LOCAL PRESS

Vucic: Serbia needs to preserve its national interests (TV Happy)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has told TV Happy that the support of citizens is stronger despite the harshest attacks from various sides. He says that it is not easy to endure outside pressures that have great impact on our country. He says that on the one side they wish to weaker Serbia from the outside, to force it for a solution for Kosovo that would be not be a compromise, the others wish not having a solution, and the third wish for the Balkans to be a polygon of conflict. “None of the options suits us. We need to deal with our future and solutions,” says Vucic. Speaking about the Kosovo “knot”, the President notes that we cannot pretend that nothing has happened, because Kosovo declared independence in 2008. He says that not a single solution for Kosovo and Metohija will exist if the majority of people do not accept it, but added that no solutions are discussed now, because there not talks. “I said this a hundred times. I don’t want to play as in Macedonia with consultative referendums where the people said they are against, and you in the parliament vote it. I think this is a good agreement for them, I welcomed it, but the way in which it was conducted, I would never do it,” said Vucic.  He says that when a referendum doesn’t succeed, one can only acknowledge that a referendum didn’t succeed and it is democratic to announce this to the public. “Had there been any kind of referendum in Serbia, had we won 49 percent, and the other side 51 percent, it would be my job to resign and state that the referendum, in accordance with the Constitution and law, didn’t succeed, the citizens decided for some other option. That would be the epilogue because you need to respect citizens,” notes Vucic. To the acknowledgment that some proposed Belgrade to introduce countermeasures to Pristina since it had introduced 100 percent taxes, Vucic responded with a question – what would Serbia gain with this. “What would be the result except of greater nervousness? What would be have gained, except for showing how strong we are and doing damage to somebody? What would Serbia have from that? Maybe less jobs…,” said the President. Vucic announced that he will commence on Thursday the campaign dubbed “Serbia’s Future”, within which he will visit all 29 districts in Serbia in order to present the achieved results, what are the further plans and to hear their objections. “My wish was, and I have also discussed this with Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, to visit, I am launching this as the President, all 29 districts in Serbia – 25 in Serbia proper, Vojvodina and Belgrade, and four in Kosovo and Metohija,” Vucic told TV Happy.

Odalovic: Provocations disturb Serbs in Kosovo (FoNet)

The Chairperson of the Serbian government Commission for Missing Persons Veljko Odalovic has stated that the message of the Mayor of Southern Mitrovica Agim Bahtiri – that there will be a war if Mitrovica is discussed within the agreement between Kosovo and Serbia – is one more provocative statement aimed at additionally disturbing the Serbs. “This provocation is not serious and it is non-achievable,” Odalovic told journalists after the presentation of the book entitled “War crimes against the Serbs in Croatia 1991-1995 and War crimes against the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija 1998-2004”. Odalovic says that Mitrovica has not been divided because the Serbs wanted so, but because the Albanians expelled the Serbs who lived south of the Ibar River. “Today, only a priest, who is protected by the police, lives there with his family. So much about how this Mitrovica, which the mayor mentioned, would look like,” said Odalovic. He assesses that this is only one in a series of provocations made by the Pristina institutions lately, stressing that the same thing can be said for the decision of the Kosovo Assembly on “Trpeca”. Odalovic says that two sides are necessary for the dialogue, noting that Serbia is ready and open, but that it will not tolerate blackmail and provocations of this kind.

Memorial to missing Serb journalists again destroyed (B92)

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo said it condemned the latest act of vandalism on the memorial plaque of journalists Djuro Slavuj and Ranko Perenic. The memorial is located in Velika Hoca.

In June 2018, together with the Association of Journalists of Serbia registered in Kosovo and a group of journalists, the OSCE Mission participated in a ceremony to unveil the memorial plaque commemorating the two journalists that went missing in 1998 and were last seen on that site, a press release from the OSCE said, and added: “Today, we are saddened to read that the plaque has been removed and destroyed for the seventh time in the past five years. These acts serve to undermine inter-community trust and dialogue, as well as the efforts to remember journalists who were lost while exercising their profession.”

