LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: There is no border between Serbia and Kosovo (Prva TV)

Reacting to the demands of Kosovo PM Ramush Haradinaj for starting work on making a border between Serbia and Kosovo, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that there was no border between Kosovo and Central Serbia but only an administrative line so the demarcation could not happen.

“That’s nonsense, they are out of touch. I don’t want to offend them but they’re not keeping up with what’s going on in the world. They celebrate Clinton’s birthday, but big changes have happened in international politics. Kosovo is a fictional tale that doesn’t exist in the reality of international politics” said Dacic.

The Foreign Minister spoke about the meeting with the Russian FM Sergey Lavrov noting the meeting was dedicated to the Kosovo issue.

“Russia is our strategic partner. We had and we will continue to have their support always. We can’t defend ourselves without Russia and we won’t have any dialogue without Russia’s support”, Dacic said

Next Vucic-Thaci meeting of key importance (Prva TV)

Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia Rasim Ljajic said the next meeting between presidents of Kosovo and Serbia would be of key importance for solving Kosovo issue.

According to Ljajic, after the meeting things would clear up on whether the issue would be solved or if it was another failed attempt.

“President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci is in a harder position than Vucic because everyone in Kosovo are against the Kosovo issue being resolved”, Ljajic said for Prva TV.

“Opposition in Kosovo uses similar rhetoric as most of the Serbian public, because they say they’re fine with frozen conflict and to not have any negotiations in next 20-30 years because time is on their side, while it’s in the interest of Serbia to have negotiations”, said Ljajic

He added he wasn’t optimistic that the Kosovo issue would resolve fast because there was a prevailing feeling among the public in Pristina that Serbia would get more from the negotiations than it already had and that only Kosovo must make concessions for a solution to be reached.

Ljajic assessed that everyone in the Serbian Government agreed that Kosovo issue must be solved and that all options except war or frozen conflict are legitimate.

Foggo: I’d be glad to hear plans of Vucic and Thaci (Blic)

Commander of the Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, Admiral James G. Foggo, said this in an interview for daily Blic. He added that there was intent to have a broader discussion with the EU within the September dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Foggo said the people had to use their right to vote and express their opinion in the elections and not with violence in the streets. Those who want piece, NATO would be there if asked for help,and for the rest who had “ulterior motives” NATO ” would be there if necessary”, said Foggo.  Foggo reminded that KFOR was a part of NATO and had a mandate to act as a third instance in Kosovo after Kosovo institutions and EULEX and in accordance with UN Resolution 1244 which provided that KFOR maintained secure environment and freedom of movement.

When asked to say what would happen if the the conflict around the border were to arise, since Albania, a NATO member, promoted erasing borders between that country and Kosovo, Foggo emphasized that the borders were outlined by the international agreement.

Serbian Armed Forces, which had good relations with both KFOR and NATO, were also tasked with providing a secure environment, Foggo said.

“I personally have good relationship with Chief the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, Ljubisa Dikovic. I know there’s no any interest there other than keeping peace and stability in the region”, said Foggo.

Foggo reflected on the statements of some NATO generals that Serbia and Republika Srpska were a threat to the organization due to Russian influence and said that it “wasn’t up to him to tell Serbia how to choose their friends and the country can decide for itself who to cooperate with.”

Talking about the changes in Kosovo, Foggo said it was a good thing that youth had enthusiasm about peaceful future, but putting barricades on the main bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica was not.

“How are we going to solve our disagreements if we barricade bridges?” asked Foggo.

Ivanic: Dodik taking advantage of Bosnian Serbs’ problem (Beta)

The Serbian member of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Presidency Mladen Ivanic commented on the recent statement from the president of Republika Srpska (RS) Milorad Dodik.

Dodik recently said that it was high time for Serbs in B&H to delineate. Ivanic thinks that this statement represents Dodik’s flagrant abuse of the problem of Bosnian Serbs in B&H for his own political campaign.

