LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic persistent in inviting Chinese leader to visit Serbia (Tanjug)

President Aleksandar Vucic says Chinese leader Xi Jinping "instructed his secretary to include a visit to Serbia in the agenda of the Chinese President."

Vucic, who is this week with visiting China with a delegation from Serbia, met in Beijing on Tuesday with the Chinese president. According to Tanjug, Xi told Vucic: "Whoever knocks on the door in such a way and so many times, has that door open to him."

Vucic repeatedly stated in the past that he would invite Xi to visit Serbia in the course of this fifth meeting with the Chinese leader in the past two years.

"I did what I promised. I inivited President Xi twice, and the third time he gave the order to the foreign minister to prepare the visit, which means he will come," Vucic said after his meeting with the Chinese President.

"We wanted to see you in Serbia, Serbia has the best cooperation with China," Vucic told Xi. He added that the conversation was long, that he had been preparing for it for a long time after visiting Kosovo, that he "lived for this, and was preparing for this," but that he was also very nervous.

The President said that Xi pointed out that "whoever knocks on the door in such a way and so much, that door will eventually open". Vucic also said that Xi invited him to attend the second session of a Belt and Road initiative meeting in April next year.

 

Serbia to acquire sophisticated Chinese drone systems (Tanjug)

The deputy defense minister says Serbia will acquire sophisticated weapons and military technology from China, which almost no country in its surroundings has.

Speaking in Beijing, where President Aleksandar Vucic is currently visiting, Nenad Miloradovic said it concerned the acquisition of combat drones, which will have the ability to scout, discover targets during the day and at night, as well as to shoot with laser-guided bombs and missiles.

"That's capability that only the most capable militaries of the world have, which the Serbian Army will have at its disposal," he emphasized.

 

Miloradovic pointed out that the Serbian Army does not have such a capability for the time being, but that this is also true of a large number of the countries in the region. The package, which is has been agreed on, he, said, will include industrial cooperation, i.e., technology transfer.  According to him, this will be a transfer of technology for integrating complex systems into unmanned aircraft, on the basis of which unmanned aircraft that will be manufactured in Serbia be equipped with optical-electronic systems.  In that way, he explained, our aircraft will have three of these four capabilities - they will be able to observe the battlefield by day and night, coordinate targets and control artillery fire, guide laser-guided bombs and missiles, which will be launched by other weapons, or other unmanned aircraft.

This concerns two systems of new generation combat drones, each consisting of three drones, land-based control stations and a remote video terminal. In addition, it has been agreed that remaining five systems will be manufactured by Serbia itself, using Chinese technology.

These are the first forms of military-technological cooperation with China, aimed at diversifying Serbia's equipment as a neutral military country. Miloradovic assessed that this arrangement cannot compromise cooperation with any previous partners.

 

Dacic: There is no more room for autopilot in politics (Tanjug, Cord)

Serbia continues to work to convince its friends and partners to support the outcome of Belgrade and Pristina dialogue, as this will be the only compromising and sustainable solution. Stated the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic, stressing that "nothing extorted and imposed will not contribute to the long-term stability of the region".

"Constructive help is always welcome, but not obstruction. If Serbia has accepted the price for its wrong decisions, I think that other countries should also abolish inertia in their international politics because times change. There is no more room for autopilot in politics, Dacic said in an interview with the CorD magazine.

He noted that it is too early to talk about the outcome of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, but added that we finally came to the stage of discussing the modalities of a sustainable solution, and that is why the expectations regarding the outcome of the dialogue are high.

"I think that Serbia has shown that it is ready to have a substantive dialogue for the permanent solution of the Kosovo-Metohija issue, but by reaching a sustainable compromise. In that sense, it is unacceptable for Serbia to recognize the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo and Metohija as the outcome of the dialogue, because then we are not talking about the dialogue for reaching a lasting solution, but about the accepting of the policy of the accomplished act of Pristina and the part of the international community, which I repeat, Serbia cannot agree with. Also, it is unacceptable for Pristina to talk about gaining wider autonomy within Serbia. So, these are certainly two options that are not the topic of discussion" Dacic said.

According to him, "we are witnessing that one of the members of the UN Security Council does not support, or does not contribute to the Belgrade-Pristina agreement, in fact, it is doing everything to prevent it".

"Nevertheless, we are also witnessing a change in the attitude of the international community, or at least taking into consideration the various proposals that are on the table" Dacic added.

The head of Serbian diplomacy pointed out that we are witnesses of turbulent times - Britain is leaving the European Union, the US administration is making serious controversies in its foreign policy, Russia is no longer impoverished as in the nineties, and the Chinese economy is seriously competing with the West.

"The world is changing, we also have to do it along with it. To understand the changes, let's take a step with it, but first of all, work on ourselves and our society" he said. Regarding the situation in the region, Dacic, was asked to comment the relations with Croatia. He said that “although we have a different view of the past, I do not see the reasons for any conflict in the future”.

 

"We do not have any interests that can be contradictory in the future. I am constantly repeating that behind the paper, our words and inner-party or internal politics, is the life of an ordinary man, his everyday life - that is his work, infrastructure, education we provide him... Our peoples are intertwined and do not have this luxury not to think of our citizens and their families" Dacic said.

Asked how likely, the entry of Macedonia into NATO, would be a challenge to the Serbian stance on neutrality, Dacic said that Serbia has no aspirations to enter any military alliances, even NATO.

"As for the membership of Macedonia in NATO, Serbia respects the foreign policy priorities of other countries, as it expects its priorities to be understood and respected in the same way," he added. Asked about the possibility of the first Balkan countries becoming members of the European Union in 2025, he reminded that the pace of Serbia's accession depends to a great extent on the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, which is currently at a crucial stage.

"Accession to the European Union remains one of the foreign policy priorities of the Republic of Serbia" Dacic said and expressed the hope that the dynamics of the negotiations will accelerate, and that "in the near future, all negotiating chapters for which the conditions have been met will be opened and that Serbia will be enabled to focus on the framework deadline for accession by 2025" Dacic said.

