinform which, apart from distorting reality and facts, is trying to whitewash the evil that they inflicted on our state and people. “Jeremic and his associates these days, out of insolence and ignorance, dare to, in a defamatory manner, analyze and criticize the policies of the current authorities towards Kosovo and Metohija – and it was they who were in power when the dialogue on Kosovo was moved from the UN to the EU, and EULEX brought to our southern province – and they contributed to it by selling the interests of their own state and people for a little pat on the shoulder and for Brussels’ support in elections,” the statement said.  It was precisely Jeremic, Tadic, Stefanovic and their associates, it continued, supported by Sasa Jankovic and other self-styled moral and intellectual giants, who asked the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo, and did so using a wrongly formulated question.

The response received, according to the Office, dealt an almost fatal blow to all the efforts to make sure Serbia was successfully fighting for its interest on the international stage. “It is precisely these onlookers who are today heckling from the sideline who were at the very center of this amateurish operation, from which this state has not been able to recover to this day,” the statement said, adding that the former officials, now opposition politicians, would be quiet today if they had any shame, and would hope that citizens will forget the evil deeds that they committed. “They continue to scheme against their own state and its interests,” reads the statement.

Kuburovic: Serbian government will provide guarantees for Mladic (Tanjug)

The government will approve the providing of guarantees to the Hague Tribunal for Ratko Mladic’s provisional release for medical treatment, Serbian Justice Minister Nela Kuburovic has stated. “Respecting the request of Mladic’s defense counsel and family, the Ministry of Justice has initiated a procedure for providing guarantees and has already obtained the necessary opinions. In the shortest time, this request will be (considered) at the government session,” Kuburovic told reporters at the Palace of Serbia on Thursday. She noted that this will not be the first time that the Serbian government has provided guarantees for persons who are accused by the Hague Tribunal. “So far, we have respected everything that was guaranteed and I believe that this time, too, there will be a positively response to the defense and Ratko Mladic’s family,” she said.

REGIONAL PRESS

Police officers prevent opposition MPs in RSNA to attend session (BNTV)

Chaos erupted in the Republika Srpska (RS) Assembly on Wednesday, when opposition MPs were prevented to enter a small hall in this institution and thus attend a session. Namely, Speaker of the RSNA Nedeljko Cubrilovic engaged a higher number of police officers to prevent the opposition MPs to enter the hall where the session of the RS Assembly resumed on Wednesday. Cubrilovic issued the order due to the fact that, as he claims, opposition MPs hindered work of the RS Assembly. After that, opposition MPs held a conference in the building of the RS Assembly saying that this move violates the Rules of Procedures, claiming that disciplinary measure of removal of an MP from the RS Assembly can be imposed only against individuals and not collectives. In this regard, opposition MPs announced that they will launch a procedure for removal of Cubrilovic and Secretary General of the RS Assembly Marko Acic from their posts.

During the press conference, leaders of the opposition parties said that they will not leave the RS Assembly until further notice. Leader of SDS Vukota Govedarica stated that SDS Vice President Sonja Jovicevic Karadzic was also prevented to attend the session. Govedarica described the situation as “the disorderly house”. Govedarica was concluded saying: “We cannot work in this way any longer”.

Leader of NDP Dragan Cavic emphasized that violation of laws, removal of MPs who do not belong to the ruling majority away from the RS Assembly is being carried out with the goal to prevent a discussion on an audit report of the Supreme Office for the RS Public Sector Auditing. According to Cavic, the audit report clearly speaks about thievery of the ruling majority.

RS President Milorad Dodik tried to calm down the situation in the RS Assembly and talked to Govedarica and leader of PDP Branislav Borenovic over phone. Dodik called on Govedarica and Borenovic not to hinder the work of institutions. Govedarica and Borenovic agreed with Dodik saying that future work of institutions should be in line with the law and the RS Constitution.

