LOCAL PRESS

Mali: I will probably resigning, I will probably also not run for the Mayor (B92)

Mayor of Belgrade, Sinisa Mali, said that he would most likely resign before the end of the mandate and that he would probably not run for the next elections.

“Most likely, I will not be a candidate in the next elections, and most likely I will resign before the end of the mandate, but I am proud of everything that has been done in the city for the past three years,” Mali told reporters before the start of the city’s assembly session.

Mali added that the previous city government with the former mayor Dragan Djilas left a debt of 1.1 billion euros, and that the current government in Belgrade managed to repay a part of that debt.

According to Blic, SNS candidate for the first man of the capital will be Nikola Selakovic. In those elections, as Vecernje Novosti claim, the Progressives would want to go out alone without the SPS. According to other sources, the SNS plans to enter the Belgrade election with the team.

As far as the opposition is concerned, we are still waiting to see if there will be unification or not. Although the exact date of the Belgrade elections is not known, the hint is that they could be held in December.

Main task is to prevent electoral fraud, the opposition believes (VIP)

Movement of Free Citizens (PSG) led by the former ombudsman Sasa Jankovic announced on Monday that it was crucial to prevent electoral fraud in the Belgrade local elections, and that it was a matter of “electoral techniques” in how many groups the opposition would take part in them.

“It remains to provide any access to the media, because this pace of destruction of everything, when Vucic – as the announced head of the ticket for Belgrade – loses, there will be no one to announce that. It is crucial not to lose a single vote, to prevent mass electoral fraud and good people to come into power,” a release reads.

The party in the formation led by the former Minister of Foreign Affairs Vuk Jeremic accused Vucic of confirming that by holding early elections he wanted to keep the citizens in a constant state of emergency and an uninterrupted election campaign, instead of dealing with upgrading the living standard of citizens.

“Although legal requirements have not been met, the authorities show its intention to organize early and extraordinary, instead of regular elections in Belgrade, without any legal basis or political need. This testifies about the fear of dropping rating, the inability to find a single good candidate for the mayor and the lack of serious results in Belgrade” reads the statement.

Democrats urge opposition to talks, Dveri to boycott (Danas, Blic)

Head of election staff of the Democratic Party (DS) for the local elections in Belgrade Balsa Bozovic urged representatives of the pro-EU opposition on Monday to discuss the participation into the forthcoming elections as soon as possible. Bozovic said that his party was ready for the elections “today already”, but also assessed that these would not be either fair or free.

MP of the It’s Enough (DJB) movement Dusan Pavlovic said that this movement was ready to run independently in the Belgrade elections, but also that they were ready for the talks with other opposition parties and organizations. He also said that fear of the governing majority was the reason why the elections were announced for December, a few months before the regular deadline.

Djordje Vukadinovic, a member of the New Serbia- Movement for Serbia’s Salvation caucus, assessed that the opposition at the Belgrade elections should appear in the wider front, ignoring the ideological differences. “I urge my colleagues from the real opposition to show both reason and political responsibility and to try to run together in those elections whenever they are going to take place,” Vukadinovic said. There is no reason there to be no place in the opposition bloc for the Dveri and DS and all other options,” added Vukadinovic, who is a political analyst.

The leader of the Dveri movement Bosko Obradovic himself on Monday advocated the boycott of the Belgrade elections, saying that it was “a much better solution than running into the presaged elections.” He assessed that it would be best if the boycott was joined by the entire “right opposition” and urged them to consider it because they considered that there were no conditions for fair running. “Will we agree on unfair and fraudulent terms of elections? What media will the opposition be able to appear on?”, Obradovic asked.

He said that the SNS and its satellites should run alone in such elections and show that they were governing in Serbia with less than 25% of the support of the citizens of Serbia.

New Party (NS) leader Zoran Zivkovic, however, discarded the idea of boycott because it never happened that the whole opposition participated in it, but also because there was an “alleged opposition” that was “hopping in the lobby of Vucic’s cabinet” for two years now expecting to come into power with him.

“If we boycott the elections, it will create 10-15 citizens’ associations that will take part in it, and nobody from the world will pull their ears because 5 or 6 parties boycotted the elections,” he said, adding that the elections were boycotted back in 1997 and that nothing happened to the then government. “The NS is also open to coalitions and expects the opposition to voice its stance,” Zivkovic also said.

Commenting on Obradovic’s call for boycott of Belgrade local elections, Pavlovic from the DJB and Vukadinovic from New Serbia- Movement for Serbia’s Salvation assessed that the boycott made sense only in case of consent of the entire opposition about it. Both, however, voiced their doubt that full agreement on such a proposal was possible.

PDSh Requests urgent calling of early elections in Presevo (VIP)

The Democratic Party of Albanians (PDSh) will send a written request to Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic to, in the shortest possible deadline, by mid-November, call early local elections in the municipality of Presevo, in which the municipal assembly has, due to the not holding of sessions, been disbanded, it was announced on Monday.

