LOCAL PRESS

Vucic: It is Serbia’s job not to harm Russia (Tanjug/B92)

Serbia does not vote to Russia’s detriment, President Aleksandar Vucic said, commenting on Serbia’s vote against a UN resolution on Crimea. The resolution, tabled by Kiev, was passed at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday. After delivering a lecture at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations on Wednesday, Vucic was asked about Serbia’s stance against the resolution, and about the situation in Crimea. “I will reply what I can as Serbia’s President. It is Serbia’s job not to harm Russia. Serbia is not voting in a way that might harm Russia’s interests. That never happened in any international forum,” Vucic said.  “Still, you must also understand our position related to Kosovo, but I think you’ve understood my message well,” the Serbian President said, according to Tanjug.

Vulin: Further modernization of techniques and combat systems agreed in Moscow (RTS)

A ministerial delegation visited Moscow with the Serbian President, including Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin who points out that Serbia’s position has significantly changed and strengthened on the international political scene. “The visit was very useful and it confirmed that everything that had been agreed in the past period will be realized on time, and even before deadlines,” said Vulin. An initial agreement on the purchase of six Mi-17 helicopters has been reached in Moscow. “We will start intensive talks on purchasing helicopters, while it is still early to speak of the S-300 system. It is very important that we will work on establishing a helicopter center that would also be the only helicopter repair center in this part of Europe. We will continue the strengthening of our army and equipment. We agreed further modernization of armored units and other combat systems of our army,” he said. President Vucic said that Russia was ready to join the dialogue on Kosovo and Metohija if there is a change of format on which Pristina is insisting and wants to include the US for some time. “This would change everything because we have been enduring Pristina’s pressure to include the US in the dialogue. In that case, we will insist on Russia joining as well. This speaks of a changed position when it comes to Serbia since this would be a return of the dialogue with the United Nations. We are satisfied with this format of the dialogue, but if there will be insisting on a change of format, then they should count on other countries getting involved,” said Vulin. The reports of the Kosovo media quoting US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley as having stated that she will be working for Kosovo to become a UN member, Vulin says this is nothing new since they have been working on this for a very long time.

Brnabic: No open issues with Montenegro (RTS/Tanjug)

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic assessed today during the talks with Ambassador of Montenegro in Serbia Branislav Micunovic that the two countries have no open issues and are committed to further development of good bilateral relations. The two officials agreed that infrastructure connecting and joint energy projects are important preconditions for the prosperity not only of Serbia and Montenegro, but of the whole region. Brnabic pointed out that Serbia is committed to regional cooperation and to more frequent meetings and dialogue of representatives of the region at all levels. She said that economic cooperation and mutual support on the European path are the main priorities and the key to friendly relations between the two countries.

Serbia demands return of its materials assigned to ICTY in all tried cases (RTS)

After the ICTY will be closed by the end of this year and the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) will continue its work, it will leave behind millions of documents from cases that were processed before this court. These documents are supposed to be shared between countries of the region the citizens of which were tried in the ICTY’s processes, through formation of information centers that will archive them. According to lawyers’ sources, there are some 1.5 million documents in the ICTY referring to the case of late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic only. Serbian Minister of Justice Nela Kuburovic stated that Serbia demands return of its materials assigned in all cases tried before the ICTY. She said that establishing of future information center in Belgrade has a goal to take over the documents that are public in the ICTY and to collect electronic documents regarding all the verdicts of the ICTY.

Commenting on the issue, ICTY President Carmel Agius said that the ICTY’s documents belong to the UN, but that documents delivered by countries of the former Yugoslavia might be returned to them. The idea to form informative centers in countries of the former Yugoslavia was launched by former ICTY President Fausto Pocar almost a decade ago. The City of Sarajevo and the ICTY signed in 2016 a memorandum according to which 400,000 documents will be permanently assigned to Sarajevo, i.e. a memo on formation of an informative center in Sarajevo for all public documents of the ICTY.