Asked about the foreign policy priorities of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the upcoming period, he said that it is certainly working on maintaining, but also deepening relations with all of our partners and friends, even with those with whom we do not always share the same views and have the same interests.

"As a result of continued efforts to preserve the territorial integrity of Serbia through the presentation of our arguments based on international law and the UN Charter, the withdrawal of the recognition of the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo and Metohija by Surinam, Burundi, Liberia and Papua New Guinea is highlighted and, of course, on the withdrawal plan of the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo" he stressed.

 

Ruzic: I support Vucic's vision and Dacic's lucidity (Tanjug)

SPS Vice President Branko Ruzic said he supports the commitment, courage, and vision shown by President Aleksandar Vucic on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija.

He emphasized that he supports the extraordinary sacrifice and lucidity that Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic has shown on numerous diplomatic battles on that occasion.

Ruzic said that in an interview with Banja Luka's Glas Srpske, and on the question of whether "delineation" is the most expensive Serbian word at the moment, Ruzic says that "Serbia is the most expensive Serbian word, it has always been and will remain."

The SPS Vice President believes that linking the issue of Kosovo and Republika Srpska (RS) status in the context of KiM is very sensitive, which, according to many, is viewed from different perspectives.

"The official position of Serbia as a signatory to the Dayton Accords is clear, and as a responsible politician, I will always adhere to that. The politic, on the other hand, is certainly a discipline in which many like to hold on to "never say never", which is legitimate, but politics is being pursued, not on the basis of emotions and in the short term, but on the basis of studious analyzes and objective parameters that can point to the sustainability of an idea on a long-term plan" Ruzic said.

Serbia in RS cannot be a foreign body, Ruzic emphasizes, and reminds that, when after the grim war, peace and the Dayton Agreement were supposed to be made, the courage, vision, and capability were shown by the Socialists, not someone else.

"And we are proud of our people and all other citizens in B&H. As far as the border is concerned, Drina for us Socialists has always been a river that connects two coasts of the same people" said Ruzic, who is also the Minister of State Administration and Local Government in the Government of Serbia.

 

Sapic on the solution of the Kosovo issue: People should decide (Blic, Tanjug)

The president of the Serbian Patriotic Union, Aleksandar Sapic, believes that a solution to a delicate topic such as the Kosovo problem should be decided by the people in a referendum.

"We will not express our opinion on the topics for which we do not have relevant information, it is irresponsible" Sapic said in an interview with Blic answering a question – how would he solve the Kosovo issue.

"But the position of SPAS will be that no such important decision should be made without the participation of the people or the referendum, not only regarding Kosovo" said Shapic.

He explains that he was not a senior official of the state of Serbia, nor did he talk with influential foreign diplomats, and that he did not have an insight into everything that had been going on for the last three decades.

"I know as much as any ordinary man, from the media, who often spin. Today, after 18 years, we find that recognition of Kosovo is a condition for the EU, but maybe it is not" Sapic noted.

He adds that he knows what he would like, but not what the solution is, because he doesn’t have all the information that the government, but also some from the opposition that were in power, have. "The people need to be presented with the real state of things, make a stand without a big campaign, and let them decide" says Shapic.

Asked what he thinks about the demarcation, he says that he has heard President Vucic saying that he has no suggestion, that his is a pessimist regarding any kind of agreement, and if any agreement gets reached, he will explain what this term means. "Why then would I guess. I'll wait" said Shapic.

 

Boris Tadic: “Delimitation” Is Vucic’s hook for naive (Vreme)

“When you recall President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic’s visits to Sarajevo, Srebrenica, Zagreb or Kosovo, you see that there is always a circus preparation in the media. It aims to portray Vucic as a man who ostensibly is trying to extinguish fires, although he himself starts them before that as a political pyromaniac. Naïve ones are admiring that technique, they say - he is a skilled politician. However, anyone who has such a moral structure, anyone who is ready to do anything, anyone who accomplishes his personal goals by manipulating the media and the public with the help of toadies and wretch ministers without character, can do it. This is the true

character of the authorities in Serbia in the last six years,” the Social Democratic Party (SDS) leader and former Serbian President Boris Tadic said to the weekly Vreme.

“Vucic is a trader of human souls. He says that he will not arm the Serbs, although, all the time, he boasts of Serbia’s arming that is an implicit war threat to everybody in the region. It’s a lying policy with sixteen faces and our citizens will pay it dearly sooner or later.”

“Vucic says that peace is to be established, and at the same time he spreads aggression and establishes a permanent state of emergency. He was therefore the happiest when some [ethnic

Albanians blocked the road to the village of Banja during his visit to

Kosovo earlier this month], because he works normally only in an abnormal situation, when something is burning.”

The term “delimitation” was omitted in his speech in Kosovska Mitrovica “Delimitation is Vucic’s hook for naive. It might be a partition, but also the recognition of Kosovo’s independence as accepted by the countries that had advocated for it. The delimitation might also be within Kosovo under the existing Serbian Constitution. Everyone can project what he sees in and discusses with Vucic in this word, in fact, what he discusses with the wind, because the term delimitation, as Vucic uses it today, does not mean anything. And why didn’t he mention it in his speech in Kosovska Mitrovica? Because he needs it in a functional sense in the coming months as a hook for the naive as he prepares to do what he promised to the Western countries.”

 

The Serbian-Albanian negotiations are quite non-transparent. Can we still foresee what Vucic and Kosovo President Hashim Thaci really are talking about? What are Vucic and Thaci negotiating about? I see that on several forums they came up with the idea of a compromise in which I had tried to persuade both of them. However, we do not know what the subject of these negotiations is. Thaci says that it is correction rather than drawing new borders - so, he uses euphemism for new borders - and that it is necessary to join the Serbian municipalities of Bujanovac, Presevo and Medvedja to Kosovo.