Commenting on this situation, RS Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic also addressed media and said that institutions will continue its work without any disturbing so that the officials can do their job and earn their salaries. The opposition emphasized three requests as conditions for continuation of work of the RS Assembly. The first request is to include the audit report of the Supreme Office in the agenda of the session of the RSNA, which was previously removed. The second one refers to a demand for delivery of answers to all questions of MPs and the third one requires publishing of all previously-adopted decisions in the RSNA, in the RS Official Gazette.

Dodik: Wednesday’s developments in RSNA was attempt of minority to rule over majority (Srna)

Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik has stated in Banja Luka on Thursday that unrests in the RS Assembly are in some way an introduction into a Macedonian scenario and they take place exactly before the elections in order to cause early withdrawal of the authority. He added: “This was an attempt of minority to rule over majority but if the opposition refers to law then they should know that majority makes decisions.” He also said that all members of the opposition have already forgotten the initial cause of interruption of the RSNA’s session and that is return of Consolidated Audit Report on Budget Execution to the agenda, which should be at the agenda of the next RSNA’s session. Dodik stressed that police did not violate professional codex of behavior on Wednesday and it acted at demands of RS Assembly speaker Nedjeljko Cubrilovic.

SNSD claims US Embassy to B&H wants to destroy Dodik and SNSD with help of RS opposition parties (RTRS)

Representatives of SNSD issues a press release that the Alliance for Changes (SzP) embarked on its most dangerous adventure so far, stressing that “action of violent takeover of the RSNA was conceived by part of political Sarajevo, team of George Soros and his assistant Brian Hoyt Yee, who arrived to Republika Srpska (RS), and a well-known embassy in Sarajevo”.

“Political Sarajevo wants to destroy the RS, embassy staff want to destroy RS President and SNSD leader Milorad Dodik and SNSD. What SDS, PDP and NDP want? Given that they do not enjoy the public’s support, and that was obviously made clear to them, it was suggested to them that they should start destroying the most important place in the country – the RSNA,” reads a press release issued by SNSD.

However, the US Embassy to B&H expressly reacted to this, stressing that SNSD is using a conspiracy theory to try to divert attention from actual problems. Representatives of NDP stressed that SNSD is using a tested method which stipulates mentioning Soros and foreign elements, noting that they will not give up and that the end to the regime in the RS is in sight.

SDS representatives, on the other hand, underlined that the authorities in the RS are trying to draw attention from the issues raised by the opposition. “Given that it is unable to respond to specific demands of the opposition, the regime is inventing non-existent enemies of the RS,” reads a press release issued by SDS.

Security experts, however, claim that nothing happens by chance and that the opposition is using social unrest in order to realize the so-called Macedonian scenario, which started in the Macedonian Parliament. The aim of this is to cause unrest, violence, so that foreign factor could make sure the opposition comes in power in the RS and remains there until the next elections.

B&H HoR adopts Declaration that calls EU, Croatia to suspend construction work on Peljesac Bridge (Hayat)

B&H House of Representatives (HoR) adopted on Wednesday a Declaration that opposes construction of the Peljesac Bridge. Thus, B&H HoR MPs called on the EU and Croatia to suspend all work on construction of the Peljesac Bridge without any delays. According to the Declaration, construction of the Peljesac Bridge may abolish or prevent B&H to exercise its sovereign rights. Two parties, SNSD and HDZ B&H, voted against adoption of the Declaration. The reporter noted that no one knows what will be future steps after adoption of the Declaration, and emphasized that B&H Presidency and B&H Council of Ministers (CoM) failed to present a single stance on this issue.