Commenting on the issue, lawyer Slobodan Zecevic told RTS that when it comes to cooperation with the ICTY’s Prosecutor’s Office, Serbia has handed over two times more documents compared to Croatia and B&H. He believes that systematization of the ICTY’s documents will help analyze the work of this judicial institution, adding that the stance of the ICTY’s Prosecutor’s Office on the joint criminal enterprise in most of the cases in which Serbs were accused might be reviewed as well.

Former reporter from The Hague Ljiljana Smajlovic commented that Serbia has to fight for preservation of all documents since this country is in the worst position when it comes to selective justice, noting that history will have more mercy towards Serbia unlike the ICTY. RTS reminded that 161 persons were indicted before the ICTY, while Serbs account for 70 percent of the accused and validly convicted persons who were sentenced to more than 1,000 years in prison. RTS notes that poor reputation of the ICTY in securing the documents is disputable as well, reminding of claims of an UNMIK court doctor who has said that in 2010 some 400 samples of the Kosovo victims’ DNA were destroyed by court approval in Germany in 2010.

Mihajlovic: Serbia has done everything to construct Bratunac-Ljubovija Bridge and resolve border issues with B&H (Tanjug)

Serbian Minister of Construction and Deputy Prime Minister Zorana Mihajlovic stated that the Bratunac-Ljubovija Bridge on the border between B&H and Serbia should not be used “as a ping-pong ball in political relations” and she underlined that Serbia awaits a decision of the Council of Ministers of B&H to confirm a construction of the joint border crossing over the Drina River. Asked to comment a statement of Minister of Security of B&H Dragan Mektic, according to which B&H has been waiting on Serbia to form a commission to discuss categorization of border crossings for over a year, Mihajlovic stated she was surprised by the statement. She underlined that the citizens of both countries need the bridge, and that Serbia has a competent commission, but added that it is probably not easy to pass decisions in B&H. “Serbia initiated, financed and completed the construction of the bridge, and do you think it is in Serbia’s interest not to adopt a document without which the bridge could not be used,” wondered Mihajlovic and added that Serbia completed all its obligations and it is now waiting on the two agreements on crossing borders in B&H CoM. “One of them has been amended two times on their initiative, and we are waiting on their adoption. Unfortunately, we are calling them each week and we are not getting any answer,” she concluded.

REGIONAL PRESS

OSCE’s Berton discusses Election Law issue with reps of main political parties in B&H (FTV)

Head of the OSCE Mission to B&H Bruce Berton met with representatives of the main political parties in B&H on Wednesday to discuss the issue of the Election Law of B&H. Specifically, the focus of the meeting was set on implementation of the Election Law of B&H, solutions and proposals presented by the political parties and holding of general elections in B&H in 2018. Berton will continue talks with representatives of the parties in B&H with the aim to reach a solution for a legal gap that emerged after B&H Constitutional Court (CC) abolished the provisions on completion of the Federation of B&H House of Peoples (HoP). Namely, the CC partly granted the motion of Chairman of the Main Council of the Croat People’s Assembly (HNS) Bozo Ljubic.

OSCE: General elections will be held in 2018 (N1)

After the OHR said on Tuesday that holding general elections in 2018 is imperative and that they cannot be merged with local elections in 2020, the OSCE Mission to B&H told N1 that they express concern due to the lack of progress in implementation of decisions of B&H Constitutional Court and the European Court of Human Rights. OSCE said that general elections will be held in 2018 in line with the existing law and added that political leaders have collective responsibility to ensure implementation of election results. The OSCE Mission stressed that the international community provides support to political leaders to find a compromise, but it will not impose any solutions.

Versions of adopted set of excise laws are not identical in all three official languages (TV1)