As has been announced by the PDSh leader Ragmi Mustafa, his party remains by its decision of not taking part in the Temporary body of the Presevo assembly which was appointed by the Serbian government, in which it received one out of a total of five members, but that they were preparing for early local elections.

“The law on local self-government proscribes quite well as to what it should look like and in what composition the Temporary body of an assembly should be… According to the law, the PDSh should have received two members of the Temporary body in Presevo and not only one, as well as the position of the speaker of that body, which did not occur”, Mustafa said.

As an example he cited the Alternative for Changes which has two members in the Temporary body even though it had 11 councilors, or rather three less than the PDSh, while the Serbian Progressive Party received one member even though it did not have any councilors in the disbanded assembly.

The government disbanded the Assembly of the Presevo municipality, which had its last session on 24 May and appointed a Temporary body on 15 September, based on the law which foresees the disbandment of a municipal assembly in which a session has not been held for more than three months. By the government’s decision Shqiprim Arifi, leader of the Alternative for Changes (APN) was appointed the president of the temporary body; after the last local elections, Arifi was municipality President for ten months.

Vulin in Moscow: Serbia willing to strengthen ties with CSTO, and members (Beta)

During a Sept. 25 visit to Moscow, Serbian Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin said to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) leaders that Serbia had no intention of joining the organization, but that the country was not planning to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) either, while “it has a strong desire to deepen cooperation with the CSTO and its members.” The Serbian defense ministry reported that Vulin had said at a meeting with the CSTO Secretary-General, General Jury Hachaturov, that Serbia’s government, defense ministry, President Aleksandar Vucic, who is also the supreme commander of the national army, “maintain a policy of military neutrality.” “All the CSTO members support Serbia’s firm position on Kosovo and Metohija, and for that I thanked them. As for military cooperation, the agreement is to strengthen cooperation, respecting the principles of reciprocity and respect to both the mutual interest and Serbia’s neutral military status as the country’s fundamental foreign policy stance,” Vulin said. The defense minister said that all the CSTO members “strongly supported” such a policy, the ministry reported.

“The prospects and opportunities for future cooperation were also discussed in Moscow, and opinions exchanged on the current security and political situation in the region and beyond.”

The meeting was attended by the CSTO general secretary’s deputy, Valery Semerikov, Chief of Joint Staff Anatolij Sidorov, the Serbian ambassador to Russia, Slavenko Terzic, head of the Serbian Defense Ministry’s Administration for International Military Cooperation Milan Koljikoviac, and Serbia’s defence envoy to Russia, Colonel Budimir Gajic.

Vulin: It’s not easy to be neutral (RTS)

In the past four days, Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin visited NATO headquarters in Brussels, where he spoke with the Deputy and Assistant Secretary General of NATO, and Moscow, where he met with the Secretary General of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Serbia remains committed to military neutrality, which is not easy, but it makes us a state, said Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin to RTS.

The message to the interlocutors in both Brussels and Moscow was the same, that Serbia is pursuing a policy of military neutrality, said Aleksandar Vulin.

“It is not easy to be neutral because the great powers always want to put you under their own frame. Our policy is clear – we want to decide for ourselves, we do not want to participate in distant world conflicts, which we do not understand and do not relate to us, which does not mean that we are not allies in the fight against terrorism, but we do not want to fight someone else’s fights” the defense minister said.

With the Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment Kamil Grand in Brussels, Minister Vulin discussed the process of normalizing civilian air traffic over the Balkans.

“It was agreed that technical working groups should meet and find a way to establish civil air traffic over the whole territory as soon as possible and in the shortest possible time. Our country wants a full normalization of life for all its citizens, of course having in mind roof agreements like the Kumanovo Agreement, said Vulin.

One of the topics in Brussels was the attempt of Kosovo Army formation.

The largest number of members recognizes Kosovo and believes that this can be done in line with the constitution and laws of the so-called Kosovo. We say that the Resolution 1244 clearly states that KFOR is the only possible military force and even under the laws of the so-called state of Kosovo, formation is not possible without the consent and participation of minorities.

The Serbian Army has more than 100 military cooperation activities annually with NATO and 90 with the United States. Most of our officers are trained in the US, but our officers are being trained in other countries too.

“Through the Partnership for Peace we have the greatest possible access to the NATO alliance, if you are not a member, but Serbia is not choosing any sides, the status of an observer is optimal for our country.

We favor the principles of reciprocity when it comes to education, and I expect that cooperation with Russia will increase matching the one with the US” Vulin said.

The salary of our soldiers is among the lowest in Europe, and more than 10,000 people in the military have no apartment. The minister says that the bulk of the problem has been inherited and it is decades old.