Vucic, on the other hand, claims something completely different. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic then says that one can also consider accepting Kosovo’s membership in the United Nations, which could be heard by a Serbian official for the very first time...

When the contours of these sentences are put on paper, something can only be perceived, but still nothing is clear.”  “Vucic and Dacic have to prepare our general public, because they know that they will have to come up with a solution that is not in line with what they promoted and promised to the citizens of Serbia throughout their lives. For this reason, they say these ‘hard

truths’, forgetting that [the pro-EU parties that had toppled the regime of Slobodan Milosevic back in 2000] explained to the citizens much before them what reality is actually in Kosovo. It is not the first time that Vucic understands reality only after several decades. That’s why he has many warm emotions for Milosevic, saying that he did not understand the reality. Vucic, according to his own confession, also did not understand the global consequences of the fall of the Berlin Wall, but we have not yet heard the acknowledgment that he personally did not understand that there should be no war in Kosovo, but a search for a peaceful solution, the importance of apology for committed crimes as the prerequisites for reconciliation among nations and much, much more. It is obvious that Vucic still does not understand a lot, and that he first should say ‘hard truth’ about his own political past and to apologize to the citizens, not only of Serbia, but also of the region,” Boris Tadic said.

 

Dacic: Is it possible that Croatia has no normal topic? (Tanjug)

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic told reporters in Belgrade, regarding the statement of Croatian television, that Jasenovac was a home for a war orphans, that he will not allow the relativization of the crimes committed in that camp.

He said that Serbia is in favor of good relations with all its neighbors and that it only reacts to falsification of history and historical facts.

"The fact is that Jasenovac was one of the largest and most monstrous camps in Europe and we should not allow the rehabilitation and relativization of the crimes because they will be repeated and it would be good to leave it for good" Dacic said.

He wondered, whether it is possible that Croatia has "no normal topics to talk about with Serbia".

"For ten years now, I have been in the government and I have worked very well with various ministers, but we never had this kind of communication and cooperation. We have not changed, something has changed there, and that is more of a question for the Croatian society" said Dacic.

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina

 

SDS’ Bosic: Vucic sticks to his words, he will not interfere with elections in B&H (BNTV)

Speaker of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) House of Representatives (HoR) Mladen Bosic (SDS) said that he does not expect that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic will be interfering with the elections in B&H. “The Serbian President sticks to his words and I am convinced he will not come to Republika Srpska (RS) on October 5, on the eve of the elections, given the fact that it would imply direct support to RS President and SNSD leader Milorad Dodik,” Bosic was quoted as saying. “Vucic has publicly said on a number of occasions that he would not be interfering with elections in the RS and B&H. He reiterated that the other day as well,” he explained. Speaking about the partnership between Dodik and Croat member of the B&H Presidency and HDZ B&H leader Dragan Covic, Bosic assessed that if their partnership results in the two of them gaining power, there is fear that such coalition will destabilize the situation in B&H. He deems that both of them are interested in working together in order to prove that the existing state cannot function. Therefore, one of them advocates independence of the RS, while the other one advocates establishment of the third entity, he said, adding that both concepts would undermine the Dayton Peace Accords. However, it is evident that they are trying to distance themselves from each other in public during the election process, having in mind that their policy also has negative effects, according to Bosic. He concluded that Dodik is running out of time and that the ruling regime should be replaced by a better and more comfortable society.

 

Dodik: If there was way for RS to get out of B&H in peaceful way, through agreement, we would certainly take it (ATV)

In an interview for the UK daily Telegraph, Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik said that his goal is peace, but that "if there was a way for the RS to get out of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) in a peaceful way, through an agreement, we would certainly take it".

ATV quoted Dodik as saying: "We are very thankful for Europe’s financial aid over the years. Our problems would have been even bigger had it not been for this help. But, all of us, including Europe and us, have lost enthusiasm for this project. We were naive to think that we would just join Europe and all our problems would go away." Dodik also denied claims that he is building an army and partnering with Russian-trained nationalist paramilitaries. Dodik assessed that everyone lost enthusiasm for the European project due to Brexit, problems in the Eurozone, growth of populists guided by Euroscepticism, as well as the division with regard to immigration, Russia and the US.

 

B&H HoR adopts proposal of amendments to Law on Criminal Procedure of B&H, SNSD boycotts the session (BNTV)

The Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) House of Representatives (HoR) convened in Sarajevo on Monday and unanimously adopted the proposal of amendments to the Law on Criminal Procedure of B&H in urgent procedure. SNSD MPs boycotted the session although this law is one of conditions for membership in the EU, as well as basis for the fight against crime, corruption and terrorism, according to the presenter. The amendments clearly define the methods and deadlines for conducting special investigation activities, i.e. physical tracking and wiretapping persons linked to crime, corruption and terrorism. They also imply deadlines for issuing indictments, as well as the fact that a witness cannot be granted immunity if he is suspected of a criminal offense that implies a prison sentence of 10 years or longer.

 

B&H HoR Speaker Mladen Bosic (SDS) stressed that this is a very important law, which could make it possible that the rule of law in B&H starts functioning in the upcoming period. “Those who boycotted the session and failed to support this law, they once again showed what they think about the fight against crime, corruption and terrorism,” Bosic argued.

B&H HoR Deputy Speaker Borjana Kristo (HDZ B&H) stated that a step forward was made when it comes to the Law on Criminal Procedure of B&H, in order to avoid situations in which there would be dilemmas about interpretation of certain provisions.

Head of SDA Caucus in the B&H HoR Amir Fazlic welcomed the fact that the amendments were adopted and that the session was completed so rapidly.

