Belgrade DMH 171013

LOCAL PRESS

Nikolic: Unresolved issues on Kosovo elections (RTS)

“I am sincerely convinced that we can ensure, after the elections, a better life for the Serb community in Kosovo and Metohija, by creating a list known to be supported by the Serbian Government,” Nikolic told a live broadcast on Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS). “We entered the existing Pristina law. According to these laws, only parliamentary parties have the right to members of the electoral committee.  How will our list have a member of the electoral committee or member of the Central Electoral Commission (CIK) if it isn’t parliamentary; Thaqi can’t say: let CIK resolve this,” says Nikolic. He also says the problem is that we still don’t have polls and that the problem is lack of a better campaign. “The campaign has not been good for the Serbs, who live outside Kosovo and Metohija, to register as voters. Forty thousand Serbs have registered. How do I convince Ashton that there are 200,000 of them when only 40,000 have registered,” says Nikolic.

Ministers call Serbs to turn out for local elections (RTS)

Ministers Zorana Mihajlovic and Aleksandar Vulin have called the Serbs in northern Kosovo to turn out for elections, pointing out that the boycott of elections and not voting for the list supported by the Serbian Government will benefit Pristina. Touring the Gazivode hydropower station, Serbian Minister of Energy, Development and Environment Zorana Mihajlovic and Serbian Minister without portfolio in charge of Kosovo Aleksandar Vulin have started the visit to Kosovo and Metohija. Mihajlovic said that the reconnection of the Valac power station in northern Kosovo with other parts of the energy system in the province will ensure safety in power supplying and that this was one of the most important tasks of the Serbian Government and all negotiations that had been conducted in the sphere of energy. “You need to take part in the elections because this is the only way to form institutions, to consolidate the system, to have organized inflow of investments, to do everything so the people can live better here,” said Mihajlovic. According to her, all those calling for the boycott of elections are in fact pushing the Serbs from Kosovo. Vulin said that Pristina wanted two kinds of Serbs, those who will boycott the elections in the north and those who will boycott Belgrade in the south. “I am a pretty big barrier to both groups. Pristina will do everything it can for these two opposites to succeed, to break the Serb body and not to allow the formation of the Union of Serb Municipalities, and I will not let this,” said Vulin.

Support to Serbs pending local elections in Kosovo and Metohija (RTS/Tanjug)

Thirteen heads of districts from Serbia proper and Vojvodina, who have arrived in northern Kosovo, gave their support to the Kosovo Serbs pending the local elections in the province, and emphasized they were ready to give their contribution in that direction. Nis District Head Aleksandar Cvetkovic reminded them of a statement given by the late Serbian Patriarch Pavle and said that, if the situation is like that, they should all turn out for the elections to show that there are Serbs living in that region and that there is a lot of them. What is most important is that the Serb hand should not sign the seizing of Kosovo and Metohija and I believe that is not going to happen, said Cvetkovic. The candidate for the Leposavic mayor on the Serbian list (Srpska) Dragan Jablanovic said he was glad that they had obtained support from all the heads for the election campaign conducted by the Serbian list in order to preserve Serbia in those regions.

Patriarch personally called Serbs to vote (Politika)

Calling on the Serbs to vote in Kosovo and Metohija on 3 November, Serbian Patriarch Irinej stated that he was speaking in a personal capacity. This issue has not been discussed at the Holy Synod, Politika was told by the closest people around the Serbian Patriarch. “This is his personal opinion,” the leadership of the Serbian Orthodox Church points out, recalling that the Patriarch is the chair of the Synod, whose members are bishops of Srem Vasilije, of Sumadija Jovan, of Zvornik and Tuzla Hrizostom and of Raska and Prizren Teodosije. The Synod or the church government might debate tomorrow Patriarch’s call in the Pec Patriarchate that the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija should turn out for the upcoming local elections. Patriarch’s call that disturbed many, mostly critics of the Brussels agreement, followed during his service in the Pec Patriarchate, which was also attended by Serbian Minister without portfolio Aleksandar Vulin.