New issues emerged with the adopted set of laws on excise duties. Namely, texts of two laws, the Law on Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA) and the Law on Payments on Single Account, are not identical in all three official languages of B&H, as version in Bosnian and Croatian languages is different from the version in Serbian language. The issue was detected in B&H Parliament before the laws were sent for publication in B&H Official Gazette. In the Law on ITA, in Article 21, paragraph 3, the version in Serbian language does not contain words “on a special subaccount”, while the version in Bosnian and Croatian languages has them. In the Law on Payments on Single Account, in Article 9, paragraph 1, version of the law in Bosnian and Croatian languages does not contain words “on special subaccounts opened at B&H Central Bank”, while the version in Serbian language has them. In Article 9, paragraph 2, the version in Bosnian and Croatian languages reads “Reserve is being calculated as sum of refund for the next day”, while the version in Serbian language reads “Reserve is being calculated as sum of refund for the next working day.” Reporter noted that it is not clear what versions are valid, since delegates and representatives adopted them in their own languages. Speaker of B&H House of Peoples (HoP) Ognjen Tadic said on the phone that these laws are not valid and added that someone will have to react. He stressed that it is not possible to intervene and find out what version is original and added that they will have to be adopted again. Tadic said that he will discuss the issue with his Deputies Safet Softic and Barisa Colak, and seek their opinion, and added that this is an awkward situation. Reporter noted that representatives of delegates from B&H Parliament could not tell how to resolve the situation, and they only said that they will have comments on Thursday.

Session of Collegium for the EU integration held (BNTV)

A session of the Collegium for EU Integration was held in Sarajevo on Wednesday. Participants of the session, including Chairman of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Council of Ministers (CoM) Denis Zvizdic, Federation of B&H Prime Minister Fadil Novalic, Republika Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic, Prime Ministers of Cantons, Mayor of Brcko District Sinisa Milic and Director of the B&H Directorate for EU Integration Edin Dilberovic, said that most answers to the questions from the European Commission’s (EC) Questionnaire have been harmonized, while seven answers are yet to be harmonized. Participants of the session said that the remaining seven answers will be harmonized in the next five or six days. One of the seven answers that are yet to be harmonized is from the area of economic criteria. “We need to present social and economic data for the period 2006-2015 related to the population according to gender, age, regional distribution and so on,” Zvizdic said. Two answers that are yet to be harmonized are related to the EU Chapter 24. Zvizdic explained that those answers have to do with the role and contribution of intelligence and security services in B&H and whether B&H is faced with any kind of form of terrorism. “We also have to give the number of people who have been indicted and convicted of terrorism so far,” Zvizdic said. Three answers that are yet to be harmonized are related to the issue of missing persons. “One is whether B&H authorities are taking full responsibility for finding missing persons. Second question is whether victims and their families are treated the same throughout B&H, while the third question is whether there is an institution for the search for missing persons,” Zvizdic underlined.

SDA condemns Vucic’s decision to posthumously reward Russian Ambassador Churkin (Oslobodjenje)

SDA issued a press statement on Wednesday reacting to a move of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic who gave posthumous medal to Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin for his successful efforts to prevent adoption of the UN Resolution on Genocide in Srebrenica. “With this act, Vucic is showing he is not a factor of stability and peace, as he is trying to portray himself in Europe and the world. Veto that led Vucic to posthumously reward Churkin cannot hide the truth, but it does insult the victims of genocide once again, sending very negative messages to Bosniaks from the official Belgrade,” reads the statement.

EU encouraged by meeting of Croatian and Slovenian prime ministers (HRT)

The First Vice-President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, Rule of Law and Charter of Fundamental Rights, Frans Timmermans, discussed Slovenia’s border claims with his fellow commissioners in Brussels on Wednesday. Commissioner Timmermans said that as an optimist he viewed it as a good sign that the two leaders had met yesterday. He added that if both sides agreed, he would be prepared to offer assistance in finding a resolution to the dispute. Little forward progress was made at yesterday’s meeting between Croatia’s Andrej Plenkovic and Slovenia’s Miro Cerar. The Croatian prime minister proposed continued dialogue and put forth a legal framework for resolving the border dispute. However, Slovenia is insisting that an international arbitration ruling, which expires on December 29th, be implemented in full.

Political strategy is not stronger (RTCG)

Prime Minister Dusko Markovic said that the results of last year’s parliamentary and this year’s local elections show that a serious policy and political strategy have never been stronger side for the Democratic Front (DF). Responding to the question of DF MP Nebojsa Medojevic about how the government will solve the economic and political crisis in the country, Markovic expressed concern that the PzP leader “does not consider where and in which country he lives.” He welcomed the DF MPs who returned to parliament. “The results of all elections, not only the parliamentary elections from last year, but also the last local ones, confirm that serious policy and strategy have never been your stronger side,” Markovic said. The Prime Minister claims that Montenegro is not in the economic crisis, and that confirms strong economic growth this year, as well as an increase in average wages and pensions.