“The biggest problem are the military pensioners, who have spent the entire working life in the army and have solved a housing issue. A commission has been formed to solve the housing issue of all members of the Serbian Armed Forces, as for the salary increase, it will come at the same time like in other sectors, I believe it will be by the end of the year. With this increase, members of the VS will have the highest salary ever” the minister said. All this should be accompanied by the modernization of military equipment.

“Neutrality is expensive, you have to buy and pay everything yourself, help will not come from anywhere, but that’s why you are the state” Aleksandar Vulin told RTS.

Russian defense minister could visit Belgrade in October (Vecernje Novosti)

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu could visit Belgrade on Oct. 20, while there is a possibility that “the promised” Russian MiGs will arrive before him, Vecernje Novosti claims, adding that the details and date of Shoigu’s visit will be determined on September 29, when the Serbian minister of foreign affairs, Ivica Dacic, is traveling to Moscow. Dacic will attend the Intergovernmental Committee for Trade and Scientific and Technical Cooperation between Serbia and Russia, and meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Apart from economic topics, two top officials are also expected to discuss political issues, such as pressure on Serbia to impose sanctions on Russia, the status of the Russian-Serbian Humanitarian Center in Nis, and Pristina’s intentions to join international organizations. Russian officials on several occasions confirmed the delivery of six MiG-29s donated to Serbia by the end of the year, and that there are discussions about the possible sale of S-300 air defense missile systems to Serbia. The MiGs require overhaul, which will cost between 180 and 230 million euros. Also, the military-technical agreement between the two countries stipulates that Serbia will receive, as a donation, 30 T-72S tanks and 30 BRDM 2 reconnaissance armored vehicles with smaller, 14.5mm guns.

Stefanovic in China, to attend Interpol General Assembly (Beta)

Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Nebojsa Stefanovic, met in Beijing on Sept. 25 with Chinese officials to discuss ways to enhance relations and cooperation in the field of security. Stefanovic is in Beijing to attend the Interpol General Assembly. On Sept. 25, Stefanovic met with Meng Jianzhu, Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission and Public Security Minister Guo Shengkun, it said in a release from the Ministry. On Sept. 25, Stefanovic also visited Tianjin and talked with Mayor Wang Dongfeng.

Captain Dragan sentenced to 15 years in prison (RTS)

The Croatian County Court in Split has sentenced Dragan Vasiljkovic, better known as Captain Dragan, to 15 years in prison for war crimes. Vasiljkovic presented a final defense last week in which he dismissed all allegations from the indictment.

Vasiljkovic is charged with committing war crimes as part of the paramilitary units of the former SAO Krajina in 1991 in the Knin Prison, as well as in 1993 in Bruce, near Benkovac, where he allegedly tortured, abused and killed captured members of the Croatian Army and the police.

REGIONAL PRESS

Bosnia and Herzegovina

1st ‘Assembly of People of the RS organized by the opposition (BN TV)

Opposition in Republika Srpska (RS) organized the 1st ‘Assembly of People of the RS in Banja Luka on Monday. Representatives of the opposition stated that the ‘Assembly of People of the RS’ was organized in relation to the latest events in the RS National Assembly (RSNA) and announced that they will also organize the gathering in other cities in the RS. Representative of the opposition in the RSNA addressed the audience and discussed the overall situation in the RS, issues related to demography, health, economy, education and other areas. They pointed to violation of the Constitution and laws of the RS at the latest session of the RSNA.

Leader of NDP Dragan Cavic said that this was a good opportunity to inform people in the RS that all members of the RSNA must respect the Constitution and laws of the RS. Cavic stressed that no one has the right to violate the Rulebook of Procedures of the RS, the Constitution and laws of the RS, justifying it with the majority of MPs who supports a certain initiative. Speaking about the latest audit report on work of the RS Government, Cavic said that there is no longer any independent institution in the RS that works in an independent way. He concluded that inadequate work of non-independent institutions in the RS causes huge damage.

Leader of PDP Branislav Borenovic said that people got rid of the fear and that they gathered in Banja Luka to show that in this way, that they preserve the RS from the regime that undermines, attacks and jeopardizes even the basic human rights. Borenovic concluded: “This is a big festival of democracy and a big victory of dignity of the RS”.

Vice President of SDS Dragan Cuzulan said that the goal of the assembly is to tell the public everything that needed to be told in the regular procedure, i.e. before the RSNA.

Dodik says RS opposition’s assembly in Banja Luka is only meeting that will gather few of their sympathizers (ATV)

Commenting on the meeting called the “First Assembly of People of Republika Srpska (RS)” that the RS opposition organized with the RS citizens in Banja Luka on Monday evening, RS President and SNSD leader Milorad Dodik stated earlier on Monday that it is “only a meeting that will gather few of their sympathizers.” He added that he would show the opposition how real plenums look like by organizing a big SNSD’s rally in the Borik Hall in Banja Luka, but that he is prevented due to his trip to Vienna. Dodik stressed that the opposition is too ambitious and that those whose policy is weak always try to identify with people, noting that “they will tell the same old stories” at the meeting. He added that he does not expect any effects of this gathering.