 

SNSD representatives stressed that it is clear that B&H institutions are not functioning except when it is necessary to make a certain personnel rotation or when it is necessary to do something against the RS. Earlier, Head of SNSD Caucus in B&H HoR Stasa Kosarac said that "SNSD is the opposition and that SNSD representatives will not participate in work of Monday's session of the HoR, due to political, brotherly love between SDS and SDA in times when it is necessary to protect their members, due to relations at the past session when SDA massively stood in protection of Dragan Mektic, who inflicts damage to the RS.”

 

OHR, EUD and US Embassy congratulate B&H HoR on adoption of Law on Criminal Procedure, criticize SNSD for lack of interest in rule of law (TV1)

The Office of High Representative (OHR) and the US Embassy to Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) congratulated B&H House of Representatives (HoR) on adoption of Proposal of Amendments to the Law on Criminal Procedure.

According to TV1, OHR and US Embassy accused SNSD of the lack of interest in the rule of law and fight against corruption. The OHR and the US Embassy stated that HDZ B&H, HDZ 1990, SDA, SBB B&H, DF, DND, NDP, SDS, Independent Bloc and BPS put security of the country above political interests. It was added that in this way, the abovementioned political parties showed that joint effort and constructive dialogue may result in compromise acceptable for all and in interest of all citizens, regardless to their ethnicity.

The EU Delegation to B&H welcomed adoption of the amendments to B&H Law on Criminal Procedure. “In a time when the electoral campaign is in full swing, the House of Representatives managed to schedule an urgent session and secure quorum. All present political parties showed political maturity and did the right thing by voting in the favor for the adoption of the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code at today’s session” reads EUD statement.

 

Croatia

 

PM: Prosecuting war crimes in the state interest (Hina)

Making war criminals face justice is Croatia’s public and national interest, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said reacting to the announcement of a protest initiated by the mayor of Vukovar against the slowness in finding missing people and processing war criminals.

"There was some progress at the Croatian courts and the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia and some were processed in courts in Serbia" Plenkovic said.

"The initiative came from the mayor who is every day in contact with those who lost their beloved ones and are still suffering because of Milosevic’s great-Serbian aggression on Croatia," the Prime Minister said. He noted that the Interior Ministry has formed a special working group that deals with war crimes and is making progress. The Government, he said, fulfilled all of its pre-election promises regarding homeland security, veterans, the Croatian army and police.

"Look at the budget of the Veteran’s Ministry, the Law on Croatian veterans, we did everything we could to strengthen the Croatian Army and everything the police does to protect our borders, the modernization and the equipment," he said.

When reporters asked him whether he fears the Vukovar protest will spread and develop into an anti-government protest, Plenkovic said he is convinced that several political fractions will take part in the gathering and that most of the actors who supported the protest right away have "clearly identified their political goals through other activities" but that this is not a problem for the Government.  The protest could be “kidnapped” by some political forces in Croatia and that is a “political risk” the mayor who is organizing the protest “will have to live with,” he said.

 

EU Explains its neutrality in Croatia-Slovenia border dispute (Hina)

Spokesman for the European Commission Margaritis Schinas has said that there is no legal obligation for the European Commission to take a stand on Slovenia's lawsuit against Croatia over their border arbitration dispute, and underscored that the Commission does not comment on its internal documents, including a document with an opinion of the Commission's legal experts who reportedly established that Croatia violated EU laws by refusing to accept the 2017 border arbitration award.

"Article 259 does not create a legal obligation for the Commission to issue a report ... I recall that in four out of the eight Article 259 cases the Commission did not produce its report," the spokesman said at the EC midday press briefing in Brussels on Monday. "The college of commissioners did discuss the matter on 4 July following the presentation of the case by the director-general of the legal service of the Commission," Schinas said.

"I also remember to have told you that we never comment on internal Commission documents, especially when there are many of them," he said in response to Slovenian reporters' questions as to why the Commission and its president Jean-Claude Juncker ignored the opinion of the Commission's legal service and why that position had not been discussed at that college.

Asked by Slovenian reporters if there were any chances for the college of commissioners to reconsider the matter, as hinted by Commissioner Violeta Bulc of Slovenia, the Commission's spokesman answered in the negative. "I have already said that the Commission did discuss this subject and I don't see that there is a plan to discuss the matter again" Schinas answered.

 

fYROM

 

NATO and EU membership remains country’s highest strategic goals, Ivanov tells Mattis (MIA)

The membership in NATO and EU remains Macedonia’s strategic goals and highest priorities that will contribute to progress and prosperity of the entire region, President Gjorge Ivanov said at Monday’s meeting with US Defence Secretary James Mattis.

Ivanov highlighted that the Republic of Macedonia remains stable strategic partner to the USA and will continue to urge for the security, freedom and democratic progress of the region and will actively contribute to joint activities in the fight against terrorism and other threats on the global level, Ivanov’s Office told.

Ivanov and Mattis exchanged opinions on current political developments in Macedonia, country’s Euro-Atlantic perspectives and bilateral cooperation between two countries in the sphere of defence and security.

Ivanov thanked for the US support to Macedonia aimed at promoting defence and security reforms, both in terms of financial, practical and technical support through participation in joint trainings, exercises and missions. He expressed satisfaction with the cooperation with the Vermont National Guard.

“Although we are not NATO member, our army is NATO compatible and for that we are thankful to the US. It is investment in the future. We must be prepared for new threats and new challenges,” Ivanov said. He also noted that Army of the Republic of Macedonia (ARM) with its professionalism and highly ranked combat readiness is a proven NATO partner and continuously contributes in the NATO’s international peacekeeping missions.

Intensifying and improving the overall bilateral relations with the US are of long-term interest for the Republic of Macedonia, Ivanov said. Ivanov and Mattis also exchanged views on the challenges and expectations for the future of the region of Southeast Europe, Ivanov’s Office press release reads.

 

PM Zaev meets Italian Defense Minister Trenta (MIA)

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and Italian Defense Minister Elisabetta Trenta shared opinions Monday in Skopje on the upcoming name referendum, Macedonia’s future EU, NATO membership and the bilateral cooperation, the government said in a press release.