Prominent members of VMRO-DPMNE demand the postponement of congress for the election of a new leader (Meta)

Senior VMRO-DPMNE officials, including MPs Ilija Dimovski, Antonijo Milososki, Trajko Veljanoski, Krsto Jovanovski, former mayors – Nikola Bakracheski, Borche Stamov and Ilcho Zahariev, demanded the postponement of the party congress for the election of a new leader because the one scheduled for December 22nd and 23rd “does not guarantee a democratic and transparent process.” The thirty members and officials of the opposition party signed the letter and said that information from members in the field indicates that in the procedure for electing the president of VMRO-DPMNE, there is one candidate who is “obviously favored, assisted and supported by the overall party infrastructure on a national level”. The signatories of the letter say that some of them have so far repeatedly sounded the alarm and discussed with the highest party officials, however, so far there has been no effective reaction. They demand that VMRO-DPMNE’s Executive and Central Committee make a decision to increase the number of delegates from the 544 congress to at least 5,000 delegates, then to decide to postpone the holding of the Congress on February 24th and 25th, 2018, to give a chance for a transparent procedure and a democratic competition, and to avoid the feeling that someone hastily wants to choose a predetermined candidate. Members of VMRO-DPMNE require the VMRO-DPMNE Central Committee to appoint a collective presidency of 3 to 5 members that will lead the party until the Congress is held.

VMRO-DPMNE: Every day we shall be blocking a border passage (Meta)

The Ministry of Interior informed today that it received a notification from VMRO-DPMNE that it shall start blocking the border passages in the forthcoming four days. The party will block the Bogorodica border passage between 16-18h, and tomorrow the Kjafasan passage between 17-18h, on Friday it shall block the Deve Bair border pass between 17-18h and on Sunday, on the 24th of December, between 16-18h it shall block the Bogorodica border passage. The members of VMRO-DPMNE’s municipality committee, at a press conference in front of the Basic Court in Kumanovo demanded its member that was arrested yesterday during the protest at the Tabanovce border pass to be released. They stated that they are expressing their revolt due to the police brutality during the protest. The press conference was attended by the party’s General Secretary, Hristijan Mickovski. “We appeal to the court and we demand the person, who is a longstanding member, activist and a renowned citizen, to be released immediately. I stress that the person was detained illegally at the police station and there is no reason or arguments than those that are publicly stated” said Mario Cvetkovski.

SMI, Luan Rama: Provisional chief prosecutor position, non-existent (ADN)

“The provisional chief prosecutor’s position is non-existent, thus Arta Marku’s election should be considered null’. The Vice-Chairman of Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI), Luan Rama made this declaration on Wednesday while quoting an article of the constitution that foresees the existence of a temporary replacement by an experienced prosecutor. “A quick explanation for Prime Minister Edi Rama and those who dare to speak without knowing the laws. Arta Marku has not been elected as provisional chief prosecutor. A bunch of ignorant people, coming from the politics and civic society ranks, keep talking about the election of provisional chief prosecutor. The truth is that Arta Marku has not been elected as provisional chief prosecutor, on view of the fact that this position is inexistent in country’s constitution. The law for General Prosecution foresees the appointment of an experienced prosecutor as substitute only if the chief prosecutor’s mandate is interrupted ahead of the official deadline. The difference is not just formal but is crucial. The parliament has no authority for the election of chief prosecutor, a competence that belongs only to the High Council of Prosecution (HCP). Thus, Albania has no provisional chief prosecutor but a substitute prosecutor that has been assigned the role of chief prosecutor in a clear violation of the constitution,” declared Luan Rama.

Speaker Ruci sued by Democratic Party for abuse of duty (ADN)

Democratic Party (DP) parliamentary group sues Speaker of Parliament Gramoz Ruci on grounds of abuse of duty an arbitrary attitude. DP lawsuit against Speaker Ruci is related to the incidents registered in the last parliamentary session during the voting process for the provisional chief prosecutor Arta Marku. The opposition claims that Speaker Ruci ordered the security guards to exercise violence on the Democrat MPs. Earlier Socialist Party submitted a written request to the Parliamentary Bureau asking a 10-day expulsion for 7 opposition’s MPs involved in acts of violence during this parliamentary session.