RS National Assembly Deputy Speaker Nenad Stevandic commented that it is yet to be seen how the things will develop at the opposition’s meeting and afterwards, reminding that the meeting is similar to the citizens’ plenum held in the Federation of B&H after anti-government protests in 2014. “All the things that do not encourage violence are legitimate, and any dialogue with citizens is welcome”, Stevandic assessed. Most of the parties that are part of the RS authorities see the opposition’s gathering as an attempt to undermine the RS institutions, warning that parallel institutions must not be allowed. During the gathering of the opposition parties, SNSD gave a statement claiming that this gathering is just another proof of the intentions of the opposition parties in the RS to destroy the institutions in the RS. According to SNSD, the opposition parties are alone in this quest, because the people in the RS will not support them in destroying the RS institutions and the RS itself. SNSD Vice President Nikola Spiric said that the real reason for this gathering is another attempt of the opposition parties to create riots and incidents.

B&H Minister Crnadak: B&H prepares 90 percent of responses to EC’s Questionnaire (Hayat)

Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Crnadak took part in the Conference of European Regions and Cities in Salzburg, Austria (September 24-26).

He stated that B&H has prepared over 90 percent of responses to the EC’s Questionnaire, reminding that B&H joined the Transport Community Treaty and that B&H is expected to become a candidate for the EU membership, by the end of the first half of 2018. According to Crnadak, the reason for delay in responses to the EC’s Questionnaire is overall, difficult political situation in B&H.

“I belong to a political bloc that is strong opposition to the RS Government, because its (RS Government’s) policy has led the entity to the highest possible level of corruption and lowest possible level of economy and optimism among people. However, lateness in terms of the Questionnaire cannot be attributed to any of sides or individual in B&H. Reasons are our internal relations and, generally, difficult political situation”, said Crnadak.

Dnevni list daily papers reports that Crnadak met, prior to the conference, with European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn and colleagues from the Western Balkans in charge of the European integration. Main focus of the meeting was role of regional, city and local authorities in process of European integration. Minister Crnadak stressed the importance of the issue for B&H because of huge role and important responsibilities of entities in B&H. He stressed, as representative of the RS in the Council of Ministers of B&H, that all people in the RS care about the RS being accepted and recognized during the decision-making process in B&H.

Fierce condemnation of statements made by B&H Minister Igor Crnadak in Salzburg (RTRS)

The delegation that represented Republika Srpska (RS) at the conference in Salzburg fiercely condemned the statements made on this conference by Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Minister Crnadak. Crnadak talked about the unanswered questions from the European Commission’s (EC) Questionnaire, and during his speech accused the RS Government of corruption and low level of economy.

Mayor of Banja Luka Igor Radojicic (SNSD) said that Crnadak made these statements to better present himself politically. “We came to Salzburg to represent Banja Luka as an European capital of culture, to talk about the tourist potentials and small businesses, and then the B&H Minister of Foreign Affairs comes and ‘viciously attacks’ his own city, in which he runs PDP party, and tries his best to drive away any foreign investors that maybe considered coming to Banja Luka”, said Radojicic. Radojicic added that Crnadak is no minister of B&H, no minister of the RS and certainly no representative of Banja Luka, but clearly a private party mercenary, that attends these kinds of conferences and tell all kinds of lies to the world.

RS Minister of Economic Relations and Regional Cooperation Zlatan Klokic said that Crnadak was supposed to emphasize the fact that the RS has done its part completely in answering the questions from the EC’ Questionnaire and that the institutions in the RS are stable, unlike the institutions in the Federation of B&H. “We have to be aware of the fact that the PDP party has no representatives in the B&H House of Representatives (B&H HoR) and that they have a Minister of Foreign Affairs. This only shows their bond with SDA party and the official position of part of the political structures, that are obliviously not benevolent towards the RS”, said Head of SNSD Caucus in the B&H HoR Stasa Kosarac.

Dodik: Mechanism of coordination was not respected when decision for B&H to join Transport Community was made (RTRS)

Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik stated on Monday that the coordination mechanism was not respected when the decision for Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) to join the Transport Community was made and that that is why there is so much more that needs to be accomplished for that decision to be fully implemented. Dodik added that B&H officials completely ignored the suggestion made by Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, where he stated that B&H needs to work on improving the internal coordination and cooperation of politicians at all levels of government. “No coordination was being done, he (Chairman of B&H Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic) went there, and made a decision just because he coordinated with Sarovic and some other people, he did not coordinate with the RS, and he was obligated to do so in this matter”, said Dodik. Dodik added that SNSD representatives in B&H Parliament will vote for the increase of excise duties, so that some projects in the RS are accelerated and implemented more quickly. Dodik added that he does not support the decision made by members of the “Savez za promjene” (Alliance for Changes – SzP) through which they agreed that the money that will be collected through excise duties will be spent on four project, out of which three are in the Federation of B&H and only one in the RS.