SDA MP Amir Fazlic said that they do not dispute the right of Croatia to connect its territory, but added that B&H demands from Croatia to respect its right to access to open sea. Fazlic added: “We demand good, neighborly relations, we demand talks and we demand solving of this issue via democratic dialogue in line with the international law”. DF MP Damir Becirovic underlined that instead of putting interests of B&H in the spotlight in this case, Croatia is actually endangering interests of B&H. Becirovic added that B&H is being considered as an unserious international partner, due to the latest events related to the Peljesac Bridge. SBB B&H MP Damir Arnaut said that they managed to remove a dangerous sentence from the Declaration, which calls on B&H institutions to withdraw from a border agreement with Croatia. The reporter stressed that, as advocators of the construction of the Peljesac Bridge, HDZ B&H MPs called on other colleagues to give up on adoption of the Declaration. HDZ B&H MPs also proposed adoption of certain conclusions, which oblige B&H Presidency and B&H CoM to inform the HoR on this topic, at the upcoming session of the HoR. HDZ B&H MP Nikola Lovrinovic argued that there are no conditions for adoption of the Declaration, bearing in mind that it will bring no significant results and reminded that many MPs pointed out this fact during the discussion. Lovrinovic added that on the other hand, the Declaration may cause harm in terms of good, neighborly relations with Croatia and overall political relations in B&H. During fierce discussion, HDZ B&H MPs accused SDA MPs of trying to discipline Croatia via this issue and prevent citizens of B&H, to love their neighbors.

Zagreb requests third entity from EU (EuroBlic)

Croatian members of the European Parliament (MEPs) announced a new resolution of the EP which will propose federalization of B&H. The daily noted that many analysts agreed that this means that fierce diplomatic offense of official Zagreb in search for support of most influential world powers to establishment of the third entity has entered its final stage. Analysts assessed that the announcement of the new resolution “stripped down to the bone” months long aggressive foreign-political moves of numerous Croatian officials and they noted that one should expect to see new tensions in relations between Sarajevo and Zagreb.

Political analyst Pejo Gasparevic said that recent meeting of Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic with US President Donald Trump, on which occasion Grabar-Kitarovic asked for US’ support in fight of Croats for equal rights in B&H, as well as her upcoming meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin during which the situation in B&H will be one of important topics, speak volumes about seriousness of Croatia’s approach to solving of problems of Croats in B&H. The daily reminded that it was Croatian MEP Marijana Petir who announced that the EP will adopt a new resolution on B&H and she noted that B&H is neither a functional nor sustainable state in spite of the fact it has been 22 years since the Dayton Peace Accords (DPA) was signed. “We expect to see a report of the European Commission and EP on progress of B&H this autumn and probably even a new resolution of EP on B&H. I firmly support the European journey of B&H and I call for implementation of necessary reforms, including constitutional reform which will enable full functionality and stability of B&H as well as equal rights of all constituent peoples. In order to reach this goal, one should consider the model of federalization as one of possible models,” Petir explained.

Political analyst Ivana Maric said that possible adoption of a resolution of the EP which would support federalization of B&H would represent a harsh interfering with internal affairs of B&H.

Zvizdic must bring signatures of parliamentarians who support him (Dnevni avaz)

The House of Representatives of the B&H parliament convened on Wednesday and adopted on a proposal of independent MP Sadik Ahmetovic a conclusion, according to which Chairman of the Council of Ministers of B&H Denis Zvizdic should collect signatures of parliamentarians who support him, so the Parliament can adopt a stance on status of the Council of Ministers of B&H. Before the conclusion was adopted, Ahmetovic complained over the fact that B&H HoR was not given Zvizdic’s Information on current situation and relations within the Council of Ministers of B&H, and their stance towards the parliamentary majority. Most of SDA MPs were against the adoption of the conclusion, with exception of Semsudin Mehmedovic.

Vucic: RS has never had greater support of Serbia (Glas Srpske)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic stated that Republika Srpska (RS) has never had greater support of Serbia than now and he added that only economically and politically strong Serbia can help Serb people in the region. He added that Serbia supports the RS in “moral, scientific, cultural, educational and financial context”. Vucic noted that Serbia assists both Serb communities and cities in the Federation of B&H. He reminded that Serbia allocated funds for the reconstruction of the Serb Orthodox Church in Mostar and also added that it plans to allocate funds for Grahovo, Glamoc, Drvar and other places as well. Minister of Innovation and Technological Development of Serbia Nenad Popovic said that Serbia’s support to the RS is a result of efforts of Vucic and RS President Milorad Dodik invested in firmer connecting of Serb people. “Economy is crucial for development of relations between Serbia and RS, while Belgrade and Banja Luka must strengthen special and parallel relations in all fields”, Popovic said and concluded that strengthening of relations between Serbs contributes to stability in the region.