Basha, unexpected meeting with US Ambassador Lu (ADN)

The US Ambassador Donald Lu arrived in Democratic Party (DP) headquarters on Wednesday for an unexpected meeting with Democrat leader Lulzim Basha. Albaniannews.com learned that this urgent meeting was requested by the US diplomat. Their meeting takes place amid a tensed political situation while a new wave of protests has been forewarned by the opposition as reaction to the unilateral election of provisional chief prosecutor by the majority.

Earlier the US Embassy condemned through a press release the violence during opposition’s protest in and out of the parliament.

SMI Chairwoman Kryemadhi meets US Ambassador Lu (ADN)

The Socialist Movement for Integration (SMI) chairwoman, Monika Kryemadhi meets with US Ambassador Donald Lu. This meeting, which took place in SMI’s headquarters, comes in a tensed political situation that follows the opposition’s harsh reaction to the election of a provisional chief prosecutor by the majority. The acts of violence during opposition’s protest in and out of the parliament and their forewarned escalation since January 2018 are presumed to have been the highlights of this meeting.

Berisha accuses EU and USA diplomats for unilateral support of Rama (ADN)

Former Prime Minister, Sali Berisha accused on Wednesday two diplomats for supporting unilaterally Premier Edi Rama. Reacting on the declaration made by the US Ambassador after the election of provisional chief prosecutor and the fact that he condemned the acts of violence during opposition’s protest, Berisha underlined that Lu is unilateral because he does not speak on the violation of one opposition MP, Floida Kerpaci. “A MP was violated. What does Lu said? Nothing! He is openly supporting Premier Rama and along with the EU Ambassador, Romana Vlahutin they go beyond any border in their support for the left wing,” said Berisha.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

Balkans trap: As Serbian president goes to Russia, US plots to ‘finish the job’ (RT, by Nebojsa Malic, 21 December 2017)

As the president of Serbia negotiates energy and trade deals in Moscow, the US foreign policy establishment plots to “finish the job” in the Balkans, and already dominates the country’s media space. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic sought to bolster his patriotic bona fides by meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday. They reportedly negotiated Serbia’s access to Eurasian Union markets and Russian oil and gas. Vucic hinted at buying Russian transport helicopters but dodged questions about the rumored deal for tanks and armored vehicles, or the S-300 air defense systems. Officially, Serbia maintains military neutrality and refuses to join the US-EU trade sanctions against Russia. On the other hand, Belgrade signed the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) with NATO in 2015 and remains committed to entering the EU at some point. These policies had prompted the US envoy to the region, Hoyt B. Yee, to threaten Belgrade in October over “sitting on two chairs.” Hoyt has since become the US ambassador in Macedonia, Serbia’s southern neighbor whose government is effectively a client of Washington. Bosnia-Herzegovina to the west is a de facto EU protectorate, with a NATO membership plan, while the renegade province of Kosovo ‒ occupied by NATO in 1999 and declared independent in 2008 ‒ hosts the largest US military base in the region. All the other neighbors are already members of the alliance that waged war on Serbia in 1999. Vucic rose to power in 2012 as a client of the West. Formerly a senior member of the Serbian Radical Party, which had languished in the political wilderness since the October 2000 color revolution, he rebranded himself as a “progressive” and ousted the Democrats from the US-sponsored ruling coalition. The PR consultancy that made this possible was Bell Pottinger, a UK-based outfit that once made fake terrorist videos for the Pentagon and recently shut down after a South Africa-related scandal.