Energy Community clears Serbia to join TurkStream (Tanjug)

The Secretariat of the Energy Community has issued an opinion clearing Serbia to join the Gastrans gas pipeline project, an extension of the TurkStream pipeline. In a statement, the Vienna-based Secretariat said it had notified on 1 February the energy regulatory authority of Serbia, AERS, of its opinion on the exemption granted by AERS to the pipeline project Gastrans on October 1, 2018. “AERS had exempted the project from the provisions of the Third Energy Package related to unbundling, third party access and tariff regulation. In its opinion, the Secretariat requests a number of conditions to ensure the project does not lead to market foreclosure in Serbia and beyond,” the statement said. “The Secretariat requests the Serbian regulatory authority to condition any exemption on the possibility for new market entrants to access a significant share of the pipeline capacity via auctions, and to a certain amount gas to be offered on the marketplace by the incumbents in the Serbian market. These and other additional conditions should be put in place by AERS in order to create a more liquid and transparent market in Serbia and the neighboring countries offering non-discriminatory access and trading possibilities for all market participants,” it said.

REGIONAL PRESS

Need to form coalition of Serb parties at B&H state level (Srna)

The Republika Srpska (RS) parliament deputy speaker Milan Petkovic finds it necessary to form a coalition of Serb parties in the parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) in order to defend the interests of RS. “The divisions we might have in the political sense in RS must not reflect on the State level. We have to be united at that level and advocate the views and defend the interests of RS” Petkovic told Srna. He recalled that before the general elections in B&H, there was talk of the formation of a Serb coalition in the joint institutions. The Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) called on all parliamentary parties from RS at the State level to unite on the basis of the main national interests of RS and dismiss and condemn the attacks of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA).

Govedarica: We will respond to SNSD’S call – RS’s interest on the first place (Srna)

SDS Leader Vukota Govedarica stated that the Party will respond to the SNSD’s official call for joint participation in the authorities at the B&H level, if it happens, as RS’s interests are number one for the SDS. When it comes to the government at the B&H level, Govedarica has emphasized that the SDS defined at the Main Board’s last session that it was in a position and open to talks with all parliamentary political parties from RS. “Whether we will be with the SNSD or not, this cannot be discussed at this moment, but it is certain that every parliamentary political party from RS, particularly the SDS, is expected to defend the interests of RS, regardless of being in a partnership or not, therefore we will do this as we have done it so far” Govedarica said after the meeting of the SDS Presidency. He has said that the SDS will have its negotiating team, and reminded that the party has a platform on post-election activities, which was adopted at one of the sessions of the SDS Main Board, which is binding for this political party. Govedarica has voiced his belief that the Council of Ministers could be formed, and that the Council of Ministers needs to be operational, as the current one is, as he said, provisional.

“After all these talks, we will use the opportunity to inform party bodies – the Presidency and the Main Board, which will make the final decision. RS takes number one place; whether or not there will be any partnership, the time and the positions of the Party’s authority will show,” said Govedarica. According to him, the inter-party elections were also discussed at the session, which should start this month. “The Commission will define this curriculum and the dynamics, as we believe they should not be stretched, but defined with a strong dynamics and plan in order to be completed in the next three months,” Govedarica has said. According to him, it is necessary to elect a party leadership that will define the policy, to politically position the party, in order for the SDS to be consolidated and ready for the local elections in 2020. He has said the Commission, which will conduct the inter-party elections, has been formed, adding that the remaining thing is to elect a candidate from one constituency, which should be done by the Coordination Board in the next two days. Speaking about placing conditions on RS related to B&H’s approaching to NATO, Govedarica has reminded that it was discussed at a session convened by B&H Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik, and that this issue was not in a joint statement. “We have agreed on five specific terms and strategic issues, because we believe there is no need to bring all the problems and focus from the Federation of B&H to RS’s yard, therefore, it is not in these conclusions,” Govedarica has said. The SNSD Executive Board proposed earlier to the RS parties in the B&H parliament to form a solid coalition for RS and joint participation at state-level authorities. The SNSD Executive Board called on all parliamentary political parties from RS at the state level to unite on the principle of basic national interests of RS and to uniquely reject and condemn SDA attacks on RS in accordance with the positions and conclusions adopted at a joint meeting over the SDA’s announcement of launching the motion to abolish the name of RS.