Ivanic reminded that Dodik said similar things before.

“I remember that at one-time Dodik said if Montenegro gained independence, Republika Srpska (RS) would be independent too. We have independent Montenegro today and where’s independent RS” said Ivanic. He thinks that big words about delimitation could lead to Serbs in B&H to lose what they already have.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

US Embassy in B&H reacts to Dodik’s statement about agreement signed between B&H CoM and USAID (ATV)

The US Embassy to Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) issued a press release regarding Tuesday statement of Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik saying that the recently signed agreement between the Council of Ministers (CoM) of B&H and the USAID is a corruptive agreement aimed at destabilization of the RS institutions. The US Embassy’s press release described Dodik’s accusations as fabrications that are simply untrue. The press release further reads that the agreement signed by the USAID and B&H CoM is transparent and that USD eight million worth grant funds will be used for the fight against corruption. The press release also reads that “as always” the US Government has been implementing its activities with full coordination with domestic authorities and in line with domestic laws.

“False Milorad Dodik’s accusations against the project that aims to counter public sector corruption should raise questions about his commitment to transparent and effective governance, as well as about his personal motives, given recent reporting about his real estate and other property in his possession,” reads the press release.

The US Embassy to B&H also stated that Dodik’s goal is to intimidate some organizations and individuals, that are committed to building a better B&H. “The fabrications that Dodik stated yesterday to the public are just not true. He is again using the help of people from the United States of America to prove unbelievable conspiracy theories, which serve pre-election campaigns in B&H. According to estimates, the United States of America have invested almost USD 2 billion in projects of reconstruction and construction of democratic institutions in B&H so far”, reads a part of US Embassy’s response to Dodik’s claims.

Dodik: US Ambassador to B&H is interfering with internal matters of B&H (RTRS)

Chairman of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Council of Ministers (CoM) Denis Zvizdic stated on Wednesday that signing of the agreement between the B&H Council of Ministers and the USAID has to do with strengthening of state institutions. Zvizdic further said that foreign policy falls under the jurisdiction of B&H and that the entities do not decide on that. However, according to RTRS, Zvizdic failed to explain why the agreement with the USAID was not signed by the B&H Minister of Foreign Affairs, but by the B&H Minister of Finance and Treasury.

The US Embassy in B&H stated that this is a conspiracy theory, while RS President Milorad Dodik responded that the current US Ambassador to B&H is interfering with the internal matters of B&H.

“I know very well what America is and I respect it, but I do not respect their people who are often causing more harm than good here. She is one of those people. She is a failed character who spent time here just to have her salary basis increased when she returns to America and nothing more. What good did she do? Is there a single project she has done here? Is B&H functioning better? No,” Dodik said.

Asked to comment on Zvizdic’s statement that foreign policy falls under jurisdiction of B&H, Dodik said that Zvizdic is a loser and an unimportant person. “That is the mistake in B&H.

B&H is made up of two entities and three constituent peoples. The last four years failed because he imagined certain things,” Dodik said. The RS President further said that the RS has a right to influence things at the B&H level. “We are giving legitimacy to that. He would have never become the B&H CoM Chairman if losers from the Alliance for Changes (SzP) did not decide to betray the RS and give him their consent. What did he promise when he took the office? Just read his exposé and see what he did. He did nothing. We lost four years with such a man and now he is holding lectures,” Dodik underlined.

Dodik called on Zvizdic to learn the simple definition from the Constitution of B&H according to which B&H is composed of the two entities and three constituent peoples. “Everything comes from that. There is no autonomous story. If it is so, that is fine. Let them give us back all our competences, the army, finances. It is written in the Constitution that this falls under our jurisdiction… Give us back the army because it belongs to the RS according to the Constitution. Give us back the fiscal system because according to the Constitution it belongs to the entities and not to the joint level and why is he interfering with that? If he is principled, why did he not advocate such a thing? Abolish the Court and the Prosecutor’s Office of B&H because they do not exist under the Constitution of B&H. Also abolish the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) because it does not exist under the Constitution of B&H,” Dodik stressed.