Slovenian parliament debates possible military solution to dispute with Croatia (Vecernji list)

An extraordinary session of the Slovenian Parliamentary Committee on Defense, devoted to “the readiness of the army to enforce the arbitration decision on the border with Croatia,” convened by Committee Chairperson Zan Mahnic from the largest opposition party, will be held be held behind closed doors on Thursday, despite government’s calls for the session to be cancelled and a possible boycott by part of the ruling parties. This was confirmed by Mateja Erculj, a spokeswoman for the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS). Mahnic is a member of SDS. Asked whether the leading Slovenian opposition party supported Mahnic’s initiative to convene the meeting, she replied that SDS supported its member of parliament, but added that the initiative was his own.

Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar has repeatedly called for the session to be cancelled and said that the topic was “completely inappropriate.” He warned that it would send a wrong signal to the international community about the dispute with Croatia because Slovenia intends to implement the arbitration decision in a peaceful manner. Slovenian Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec, a hardliner with regards to relations with Croatia, also said that the session was unnecessary.

Reacting to Cerar’s call for the session to be cancelled, Mahnic said on Tuesday that his move was legitimate and asked why the Prime Minister had only responded to the meeting now, although it was announced ten days ago. The Slovenian media speculate that Cerar acted only after the information was reported by the German news agency DPA, with a commentary that the session could result in tensions and conflicts between Croatia and Slovenia.

“Given the statements of Prime Minister Cerar and Foreign Minister Erjavac that they are losing patience with Croatia, that it is enough with diplomacy and that Slovenia would implement the arbitration decision itself, I have decided to convene the session to ask the government what kind of scenarios they have if there is a conflict,” said Mahnic, explaining his move to journalists.

“I have information from the Prime Minister’s office that Croatia has already sent its coast guard ships to the area of ​​Umag and Pula, and that members of special units of the Croatian Army are on them. Prime Minister Cerar has also allegedly been informed that Croatia will not allow the implementation of the arbitration decision in the Bay of Piran and that it would defend half of the bay by all means if Slovenia tried to implement its sovereignty there,” Mahnic said.

Prime Minister to meet with party leaders about relations with Slovenia (Jutarnji list)

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has invited leaders of all parliamentary parties to a meeting on Thursday afternoon. The topic is relations with Slovenia and a new initiative to solve the border arbitration dispute. “First of all, the Prime Minister wants to inform party leaders about what is being done and what will be done in further dialogue with Slovenia. Plenkovic’s desire is for a consensus of everyone in Croatia to be reached, just like when the decision was made to leave the border arbitration proceedings with Slovenia two years ago,” say sources close to the Prime Minister. Plenkovic is expected to reiterate that Croatia has left the arbitration proceedings irreversibly since the process has been compromised by the Slovenian side. After all, that is the conclusion made by the Parliament two years ago, and it will not be changed. However, the Croatian side has said it wants to engage Slovenia in a dialogue to reach a solution, so there are also different proposals what should be suggested to Slovenia in order for both sides to be satisfied. According to the media, one possibility is an initiative to not formally accept the arbitration decision but to reach a bilateral agreement with Slovenia similar to the outcome of the arbitration. In that case, one of the conditions would be for a special fishing regime to be introduced for Croatian fishers in the disputed Bay of Piran.

Foreign Minister Marija Pejcinovic-Buric and SDP’s Member of Parliament Josko Klisovic, who was Deputy Foreign Minister in the last SDP-led government, discussed the idea on Tuesday evening, and the conclusion was that such a solution would be acceptable to Slovenia as well, which has often sent messages that it was not interested in formal issues, but just wants the arbitration decision to be implemented one way or another. According to unofficial sources, SDP, as the main opposition party, also believes that such solution might be acceptable.