Defense Minister: There is no reason for halting Bosnia’s progress toward NATO (N1)

There is no reason for halting the progress of joining NATO, as membership in the alliance will bring security, stability and foreign investments that will keep the youth in the country, B&H Defense Minister Marina Pendes told N1. “I am convinced that the citizens of B&H want peace, stability and security and that this could be a basis for investments that would make the youth stay here,” she said. “In that regard, I believe that there is no real reason for why the national annual program should not be adopted” she said. The Annual National Program is a “tool for cooperation between NATO and a country” she explained. “We set a certain number of goals and we want to achieve and implement those goals in cooperation. We set short-term and long-term goals ourselves,” Pendes said. “Bosnia has a legal obligation when it comes to its NATO path,” Pendes said, adding that “everyone should take that into consideration. I believe that we should completely implement the conclusions of the Presidency” she said, referring to a previous decision of the Presidency that said the country should join NATO. “Every membership has its costs, it depends on what the benefits would be,” she said.

Prosecution plans to question 447 witnesses in Atif Dudakovic trial (N1)

Since the Court did not set the trial date yet, the State Prosecution was unable to start questioning its 447 witnesses and exhibiting 1,105 exhibits in the trial against former Bosnian Army general Atif Dudakovic and others. Given the number of witnesses, the President of the Trial Chamber, Zeljka Marinic said it would take at least 500 hours to present the case, not counting the time for cross-examination and testimonies of protected witnesses. Prosecutor Vedrana Mijovic told the Chamber that there were no previously established facts by the UN tribunal in The Hague that would be relevant to the case, but the Chamber gave the defense two months to provide them to the Chamber as they claimed they had such facts. The trial date is also conditioned by the health conditions of Ale Hodzic, who is one of the accused in the case. The Trial Chamber asked his attorney to provide all the health documentation to the Court so they could determine whether he was able to attend the trial or not. Atif Dudakovic’s attorney, Asim Crnalic asked the Prosecution to investigate the false profiles on social networks pretending to be Dudakovic’s official profiles. Crnalic said their aim is only to harm and discredit his client since Dudakovic was banned from speaking to the press or the public. “Those accounts mostly attack the Serb-dominated RS entity and events happening there. Those things have nothing to do general Dudakovic. If secret services are behind this, I kindly ask them to stop,” Crnalic said on Monday. “The prosecution must investigate this because the defense can’t do that.” The former commander of the Fifth Corps of the Army of B&H, Atif Dudakovic, and 16 other members of the Corps, are charged with war crimes including the killing of more than 300 persons of Serb nationality, the persecution and abuse of civilians and prisoners of war, as well as the destruction of 38 Orthodox churches and religious facilities. According to the indictment, the Corps committed crimes against humanity in north-western municipalities of Bosanski Petrovic, Kljuc, Bosanska Krupa and Sanski Most. The part of the indictment concerning Atif Dudakovic refers to war crimes committed against Bosniak victims, members and supporters of the National Defense of the Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia in the municipalities of Bihac and Cazin. The Autonomous Province of Western Bosnia was a small unrecognized state that existed in the northwest of Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1993 and 1995. It consisted of the town of Velika Kladusa (its capital) and a few nearby villages. It was proclaimed as a result of secessionist politics by former Bosnian president Fikret Abdic against the central government of Alija Izetbegovic during the 1992-1995 B&H War.

Croatia supports Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president (Hina)

Croatia supports Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president who can, in that capacity, organize presidential elections which would help solve the crisis in the country, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday. Juan Guaido is the leader of the country’s National Assembly, controlled by the opposition. He declared himself acting president on January 23, challenging Venezuelan President’s Nicolas Maduro claim to the presidency. Earlier, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Austria, and Denmark recognized Guaido as the country’s interim president, after EU countries had warned last week that they would recognize Guaido as legitimate unless Maduro called new elections by Sunday. Croatian Foreign Ministry said it was concerned about the latest developments in Venezuela and the further deepening of the political, economic, and humanitarian crisis in the country, strongly condemning the violations of human rights and the rule of law. “Croatia supports the democratically elected legitimate bodies of Venezuela, the National Assembly and its leader, in carrying out free, fair and democratic presidential elections and ensuring the legitimacy of institutions in his capacity as interim president,” the ministry said.

The EU remains divided over the issue, with countries such as Greece and Italy choosing to wait before making decisions. An unnamed EU diplomat told AFP on Monday that Italy had rejected the proposed EU joint statement on the issue, saying it would mean interfering in Venezuela’s internal policy, and thus effectively sinking the bloc’s efforts to take a stronger stance.

Croatia supports the establishment of an International Contact Group on Venezuela, which should help create conditions for a credible political process, the Croatian ministry added.

“We underline the importance of finding a peaceful and democratic solution as part of a viable political process, which should include holding free, transparent and credible presidential elections in line with international democratic standards and Venezuela’s constitution, the ministry said.

