LOCAL PRESS

Brnabic: Kosovo is a province within Serbia (RTS)

Responding to questions of the Serbian MP Djordje Vukadinovic (NS PSS) regarding the decision by Vucic and the government to approve to Serb judges and prosecutors to take the oath before Hashim Thaci and how can this decision be taken on inclusion into the Kosovo judicial system, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic has pointed out that Kosovo is a province in Serbia and that the government will do everything for the lives of the Serbs in this territory to be better. She points out that these judges and prosecutors will enable greater and better legal safety of the Serbs in Kosovo at a moment when, as she put it, “we do not have full control over the southern province because of some”. “We will do everything as the government, I hope with parliament’s support, to improve the quality of the lives of the Serbs as much as possible. We want our judges and prosecutors to be at disposal to our people and this is a big thing for them. I don’t know why is the government criticized over this,” said Brnabic. She says that Serbia received points in the international community precisely because of that, because it had demonstrated that it stands behinds its words and that it implements agreement and now it can even more seek an answer to the question: “Where is the Community of Serb municipalities?” “Oath-taking is in accordance with the Brussels agreement, which, if I am not mistaken, was adopted by this Serbian parliament. We as the government are obliged to fulfill the legal decrees, agreement and everything else stipulated by the Serbian parliament,” said Brnabic. So, first – Kosovo is a province, second – the Brussels agreement has been adopted by the Serbian parliament, thirdly – we are responsible partners, who embark on brave implementation once they agree and once they have the parliament’s approval, and fourthly – whatever needs to be done for the lives of the Serbs in Kosovo to be better, the government will do it. In comment to this, which he wasn’t allow to finish since parliament speaker Maja Gojkovic ended the session in the middle of his speech, Vukadinovic reminded Brnabic that the Serbian parliament didn’t adopt the Brussels agreement and noted that it only adopted the “Report on negotiations with Pristina”.

Responding to questions posed by the MP of the Party for Democratic Action Fatmir Hasani about the position of the Albanian minority, she has stated that report on implementing the seven-point plan is ready and that she will send them this report. She says it is not true that the Albanian national minority doesn’t have rights that other minorities have. Serbia is the leader in Europe in respecting rights of national minorities and institutional mechanisms of respect of rights, primarily through national councils and budget funds, education in the mother tongue, culture and informing in the mother tongue, she said. “Some of the leading EU countries, some of them the founders of the EU, do not recognize national minorities at all, one cannot declare him/herself as national minority, just as in some regional countries that are EU members,” said Brnabic in response to Hasani’s objections that not a single step had been undertaken towards fulfilling demands of the Albanian minority.

Dacic dismisses Yee’s statement (Tanjug/Beta/RTS)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic on Thursday dismissed as rubbish a statement by US official Hoyt Brian Yee that Serbia is sitting on two chairs. “Serbia is and will be working in line with its state and national interests regardless of what outsiders might say. Serbia is not at all interested in others’ chairs, and it does not have two chairs, but just one, and that is Serbia,” Dacic told reporters. “This is nonsense. All of it is nonsense. I think that some people, including the representative of the State Department, watched ‘War of the Worlds’ and other science fiction stories too much,” Dacic said.

Dacic said that the status of the Russian humanitarian center at the airport in Nis did not depend on the US or on Russia, but only on Serbia. He said it was never planned that employees in this center should be granted the diplomatic status, but the status of employees in the embassy.

“If Russia wants to send spies, they will probably not send them in the status of officials who have the similar status to a cook, gardener or a janitor in the US or Russian embassies. I guess they would send them to higher positions,” Dacic said. He said there were “five Serbs, four Russians and one dog in the center”. “If this is something that America should be afraid of, then

I think this world has reached its antithesis,” he said.

Dacic said that Great Britain had proposed that regular sessions by the Security Council on the state of Kosovo be canceled and that the question be reviewed at closed consultations. He added that the U.S. had joined the proposal along with several western European states, and that

China and Russia were against that.

Office for KiM: Serb judges signed status neutral statement (Novosti)

The statement that was signed on Tuesday by Serb judges and prosecutors in front of the President of provisional institutions in Pristina Hashim Thaci says that “they are ready and willing to integrate into the Kosovo judiciary (prosecution) in accordance with Kosovo laws and according to agreed conclusions that concern the integration process”. “I confirm that I understand that I will apply, in performing my duties, the Kosovo legal framework and that it is obliging for me. I will perform the function of a judge in an honorable, responsible and unbiased manner, respecting the rules of professional ethics,” reads the statement Novosti had insight into.