By calling the Serbs to vote, the Patriarch unambiguously lined with the authorities that support the turnout of the Serbs for the Kosovo elections, even though the top bodies of the Serbian Orthodox Church harshly criticized, right after the signing of the Brussels agreement, the Serbian state leadership. However, the stand of the bishops towards the agreement with Pristina was not monolith even then, so over time, the opposition to the Brussels agreement in the palaces of the Patriarchate gradually simmered down, to finally have Patriarch Irinej state several days ago – that it would be tragic for the Serbs, where they are a majority, not to be in power because they haven’t turned out to vote. He stressed that the Serbian Orthodox Church has not specifically discussed the turnout of the Serbs for the 3 November elections, but added that when the patriarch speaks up – he does so on behalf of the Church.

Especially harsh in his criticism of Patriarch’s speech in Pec was retired bishop of Zahumlje and Herzegovina Atanasije Jeftic, who said that it was unacceptable, except for the state treacherous leadership, that we heard voices of individual people from the Church, more precisely from the Patriarchate, whereby all Serbs were called to turn out for the elections. “How can these people, firstly, interfere in fateful decisions of Serbs under occupation and then to even recommend to suffering and still persecuted Serbs in crucified Kosovo to vote ‘all or none’,” assessed Atanasije in his article. He didn’t wish to talk to Politika, his close associate said.

While Patriarch’s encirclement opines that the opinion of retired bishop Atanasije Jeftic is legitimate criticism inside the Church, retired professor and former dean of the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade Dimitrije Kalezic says that Patriarch Irinej has the right to have a personal stand on various issues, including political. “The Kosovo issue has both moral and historical continuity and I fully agree with Patriarch Irinej. I have known Irinej for a long time and he never stated an unclear sentence, thus, he never left a listener and interlocutor in oscillation. The Kosovo Serbs are people with the right to vote and moral integrity. At issue is our nation that is at the core of our history. I think the Patriarch understands their existential and spiritual problems and that he had called them to take part in elections for their own good. Who will take care of the Gracanica Monastery, whose is the Visoki Decani Monastery? The Patriarch had all this in mind when he called our people to vote,” says Kalezic. Thus, from the time of big disagreements with the authorities, caused by the warming of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which represents the main condition for Serbia’s accession towards the EU, the leadership of the Serbian Orthodox Church, at least in the life and times of Patriarch Irinej, has reached accord with “secular” Belgrade.

Samardzic: Belgrade still under EU control (Tanjug)

The caucus whip of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) Slobodan Samardzic has assessed that Belgrade is still under the control of the EU and that elections in Kosovo will be the key thing for the final decision of the European Council in mid December on commencing negotiations between Serbia and the EU. Samardzic told journalists in the Serbian parliament following the session of the European Integration Committee that Belgrade must “loyally implement” these elections regardless of the fact that they are illegal and that there are manipulations. “Belgrade will not be asked and will not take part in that obviously,” said Samardzic. He noted that the DSS is part of the anti-election campaign in Kosovo and hopes the elections will fail because, as he put it, a large number of Serbs in northern Kosovo do not want to take part in them. He said that at the session of the Committee he had drawn the attention of the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport that the upcoming elections are “one of the biggest electoral manipulations” because, among other things, the poll is still unknown or the number of Serbs that will be on this list. “That is a parallel responsibility of both the Serbian Government and the EU, which is assisting it in violation of laws,” said Samardzic. He assessed that the epithets that can be seen in the report of the European Commission are a result of the fact that Serbia “capitulated” in 2013 and 2013 regarding the Kosovo issue, while the upcoming elections are only the final part of that.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

Post-census survey to follow (Srna)