At the meeting, Trenta said she was visiting Skopje to convey her country’s support of Macedonia’s bid to join the European Union and NATO. The upcoming referendum is a historic moment, kicking off the realization of Macedonia’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations, she said.

The referendum is important for the citizens of Macedonia, but also for all of its friends that support the country on its road to the EU, NATO membership, Trenta said.

Zaev and Trenta agreed that Macedonia’s accession to NATO would ensure stable, more prosperous future for its citizens, especially the young ones who deserve to enjoy the EU benefits. Macedonia, they concluded, deserves to become the 30th NATO member and thus to be a factor of stability in the region as a country that is committed to nourishing friendship and cooperation with its neighbors, the press release reads.

 

Ivanov meets Italian Defense Minister Trenta (MIA)

Macedonia's Euro-Atlantic integration will contribute to the stability, prosperity and openness of the entire region, President Gjorge Ivanov told Italian Defense Minister Elisabetta Trenta on Monday. Ivanov and Trenta discussed bilateral relations, cooperation in the fields of defense and security, as well as Macedonia's integration in EU and NATO, the President's Office said in a press release. Ivanov said the Macedonian Army (ARM) is a proven ally of NATO armies, continually contributing to the Alliance's international peacekeeping missions.

The President also referred to the effects of the migrant crisis, which represents a serious challenge and issue of concern for the region and Europe, highlighting the need for coordinated cooperation in the sectors of defense and home affairs.

Interlocutors also exchanged opinions on migrant flows in the Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa and their influence on Balkans and Europe in general, reads the press release.

 

Hahn: On Sep. 30 you will shape your future (MIA)

On September 30 you have a unique opportunity to shape your future. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to make a choice that will have an impact on the citizens, their children and the next generations those who are not yet born. The referendum is a very unique opportunity for citizens to take such important decision, which has so far-reaching consequences, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said after Tuesday’s meeting with PM Zoran Zaev.

According to him it is important the citizens can make an informed decision through a quality reporting.

“My plea to citizens is simple, be informed and exercise your democratic right to vote and make your voice heard. It’s you country, your future, enhance your own free choice, especially the younger generation. Use your opportunities, use your rights, go to the voting cabins and take your decisions,” Hahn added.

“There is a very strong support for this agreement by the international community, because it safeguards the country’s future and Euro-Atlantic perspective, but it is an independent decision by the citizens and its’ important contribution to peace and stability not only for the region but for whole Europe. It’s entirely up to you, you have to decide whether to seize this opportunity. The door to the EU is open but you and only you whether to seize this opportunity,” Hahn said.

He underlined that he does not like the abbreviation FYROM but he still has to use it. “I would like to speak in future about North Macedonia, and you have to decide if I can do this in the future,” Hahn added.

“Next week we will have a very important meeting in Brussels where we will start the screening exercise concerning the whole preparatory work for starting negotiations,” Hahn said. He underlined that in the past weeks Skopje has become most popular destination for politicians not only from Europe, but from all around the world.

“This also proving how appreciated this agreement between your country and Greece is seen and received by the international community. Because we have many long lasting conflicts around the globe, but it’s rather unique that one of them could be solved, this is something which is extremely welcomed by the international community. It gives a boost to everybody that even frozen conflicts can be resolved, if there is leadership, if there is determination and perspective,” Hahn said.

“Whatever your decision is, be assured that EU will be always on your side,” Hahn said.

“My message to him like to the Prime Minister and to other leaders, not only yesterday but in the last couple of months was always it’s referendum about the future of the country, it should not become party political event. Political parties should refrain from using this for party political reasons. Everybody should decide upon his or her own interests and in such a crucial moment it’s not time to play party political games,” Hahn answered reporters’ question.

 

PM Zaev underlined that the citizens will make the most important decision until the start of EU negotiations on September 30.

“The Republic of Macedonia and its citizens appreciate the EU support for the promotion of our country. Today's visit by EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn confirms this. I have only words of praise for the "Imagine the Future Together" campaign that reminds citizens of the inseparable ties with the EU. Citizens have never felt before as part of the EU as they are now,” Zaev said.

“We will start the screening on September 27, and we will show concrete reform steps such as the rule of law, the fight against corruption and the reforms in the administration by June,” Zaev said at a joint press conference with EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

 

Zaev: Macedonia has no alternative to EU and NATO, no evidence of Russian influence (MIA)

We have no evidence and arguments that Russia has any influence in regard to the referendum. It is true that it is not happy about the NATO enlargement in Macedonia, but it is not against EU accession of entire Western Balkans, PM Zoran Zaev told reporters after Tuesday’s meeting with EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn.

Zaev once again reiterated that the citizens of Macedonia have no alternative other than EU and NATO and expressed hopes that all friends of Macedonia will enable citizens on September 30 to freely vote and to use their democratic right without allowing any outside influences, because this is a historic decision which we must make ourselves.

“The facts say that we have no evidence and arguments that Russia has any influence in regard to the referendum. It is also true that Russia is not happy about the NATO enlargement in Macedonia. It has nothing against EU accession of entire Western Balkans, but it is generally opposing NATO enlargement with Macedonia, and it is even publicly commented. I will once again say that there is no alternative for the citizens of the Republic of Macedonia then integration into NATO and EU. We want to build friendship with all countries, including Russia. We have a lot to improve in our cooperation,” Zaev said.

 

VMRO-DPMNE's Mickoski meets Commissioner Hahn (MIA)

VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski met Monday with Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, discussing political developments in Macedonia, the country's Euro-Atlantic integration and the coming referendum.

Mickoski said Macedonia's NATO and EU membership is the country's strategic interest, the party said in a press release. He noted that the Prespa Agreement is damaging for Macedonia and unacceptable for VMRO-DPMNE, reiterating that citizens are able to take a decision by themselves on September 30.