Over the past days the opposition parties in Serbia have been posing a series questions on how the act of integration of Serb judges looked like.  Vuk Jeremic’s People’s Party, the Serbian Radical Party and Milan Stamatovic, the leader of the Initiative Committee for Healthy Serbia, requested an explanation according to what laws the judges from northern Kosovo and Metohija will conduct processes, and whether they stated during the oath-taking that “they will stay faithful to the Kosovo Constitution”. “The statement is status neutral, without signs of the so-called state of Kosovo and no other oath was taken beyond this statement,” the Office for Kosovo and Metohija told Novosti.

REGIONAL PRESS

Dodik: RS is self-sustainable, B&H will fall apart (RTRS)

Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik told RTRS that the RS is self-sustainable and emphasized that B&H will fall apart because it is a creation which cannot succeed. Dodik added that there is no consent in B&H or appreciation of basic interests of the two entities and three constituent peoples, because of which it is “a failed country”. Dodik stated that basic interests of everyone must be respected and Sarajevo must stop thinking that it can impose anything on anyone. Finally, Dodik said that the RS must participate in making of decisions at the level of B&H. Dodik stressed it would be realistic that the RS and Herzeg-Bosnia become independent states and that Bosniaks have Bosnia organized on part of territory that belongs to them. Regarding the criticism, following adoption of the Resolution on Military Neutrality in the RS Assembly, Dodik asked why everyone has problem with position of Serbs, but has no problem with position of Bosniaks and Croats.

Novakovic: Biggest crisis in B&H parliament since Dayton Peace Agreement (TV1)

NDP representative in the B&H House of Representatives (B&H HoR) Momcilo Novakovic said that the B&H parliament has been in the deepest crisis since the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement and that it is uncertain at the moment what will happen in the B&H HoR.

“There is nothing that you can propose now that would receive support in the B&H HoR. No matter how good or bad that would be. And I want to make myself clear that neither I nor the ‘Alliance for Changes’ (Savez za promjene – SzP) will defend the institutions of B&H. So, if all the others want to tear down this Parliament, there is no problem, we will not defend it, we will have allies and then we will tear it all down and see where that leads us,” said Novakovic.

Bosniak Caucus vetoes resolution on RS military neutrality (Fena)

Bosniak Caucus in the RS Council of Peoples (RS CoP), invoked today mechanism of vital national interest protection (VNI) on the Resolution on Protection of Constitutional Organization and Military Neutrality of the RS. Chair of the Caucus, Mujo Hadziomerovic told Fena that they invoked VNI protection, because the Resolution interferes with competencies of state of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), being that issue of defense is under competency of state and not entity institutions. “Vital National Interest for Bosniaks is B&H in EU and NATO alliance,” said Hadziomerovic. He stressed that the provision of the Resolution, which calls for annulling of all earlier adopted documents concerning military alliances, is unacceptable. After this veto, the Resolution will be discussed by RS CoP, if no agreement is reached it will be discussed by Joint Commission of the RS CoP and RS Assembly and if the agreement is not reached, the Resolution will be submitted to Constitutional Court of the RS.

Croat Caucus in RS Council of Peoples: Resolution on military neutrality is political act (TV1)

The Croat Caucus in the RS Council of Peoples (RS CoP) on Thursday did not take a position on the need to invoke the mechanism of protection of vital national interest of the Croat people in connection with a Resolution on the RS military neutrality since this is a political act, said the Head of the Croat Caucus, Tomislav Tomljanovic.  “My stance and the stance of my party (HS B&H) is that issues treated by this Resolution fall under the jurisdiction of B&H, that they are defined by the Law on Defense of B&H and the very fact that the Resolution is asking for military neutrality is questionable, because persons of Serb ethnicity are members of the Armed Forces of B&H as well”, Tomljanovic said. “It is clear that if the political elites in B&H say that they want to go to the EU, then one of the conditions for becoming part of the EU is to join the NATO. You first become part of NATO and then you receive candidate status for the EU. Will B&H become military neutral by then? I do not know, I would not give a prognosis,” said Tomljanovic.