Covic, Ferguson meet and discuss EU road, MAP activation and changes to Election Law (Dnevni avaz)

Chairman of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Presidency Dragan Covic met with UK Ambassador to B&H Edward Ferguson in Mostar on Monday. They discussed meeting of obligations on B&H’s road to status of the EU candidate as well as possibility of activation of the Membership Action Plan (MAP) for the NATO membership by end of this year. The officials also talked about changes to the Election Law of B&H.

Mektic: B&H has no technical capacities to wiretap on anyone outside of B&H (Nezavisne)

Minister of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Dragan Mektic stated that B&H does not have the capacity to wiretap on anyone in Croatia or Serbia. “Perhaps I should not say this, but we do not have technical capacities to wiretap on anyone outside of B&H, i.e. in Croatia”, Mektic stated. He wondered what else he as the Minister of Security of B&H should say in order to stop stories on alleged wiretapping on Croatian officials. Mektic also reminded of past allegations on wiretapping on Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and reiterated that B&H does not have technical capacities to do so.

Chairman of the Presidency of B&H Dragan Covic said that the Presidency of B&H will discuss the affair related to wiretapping of Croatian officials and entrepreneurs. “Since we have a constitutional role as members of the Presidency of B&H, we will put this issue on the agenda and clarify relations in order to avoid any speculations about this issue. Institutions in charge of this issue have to submit reports”, Covic said.

Dodik in Vienna: B&H is experiment which gave no results (RTRS)

During his visit to Vienna, Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik gave a lecture on topic “Position of Russia in South-East Europe”. “For us Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) is a straitjacket, experiment which gave no results. It presents concept of liberal society, which soon after signing of the Dayton Agreement, found itself in problems”, said Dodik. The lecture was held in “full hall” of Society of Austrian- Russian Friendship in Vienna. “Because of desire to establish peace, we agreed to the Agreement, which was made without us”, said Dodik and underlined that Serbs never agreed to centralize B&H. Besides great number of guests from Austrian and Russia cultural and economic lives, diplomatic corps, the lecture was also attended by Leader of Freedom Party of Austria, Heinz-Christian Strache. Strache told RTRS that it is incomprehensible that RS is denied right to self-determination. He stressed that it is necessary to end international practice of creation of artificial countries “and we all know that they are not functioning as they should”.

Following the lecture, Dodik told the RTRS that he is glad that RS has a friend such is Strache, who understands the situation. Dodik also met Deputy Mayor of Vienna Johann Gudenus, on which occasion thanked for friendship and understanding of the RS’ position, but also position of Serb community in Austria. During the meeting the officials concluded that European Christian values are endangered and Europe, Austria and the RS are most notably faced the huge security challenge, presented in form of radical Islam. “Europe is facing Islamization and both sides (RS and Austria), can learn from each other about this issue. President Dodik knows lot about this and I am very glad we talked”, said Gudenus. Following the meeting, Dodik said that B&H is not doing enough to decrease danger from radical elements, most notably persons who return from foreign battlefields.

Captain Dragan sentenced to 15 years in prison (RTS)

The Croatian County Court in Split has sentenced Dragan Vasiljkovic, better known as Captain Dragan, to 15 years in prison for war crimes. Vasiljkovic presented a final defense last week in which he dismissed all allegations from the indictment.

Vasiljkovic is charged with committing war crimes as part of the paramilitary units of the former SAO Krajina in 1991 in the Knin Prison, as well as in 1993 in Bruce, near Benkovac, where he allegedly tortured, abused and killed captured members of the Croatian Army and the police.

Croatia

Serbia protests over Croatia’s War Veterans’ Law (Vecernji list)

When it seemed that the long-awaited Law on Rights of Croatian War Veterans, which was recently supported by all political parties at the Parliamentary Committee on War Veterans, would soon be adopted without major problems, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and leader of Serbs in Croatia Milorad Pupovac changed the plans.

Vucic talked about the law during his recent visit to the UN General Assembly in New York. “In this law, one article speaks about the aggression of Serbia and part of the inhabitants of Croatia. Such a definition and its introduction to the law is extremely difficult for us,” said Vucic in a statement to the Serbian public television. At the same time, Pupovac commented on the issue for Radio Belgrade. “The proposed law is not acceptable to us because elements which were part of the war propaganda are now trying to be legalized regarding relations with Serbia and regarding relations towards Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro,” said Pupovac, adding that “it cannot be good for Croatia to keep returning, prolonging and escalating the issue of war.”