Dodik said that the agreement signed between the B&H CoM and the USAID says that programs are implemented on the territory of entire B&H without consent of the entities. “That is a centralist, unitary measure and introduction of unitarism in B&H. That is what Zvizdic is defending and our people (from the RS) who are sitting there like sacks do not understand a single thing,” Dodik said. Dodik stressed that he lives for the day when B&H will not be above the RS in any sense.

Croatia

Croatia extradites war crimes suspect to Bosnia (Hina)

Croatia on Wednesday extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) former Army of B&H member Hasan Ruznic, who is suspected of war crimes against Serbs, the B&H Prosecutor’s Office said.

Ruznic was arrested in Croatia on an international warrant on July 29. He is suspected of committing, as a member of the military police, a crime against humanity against Serbs in Bosanski Petrovac on 15 September 1995, when at least 40 civilians and soldiers who had surrendered were shot dead. The investigation in this case covers 17 suspects, including retired general Atif Dudakovic.

fYROM

US commends name agreement, hopes for successful referendum in Macedonia (MIA)

At meetings on Wednesday in Washington with Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov, representatives of the White House voiced strong support for the Skopje-Athens name agreement, as well as hope for Macedonia to have successful referendum.

US Deputy National Security Advisor Mira Ricardel extended congratulations on the Skopje-Athens agreement and the courage demonstrated during the political, diplomatic process to that effect. She conveyed the White House support of Macedonia’s accession to NATO, voicing belief that the country would soon take the place it deserved on the joint table of the Alliance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release.

‘The fact that with our friends from Greece we have shown to be able to resolve problems, points out that the Balkans is reaching maturity and moving forward. I am certain that the citizens of Macedonia will seize this historic opportunity,’ Dimitrov said.

Dimitrov also met with members of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Jeanne Shaheen and James Risch, who commended the Skopje-Athens agreement and offered support in the process for its implementation, including an engagement of inter-party Senate group for monitoring the NATO enlargement. They also praised Macedonia’s contribution to international peace missions, the press release reads.

Zaev-Merkel: Upcoming referendum reflects citizens’ vision for Macedonia’s future (MIA)

In a phone conversation with Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, Chancellor Angela Merkel reaffirmed Germany’s support of the Macedonia-Greece agreement, as well as of the efforts of the government in Skopje to strengthen Macedonia’s European, Euro-Atlantic perspectives.

Zaev and Merkel underlined the significance of the referendum, as an instrument of democracy that reflects citizens’ vision for the future of their country, the government said in a press release on Wednesday. Zaev briefed Merkel about the preparations for the upcoming referendum. He also notified the government activities in implementing the reforms and the European Council recommendations of June 2018 related to the rule of law, fight against corruption and crime, public administration and secret services.

EU’s Hahn: Forthcoming referendum – a choice between EU future and isolation (MIA)

In an interview with MIA, Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, voices regret over the lack of national unity in Macedonia about the referendum on the agreement with Greece and urges citizens to exercise their voting right to shape their future and the future of the country. For Hahn, the referendum is an opportunity for citizens to choose between the EU future and isolation, MIA Brussels correspondent reports.

‘It is a choice between a future-oriented path towards EU integration with concrete benefits for citizens such as rule of law, increased attractiveness for foreign investors resulting in more and better jobs, higher living standards  – and a path oriented towards isolation, stagnation and missing a unique opportunity for improvement and progress in crucial areas,’ Hahn says.

The referendum, he goes further, is also a choice between sticking to old nationalist concepts or embracing the country’s future, with reforms and with the EU and NATO integration as final step.

‘This is not imposed by the EU or the international community. Euroatlantic integration has been established since long as the country’s strategic goal, also by previous governments. It is owned by the citizens who will decide if this perspective with all its concrete benefits to the citizens and their living standards will materialize or not,’ Hahn says.