Zvizdic meets Hearne and Inzko (Dnevni list)

According to a statement issued by the Council of Ministers (CoM) of B&H, CoM Chairman Denis Zvizdic met on Thursday with Principal Deputy High Representative (PDHR) and Brcko Supervisor Dennis W. Hearne and High Representative Valentin Inzko. They talked about the current economic and political situation in B&H, agreeing there is progress in reform processes and that activities on realization of goals from the Reform Agenda should continue in the future.

Zvizdic noted that B&H’s main priority in integration of B&H into the EU and NATO, stressing that work on preparing answers to the EC’s Questionnaire is ongoing and that answers should be completed by end of the year.

SDP to file motion of no confidence against government due to Agrokor? (Index.hr)

Latest revelations about a loan agreement between Agrokor and a US investment fund have caused an uproar. According to unofficial information, SDP will start collecting signatures among members of Parliament needed to submit a motion of no confidence against the government. The reasons are the details of provisions contained in a loan agreement which government-appointed commissioner in Agrokor Ante Ramljak signed with the Knighthead investment fund. SDP still has to discuss the proposal, and further details should be known very soon. Arsen Bauk, chairman of the SDP caucus, spoke about the issue. “At this moment, Ramljak is stronger than the government. The government cannot control Agrokor; the company is managed by the fund. What would happen if the government were to change? It does not have any influence over Agrokor, which is a systemically important company,” Bauk said. “We demand Deputy Prime Minister Martina Dalic and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to come to the Parliament to explain the terms of the contract. The parliamentary opposition accused the government of “betraying national interests” in the case of the debt-laden Agrokor food and retail group.

PM warns about attempts to undermine Agrokor overhaul and hybrid media war (Hina)

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic has said that a motion to be tabled by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and other Opposition parties in parliament for his and his cabinet’s impeachment in connection with the developments surrounding the private faltering Agrokor group is sign of “futility and irresponsibility” of the Opposition and it also amounts to the attempted destabilization of the process of restructuring of the Agrokor conglomerate.

Grabar-Kitarovic: Peljesac Bridge to be built no later than 2023 (HTV)

Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said on Thursday that the Peljesac Bridge would be completed in 2021 at the earliest and 2023 at the latest. Grabar-Kitarovic said that Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) officials should accept the arguments that the construction of the Peljesac Bridge is a strategically project of Croatia and the EU and that it is not, in any way, directed against B&H. “We talked about the issues in our relationship with B&H. It should be emphasized that in 2006 an agreement between the B&H and Croatian delegation was made, where they agreed upon all the specifications of the Bridge, that Croatia respects fully. So, it will be 55 meters high, the width of the waterway will be 200 meters and it will be ensured that B&H has an innocuous access to the open sea. So, we fully respect all the conventions and I believe that that will be accepted and understood in B&H as well, and that this project is of vital importance for all”, said Grabar-Kitarovic.

The regatta principle is the best solution (Pobjeda)

If the opposition continues to boycott parliament, it will become a problem for Montenegro, since a two-thirds majority will be necessary at a certain moment to adopt some laws, said the Ambassador of Slovenia to Montenegro, Mitja Mocnik. During the panel “The current political moment in Europe: The prospect of a continuation of the EU enlargement to the countries of the region”, he said that the existence of a consensus between the government and the opposition was an important step on the road to EU membership. “Parliament must work, because there are laws that will require a two-thirds majority, such as electoral legislation, ownership relations and constitutional amendments,” Mocnik said. Commenting on the new EU Enlargement Strategy, recently announced by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, according to which access to new members cannot be expected before 2025, the Slovenian ambassador said that Montenegro is progressing “faster than Junker noted as the year of enlargement”. He added that the statement was a kind of precedent. “The Commission has never had the authority to publically talk about dates, since it is primarily the competence of the Council of the European Union, or consensus among the member states,” Mocnik said. He also suggested understanding Junker’s speech as an incentive for Montenegro. He added that his country would continue to advocate for the regatta principle in the enlargement.

President Ivanov: EU enlargement is both political and strategic issue (MIA)

The gap between EU common goals and the individual interests of the member states is expanding, which instead of integration leads to regionalization, as countries are getting together to be more successful in dealing with challenges and exploiting opportunities, Macedonia’s President Gjorge Ivanov said Thursday in Brussels at the Crans Montana Forum’s session, dedicated to European Union’s neighborhood policy with focus on the Three Seas Initiative.