Veterans’ Affairs Minister Tomo Medved commented that “provisions of the new law are based on the Declaration on the Homeland War.” However, the new law uses the formulation “aggression against the Republic of Croatia being conducted by Serbia, Montenegro, the Yugoslav National Army and paramilitary units from Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the help of a large number of members of the Serbian national minority in the Republic of Croatia” to define aggressors, with the emphasis on “a large number” of Serbs , while the Declaration does not mention Bosnia and Herzegovina and speaks about the armed rebellion of just “a part of the Serb population,” which prompted Pupovac and Vucic to react.

“Vucic is being ridiculous, why is he talking about law on Croatian war veterans? He is apparently scared of war damages that will be sooner or later have to be paid by Serbia, which is one of five points for Serbia’s accession to the EU,” said Josip Djakic (HDZ), Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on War Veterans.

“As regards the formulation of ‘a part’ or ‘a large number’ of Serbs who participated in the aggression and which is now being disputed, it is easy to compare the number of Serbs who lived in Croatia at the time and the number of those who fought against it. But, the fact is that this figure was large,” said Djakic.

Parliamentary Committee member Zdravko Ronko (SDP) said he supported most of the provisions of the law but added that it would be more accurate to write that part of the Serb national minority participated in the aggression, rather than “a large number”, because some Serbs actually defended Croatia.

Miroslav Bulj (MOST) had a message for Vucic. “Whether the number was large or not, Vucic knows that best, since he was one of the rebel leaders and a member of Chetnik units. It would be better for him to tell us where our missing people are and to deal with war damages, which will cost him 40 billion euros. It is a shame that Vucic is even talking about our law, with Pupovac’s assistance”, concluded Bulj. He added that the fact that the Serbs occupied one-third of Croatia in the 1990s speaks for itself.

Pupovac and other Serb national minority MPs are key members of the HDZ-led ruling coalition, and without them, the government would lose the majority in Parliament.

President Vucic: There will not be Bosniak-Serb agreement to detriment of Croats (Vecernji list)

Vecernji list carries an interview with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic who was asked, among other issues, “when the war in these areas will end”, which according to the daily, still exists in “our heads”. Vucic replied by saying he fears many people still live in the 1990s and are not aware that the war ended more than 20 years ago. According to him, people should look into the future, understand the past, but at the same time know that today is more important and tomorrow even more important. Asked to comment on the daily’s remark that his relations with the Bosniak politicians are ‘hot-cold’ and that it would appear that the Bosniak politicians and a part of the international community are expecting from him Vucic to discipline RS President Milorad Dodik, Vucic says he is the Serbian President and he does not interfere into internal relations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He further noted he does not want to interfere with internal relations in Republika Srpska (RS) either, and that he respects the RS President and the RS Government.

“Regarding the relation with the Bosniak officials, I respect them all and wish them many successes. But let me ask you if there is my statement from last five years that disturbed anything in the Bosniak-Serb relations. If you realistically analyze it, you will see it did not happen. Even after the events in Srebrenica”, stated President Vucic.

Asked by the daily if Croats in B&H have reason to be concerned if there is a Serb-Bosniak agreement, which he often talks about, Vucic replied by saying “no agreements are possible without Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats and will never be to detriment of Croats”.

Asked to comment on the attack against him in Srebrenica, Vucic said he thought back then and he still thinks now that somebody wanted to show the anger against the Serbs, arguing that “I can understand it, but I cannot understand that others do not understand Serb frustrations and suffering because of everything that happened to the Serbs both during those years and during the World War II”.

Montenegro

Brajovic: Opposition to return to the Parliament, then we will talk (CDM)

Speaker of the Parliament Ivan Brajovic said that the opposition should return to the Parliament if they want to start a political dialogue. Commenting on the “slight pressure” EU has put on the opposition to return, Brajovic said that their attitude has been clear from the beginning.

“The only place for dialogue is the Parliament, and I invite the opposition to return”, he said.

Commenting on the law on spatial planning that is scheduled for discussion tomorrow, Brajovic said SD would have their opinion once the final version has been completed.

Becic: Markovic’s invitation insincere (Dan)

Prime Minister Dusko Markovic’s invitation to institutional dialogue with opposition is insincere and full of tricks, said president of Democratic Montenegro (DCG) Aleksa Becic, adding that such an approach is characteristic for the clique developing it for 30 years.

“Still, it represents a beginning in the right direction compared to the position that there would be no talks on snap elections,” Becic told Dan newspaper. He said it was clear that the country could go on with this leadership.

“There is no chance that we can make progress in joining EU and closing chapters 23, 24 and 27 while DPS – a party which is against every requirement Montenegro has to fulfill according to the chapters – is in power. DPS is a manifestation of criminal and corruption, an opponent to the rule of law and the center of mafia that mercilessly exploits our natural resources and destroys our environment. This political crisis is the only logical consequence of all these and many things I haven’t mentioned now. DPS is responsible for deepening the crisis,” Becic said.

