Belgrade DMH 121113

LOCAL PRESS

SNS MPs call Serbs in northern Kosovska Mitrovica to turn out for repeated elections (Tanjug)

The MPs of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) have called the Serbs in northern Kosovska Mitrovica to turn out for the 17 November repeated elections in this municipality and asked the government whether it had taken all steps through the international community for these elections to pass peacefully and with incidents. The SNS MP Momir Stojanovic has said in the Serbian parliament that it is extremely important for the Serbs to turn out for the repeated elections in Mitrovica because they are of essential importance for their survival. “Only that way it is ensured that a Serb will be the mayor of Kosovska Mitrovica. Only that way it is ensured to form the Union of Serb Municipalities because otherwise everything would be under a question mark,” said Stojanovic. He also called all fellow citizens in Kosovo and Metohija to turn out for the second round of elections in large numbers, because this was in their interest, and not to react to provocations, blackmail and threats.

Pragmatic message or proof of wrong policy (Danas)

Election threat of Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic to residents of northern Kosovo and Metohija that “Serbia will not risk its future over ten thousand people” is assessed differently by Danas’ interlocutors. Zvonimir Stevic, provincial official of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in Kosovo and Metohija, tells Danas that the Prime Minister and the SPS leader “wasn’t threatening the Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica, but sent them a clear and pragmatic message to take things into their own hands and choose representatives who will be have close ties with Belgrade and loose ties with Pristina.” Stevic points out that “he sees no reason why part of the population that should vote at three polling stations on 17 November should not accept the invitation of the Serbian Government if the Serbs south of the Ibar River did this on 3 November.” “Dacic’s statement hits and sobers up. It was clear to me in the past that Serbia will follow the EU path as its main foreign policy goal. The Kosovo Serbs must realize that only an economically strong Serbia on the international level can offer them support. They need to understand Dacic’s statement as a warning that they should not undermine Serbia’s position for the sake of their narrow party interests,” opines Oliver Ivanovic, the candidate of the SDP Civil Initiative. Asked whether the situation would be politically clearer and Dacic’s statement unnecessary if the Constitutional Court of Serbia had assessed the Brussels agreement prior to the local elections, Ivanovic says he finds sufficient the balance of power in the Serbian parliament where the state policy in Kosovo and Metohija has 95 percent of support, and the opposition that opposes it has five percent. “Dacic’s statement shows that he had used all instruments of convincing the Serbs in the north and transferred to threats and disciplining. I think this statement is more his frustration than a serious threat, because no Serbian prime minister can leave the Kosovo Serbs to just anyone. In any case, this is a bad message,” the Democratic Party (DS) MP Goran Bogdanovic tells Danas. Nebojsa Jovic, member of the anti-election campaign headquarters of the Provisional Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija, corrects Dacic by saying that 60 thousand, and not 10 thousand, Serbs live in northern Kosovo and Metohija, which were “sold by Belgrade for several tens of millions of Euros.” He announces that the anti-election campaign headquarters will decide this week on the further activities on the eve of the repeated voting in northern Mitrovica and the second round of the local elections organized Pristina. “Nothing can surprise us from the Serbian state officials any more. The Constitution was violated a long time ago, when the person in the Serbian leadership admitted that the solution for Kosovo violated the Constitution, but that he hoped that citizens would have understanding and approve this through constitutional amendments. But, Ivica Dacic must behave as the Serbian Prime Minister until he recognizes Kosovo officially,” Jovic tells Danas.

Miscevic: First inter-governmental conference on 20 December (Novosti)

The head of the negotiating team with the EU Tanja Miscevic said she expected the first Serbia-EU inter-governmental conference to be held on 20 December. She told Novosti that Serbia was trying to gather as wide a front as possible in the EU in order that political talks with Brussels start as early as in January. Together with the Minister in charge of EU integrations Branko Ruzic she is to continue with the diplomatic offensive by having talks in France first and then in Italy. Asked if Serbia would get the support of two key countries in the EU, Germany and the UK, for the talks to start in December, she said: “No one was explicitly against that. Serbia does not need support from a particular country, but from all 28 EU members. Berlin and London have no special requirements when it comes to Kosovo. There are no special requirements, but a need to define clearly how things will develop from now on, neither the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Priština nor the talks with the EU would be threatened.”