Referring to the agreement between Macedonia and Greece on the name issue, Hahn notifies that the document has been rightly assessed by the EU and the entire international community as a ‘historical breakthrough’.

‘It paves the way to solving a dispute which lasted for nearly three decades and which not only overshadowed the bilateral relations of both countries but posed a major obstacle for EU and NATO accession of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The determination and leadership of the governments of both countries, to tackle this issue, deserves our full respect. It was possible, because leaders focused on the future instead of the past which is in the interest of the countries’ citizens and especially that of the future generations,’ Hahn says.

With the forthcoming referendum, he says, it is now in the citizens’ hands to make this positive future perspective happen.

‘Therefore I reiterate my call upon the citizens to inform themselves and to use their democratic right to vote. It is an important choice which will determine the country’s future as the name agreement opens the door to Euro-Atlantic integration. This perspective is very concrete as the Council mandated the Commission to start the preparations for opening the accession negotiations. And we have started this work immediately, I was in Skopje mid July to launch personally the screening process,’ Hahn tells MIA.

Asked to comment the movement calling to boycott the referendum, Hahn says: ‘Holding the referendum means empowering citizens to take a decision on an agreement which has far-reaching consequences for their country and their own future! I regret therefore very much that at times where national unity is needed to embrace the remarkable progress achieved, there are still actors who prefer obstruction to constructive work in the interest of the country’s  future.

Hahn also expresses hope that citizens who are still uncertain whether and how to vote will become aware of the consequences of their decision.

‘I think that citizens should be aware that with this referendum they are offered the chance to get their opinion and voices heard and to make a vote which will shape the country’s and their own future. The voting right is an important democratic achievement which should be supported by active participation. In order to really make use of this right, citizens should carefully analyze the motivation behind the campaigns and the consequences of a yes or no vote in order to be able to make an informed decision,’ Hahn says.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

Land Swap No Magic Wand for Serbia’s Albanians (BIRN)

Ethnic Albanians in the Presevo Valley ‘dream’ of joining Kosovo, but few see it as a silver bullet for life’s daily grind. The result may only be more ethnic strife. There’s a disconnect in the southern Serbian town of Bujanovac right now, between the mid-summer lethargy of the streets and the relative bustle of the mayor’s office.

If his Facebook page is anything to go by, Mayor Shaip Kamberi is not short of visitors from foreign embassies and international institutions.

Discussions, he says, focus on the dissatisfaction of the town’s ethnic Albanians with their treatment by Serbia and, of late, the possibility of a land swap by which Bujanovac and other ethnic Albanian-populated parts of southern Serbia would join Kosovo and the Serb-dominated north of Kosovo would go the other way.

It is a prospect, hinted at by political leaders in euphemisms such as ‘border correction’ or ‘delimitation,’ that has veteran Balkan-watchers on edge, given what they say is the risk of renewed ethnic violence and a domino effect across the region.

Germany has come out firmly against any more redrawing of borders in the Balkans, but the United States has been deafening in its silence, and the European Union too has been less than emphatic, fuelling speculation that the West may be about to abandon its red line on Kosovo’s ethnic partition as a way to close a chapter in the collapse of Yugoslavia that most thought closed when Kosovo declared independence in 2008.

For the people of Bujanovac, an ethnically-mixed town, and the rest of the predominantly ethnic Albanian Presevo Valley, such a development would be hugely unsettling, whether they want it or not.

‘Not wanted in Serbia’

Almost two decades ago, for six months between 2000 and 2001, the region was the scene of clashes between Serbian security forces and an ethnic Albanian guerrilla army trying to replicate the success of the Kosovo Liberation Army in 1999, when NATO intervened to wrest control of the then southern Serbian province from Belgrade and end years of repression of its ethnic Albanian majority.

Western diplomacy ended the fighting in the Presevo Valley, the guerrillas disbanding in exchange for greater rights for ethnic Albanians. But they remain dissatisfied, accusing Belgrade of marginalising the region and starving it of investment and infrastructure projects. With jobs and money in short supply, thousands leave every year for short-term work in Western Europe.