Consultations between the party political leaders in Croatia will take place on the same day as a session of the Slovenian Parliamentary Committee on Defense, which will discuss the readiness of the Slovenian army to implement the arbitration decision. The initiator of the session is Zan Mahnic from the opposition party SDS, while Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar himself opposes the idea that possible activities of the Slovenian army in the implementation of the arbitration decision should be discussed by the parliament.

SDSM signs coalition agreement with 21 parties (MIA)

The Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM) led coalition signed a joint agreement of 22 parties to participate in the coming municipal elections.

The coalition includes SDSM; the New Social Democratic Party; the Liberal Democratic Party; the Democratic Alliance of Vlachs of Macedonia; the Party of United Pensioners and Citizens of Macedonia; the Social Democratic Union; the Liberal Party of Macedonia; the Democratic Alliance; the Serbian Progressive Party in Macedonia; the Democratic Renewal of Macedonia; the Party for Full Emancipation of the Roma; Dignity; the Party for Economic Change; the Alliance for a Positive Macedonia; the Party for European Future; the Movement Party of the Turks in Macedonia; the Serbian Party in Macedonia; the Democratic Party of the Roma; the United Party for Roma Equality, United for Macedonia and MORO – Workers Party.

At the signing ceremony, SDSM leader Zoran Zaev said that their coalition for the 2016 general elections is now expanded with additional parties. “Our coalition now has 22 members. The political climate in the country has changed, the citizens have been liberated, they believe in the changes. The citizens from our entire society, in all areas of life, feel the chance to participate in the changes and they are doing so. I’m convinced that this pre-election coalition will bring the changes from the central level to the local level and bring life for all the citizens in our shared and so beautiful Macedonia. This is the united goal that has united all of us, left and right wing parties, parties of the center, who signed the joint treaty,” Zaev said. He confirmed that the SDSM candidate for Skopje’s downtown Centar municipality will be Sasa Bogdanovic, the current head of the Centar parkings and head of the SDSM branch in the area. Mayor Andrej Zernovski agreed that he will withdraw his independent run, will leave his LDP party and join SDSM at a position in the Government.

Ivanov and Xhaferi meet VNG commander Cray (MIA)

President Gjorge Ivanov met Thursday with Vermont National Guard (VNG) Commander, Major-General Steven Cray, who is paying a visit to Macedonia. Ivanov and Cray exchanged opinions on the long-standing fruitful cooperation between the Macedonian Army (ARM) and the Vermont National Guard through joint participation in peacekeeping missions, joint training and education of troops, the President’s Office said in a press release. Ivanov saluted ARM’s strategic partnership with VNG and expressed assurance that the successful cooperation in the defense field represented an opportunity for enlargement of cooperation in other areas of mutual interest. He said Macedonia meets all NATO membership criteria and acts, de facto, as Alliance member by taking part in its peacekeeping missions. General Cray acknowledged the deployment of Macedonian troops in international peacekeeping missions and added the United States would continue to support Macedonia’s strategic commitment for integration in Euro-Atlantic institutions, reads the press release.

Parliament speaker Talat Xhaferi also met with a delegation and Cray. Xhaferi and Cray saluted the successful cooperation between the ARM and the VNG, which has been operational since 1993, including training for over 4,500 ARM members, the Speaker’s Office said in a press release. Xhaferi briefed the VNG delegation over the Parliament’s activities and the unanimous support of MPs for the deployment of Macedonian troops in NATO-led peacekeeping missions, as well as the high public support for the country’s Alliance accession. Major-General Cray said Macedonia is closely linked to NATO and has U.S. strong support on its path to full-fledged Alliance membership. Interlocutors also exchanged opinions on planned activities in the defense field in 2018, expressing hope that the exceptional bilateral cooperation would continue in the future, reads the press release.