 

REGIONAL PRESS

Covic: We are agreeing strategic partnership with SDA (Fena/Radio B&H)

In a Radio B&H broadcast, the leader of the HDZ B&H Dragan Covic has discussed the accusations that his party is actually resolving the Croat issue in discussions under the EU auspices. Asked with whom the HDZ will cooperate closely prior to the following elections, Covic responded: “I am certain that we will successfully end this time with the HDZ. We wish to receive two-thirds of the Croat votes. Due to the specific nature of the next elections and the Sejdic-Finci ruling and many other things, we would like to go together, and we will offer this to all other parties. As regards the Bosniak nation, we are intensively negotiating with the SDA about the foundation for a strategic document, a strategic partnership between the SDA and HDZ,” said Covic, adding he wishes to have partners among the Serb parties as well. Asked what will be happening with Mostar, Covic said Mostar was one package they were agreeing with the SDA. “If things go as we have agreed the last time in Sarajevo, and the next talks should be in Mostar, I believe there is not one single reason why Mostar, the Herzegovina-Neretva County and Central Bosnia and all other issues should not be resolved at the same table and time. If we agree this with the SDA in the next 15-20 days, then there is no reason not to have a very clearly resolved issue for Mostar by the end of the year. I think Mostar will have elections at the same time when the general elections are held,” said Covic.

Visa-free regime is not jeopardized (Dnevni Avaz)

Judging by the European Agencies that monitor trends in immigration and asylum, the visa-free regime for B&H is not jeopardized. However, although the numbers are in favor for B&H and freedom of travel in Schengen countries, the fact that B&H is part of the package of Western Balkan countries does not go in favor of B&H citizens. The report of the European Asylum Support Office from 5 October announced that during the first six months a decrease of asylums seekers from B&H was recorded. During the first three months of 2013, the number of B&H asylum seekers was 9% from the overall number of the Western Balkan asylum seekers, while in the second three onths it was 6%.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Serbia lobbying accession talks with the EU to start in December (Independent Balkan News Agency, by Milos Mitrovic, 11 November 2013)  

“European Union’s strict conditions regarding the accession negotiations with Serbia are the consequence of several factors, such as Europe’s harsh economic crisis, EU`s citizens reservation toward the further enlargement process and the experiences with regard to previous enlargements”, Tanja Mišèeviæ, chief Serbian negotiator with the EU, siad in the interview for Danas daily.

Mišèeviæ and Branko Ružiæ, Serbian minister in charge for EU affairs, have visited London and Berlin in order to “secure as good as possible negotiating framework and the start of the talks until the end of December”, Mišèeviæ explained.

At the June Summit, European leaders have recommended the accession negotiations with Serbia to start “at the latest in January”.

According to Tanja Mišèeviæ, during the talks in London and Berlin, she and Mr. Ružiæ did not requested any easing of conditions for Serbia; at the same time, she emphasized that conditions for the accession are not strict “because of Serbia itself”.

Mišèeviæconfirmed Serbian objective was the EU intergovernmental conference – which means the formal start of negotiations – to be held on 22 December. “In that regard we are striving to achieve the administrative readiness level which is needed for the first intergovernmental conference”. However, the precise date of launching the talks depend on EU member states, Mrs. Mišèeviæ recalled.

When asked on the importance of the talks about the normalization of the relations between Belgrade and Priština as an “standard for all the other negotiating chapters”, Mšèeviæ said that the two issues should be complementary.

“The importance of normalizing Belgrade – Priština relations has not been underestimated by anyone, especially not by the Serbian government which is leading the process. Nonetheless, given the fact that this issue is an precedent in the enlargement  process so far, EU and its member states are trying to harmonize it with the accession talks; the first process should enhance the second and vice versa”, Mišèeviæ explained.

She stressed that the credibility was the key element with regard to Serbian relations with the EU and its member states. Serbia should convince its European partners that it honestly strives both the negotiations to be successful and reforms to be conducted in order to improve the lives of Serbian citizens rather than to achieve membership itself, Mišèeviæ said. This week Mišèevic and Ružiæ will visit Rome and Paris in order to inform French and Italian officials about Serbian position on upcoming negotiations.