Interlocutors agreed that Euro-Atlantic integration is key factor of stability and prosperity in the Balkan region and highlighted the need for support in the implementation of reforms and achievement of Macedonia's strategic goals, reads the press release.

 

Tusk: Never miss a good chance when asked to vote (MIA)

It is very rare in life that we have the opportunity to change our fate. It is even less likely to change the fate of a nation, European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted a video-message in Macedonian language.

"This is my own experience, as a Pole. For decades, geopolitics didn't give us any chance. But some 30 years ago, the opportunity came. And despite many people's belief that it was impossible to make a change, we mobilized our friends and families and voted for this change. Today, Poland benefits from limitless opportunities offered by the EU. I wouldn't be telling you about this today if I didn't believe that you can also make it. My life's lesson is simple: never miss a good chance when they ask you to vote" says Tusk.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

 

Plans for land swaps in Kosovo and Serbia run into the ground (Economist)

“Every idiot with a map and rifle is getting excited,” says an international official in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, still barred from membership of the United Nations ten years after it unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. Serbs and Albanians have been transfixed as their leaders have recently discussed swapping pieces of territory populated by tens of thousands of people. It is an idea that is raising hopes and fears across the Balkans and provoking political turmoil in Kosovo itself.

When Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia collapsed in the 1990s their successor states all emerged within existing boundaries. But if Kosovo and Serbia redraw their borders on ethnic lines, that would be a big and possibly destabilizing change for the region. It would mean, for example, that Bosnia’s Serb leader could ramp up his own demands for independence by arguing that Yugoslavia’s old internal borders had now been breached and so Bosnia’s could now be too. That would risk a new war.

Almost unnoticed, a first ethnic boundary change is about to take place. On September 12th the municipality of Gracanica, a Serbian-majority area in Kosovo, voted to hand over part of its territory to a neighboring Albanian-majority district. A new ethnic-Albanian housing estate has changed the proportions of Serbs and Albanians in Gracanica, so this is a way for the Serbs to get rid of Albanians. Changing the borders of the two states would not be so easy. It is also highly controversial. It would, argued an op-ed in the New York Times, be both “a peaceful form of ethnic cleansing” and “the right thing to do”.

 

More than 90% of Kosovo’s population are ethnic Albanians and perhaps 5% are Serbs. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo and, excluded from the UN, its statehood is also rejected by several countries, including Spain and Russia. The essence of the deal is that the Serbian-inhabited north of Kosovo, which the government in Pristina does not control, should be returned to Serbian sovereignty. In exchange Serbia would give Kosovo the Presevo Valley in south Serbia, which is predominantly ethnic Albanian, and recognise Kosovo. Part of any deal would have to involve Russia and China dropping their veto on UN membership for Kosovo.

In August, when Albanians of the diaspora were home for the holidays, the Presevo Valley was buzzing. Parents snapped in Swiss German and Belgian French at their children. Local Albanians are thrilled at the thought of living in one state with fellow Albanians in Kosovo. Local Serbs believe it will never happen. After all, said Marko, aged 22, who runs a grocery shop, Serbs and Albanians have never resolved disputes peacefully, so why would they start now? Nearby, bulldozers were finishing the motorway which runs through the valley, alongside the railway. These transport routes link Serbia to central Europe and Greece. It is hard to believe that Serbia will give them up.

Over in Kosovo, the mainly Serbian village of Babin Most sits on a hill overlooking the battlefield where the Serbs famously lost the battle of Kosovo to the Turks in 1389. It is not in the north, the area which would become part of Serbia again. The majority of Kosovo’s 120,000 Serbs do not live in the north and so they are horrified by the thought that Serbia might, as they see it, give up on them. Father Sava, the abbot of Kosovo’s Serbian medieval monastery of Visoki Decani, has been campaigning loudly against division. For this he has earned the enmity of Serbia’s government-controlled press, which has declared him a traitor.

In Pasjane, another Kosovo Serb village, there is a street named for Dobrica Cosic, an influential novelist who died in 2014. He regarded Kosovo and its Albanians as a “cancer”, to be surgically removed by partition.

Both the EU and America had previously rejected the redrawing of borders on ethnic grounds, believing it would destabilize the region. They have now given a green light to Kosovo’s president, Hashim Thaci, and Aleksandar Vucic, his Serbian counterpart, to see if they can strike an agreement. Yet it will be difficult, if not impossible. On September 7th Mr Vucic refused to meet Mr. Thaci in an EU-sponsored meeting in Brussels. Then he went to Kosovo and praised Slobodan Milosevic, Serbia’s wartime leader, who repressed ethnic Albanians and then ethnically cleansed hundreds of thousands of them during the Kosovo war.

Mr. Vucic wants a guarantee that if there is a deal, Serbian membership of the EU will follow. That is an undertaking the EU cannot give. But it is clear that even raising the issue has opened new perspectives for the region. “There are always other options,” says a senior Kosovo Albanian leader. He means that unless Kosovo is recognized by Serbia and can join the UN, it can unite with Albania instead. Some nationalist Serbs who understand that Kosovo is lost to them might welcome that. If there was a Greater Albania then they could demand a Greater Serbia by claiming the Serb part of Bosnia, which was what Mr. Milosevic fought a war for.

 

Kosovo-Serbia deal – Saving faces or saving borders? (BIRN)

Recent announcements by the presidents of Serbia and Kosovo, that they are considering border changes to reach a historic peace settlement, have sent shockwaves across the region.

Speaking at the Alpbach forum in Austria, Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vucic, and Kosovo’s Hashim Thaci emphasized the need to reach a compromise solution that will solve the Kosovo issue through some sort of border adjustment or demarcation, and called on the European Union to support these efforts.

Although little detail was provided, the plan would involve the northern Kosovo municipalities of Leposavic, Zvecan and parts of Zubin Potok [minus Gazivoda lake, a crucial water resource for Kosovo] being allocated to Serbia. In return, parts of Presevo and Bujanovac in Serbia, [west of the crucial pan-European Corridor 10] would become part of Kosovo.