He highlighted the Visegrad Group, China-CEE initiative 16+1, Brdo-Brijuni Process and the Three Seas Initiative as successful examples of cooperation. “The Brdo-Brijuni Process sends a clear message – the enlargement’s postponement along with the economic crisis and security challenges have been making our region more vulnerable to external factors of destabilization. The EU should realize that the enlargement process is not just a technical, but above all political and strategic issue,” Ivanov said. He also affirmed Macedonia’s support of infrastructure networking, saying that it is rather significant for the countries that have not joined the EU yet.

Ivanov- Reynders: EU to take urgent measures for unblocking Macedonia’s EU-integration process (MIA)

Macedonia’s President Gjorge Ivanov and Belgian Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister Didier Reynders expressed satisfaction Thursday in Brussels with the bilateral relations and readiness for their regular development. Ivanov thanked Belgium on its support of Macedonia’s aspirations to join the European Union and NATO, saying that the processes to that effect need an urgent breakthrough. ‘The status-quo of Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic integration processes deprives the country of its right to prosper. The European Union should take urgent measures for unblocking the country’s integration processes, which is irreversible. The country needs the transforming power of the integration process,’ Ivanov said. Reynders on his part voiced support for the Macedonia’s efforts for launching the EU-accession talks. Ivanov and Reynders also tackled the development in Europe related to the migrant crisis and underlined the need of more dynamic security cooperation. The interlocutors also expressed interest in boosting the economic cooperation between the two countries.

U.S. Ambassador Lu: No communism-like punishments, uncovering truth (ATA)

US Ambassador to Albania, Donald Lu said on Thursday that ‘no one should be above the law’ supporting the same stance as the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Hoyt Brian Yee related to ‘Tahiri case’. U.S. Ambassador Lu stated that there should not be communism-like punishments instead the truth must be unveiled, in his remark at U.S. Embassy’s Youth Council.

“It is important to succeed where the past generations have failed,” Ambassador Lu said in his address to youth. While referring to the current debate surrounding ex-Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri, the U.S. diplomat underlined that it is the right of Albanian people to bring the truth to light as no one is above the law. “Albania has faced the shameful issue of powerful politicians, involving both political sides, who have committed horrible crimes and have escaped justice over the past 27 years,” Ambassador Lu said. Ultimately, U.S. Ambassador Donald Lu expressed support to the vetting process in the judicial system and the decriminalization of politics.

Prime Minister Edi Rama hailed on Thursday the remarks of US ambassador Donald Lu who spoke about ‘Tahiri’ case at a conference on fight against corruption. “Thank-you Don. A clear message for Albanians who want justice to be dispensed rather than communist-style trials for anyone they have voted for and paid with their taxes,” said Rama.

Basha: DP will not boycott, but will continue political battle in parliament (ATA)

“The Democratic Party will not boycott, but will instead continue the political battle in the parliament,” the opposition leader Lulzim Basha told reporters following a meeting with U.S. Ambassador and the Head of the EU Delegation to Albania, Ambassador Romana Vlahutin, on Thursday. “There is no parliamentary life. We have insisted on the necessity for a political solution from the very first day of this parliament,” DP chairman said. “The country won’t be able to move forward without solving this political problem,” he stated, added that the opposition will continue its political battle in the parliament. DP leader Basha also commented on the latest remarks by U.S. Ambassador Donald Lu and U.S. senior official Yee on the issue of former Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri. “They support prosecutors and judges for an impartial investigation to bring politicians with links to crime to justice and they maintain that parliamentary immunity should not be used to protect them,” Basha concluded.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

Why is the US Probing Serbian Loyalties? (BIRN, by Milan Misic, 27 October 2017)

When a top US diplomat accused Serbia of sitting on the fence between Russia and the EU, he really put the cat among the pigeons – but what brought on the sudden demand for fealty?