Zaev: Macedonia may commence EU accession talks this June (Republika)

Macedonia may commence the EU accession talks in June, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev told reporters on Monday after meeting his Bulgarian counterpart Boyko Borisov.

The two prime ministers met in the Bulgarian capital and talked about development of cooperation in various sectors, infrastructure and transport projects, the implementation of the friendship agreement, good-neighborliness and cooperation, as well as the possibility of abolishing customs duties. After the meeting, Zaev said he again expressed his gratitude because Borisov and his cabinet during the EU presidency gave an incentive to reach the name agreement with Greece. The signing of the good neighborhood agreement, Zaev added, has given impetus to the negotiations with Greece to resolving the longstanding dispute. He stressed that the Bulgarian prime minister had great merits that Macedonia would become a NATO member.

“Macedonia may commence the EU accession talks in June. I express my deep gratitude to the Bulgarian people and Prime Minister Boyko Borisov because this would not have been possible if Borisov with his courage, with his European spirit and in a European way, characteristic for the 21st century, did not help signing the good neighborhood agreement between Bulgaria and Macedonia. Thanks to that agreement, I, personally, as Prime Minister of Macedonia, had the courage and strength to settle the name dispute,” Zaev said. The Macedonian Prime Minister underlined that trade with Bulgaria marks growth after the signing of the good neighborhood agreement. Borisov said that at the moment trade between the two countries amounts to 605 million euros and added that they will work on the abolition of customs duties between the two countries. The Bulgarian Prime Minister expressed gratitude to the EC for supporting the integration with the Western Balkan countries. He noted that the Bulgarian EU presidency will remain remembered in history because the topic of the Western Balkans integration has been brought to the table. Borisov stressed that everything agreed between Macedonia and Bulgaria is becoming a reality, emphasizing that the Corridor VIII is already being built. Cultural Cooperation Program until 2021 was signed in Sofia by Ministers of Culture of both countries, Asaf Ademi and Boil Banov. The Macedonian government delegation also includes the national cultural coordinator, Robert Alagjozovski. Before the meeting in the Council of Ministers, Ademi and Banov laid wreaths at the monument of Goce Delchev in Tsar Boris’ Garden on the occasion of 147 years from his birth.

Dimitrov: Macedonia recognizes Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s interim president (Republika)

“The Republic of Macedonia, in line with its European partners, supports and considers the President of the Venezuelan Assembly, Juan Guaido, as Interim President, in accordance with the Constitution, in order to organize free, fair and democratic presidential elections,” Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov stated. The Republic of Macedonia, in line with its European partners, supports and considers the President of the Venezuelan Assembly, J. Guaido as Interim President, in accordance with the Constitution, in order to organize free, fair and democratic presidential elections. France, Spain, Germany, Britain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands recognized Monday Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country’s interim president, a day after the expiry of an eight-day ultimatum for Maduro to call a new election.

Mickoski-McAllister meeting: The government wants to falsify the next presidential elections (Republika)

VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski met in Brussels with the Vice President of the European People’s Party and chairman of the EP’s Committee on Foreign Relations, David McAllister. At the meeting, it was discussed about Macedonia and its future, and Mickoski expressed his concern for growing corruption and the lack of rule of law in Macedonia.

“The lack of rule of law and the government running away from parliamentary elections that will guarantee additional mechanisms to enforce the will of the citizens raises serious doubt that the government wants to falsify the next presidential elections,” Mickoski warned, adding that fair presidential elections must be an important prerequisite for advancing in the European agenda.

Mitchell: Macedonia’s accession to NATO a historic occasion (Nezavisen vesnik)

Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov met with US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian affairs Wess Mitchell and discussed the implementation of the Prespa Agreement and Macedonia’s upcoming signing of the accession protocol with NATO.