Polls: 58,9% of the citizens are pleased by the new government, SDSM leads the polls ahead of VMRO-DPMNE (Meta)

Almost 60% of the citizens of Macedonia are pleased of the work of the new government in its first 100 days in office, shows the polls that were carried out by the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCMS) and TV Telma.

The results of the polls show that 58, 9 of the people have stated that they are pleased by the Government in its first 100 days in office, 34, 9 have stated that they are displeased and 6,2 % didn’t know what to reply or have refused to state their opinion.

According to ethnicity groups, 54, 35% of the Macedonians are pleased with the government’s first 100 days in office, 40, 22 are displeased, while among the Albanians, 71, 36 are pleased and 21,11% are displeased.

When asked in which area the government has worked the most in its first 00 days, 38, 5 have said that it was the foreign policy, 7,4% have stated social programs, 3, 2% have stated the economic development, 20% have stated another area (health, judiciary, foreign and domestic investments and agriculture) and 19 % have said that they didn’t know or have refused to answer.

Regarding the area that the government should pay attention to most, 34,2% have said that it should increase the number of jobs, 18,4% think that an accent should be given to the economic development, for 8,6% the integration in EU and NATO is most important, for 10,4% the health is a priority, for 7,4 – social protection, 17,1% – other areas and 3,9% didn’t know what to say or have refused to reply.

The polls carried out by MCMS and Telma shows that SDSM has a higher ranking above VMRO-DPMNE by 3%, for the first time in 10 years. The definite numbers and percentages of this part of the polls will be announced soon.

First official government meeting (ADN)

The new Albanian government sworn in on Wednesday in the presence of the President of the Republic Ilir Meta. In his speech in front of the 15 members of the Council of Ministers, President Meta, urged for further collaboration between majority and the opposition and has a message for the new cabinet. “The Albanians expect by the government to fulfill all the challenges as EU integration, the implementation of the Judicial Reform and the war against corruption,” said Meta. He congratulates new ministers on their new duty. On its first official meeting on Wednesday evening, government discussed and voted on ten important decisions. The first one, as Prime Minister, Edi Rama unveiled, will be to announce 2017 the Skanderbeg year. Another important decision is to facilitate the bureaucratic procedures in the state offices for all the Albanian citizens.  From the other side, government is expected to allocate even a fund to USA for the citizens affected by Irma Hurricane and another fund for the reconstruction of the building of “Writers’ League”.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

Zaev Sabotaged Macedonia’s Geostrategic Role In Multipolarity (Oriental Review, by Andrew Korybko, 9 September 2017)