He also said that DPS should be negotiated with following the “take it or leave it” principle since the party broke every deal it had earlier made with the opposition. He also sees Prime Minister Markovic’s invitation to the opposition as proof of DPS slowly giving in.

fYROM

PM Zaev meets OSCE delegation (MIA)

Prime Minister and SDSM leader Zoran Zaev and Head of the OSCE Mission to Skopje Nina Suomalainen discussed Monday on the political developments in Macedonia ahead of the local elections and the ongoing reform processes in the country.

“My party, Zaev said, is ready for local elections, being certain to score a victory. It is clear that Macedonia needs free, fair and democratic elections and ‘we are committed to offer guarantees’ to that effect” he added. “After SDMS victory at the municipal poll, the overall reform process in the country will be intensified as hopefully VMRO-DPMNE would start to act as constructive opposition party in the parliament” Zaev said. The talks also tackled the EU-integration processes of the countries in the region.

On Wednesday the Constitutional Court will decide whether to allow UBK to wiretap through telecom operators (Meta)

The Constitutional Court will hold their first session after the summer holidays, on Wednesday, where according to the judges, should make the final decision on Article 175 of the Law on Electronic Communications, that is, whether the Administration for Security and Counterintelligence is allowed to wiretap through telecommunication operators.

The initiative to abolish Article 175 of the law was accepted by the Constitutional Court at a session held on June 21st of this year. It caused a long and heated debate, in which all nine members of the Constitutional Court state their views.

The majority of judges at the session expressed doubt that as the Law was regulated, through articles 168 and the questionable 175, UBK and the Ministry of Interior were allowed arbitrary and uncontrolled interception of communications through telecommunication operators.

If there is a vote on Wednesday, the Constitutional Court will make the final decision in a shortened composition because Judge Ismail Darlisha’s mandate expired on July 31st after nine-years, and his successor has not yet been appointed to Parliament. On October 7st, the mandate of judges Gaber-Damjanovska and Gzime Starova expire.

The abolition or amendment of Article 175 is one of the recommendations from the report by the German expert Reinhard Priebe in 2015, but also in the new recently announced.

Macedonia expected to be covered at Tsipras-Trump talks in Washington (MIA)

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in mid-October is scheduled to meet with US President Donald Trump in Washington, Greek media report. It is expected in the next few days the information to be confirmed by the White House as well once the date of the meeting is made official. According to Realnews.gr, the government in Greece wants to secure Trump’s support over ‘open issues in the region’, namely the Cyprus issue and tensions in the Aegean Sea. Tsipras will also seek the pressure for the name row with Skopje to be settled to eased, according to online web portals in Greece.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

UN Speeches Underscore Balkans States’ Disunity (BIRN)

Balkan leaders’ speeches to the 72nd UN General Assembly underlined their countries’ different – and often opposing – agendas.

The Balkan countries might share similar views on global terrorism or the migration crisis, but their disagreements over a wide range of other issues, from border and security arrangements to ethnic and political relations, were on show at general debate of the 72nd UN General Assembly, which started last Tuesday and ends on September 25th.

On Thursday, after discussing Syria, Palestine, and Afghanistan, EU diplomacy chief Federica Mogherini gathered Western Balkan foreign ministers for an informal meeting, where she called for joint action at a regional level, “from counter-terrorism to managing the refugee flows,” as she wrote on her blog.

Following this meeting, the foreign ministers of four Balkan countries that belong to the EU – Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Croatia – vowed on Friday to jointly help the European integration of the other six countries in the region.

But the speeches of the Balkan leaders at the UN General Assembly showed that the region remains deeply divided on numerous issues, and that the Balkan states are still marked more by what divides them than by what unites them.

Still at odds over Kosovo:

Unsurprisingly, Albania’s Prime Minister, Edi Rama, said his country viewed the UN admission of Kosovo as a matter of “of paramount significance.

“To have a fully functioning region, all members needed to be treated the same way,” he said in his address to the General Assembly on Friday. As has happened in the past, however, the speech antagonized Serbia, which still claims the former province as its territory.

Serbian President Alexander Vucic replied by saying that while Belgrade would not recognize Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in 2008, it had worked to resolve that situation peacefully.

“The gains achieved through the European Union-facilitated dialogue in Brussels were the result of difficult compromises and concessions on both sides, but mostly by Serbia, demonstrating the country’s constructive attitude and commitment to dialogue,” he said earlier, during his speech on Thursday.

But he then called on the international community to block Kosovo’s bid to join the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, blaming the Kosovo government for the destruction of Serbian cultural heritage sites, especially in the anti-Serbian riots that shook Kosovo in 2004.