Kosovo city plans new polls after marred vote (Al Jazeera, by Peter Geoghegan, 12 November 2013)

Many in ethnic Serb city boycotted polls, refusing to recognise legitimacy of the Kosovan government

North Mitrovica, Kosovo - In this city politics is literally written on the walls. On the main street of this predominantly Serb town in north Kosovo, a brightly painted mural declares, "This is Serbia". Nearby graffiti calls for the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo to "go home".

Once a prosperous, ethnically mixed city, Mitrovica has been divided since the war in Kosovo ended in 1999. A huge mound of earth and stone blocks the bridge connecting Serb-dominated North Mitrovica from the larger Albanian settlement south of the Ibar River.

In recent weeks, new messages have begun appearing on North Mitrovica's walls: "Kosovo is Serbia", "1389" (referring to the year the Battle of Kosovo was fought) and, most prominently, "boycott".

On November 3, local elections were held across Kosovo, in accordance with a peace deal signed by Serbia and its former province in April. Serbia pledged to recognise the authority of Kosovo's government over the north in return for far greater autonomy for Kosovo's ethnic Serbs. Underpinning the deal was both sides' ambitions to join the European Union.

Failed elections

In the rest of Kosovo, the elections passed relatively peacefully but in North Mitrovica, amid a highly visible boycott campaign supported by the right-wing Democratic Party of Serbia and smaller ultranationalist groups, problems quickly arose. By midday, the turnout rate at polling stations in the town was in the low single digits. Outside, groups of nationalist youths held an intimidating vigil.

At around 5pm, masked men simultaneously stormed three polling stations, firing tear gas canisters and smashing ballot boxes.

Oliver Ivanovic is running for mayor of North Mitrovica [Bojan Slavkovic/Al Jazeera]

Officials from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were evacuated from North Mitrovica and the voting was suspended. Last week, Kosovo's electoral commission declared that the election in North Mitrovica will be re-run on Sunday, November 17.

The international community was widely criticised for the electoral failure. "There was strong resistance to the election here in North Mitrovica, and everybody knew this. It shows poor planning and understanding of the situation by international organisations, which allowed those elements opposing the elections to organise," Mitrovica-based analyst Branislav Krstic told Kosovan media.

Serbia has refused to recognise Kosovo since it declared independence in 2008. But the Serbian government called on the 40,000 Serbs in the north to participate in the recent elections. For many Serbs living in north Kosovo, this was tantamount to a betrayal.

Even the candidates running in the election were ambivalent about the vote. "From the beginning it was not well prepared. It was not transparent. This process did not include the Serbs in the north, which is a good basis to fail," said Oliver Ivanovic, who was running for mayor of North Mitrovica. "It was a hidden process, hidden from both sides without any involvement of those who are supposed to be involved. What they agree is going to affect our lives. We have to be asked what we think."

Serbia ties

Over the past 14 years, north Kosovo has developed in isolation from the rest of Kosovo. Parallel structures funded by Belgrade provide education, health, and court systems, and many in North Mitrovica are wary of any change to the status quo. "A huge majority of the people are against any sort of tight connection with Pristina," said Ivanovic, referring to Kosovo's capital. "Pristina is there, we cannot underestimate that fact. We are part of Kosovo as long as Kosovo is part of Serbia."

Almost a decade and a half of isolation has taken its toll on North Mitroivca. Cars, many without license plates, block footpaths, and drab Communist-era apartment blocks look down on streets that have changed little since the dying days of Yugoslavia. While many shop shelves are half-empty, lucrative illegal trades in everything from fuel to firearms have flourished.

Around 35 percent of North Kosovo's population of around 70,000 is unemployed, said Niall Ardill, a former business lecturer at the town's university. Most of those who do work are employed by the Serbian state.

"Conflict potential is still the biggest barrier to trading," explained Ardill, who was recently involved in a study on private-sector business capacity in north Kosovo. Only about 30 percent of the companies surveyed engage in trade south of the Ibar River - partly because of the prohibitively high cost of insurance levied by the Kosovan government on Serbian-registered vehicles that are the norm in north Kosovo.