The Director of the B&H Statistics Agency Zdenko Milinovic has announced a post-census survey of 240 census circles based on which there will be an assessment of reliability of data of the census population in B&H. At the final press conference on the occasion of the completed census, Milinovic specified that the survey will be conducted from 2 to 10 November in 110 municipalities, i.e. in about 15,000 households and it will cover 50,000 people, to be chosen randomly. “As of today, enumerators will commence with the handover of census material in headquarters of census commissions of local self-government and this will last until 20 October. After that, all boxes will be sealed and prepared for distribution to the central place in Eastern Sarajevo, where there will be preparation of the material for scanning and processing,” said Milinovic. He noted that the census of the population, households and apartments in B&H in all 142 municipalities has ended in accordance with the law, and pointed out that the Agency is extremely satisfied with the performed job. Respecting all problems that appeared on the ground, he pointed out that this was “a live process” that was performed in a very short period by 25,000 people, adding that all protection mechanisms were ensured for citizens’ data and that all protection elements would be completely respected. “Fieldwork was observed by 28 international monitors, and citizens had at their disposal a public calling centre that registered 6,911 calls. The largest number of calls, 693, was registered two days prior to the end of the census,” said Milinovic. They also received citizens’ objections for cases they considered to be irregular on the fieldwork. Milinovic added that all cases had been analyzed and they established three non-compliances of methodology and laws, which they sanctioned. The Director of Eurostat and International Monitoring Operations Manager Peter Evers, said that the end of the census didn’t mean the job had been completely done, adding that control of quality, data processing, analysis, tabulation and presentation of data will be dealt with for a year and a half. “All this will be observed by the International Monitoring Mission, which will also monitor the publishing of preliminary results of the B&H Statistics Agency. Preliminary results are not statistical data, these are only results of census in relation to the number of people, households and apartments based on interviews, which will not offer  data on resident population in B&H,” said Evers. He concluded that the general inventory passed “smoothly” and in accordance with the established methodology and international recommendations. B&H Minister of Communications and Traffic Damir Hadzic, on behalf of the B&H Council of Ministers, thanked and congratulated all those who had taken part in the “correct, transparent and successful completion of this job.” “In the coming days, you will probably listen to speculations in certain media regarding census results. I stress that nobody can speak on this except for the Statistic Agency that will, as envisaged, within 90 days announce the preliminary results and the final results after 15 months,” said Hadzic. The Director of the Statistics Bureau of the Republika Srpska (RS) Radmila Cickovic has confirmed there had been 12 cases of procedure violation in the RS, after which the enumerators were suspended and census re-done. Hidajeta Bajramovic of the Federal Statistics Bureau has stated there had been no such cases in the B&H Federation, but that enumerators were leaving after which other enumerators soon replaced them.

Radmanovic: Responsibility for “Sejdic-Finci” on Sarajevo and on Brussels (Srna)

B&H Presidency member from the Republika Srpska (RS) Nebojsa Radmanovic said today that the responsibility for the delay in the implementation of the Sejdic-Finci decision is on “strong political forces” in Sarajevo, but also on Brussels. “When I go back and think about the steps of B&H towards the EU, I come to the conclusion that strong forces within Bosnia and strong forces in Europe generally do not want B&H to become a member of the EU, because all that leaders of political parties based in Sarajevo are doing lately, shows that they actually do not want B&H to become part of the EU, but just talking about it,” Radmanovic told Srna. According to him, if we are to conceive the actions of the Commissariat for EU Enlargement in the last five years, and the past and present Commissioner Olli Rehn and Stefan Fule, it would be seen that “there is neither the will nor the desire to expand the EU towards B&H.” He believes that a small change in the B&H Constitution should have been done, which would mean a step closer to a European story of B&H and at the same time enable faster progress, already absolutely allowed by the preposition of the RS. Serbian Member of the B&H Presidency stated that the overall political situation in the country is burdened for a year with so-called implementation of the Sejdic-Finci decision. “I say so-called because the essence of the entire political story here was not just about the implementation of this decision, but some of the other major political and constitutional issues in B&H. To us in Bosnia it sometimes seemed that entire Europe was thinking about it, but this was not true, because our media often overemphasized it, and there were often wrong attitudes of some European officials,” Radmanovic explained. This case showed that in B&H there is not enough power for the internal agreement about change of constitutional arrangements, and it is not the first time. Anyone who thought that this will change because there is a decision of the Court in Strasbourg was completely wrong. We should not forget that far more powerful people were pressing various structures to implement changes in the Constitution in the past and that they have failed,” Radmanovic says. According to him, only a few thoughts on how some decisions of this Court were implemented in B&H, namely how they were not implemented in the B&H Federation, and especially in Sarajevo, would show that not even this decision will be implemented quickly or efficiently. “There is also the decision of the Court in connection with the prosecution of war crimes, and yet none of the Bosniak political leaders has even thought of implementing it. Then, why should they implement  the Sejdic-Finci decision? “ Radmanovic said. " Had someone from the Commissariat for Enlargement or the EU Delegation in B&H thought this way, they would not behave like this. Bosnia cannot be told: ‘Do this and that’ and think that it will be done. With people, the B&H citizens and those who represent them should be worked with and negotiated on a daily basis. And that is the responsibility of the European Commission,” Radmanovic concluded.