However, Vucic’s critics used Twitter to focus on how empty the General Assembly hall was during his speech. Vuk Jeremic, Serbia’s former Foreign Minister tweeted the picture of the near-empty hall, saying it showed the “lowest level of respect for our country ever”.

Kosovo’s deputy Prime Minister, Enver Hoxhaj, who was also in New York for the General Assembly, replied on Twitter that he saw no way to bring stability to the Western Balkans without recognition of Kosovo.

Curbing extremism and migration:

Most countries in the Balkans agree on the need to curb extremism and migration, as well as on fighting terrorism.

However, their approaches diverge here, too. The Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dragan Covic, focused his speech on Bosnia’s commitment to defeating Islamic State and supporting efforts to liberate communities.

“The eradication of terrorism and violent extremism also require investments in a spectrum of interconnected areas, from ending injustice and inequality to fighting poverty and the lack of freedom,” he said on September 20.

In June, Islamic State’s Bosnian wing vowed to decapitate “infidels” and kill Serbs, Croats and Muslim “traitors” in the Balkans, raising concerns that it aimed to appeal to poor Bosnian Muslims. According to official data, Bosnia is one of the main regional exporters of jihadists to the Middle East.

Bulgaria, however, is less concerned with Islamist radicalism than with migration and how to curb people trying to cross from neighboring Turkey to Bulgaria.

Bulgaria’s President, Rumen Radev, made migration the main point of his address. “Increased border control is of prime importance, especially with regard to the prevention of illegal immigration and the eradication of human trafficking,” Radev said on Thursday.

It was also the main topic he discussed with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Croatia is also worried by the flow of refugees and migrants that prompted neighboring Hungary to erect fences on its borders. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, however, called for a “holistic approach, addressing root causes while stemming the illegal flows of people,” on Friday.  “The approach we always took, and always will, will be one that puts people first,” he added.

However, Croatia’s Prime Minister also mentioned Croatia’s ongoing feud with neighboring Slovenia over their maritime border and over a decision of an international arbitration court that Croatia has refused to respect. Plenkovic said the impartiality of international adjudicators had clearly been compromised in the arbitration process between Slovenia and Croatia. “That made the decision legally void and left Croatia with no choice but to withdraw from the arbitration process,” he said.

Slovenia announced at the beginning of September that it would block Croatia’s membership in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, over its refusal to respect the court’s ruling on the border disagreements.

Macedonia’s new Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev, meanwhile stressed that his government was taking a different approach to relations with neighbors and was trying to overcome some old frictions. As a proof of this approach, in his speech on Friday he mentioned the friendship treaty that Macedonia and Bulgaria signed on August 1, which aims to put their differences aside. Macedonia and Bulgaria share linguistic and cultural similarities but have divergent views on their history and language, dating back to the 19th century, when Bulgarian nationalists claimed Ottoman-ruled Macedonia as part of Bulgarian territory.

Security in the Balkans and deterrence in the Black Sea:

Montenegro’s President, Filip Vujanovic, said he wanted good neighborly relations and regional cooperation in the Balkans, and spoke of multilateralism and the affirmation of international organizations in promoting peace and security. In his speech on September 21, he underlined the importance of Montenegro’s recent membership of NATO and its good relations with the European Union. He said Montenegro would organize a regional conference early in 2018 to share the region’s experience in dialogue and mechanisms for conflict prevention and resolution.

For Romania, regional security was also a priority. Romania’s President, Klaus Iohannis, stressed that the Black Sea region is becoming increasingly unstable. “The belt of protracted conflicts around the Black Sea remains a serious threat. We are still witnessing actions undertaken at the expense of the principles and norms of international law,” Iohannis said on September 20. Romania has long advocated firm deterrence in the Black Sea, and an increased NATO presence in the region. But it has failed to garner support for a NATO multinational navy force to counterbalance Russia’s buildup from Bulgaria or Turkey.

Moldova’s Prime Minister, Pavel Filip, has also insisted on security issues and on the need to end the conflict with the pro-Russia breakaway region of Transnistria. On Friday, he insisted that the conflict was sustained by the presence of the 1,200 Russian troops in the separatist region and he asked the international community to put pressure on Moscow to withdraw its troops and replace its mission with an international civilian one. Moldova asked the UN to put a debate on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Transnistria on the General Assembly agenda. The UN will take the proposal into consideration in October.

Finally, Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, highlighted concerns over the stability of the Balkans, although many consider him to be one of the destabilizing factors, due partly to his ongoing purge of opposition supporters, media and academics following last year’s failed coup.

“The Balkans are another potential crisis region that still faces serious challenges and we attach great importance to the region’s integration with Euro-Atlantic institutions. Turkey will do its part to ensure stability in the region,” he said on Friday. Erdogan will visit Belgrade on October 10.