“I have the impression at times that Belgrade treats us like some kind of foreign element, as if we are not wanted in Serbia,” Kamberi said.

He called on the governments of both Serbia and Kosovo to provide clarity; Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said he prefers ‘delimitation’ by which Kosovo would cede the north, while his Kosovo counterpart, Hashim Thaci, has ruled that out and called instead for a border change to allow the Presevo Valley to join Kosovo.

Such statements and the speculation they have stirred give the sense of momentum building towards a deal in EU-mediated talks in Brussels, but the people who stand to be affected the most say they are being kept in the dark.

“We expect the statements from Belgrade and Pristina about partition to be more precise so that we can clearly understand what is ahead,” Kamberi told BIRN after meeting officials from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation Europe, OSCE, and the US embassy in Belgrade.

Ethnic Albanian political leaders in the region have been lobbying for the rights of the Presevo Valley Albanians to be included on the agenda of the Brussels talks. The issue is particularly sensitive for Bujanovac. Unlike Presevo, where 95 per cent of the population is ethnic Albanian, Bujanovac is a multi-ethnic municipality, the town itself an almost equal mix of Serbs, Roma and Albanians, according to a 2002 census. The wider municipality is 55 per cent Albanian and 34 per cent Serb. Albanians boycotted the most recent census in 2011, but a joint assessment by the Serbian Statistics Institute, the OSCE and the US and British embassies suggested the numbers had changed little.

‘How will I live?’

Unsurprisingly, Albanians and Serbs are split on the merits of joining Kosovo, but united in their cynicism towards the politicians deciding their fate and the struggle that is daily life in this impoverished corner of the Balkans.

“The patriot in me rejoices at the possibility,” said an ethnic Albanian man in the village of Lucane, one of the frontlines of the 2000-2001 clashes, when asked about the possibility of joining Kosovo.

“But when I wake up in the morning, I think about how I’ll live, where I’ll get my pension,” he told BIRN outside the village shop, declining to be named.

The man said half his family had already left Lucane for the EU, a fate shared by many Albanian villages bordering Kosovo. It is estimated that roughly half of Lucane’s 1,300 official residents actually work in the EU.

“Young people are massively leaving for Western Europe, primarily Germany,” said Nexhat Behluli, the owner of a local television channel. Working as drivers, mechanics or builders, “they get a six-month visa and come back with 10,000 euros in savings; they can’t make that kind of money in Serbia,” he told BIRN.

In Veliki Trnovac, 40 per cent of the town’s 7,000 official residents, all of them ethnic Albanian, are believed to be working in Western Europe.

“We would all like to be annexed by Kosovo,” said a man sipping tea in a local cafe. “But the question is – how realistic is it? There are no ethnic countries in Europe anymore. People in Germany are not all German, neither are they all Belgian in Belgium.”

Smokescreen

Local Serbs are skeptical any land swap will happen, though some do not object to the idea mooted by some Serbian politicians that Kosovo annex only exclusively ethnic Albanian villages in the region, rather than whole valley itself. Ethnic Albanian leaders have ruled out such a scenario.

“If the Albanian villages were to go to Kosovo, Serbs could take power,” a Serb resident of Bujanovac, who asked not to be named, told BIRN.

If Bujanovac were to be ceded to Kosovo in its entirety, “I would not stay and live in Kosovo for anything,” he said. “I’d try to sell my house and head somewhere towards Belgrade.”

Miodrag Milkovic, a local veterinarian, said the talk of partition was a smokescreen to divert attention from the failure of local Serbian and Albanian politicians to improve the lot of their constituents.

“Seventeen years after the conflict, the only interest of local Albanian politicians and the Serbs who are in the government with them is to stir tension,” he said. “They don’t care about the conditions people face.”