Only to Sarajevo, census is not professional, but a political matter.

Census of population, households and dwellings in each country is normal and regular activity that is performed at the professional level, and only in B&H, due to the “political Sarajevo,” it is not so, Radmanovic told Srna. “This census, which is supposed to be a routine, professional work and about which we have engaged a bit more because it has not been carried on in B&H for a long time, has turned into a political story, and it is clear that its authors come from Sarajevo. This is another indication that the political Sarajevo must consider how to live with others, not just with itself,” Radmanovic said. In his opinion, the RS behaved quite normally during the preparation and execution of the census, and political representatives of the Croat people in B&H acted similarly to this civil duty.”Unfortunately, such messages were not coming from Sarajevo, and there have been certain politicians, non-governmental and religious organizations, and others who have made great political scuffle over everything that has to do with the census,” Radmanovic said. “Individuals from Sarajevo went so far as to tell their own people who they are, what language they speak, and what is their religion, as if they do not know that, and of course, Bosniaks know well who they are, what is their language and religion. I wish if these were just small excesses and small gaps that can not disrupt the final quality result of the census, because it is a process very much needed for the future economic development of B&H,” Radmanovic concluded.

New round of name issue talks to take place next week (Dnevnik)

UN mediator in the Macedonia-Greece name dispute, Matthew Nimitz, has set a new round of the negotiations. The talks will take place on 24-25 October, Dnevnik writes. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s cabinet said that the two negotiators - Zoran Jolevski and Adamantios Vassilakis, have confirmed their attendance. Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs of the UN, is expected to attend the talks, too.

Fule: ‘Name’ issue bridge to EU (Utrinski Vesnik)

“It is high time to do something about the ‘name’ dispute between FRYOM and Greece,” said EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule. Presenting the European Commission annual report on FRYOM’s progress he said that a breakthrough on the ‘name’ issue would be a bridge that would take this country into the EU.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Serbia, Croatia Presidents: War Still Troubles Relations (BIRN, by Marija Ristic, 16 October 2013)

At a landmark meeting, the presidents of Serbia and Croatia said the two countries’ mutual genocide lawsuits and the issue of wartime missing persons are preventing more friendly links.

Croatian President Ivo Josipovic paid a landmark visit to Belgrade to meet his Serbian counterpart Tomislav Nikolic on Wednesday but both men made it clear that specific problems must be resolved before their relationship can thaw further.

Josipovic was visiting Belgrade for the first time since Nikolic, once the right-hand man of Hague Tribunal war crimes defendant and Serbian Radical Party chief  Vojislav Seselj, become president in May last year.

Speaking after their meeting, Nikolic urged Croatia to drop its genocide lawsuit against Serbia, suggesting that in return Belgrade would drop its own genocide suit against Zagreb.

“By withdrawing the mutual lawsuits for genocide, two states and two nations would establish overall peace,” Nikolic told journalists.

Josipovic said however that Zagreb will not withdraw its lawsuit until the issue of Croats missing since the war is properly addressed.

“Resolving the problem of the 1,689 missing persons from the war is a precondition for resolving all issues between Zagreb and Belgrade,” Josipovic said.

Croatia filed a genocide law suit against Serbia at the International Court of Justice in 1999 over the killings of Croats during the war.

Serbia responded with a genocide law suit against Croatia at the same court in 2009 over the killings of Serbs during the same war. The Serbian suit also contains allegations that Croatia committed genocide against Serbs during World War II.

Serbians to travel to the UAE for loan talks (7daysindubai.com, 17 October 2013)

Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic plans to travel to UAE next week to negotiate terms of a loan of as much as $3 billion, widely seen as crucial to his country's financial stability

Mladjan Dinkic, the head of a government body tasked with economic cooperation with the UAE and former finance minister, said he and Vucic would travel to Abu Dhabi on October 26 to start talks over the loan.