With no details officially outlined, the initiative has fueled speculation locally and internationally about the intentions and potential impact of such a plan – and has raised fears about renewed efforts to change borders along ethnic lines in the wider region.

It has divided local, regional and international actors and commentators alike. While senior EU officials, including EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Johannes Hahn, did not rule out a consensual solution that guarantees regional stability, Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has rejected any changes to borders.

Crucially, the United States, a key actor in the region and a staunch supporter of Kosovo’s independence, according to US National Security Adviser John Bolton, is open to an exchange of territory between Kosovo and Serbia as part of a deal.

Kosovo’s political scene remains deeply divided on the issue as well, with the opposition parties as well as two of the three coalition partners [including Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj’s party] opposing discussion of the border issue. The opposition parties, who contest Thaci’s mandate to represent Kosovo in negotiations with Serbia, have even initiated a resolution aimed at protecting the country’s territorial integrity.

Likewise, in Serbia, Vucic’s idea of a border “delineation” has opened up a new rift between the government and the Serbian Orthodox Church, which opposes any division of Kosovo that would legitimize the former province’s independence.

 

Numerous local and international commentators and scholars have expressed concerns that this might produce a chain effect in the region and lead to renewed conflicts. More than 50 organizations and experts on the Balkans have signed an open letter, urging Europe and the US to oppose any territorial swaps.

While it is premature, and futile, to discuss the merits of the initiative and its implications without concrete plans being made public, the very flagging-up of the idea and the debate surrounding it raises crucial points.

First, it is obvious that 20 years after the end of conflicts in the former Yugoslavia the specter of conflict still hangs over the region.

Although the presidents’ initiative proposes border adjustment/demarcation as a mutual agreement that could see Serbia finally recognize Kosovo’s independence, and pave the way for both countries to join the EU, many fear the move would create a precedent that could be used elsewhere – in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first instance.

While these fears are not unfounded, given the history of the region and its outstanding political conundrums, the applicability of the precedent principle is limited.

Serbia, and the leadership of the Bosnian Serbs have from the outset maintained that Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008 creates a dangerous precedent.

Yet, Bosnian’s mainly Serbian entity, Republika Srpska, did not secede in 2008, or later on.

Similarly, claims that Russia or others would use an eventual change of borders between Kosovo and Serbia as a precedent are far-fetched.

Russia has indeed recalled the “Kosovo precedent” to justify its own annexation of Crimea. In reality, however, it annexed Crimea and recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2008 in response to regime change in Kiev and to Georgia’s attempt to forcefully retake its breakaway provinces.

In fact, Kosovo has been used as a justification post festum. Russia’s actions continue to be driven by its emboldened geostrategic ambitions and by a weakened and disunited West, not by the “Kosovo precedent”.

As for Bosnia, it is clear that its problems derive from the 1995 Dayton framework and from its internal political dynamics. Any Kosovo-Serbia agreement can and has to clearly leave out Bosnia, just as the Dayton process in 1995 left out the Kosovo issue. The two have always been dealt with separately.

 

The fundamental problem in Bosnia is that if Dayton and its signatories do not offer sufficient guaranties for its functioning, there is no way a Kosovo left in limbo will guarantee its survival in the longer run either.

A peaceful and mutually agreed border adjustment between Kosovo and Serbia would actually strengthen the argument against Republika Srpska’s secession without the consent of all the parties.

Second, the very floating of the idea of border adjustment/demarcation in public, and the implicit support of EU leaders, attest to the fact that, despite the mantra of “normalization of relations” and the assumed power of conditionality, the EU has no clear vision of how to make Serbia come to terms with an independent, multiethnic Kosovo.

The EU-facilitated dialogue that begun in 2011 despite its biggest achievement – normalizing dialogue – has produced few other tangible results.

For a long time, the dialogue has become an aim in itself and a marketing tool for EU officials to display their putative success in using EU conditionality to solve bilateral issues in the region.

Clearly, EU accession is not credible enough to get Serbia to accept Kosovo within its existing borders.

The crucial mistake that the EU made in the dialogue is its approach of investing in strong leaders, who also happen to be authoritarian figures, instead of promoting the local agency of Kosovo Serbs and societal dialogue in Kosovo.

From the outset, the main preoccupation has been to please the ruling elites in Belgrade rather than address the needs of local Serbs in Kosovo.

The EU seems to have appropriated the idea that Serbia’s leadership needs a “face saving” solution.

Unfortunately, saving the faces of President Vucic and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, close aides of and heirs to Vojislav Seselj and Slobodan Milosevic, respectively, has taken precedence over the needs and agency of local Serbs in Kosovo.

Despite posing as pro-EU reformists, both Vucic and Dacic hail Milosevic publicly, considering him a “great Serbian leader”.

 

Third, having been emboldened by widespread acceptance internationally, Vucic and Dacic have successfully revived a disastrous political idea – redrawing administrative borders along ethnic lines – 30 years after Milosevic’s rise to power in Serbia.

Yet, while it is obvious that Serbia’s main strategy has been to undermine the internationally imposed concept of civic and multiethnic states in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia, the current proposal for border adjustment/delineation follows that logic but is not fully in line with it.

Border changes would leave the absolute majority of Serbs and the key monuments of Serbian religious and cultural heritage inside Kosovo. They would also rid Serbia of the majority of Albanians in south Serbia.

While such a proposal sounds absurd from any realist political perspective, given that Serbia effectively controls both regions, it is symptomatic of three key fallacies in the Serbian nationalist ideology. First, it shows that Kosovo has become a “floating signifier” in the Serbian nationalist discourse with no clear meaning and borders. While for a long time key religious sites in Decan and Gracanica used to signify a “Serbian Kosovo”, today it is a mountain range in Leposavic and Zubin Potok that Serbia is after.