“Any border changes would lead to conflict, and I think everyone here has had enough of riots,” he said. “Both the local Albanians and Serbs are concerned by problems of daily life, which will not be solved by the redrawing of borders.”

A Balkan border change the West should welcome (Politico)

Despite the risks, a land swap between Kosovo and Serbia could benefit both countries and the EU.

Europe has an intense and understandable fear of changing national boundaries. But discussions about a land swap between Kosovo and Serbia, which have been in a simmering conflict for two decades, deserve careful support. This means upending years of conventional thinking in Western foreign policy circles. But the tension between Serbia and Kosovo is a major headache for the Continent that needs to be tackled. It feeds instability on the European Union’s southeastern flank and presents a major obstacle to integrating the Western Balkans into the bloc.

Serbia doesn’t recognize Kosovo’s 2008 independence declaration and officially regards the territory — whose population is mainly ethnic Albanian — as a rebel province. Five EU member countries don’t recognize Kosovo either. Most of them, like Spain, have separatist fears of their own. Russia and China keep Kosovo out of the U.N. and in international limbo.

While the impasse continues, neither country has a realistic hope of joining the EU. Brussels has made clear to Belgrade that it must settle its dispute with Kosovo before it can become an EU member.

There is no solution to the Kosovo conundrum without an agreement both sides genuinely support, and a land swap is the key to such a deal. Kosovo would trade its Serb-majority northern municipalities for Albanian-majority parts of Serbia’s southwest. Serbia would recognize Kosovo and lift its opposition to U.N. membership; Kosovo would commit to retaining protections for medieval Serbian monasteries and its remaining Serb population.

Why would Serbia agree to a deal like this? Because it represents an acknowledgement that American and European policy toward them has failed. Kosovo broke away under international supervision and on the assumption Serbia would eventually have to recognize its independence and territorial integrity. A land swap lets Serbia say: “You tried to do this without us and it didn’t work.” Admissions like that are potent, especially when countries grapple with emotionally charged issues like history, identity, and territory.

For its part, Kosovo gets to be a full member of the international community and has a clearer path to EU membership. It could immediately join the Council of Europe, bringing its people the protections of the European Court of Human Rights.

Why, then, is there so much opposition? Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week “there are attempts to perhaps talk about borders and we can’t do that.” Carl Bildt, who has been involved in the region for almost 30 years, called the idea “a recipe for geopolitical instability.” (On the other hand, Wolfgang Petritsch, the EU’s main negotiator at the Kosovo peace talks, backs the idea.)

The main objection is that changing a border anywhere threatens borders everywhere in the region. Macedonia has a large ethnic Albanian minority that dominates a swath of territory extending to the outskirts of the capital, Skopje; a breakaway would mean an awful war. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb-dominated region routinely threatens to secede. Surely a land swap would embolden them?

Eight years ago, I went to Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for the International Crisis Group to research exactly this threat. I and my Albanian and Serb colleagues concluded the risk was real but manageable. Since then, Macedonia has become far more stable, and has a progressive, multiethnic government; NATO membership is possible as early as next year. The country’s Albanian population is pragmatic, and content to live in a state with good prospects of European integration and prosperity.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb Republic is another matter. Its leadership and many of its people really do want to secede. Yet they know it is impossible.

Glance at a map. Their region comprises two halves: a poor, small east along the Serbian border and a larger, richer west abutting Croatia. Joining them is the small self-governing district of Brčko. The Serbs could declare independence tomorrow, but two-thirds or more of their people would be cut off in the west, with no land route to friendly territory. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitution already gives their region extremely broad autonomy, which would probably be lost in the aftermath of a failed secession.

Many old Balkan hands instinctively recoil from border changes, arguing that they reflect the logic of the horrific ethnic cleansing of the 1990s. Yet those were aggressive acts, and this would be the opposite. Kosovo and Serbia are talking about a mutually beneficial deal, with considerable support among the people who would be most directly affected. It promises to bring some genuine good will, a quality sorely lacking in the region.