The full loan could be released by late next year.  “But we will have to be patient and wait for everything to be agreed,” Dinkic added.

Last week, Belgrade launched measures to trim a budget deficit estimated by the International Monetary Fund at above seven per cent of output and debt forecast to reach about 65 per cent of GDP next year. To finance debt in 2014 and 2015 and invest in infrastructure and industry, the country will need additional borrowing, including a new Eurobond and loans from sovereign lenders, including the UAE, China and Russia.

Serbia and the UAE have already agreed a $400 million sovereign loan for agriculture from the UAE’s Development Fund - and another $400 million from the Al Dahra food producer. In August, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways purchased a 49 per cent stake in Serbia’s indebted Jat Airways. The UAE also wants to invest in other Serbian industries, Reuters said.

The moves come despite the Yugoslavian wars of the 1990s - and the fact that Serbia’s government is headed by former nationalists, including Vucic. He said earlier this month Serbia expected to receive a low-interest $1 billion UAE loan on “favourable terms” in 2013.

Further loans take the total to as much as $3 billion by the end of 2014. Vucic said that the loans could almost be “considered a gift”, given its favourable interest rate and conditions.

Bosnian Serb Ex-Minister Stanisic Demands Release (BIRN, by Denis Dzidic, 17 October 2013)

Former interior minister Mico Stanisic asked the Hague Tribunal to quash his war crimes conviction because one of the judges, Frederik Harhoff, was removed from another case for alleged bias.

Stanisic, who is serving a 22-year sentence for war crimes, said that his verdict should be overturned because controversial Danish judge Harhoff was recently removed from the trial of Serbian Radical Party chief Vojislav Seselj over suspicions of bias.

“It is clear from the decision that removed him that judge Harhoff’s bias is not limited to certain set of circumstances, but that he showed his partiality in favour of sentencing all the accused,” Stanisic’s defence said in its motion to the Hague Tribunal’s appeals chamber.

Harhoff was removed from the Seselj trial after the defendant filed a motion claiming that the Danish judge was not impartial because he wanted to convict Serbs.

Seselj’s allegations were sparked by a leaked letter written by Harhoff, in which he criticised the court’s high-profile acquittals of Serbian and Croatian wartime commanders.

Stanisic’s defence argued that the severity of the violation of the Bosnian Serb ex-minister’s rights meant that the Tribunal should drop the prosecution entirely.

“The presence of a judge who showed unacceptable bias towards convicting all defendants regardless of the evidence is an obvious violation of the right to presumption of innocence and the right to defence of each of the accused,” the defence motion said.

In March this year, the Hague Tribunal sentenced Stanisic and another former Republika Srpska police official Stojan Zupljanin to 22 years in prison each for the expulsion of the Bosniak and Croat population in 1992, as well as murder, torture, deportations, robbery and the deliberate destruction of property.

Brussels Slates Montenegro’s War Crime Trials (BIRN, by Milena Milosevic, 17 October 2013)

The European Commission has told Montenegro that it needs to make sure that war crimes are properly prosecuted after recent acquittals and lenient sentences.

In its latest annual progress report on Montenegro, issued on Wednesday, the European Commission noted the acquittals in one trial this year and the “low” sentences given to those convicted in another, and said that the country needed to ensure justice for victims.

“Montenegro needs to make efforts to tackle impunity. All outstanding reports of war crimes need to be duly followed up,” the report said.

It called on the Montenegrin judiciary to ensure that decisions in war crimes cases are in line with international humanitarian law.

It also suggested that the judiciary was not using all its potential powers in war crimes cases.

“The charges of command responsibility, co-perpetration or aiding and abetting have so far not been used,” it said.

In the first of two verdicts this year, four former Yugoslav army reservists were jailed in July for a total of 12 years for abuses at the wartime Morinj prison camp on the Montenegrin coast – a sentence that the European Commission described as “low”.

Victims expressed outrage over the decision and complained that the indictees’ superiors were not prosecuted.

In the other case, nine former interior ministry officials were acquitted in June of detaining and deporting Bosnian refugees.