During their meeting at the State Department in Washington, D.C., on Monday, FM Dimitrov said he was looking forward to the US Senate ratifying the protocol. Assistant Secretary of State Mitchell described the Prespa Agreement as an exceptional achievement that will positively influence the stability and prosperity of the entire region. Mitchell noted that Macedonia’s accession to NATO is a historic occasion the country should be proud of. Later, Minister Dimitrov met with US National Security Council officials William Berkley, Director for European Affairs, and Markus Thomi, Director for NATO and the Nordics. They discussed activities related to Macedonia’s upcoming Euro-Atlantic integration and further support from the United States. Dimitrov also met with National Democratic Institute president Derek Mitchell; International Republican Institute executive vice president Judy Van Rest, as well as with Luke Coffey, foreign policy director at the Heritage Foundation, to discuss possibilities for further cooperation. On Tuesday, Dimitrov will meet Senator Ben Cardin, member of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe; and with Damon Wilson, Vice President and Director of the International Security Program at the Atlantic Council of the US.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

Macedonia name accord opens more cans of worms than it closes (The Irish Times, by Richard Pine, 5 February 2019)

Greece Letter: For decades, Athens denied there was a Macedonian language

The “Prespes agreement”, which brings into existence the newly named state of the “Republic of North Macedonia”, has been ratified by both the Skopje and Athens parliaments, despite vigorous opposition in both. Applauded internationally as an end to a 28-year period of prevarication and chicanery, it opens the way for North Macedonia to join both the EU and Nato.

The opposition in both countries has inevitably been conditioned by sentimentalism – trying to cling to an outmoded past, unable to accept the compromise that would open the door to the future. For the Macedonians, both the carrot and the stick have been the imperative of modernisation along western lines, just as they have been in Greece since its independence caused the first major upheaval in the Balkans. The effect of the Prespes agreement is not merely to give Macedonia a new name, nor even to assuage Greek fears by removing irredentist clauses from the Macedonian constitution. In fact, it opens more cans of worms than it closes.

The next major eruptions in the Balkans will be in Kosovo (the ethnic Albanian semi-autonomous region at the centre of the Balkans which may, or may not, be part of Serbia depending on which foot you dig with), and Bosnia, where Serbs, Croats and Muslims (Bosniaks) are jostling for position in the self-determination stakes. Turkey, too, is a player in this game, with the declared ambition of Recep Tayyip Erdogan to create a Muslim community throughout the Balkans. While these may not seem of immediate relevance to Greece, they underline the fragility of borders, languages, ethnicities and cultures within the entire region, in which Greece is inextricably rooted, whether or not it pursues its own future in the EU and the West.

Elements of identity

Macedonians remain divided, as are many Greeks, by the question of whether or not they want to be “westernised”, which will inevitably mean relinquishing cherished elements of their identity. As with all future-oriented decisions, the question “How much of our past are we prepared to lose?” is more than merely sentimental. Migrants and refugees, such as those from Syria or Afghanistan, carry into the unknown a knapsack of memories as their key to an identity on which they will otherwise have only a tenuous lien. Migrants within their own borders also cling to memory embedded in the collective experience of the past. The Balkans have always been a melting pot of identities on the move. How any country defines itself in the international community – by its name, its borders, its culture, its language, its relationship with its neighbours – is central to its ability to tell its own story. All of these have been crucial factors in the 28-year Macedonian-Greek standoff. The votes in both countries represent a redrawing of the domestic and international maps. Due to the kaleidoscope of history, Macedonia is multiethnic: Slav, Albanian, Vlach, Bulgarian and Roma. It is not helped by the fact that in Greek “ethnos” means “nation” and “ethnic” means “national”, with the danger that nationalists are prone to exclude from their community any who do not conform to their own ethnicity.

Ethnic Macedonians

Both the Greeks and the Macedonians have been appealing to the intangible: what makes them Greek, what makes them Macedonian, because each is a reflection, and a denial, of the other. The essential definitions have been up for grabs, and the outcome is, in effect, a lose-lose situation for everyone. For decades, Greece denied that there was a Macedonian language, a concession it has now had to make. North Macedonia, in order to get its name, has had to relinquish any claim it has on ethnic Macedonians living within the borders of Greece.

One outcome is that there are now two Macedonias: one, the fledgling republic, the other the northern Greek region of Macedonia which includes Thessaloniki, Greece’s second city, which has in fact been part of Greece only since the first major boundary-breaking crisis of 1912-1913. And, to cap it all, the president of the new republic, Gjorgy Ivanov, refuses to sign the agreement into law, so that technically he is president of a country that does not yet exist and of which he does not wish to be president. Imagine if, in 1922, the Six Counties had been nominated as “North Ulster”, leaving Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan as another “Ulster” after the bargaining over boundaries had concluded. Both sides have learnt that you cannot rewrite the facts of history, but you can change the way they are interpreted. I think of the apocryphal Englishman in Thurles railway station, irascibly asking why two clocks told different times, to which the stationmaster replied “What would be the point of having two clocks, if they both told the same time?”