Russia and China are wary of having their multipolar Balkan megaprojects transit through a state which increasingly looks likely to end up internally partitioned or worse, and are instead considering rerouting their planned corridors through Bulgaria instead. There was once tremendous hope that the landlocked Central Balkan country of the Republic of Macedonia would become “land-linked” in serving as one of the most important transit states in Russia and China’s multipolar Balkan megaprojects of the Balkan Stream gas pipeline and Balkan Silk Road high-speed railway, respectively, but those hopes are seriously threatened by the latest infrastructure news coming out of the region. In response to Zaev’s shadow implementation of the “Tirana Platform” in disproportionately empowering the Albanian minority and moving towards the de-facto internal partitioning of Macedonia, which itself is being pushed forward under the tacitly blackmailed threat of an Albanian-driven Hybrid War if it doesn’t occur, Russia and China are taking steps to reroute their multipolar Balkan megaprojects through Bulgaria in order to avoid this simmering zone of instability and safeguard the security of their future investments. Right now nothing is official, but the writing’s on the wall that the two Great Powers are looking to diversify their previously planned strategic dependence on Macedonia as their preferred transit route into the heart of Europe. Take for example what Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in late August about his country’s interest in selling Turkish Stream’s gas to Bulgaria, which could either go through the planned Greece-Bulgaria Gas Interconnector or directly from Turkey to the South Slavic country. For reasons of strategic complementarity with China that will be made clearer in a little bit, it’s likely that Russia would opt for the first variant because it would also allow Moscow to improve the regional position of its Athens ally. This is ironic in a sense because Russia commissioned Turkish/Balkan Stream in response to Bulgaria’s shelving of its South Stream predecessor, but it just goes to prove that Moscow might rather rely on Sofia than Skopje in light of the dark future that its strategists could be predicting might lie ahead for the Republic of Macedonia. Increasing the prospects that Macedonia will no longer be a direct part of Balkan Stream is the recent trilateral meeting between Bulgaria, Greece, and Serbia where all three states agreed to deepen their energy cooperation, which obviously refers to Balkan Stream given the current context. It’s not just Russia that’s considering moving its Balkan megaproject away from Macedonia, but also China as well, which originally had plans to build a high-speed railroad through the country in connecting the Greek port of Piraeus with Budapest and beyond. Instead, however, China might consider detouring through Bulgaria as opposed to risking the future tumult that might explode in Macedonia. This idea doesn’t come out of nowhere, however, as it’s based on the recent development of Greece and Bulgaria agreeing to build the multi-billion-dollar “Sea2Sea” high-speed railway to run alongside their planned Russian-sourced pipeline. This demonstrates that there might be a deeper level of coordination between Russia, China, and their relevant Balkan partners in pioneering a new route for their megaprojects than initially meets the eye.

Another factor to keep in mind is that Zaev has been very unfriendly towards the Chinese since his installation into power and even “delayed” two Beijing-funded road projects in a clear signal of hostility against the People’s Republic, likely done at the behest of his American backers. The Chinese are wise enough to know that leaders come and go, especially those pushed into power through a “constitutional-electoral coup”, but Beijing might think twice about Macedonia’s future political stability just like Moscow appears to be doing and make the decision to accept the added financial and transport costs in rerouting its famed high-speed rail project through what it expects will be the much more stable country of Bulgaria instead. By and large, the geostrategic situation doesn’t look promising at all for Macedonia, and Russia and China’s contemplation of alternative routes for their multipolar Balkan megaprojects appears to be much more than just a knee-jerk reaction to Zaev. Rather, these Great Powers seem to be signaling that they expect the country to enter into a period of prolonged political unrest, or at the very least, be indefinitely kept in a blackmailed position whereby the Damocles’ Sword of Albanian Hybrid War threateningly hangs over the head of every Macedonian and their international partners.

For this reason, it looks unlikely that Russia will include Macedonia in its Balkan Stream plans, and there’s a chance that China might feel the same way too given how Greece and Bulgaria’s new railway plans open up another alternative for it as well. The strengthening of the Greco-Bulgarian Strategic Partnership is designed to make both countries the indispensable replacement for Russia and China’s much-needed access to Serbia, the Balkan pivot state, and this contributes to giving both Great Powers an enticing option for avoiding what they might predict will be the enduringly uncertain situation in Macedonia for years to come. None of this, however, would have been possible had Zaev not worked with the US to illegally seize power in his homeland and take Macedonia down the radical path of a de-facto internal partition, which when combined with the government’s capitulation to this demographic’s demands, is the reason why Russia and China are reluctant to have their multipolar Balkan megaprojects transit through the country. Not only has Zaev harmed Macedonia’s grand strategic interests in this way, but he’s also sold its remaining national ones to Bulgaria through the recent treaty with it and looks to be on the verge of betraying his people’s very identity through what many have speculated is an imminent behind-the-scenes deal with Greece.

Tragically, Zaev has empowered his country’s two rivals to join together in forming what might soon turn out to be the Greco-Bulgarian cornerstone of Russia and China’s multipolar inroads to Europe, thereby threatening to relegate Macedonia into geostrategic obscurity in the emerging Multipolar World Order aside from being a ticking unipolar time bomb for disrupting its Balkan component sometime in the future.