Masked men raid Kosovo polling station

"Economic integration is a good way to get people to talk to each other - you're able to push economic growth but also integration and conflict resolution," said Ardill.

The division of Mitrovica has inflicted social and economic costs on the Serbs living on the north side of the city. "Before the war, the town was organised in a proper way. All the facilities were shared around the town. But by dividing the town, now we just have the general hospital and all the other facilities, two stadiums, sports hall, health centre, railway station. Everything is in the south," said Sinisa, an ethnic Serb primary school teacher who declined to give his last name.

Before 1999, life in Mitrovica "was not perfect but it was good", he said. Now Sinisa seldom travels to the south of the town anymore, "because of the danger".

"We are just waiting for what will happen tomorrow. You have the feeling that everything is normal, but we are always waiting for what politics will bring."

Continually manned by international police, the barricaded bridge over the Ibar River is open only to foot traffic. On the ethnic Albanian side, Aferdita Syla, executive director of Community Building Mitrovica, said both the Kosovan and Serbian governments failed to engage with people on the ground ahead of the recent elections.

"People were not involved in the process at all. Nobody told people what was involved," she said. "It is all between Pristina and Belgrade. You see things going on in the sky and you just hope nothing will fall on us. There are people who don't want to lose their power and they are making a lot of trouble so they don't lose the benefits they have from the situation."

Worry of 'half-legitimate leaderships'

In the other three Serb-dominated municipalities in the north, Leposavic and Zubin Potok recorded a voter turnout of 22 percent, while 11.2 percent of voters in Zvecan cast ballots. Despite reports of intimidation in some of these areas, Kosovo's electoral commission said there would not be a re-run in these municipalities.

Ilir Deda, the head of Pristina-based think tank Kipred, warned that accepting results based on such low turnout could see "half-legitimate leaderships" emerge in the northern municipalities. "This will lead to further instability in the north in the years to come and create a permanent crisis of legitimacy, governance and ultimately lead to non-functional municipalities," he said.

If North Mitrovica's Serbs can be convinced to vote in Sunday's re-run, they will elect a local mayor as well as representatives for the Union of Serb Councils, created to represent most of the 120,000 Serbs across Kosovo under the April agreement. Some in Pristina have expressed concerns that the association's close ties to Belgrade could undermine the state of Kosovo.

In North Mitrovica, Ivanovic supports the new association but is critical of the Belgrade government's calls for Serbs in Kosovo to vote only for members of an approved "Serbia" list.

"For the democratic process, it is important to have a full spectrum [of parties] - not to have this one-party list, like in Communist times," he said. "Now we need a proper campaign, competing on ideas and personalities."

Kosovo mulling over inclusion in TAP pipe (Hürriyet Daily News, by Sevil Erku, 12 November 2013)

Kosovo is interested in becoming part of the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project as a Balkan state, a project which would also comprise of Serbia and other Balkan countries, Deputy Foreign Minister of Kosovo Petrit Selimi told Hürriyet Daily News in a recent interview.

“Kosovo is looking over the Trans Adriatic Pipeline project, its purpose to transport gas from Shah Deniz via Turkey, Greece, and Albania to Italy. Could we become a part of that distribution of gas so we can ensure the diversification of our energy supply?” Selimi said during his visit to Ankara last week for official talks.

Kosovo wanted to contribute to discussions in order to enable a Balkan ring of gas distribution, the deputy minister said, noting that they were at preliminary talks, just prior to feasibility studies.

“The idea is a ring via Kosovo to Serbia that will also connect the rest of Balkans. The present project is from Turkey to Albania. But, we’d like to be in discussions in which we can extend this via Kosovo to other countries,” he stated.

“As a market we are too small to do a brand new pipeline, but we can be a connecting piece of the puzzle for the integration of Balkan energy market,” Selimi said.

Commenting on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan’s controversial remarks, “Kosovo is Turkey, Turkey is Kosovo,” Selimi said that it’s “unfair to put the words of Prime Minister Erdoðan out of context.” Neighboring Serbia, however, reacted strongly to the comments, seeking an apology from Ankara over the comments and since pulling out of talks with Turkey and Bosnia regarding a regional tripartite initiative.