Second, for most of the 20^th century, Serbian leaders have treated Kosovo as an issue of territory and not of people.

In the 1990s, Serbia ignored and then oppressed and finally deported the majority Albanian population in an attempt to solve the “Kosovo issue” by force. Today, Serbia is proposing solutions that completely disregard the Kosovo Serb population as well.

Last but not least, Serbia’s willingness to cede Albanian-inhabited territories in Presevo and Bujanovac to Kosovo demonstrates its unwillingness to consider ethnic Albanians as equal citizens of Serbia and fully integrate them into the society and politics.

Fourth, despite many founded and unfounded fears and reserves, from Kosovo’s perspective, the current proposal for border adjustment might present the best opportunity in the given situation to close its status issue.

Despite having gone to considerable lengths to implement the Ahtisaari Proposal and then engage in additional dialogue in Brussels since 2011 to accommodate the needs of local Serbs, there is a growing sense in Kosovo that EU talk of “normalization of relations” is an empty promise that will not guarantee the integration of the northern municipalities into Kosovo, or win Kosovo full international recognition, and UN membership.

Therefore, the specter of a Kosovo stuck in a limbo internationally, and with an autonomous Serbian region akin to Republika Srpska inside it, seems to have pushed Kosovo’s leaders – Thaci primarily – to consider alternatives to the ongoing process, while effectively yielding to the Serbian position that Kosovo’s status is still unresolved.

 

Although the integration of Presevo and Bujanovac in Serbia into Kosovo has never really been a strategic goal of Kosovo’s leadership, the prospect may be used to diffuse opposition to the eventual loss of territory in the north.

However, the proposal raises a number of till-now unanswered questions about the very possibility and/or legality of reaching such an agreement, given that Serbia does not recognize Kosovo, as well as about the fate of existing minority rights and protections stemming from the Ahtisaari Proposal, the Brussels Agreements and the very future of the Kosovar state.

Many proponents of this solution argue that such an arrangement would not necessarily lead to abrogation of the self-governing rights and protections of communities in Kosovo, or make Kosovo less multi-ethnic than it now is.

Crucially, having sensed a change in the political and diplomatic winds of some of its key supporters, and frustrated by the lack of progress in normalization of relations with Serbia, supporters of border adjustment in Kosovo seem unperturbed by potential regional implications or Serbia’s intentions beyond Kosovo.

To make a historical parallel, while in 1989 the leaders of the republics in Socialist Yugoslavia turned a deaf ear to Kosovo’s protests over the revocation of its autonomy and its political submission to Milosevic’s Serbia, this time it is Kosovo’s leadership that is refusing to think beyond its own calculations and interests.

In conclusion, the current situation exposes a number of political absurdities and paradoxes; a) while the proposal is potentially dangerous, it comes as a consensual proposal by local actors and not as an external imposition; b) although it exposes the failure of EU conditionality to get Serbia to accept Kosovo within its existing borders, key EU leaders have heralded it as an agreement that paves the path for the EU membership of both countries; c) it is opposed on the grounds that it promotes ethnic borders, yet it leaves Kosovo’s ethnic composition relatively intact; d) although it is supposed to address long-enduring Kosovo Serb grievances, it risks leaving most of them “out in the cold”.

Most importantly, regardless of its eventual merits and utility to solve the Kosovo-Serbia conundrum, the presidents’ proposal and reactions to it expose a deep sense of suspicion and mistrust about any political solution that involves borders in a region still haunted by the specter of war.

Although it has been floated as a local initiative, which has disturbed local, regional and international political waters, the fate of the proposal ultimately depends on a consensus of great powers and not on the two presidents or the people affected by it.

Thus, it is up to the key relevant international actors to choose to “save the face” of the Serbian leadership, or save the existing borders in the region and push for full normalization of relations, including Kosovo’s full recognition.

 

Bosnia ‘lost enthusiasm’ for EU, Dodik claims (BIRN)

In a rare interview with a UK newspaper, Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik says his country is disillusioned with Europe – and the feeling appears to be mutual.

In an interview published at the weekend by the pro-Conservative British newspaper Daily Telegraph, Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik said populism and divisions within Europe over immigration, Russia and America had weakened the EU’s appeal to the people of Bosnia. Bosnians remained “very thankful” for Europe’s financial aid over the years, the President of Republika Srpska, the Serb-led entity of Bosnia, said. “Our problems would have been even bigger had it not been for this help,” he recalled. However, Dodik maintained that “all of us, including Europe and us, have lost enthusiasm for this project.

“We were naïve to think that we would just join Europe and all our problems would go away.”

Dodik, described in the Telegraph as an admirer of Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Hungary’s Viktor Orban, went on to tell the staunchly pro-Brexit newspaper that he saw Britain’s exit from the European Union as a template for his entity’s own eventual exit from Bosnia. But he dismissed talk of aiming to do this by force, by “building an army and partnering with Russian-trained nationalist paramilitaries”, as the Telegraph put it, referring to earlier media reports.

“My goal is peace,” Dodik said, adding: “If there was a way for Republika Srpska to get out of Bosnia in a peaceful way, through an agreement, we would certainly take it.”

The newspaper noted that Dodik had long ago lost the favour of his former Western patrons, noting that he has “reinvented himself as a hardline nationalist and is feared by some as a would-be warlord.”

However, the newspaper that said his description of “mutual disillusion” between Europe and the non-EU Balkan states was “hard to fault” – given that the EU had consistently rebuffed would-be member states in the Balkans since allowing in Slovenia and Croatia – and in June had postponed the start of accession talks with Albania and Macedonia.

It described this French-led decision as “infuriating… for advocates of the European project in the Balkans”.

Turning to Bosnia, the paper called the appearance of prosperity in the capital, Sarajevo, deceptive, as many of the new malls appears to cater mainly to foreign Middle Eastern tourists and second-home owners, while the country had one of the emigration and highest youth unemployment rates in Europe.