Temporarily stunned by the election of Donald Trump, whose “America First” platform it had denounced as heretical, the US foreign policy establishment is beginning to stir anew. On November 28, the Atlantic Council presented a report advocating renewed US meddling in the region, arguing that it “offers the best near-term prospect to demonstrate the tangible results of a continued close US-EU relationship.” “Belgrade can and should be a close partner and ally in the region, but it can only become one if it begins to meaningfully distance itself from Russia. This is not a trivial pivot for Serbian leadership, but neither should it be something on which the United States or the EU should compromise,” the report’s authors wrote. On December 11, the Council on Foreign Relations listed the Balkans as a potential area of conflict for the first time in years, in the 2018 survey published by the think tank’s Center for Preventive Action. Several news outlets in Serbia have reported that Washington is planning to establish a “media center for battling Russian disinformation” in Serbia, run by NATO and funded through the Atlantic Council, the German Marshall Fund, the National Endowment for Democracy and US European Command (EUCOM). Yet there is no real need for such an outfit since the US and NATO have exercised dominance over Serbia’s media space since 2000, whether through local proxies or outright. The perfect example is N1, a CNN affiliate established in 2014 to cover Serbia and neighboring Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. N1 is owned by the KKR Global Institute, a branch of a major US investment firm chaired by none other than the former CIA chief and retired US General David Petraeus ‒ most recently seen getting a slap on the wrist for giving classified documents to his biographer and paramour. In March this year, N1 was placed at the “top of the dial” by the cable operator SBB. Though that may seem innocuous to US cable customers, it was jarring for Europeans used to having their public broadcaster in that spot. To the surprise of precisely no one, SBB ‒ one of the largest cable operators in the lands that were once Yugoslavia ‒ is also owned by KKR Global. Other parts of KKR’s media empire include the sports and movie channels Sport Klub and Cinemania, and the music production house Grand. Earlier this month, N1 drew scrutiny when it “ambushed” an immigrant charity worker who had been providing aid to the besieged Serbs in Kosovo for years. The French-born Arnaud Guillon said the network spent just three minutes talking about his humanitarian work, and the rest of the time attacking him as a nationalist and “identitarian” based on his political views as a student. “I often had to defend myself in France from questions about the aid we give to the Serbs in Kosovo. I honestly didn’t expect that I would have to do so in Belgrade,” he said after the interview. Though the six MiG-29 fighters sent by Russia in October can help replace the losses from the 1999 NATO attack, there is nothing they can do against this sort of media war inside Serbia itself. While Moscow treats President Vucic as a credible partner, he reportedly said he was “satisfied” with the Atlantic Council’s proposals and wished they would become official US policy. Having previously conducted an “internal dialogue” with himself on the topic of surrendering the Serbian claim to Kosovo ‒ in the pages of Western-owned newspapers, no less ‒ he now says he’d be happy to hand the issue over to Russia for mediation. Embittered Serbians might say that Vucic is setting up Moscow to take the fall on Kosovo so he can finally do what he wants and cave into Washington’s demands. Given Serbia’s ongoing political and media vassalage to the West, it’s difficult to argue they’d be wrong.

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.

Corruption, a threatening phenomenon in the Balkans (Ora News.tv, 20 December 2017)

Albania has made steps forward in the fight against corruption but the road is far from travelled. OSCE Ambassador, Bernd Borchardt stressed that the country needs more transparency over actions conducted by the prosecution. Accusing the prosecution of ignoring electoral crimes, Mr Borchardt explained the need to create of a database for investigations so that such glaring omissions could be easily highlighted by the public. “Albania has made some important steps forward in the fight against corruption, however a database listing investigations, criminal prosecutions and sentences is still needed. “Cases of buying and selling the votes have been sent to the prosecutor, but where are the sentences? “To tackle such electoral problems, the international community recommended setting up legal framework for financing political parties and the establishment of an effective and responsible system. “So – where are we at this point with these items?” said Bernd Borchardt. Invited to a conference in support of anti-corruption measures in Albania, Italian Ambassador, Alberto Cutillo said that corruption is a real threat to Balkan societies and it is up to Albania to deliver positive results in the framework of EU integration. “Corruption is not only Albania’s problem. It is an international phenomenon and, especially in this region, is a threat to all societies. “It is in the hands of Albania to continue to rely on the progress made so far and to consolidate the system, by offering convincing and strong results, especially in the context of EU membership. “One of the required standards that must be achieved is the fight against corruption.” said Alberto Cutillo. Ambassador Cutillo informed that, in January, the Chairman of the Italian Anti-Corruption Authority will visit Albania.

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