500 years of joint history

“Those remarks were an affirmation of deep bounds, rather than statements with geo-political connotations. I think the relationship between Turkey and Kosovo is between Turkey and Kosovo. Other neighboring countries should not feel being threatened by that,” he said.

Turkey and Kosovo had 500 hundred years of joint history and a cultural affinity, the deputy minister said citing Kosovans living in Germany.

“Kosovo is also Germany and Germany is Kosovo. We have 400,000 Kosovans in Germany. So the world today is not black or white,” Selimi said stressing that his country was proud of being a country with many layers.

Macedonia: Giant New Cross Angers Skopje’s Muslims (Balkan Insight, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 11 November 2013)

A decision to allow the construction of a 33-metre-tall Christian cross in the Macedonian capital has attracted negative reactions from the Albanian Muslim minority.

The plan to build the tall cross in the Aerodrom municipality of the Macedonian capital which, according to the project’s initiator, will be visible in the Albanian, predominantly Muslim parts of Skopje, was criticised by locals.

“There are enough churches and mosques. There is no need for such monuments,” Adem Ahmet, an elderly ethnic Albanian resident of Skopje’s Albanian-dominated Cair municipality told BIRN.

“This is provocation. We already have one [66-metre-high] cross [in Skopje] which can be seen from everywhere,” another local Albanian resident told BIRN.

The other huge cross, twice the size of the new one, was erected in 2001 on top of Vodno Mountain near the city.

Called the ‘Millennium Cross’, it was also a focus for ethnic and religious grievances in the country which went through a brief armed conflict between ethnic Albanian insurgents and the security forces the same year.

Like the Albanians, ethnic Macedonians in Aerodrom did not seem thrilled by the idea of the new cross.

“We have other priorities in the municipality, kindergartens, schools, hospitals,” one of them, Milka Kapushevska, told BIRN.

The project’s initiator, the pan-Macedonian non-profit organisation, the World Macedonian Congress, the cross in Aerodrom, a municipality dominated by Macedonians who are mainly Orthodox Christians, will also be seen in the nearby municipalities but is not intended to offend Muslims.

“The cross is neither a conspiracy nor a provocation, but a cultural affirmation. It is not an anti-Islamic symbol but an integral part of the Macedonian culture,” the World Macedonian Congress said in a statement.

The Congress, seen as a conservative organization close to the main ruling centre-right VMRO DPMNE party, describes Macedonia as “the basis of Christianity in Europe”.

The municipal council in Aerodrom last week decided to allow the construction of the cross with votes from VMRO DPMNE councillors assuring that the project was approved.

With the decision, the municipality gave the land to the Congress for the construction of “a temporary object of cultural and religious character”.

The cross, with its 33 metres symbolising Jesus’s age when he died, should be built within a year and will be financed by donations.

The decision to approve the cross comes amid speculation on social networks that a nearby Turkish investment project to build four skyscrapers could invite an influx of Muslim buyers in the ethnically and religiously homogenous municipality.

The building of the giant cross was announced just as the Turkish investors denied rumours that they planned to build a mosque there.

The municipal authorities and the World Macedonian Congress however categorically denied that the cross has anything to do with the Turkish project.

The majority of the population of the country are Macedonians who are Orthodox Christians. Most of the country’s ethnic Albanians, who make up a quarter of the population, are Muslims. 

Bulgaria MEP: No progress over Macedonia’s EU accession (FOCUS News Agency, 11 November 2013)

During his visit to the Bulgarian town of Sliven Bulgarian MEP Evgeni Kirilov commented that there was no progress in terms of the start of the negotiations over Macedonia’s accession in the European Union (EU), Radio FOCUS – Sliven reported.

According to the MEP, this is explained with Macedonia’s attitude towards its neighbours Greece and Bulgaria.

“We are witnessing only some simulation of good neighbourly relations on behalf of Macedonia,” Evgeni Kirilov remarked and added that there was no progress in the search of solution to the open issues with Greece, and neither was there any development over the neighbourly agreement with Bulgaria though our country was making many concessions, such as those connected with the joint celebration of events and figures of the common history.