Has the US abruptly changed its stance towards Serbia? Is it a unilateral move or a diplomatic offensive coordinated with the European Union? These are the basic questions after the top US diplomat in the region, Hoyt Brian Yee, dropped a bombshell on Monday stating at an economic summit here that Serbia “cannot sit on two chairs at the same time, especially if they are that far apart”. Hopes that the comment was an off the cuff observation were dashed the next day when Yee, the US Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and reaffirmed his perception that “Serbia is with one foot on a EU path, and another in a union with Russia”. But the most unusual aspect of that hour and a half of “absolutely open and honest” conversation – as described by the president’s cabinet to the state-owned Tanjug – was that, at first, its contents would only be known “if the US side is willing to communicate that,” according to a Serbian source. But a terse Serbian statement nevertheless came out five and a half hours later, stating that Vucic had “carefully listened to the American official and has responded very directly”. It also said that Vucic will reveal what he said “in the next few days”. Considering that Vucic and Yee also discussed the state of media in Serbia and “the importance of the existence of an opposition in a democratic society”, it is obvious that the US stance toward Serbia is hardening. What is not so clear is what prompted that. Was it the treatment of controversial US ambassador Kyle Scott, often on the front pages of local tabloids in a negative context? Or was it the long-established media portrayal of the West as an enemy trying “to destroy Serbia” on the one hand, while loudly glorifying Russia as an eternal friend and President Putin as “Serbia’s saviour” on the other?

That Yee’s words had hit hard was immediately confirmed by a statement from Defence Minister Aleksandar Vulin, a close ally of president Vucic, who said that the American official’s remarks represent “the greatest pressure against Serbia yet”.

Serbia’s official news agency, Tanjug, also quoted Vulin saying, “This is not a statement made by a friend or a person respecting Serbia, our policy and respecting our right to decide independently.” Yee managed to provoke tensions in Moscow too. In a prompt comment from the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry “on provocative statements of a U.S. diplomat”, the press office emphasised that the United States was not an EU member and because of that it was “unaware that many EU countries are involved in large/scale, mutually beneficial and productive cooperation with Russia”. “Nobody should prevent Serbia from having the same approach on the basis of its national interests” was the main message. The advice also included a not so subtle warning to their “American colleagues” – “not to impose on others hostile ideological stereotypes that undermine the foundations of international stability and cooperation on the Balkans and Europe in general”.  “As if they read Vulin,” Serbian foreign affairs commentator Bosko Jaksic said of the Russian reaction. His opinion was that Vulin’s rhetoric was much more closer to Russia’s position and not appropriate to a supposedly neutral country, which Serbia declares itself to be. According to the Vecernje Novosti daily, whose newly appointed chief editor Milorad Vucelic is close to the ruling circles, Vucic insisted to Hoyt Yee that Serbia “remains strategically determined in favour of EU integration, but it will continue to develop friendly relations with Russia, and also with China, India and the United Arab Emirates”. It is perhaps worth mentioning that India is a fresh addition to this list of Serbia’s most important partners. The general context of this fresh diplomatic imbroglio is that Serbian leaders, and President Vucic in particular, are fully aware of the need to cooperate with the West, but their political instinct forces them to remain close to Russia. By maintaining this position President Vucic is putting himself between a rock and a hard place: EU membership is from the present perspective a distant proposition – 2025 is the latest prognosis – while his voters consider Russia as Serbia’s protector. What is rather strange, is that Russophilia is promoted almost on a daily basis by the media close to the president, creating the false impression of who really is assisting Serbia the most – which is, by most criteria, the West.

Serbia is advancing towards the EU – at least formally – by opening negotiation chapters, but the real “Europeanisation” of Serbia is going in the opposite direction: the rule of law is pushed further and further aside, the ruling party controls most of the media, opposition parties are not treated as partners in national dialogues…

America’s ire could have been provoked by the growing gap between what is really going on with Serbia’s cooperation with the West (NATO included) and the artificially created perception that the country is very close to (and dependent on) Russia. Hence the metaphor of “two chairs”.

A good example is the Russian humanitarian centre in Nis, southeast Serbia: Moscow demands that Russian staff there should be granted diplomatic immunity. But Washington is applying equal pressure on Belgrade not to allow it. The fact is that President Vucic is so far saying neither “yes” or “no”, unlike some of his coalition partners such as Foreign Affairs Minister Dacic or Defence Minister Vulin. After stating its displeasure with the current “impression” of Serbia’s tilt to the East, the US will most probably not press further. It is up to President Vucic to see what the true meaning of Hoyt Yee’s message is – and to reconcile the actual relations and true interests of Serbia with the public discourse on it.

Milan Misic is the former editor-in-chief of Politika (2001-2005) and was Politika’s correspondent in New Delhi, Tokyo and Washington.
The opinions expressed in the comments section are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of BIRN.