EU leaders set 21 January for launching talks with Serbia (RTS)

EU leaders adopted the decision on starting negotiations with Serbia in January, RTS correspondent in Brussels reported. The EU leaders have also confirmed the negotiating framework – mechanism and rules for the membership negotiations with Serbia. Greece, as the presiding over the EU from 1 January 2014, made it clear that it will schedule the first inter-governmental conference EU-Serbia for 21 January, whereby accessions negotiations will be launched. The opening of the first chapters is expected in the second half of 2014, and according to the negotiating framework, the first to be opened are Chapters 23 and 24 dealing with justice, police and basic human rights. Simultaneously, chapter 35 (miscellaneous), including the normalization of the Belgrade-Pristina relations, will also be opened. The negotiating framework lays down that at the end of Serbia’s EU accession process Belgrade and Pristina will ink a legally binding agreement on the normalization of relations.

Dacic: False asylum seekers threatening visa-free regime (Tanjug)

The West Balkan countries are threatened by the suspension of the visa liberalization due to a large number of asylum applicants who are coming from those states to the EU, it was warned in Budva by the Interior Ministers of Serbia, Montenegro and B&H, i.e. Ivica Dacic, Rasko Konjevic and Fahrudin Radoncic respectively. Dacic has underlined that Serbia is investing maximum effort in solving the issue of asylum seekers, in order to avoid the danger of visa reintroduction. He stated that Serbia had most problems with those applying for asylum in Germany. According to him, the majority of people do it for economic reasons, and most of them are the Roma and Albanians. The EU needs to understand that our people do not go there to get asylum, but to take the money. The average salary in Serbia is 470 Euros, while in Germany they are receiving 700-800 Euros per month while waiting for the completion of the asylum procedure, Dacic explained.

EC grants 23.5 million Euros of assistance for Kosovo Serbs (Tanjug)

The European Commission approved 23.5 million Euros in financial assistance for the development of Serb municipalities in Kosovo, and most of the sum will go to the municipalities in the north, according to what was said in Brussels on Friday. Together with the 15 million Euros from October, the EU assistance for infrastructure projects and development of institutions has reached 38.5 million Euros. These funds are not part of the assistance meant for Kosovo, which stands at 70 million Euros, the European Commission said. Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule stated that it was a way for the EU to recognize the efforts Belgrade and Pristina had invested in the normalization of relations.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

Nikolic, Inzko: Serbia-B&H relations best so far (Srna)

The High Representative in B&H Valentin Inzko has assessed in Belgrade that relations between Serbia and B&H are best so far. During separate meetings with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic, Inzko said he had congratulated his interlocutors on receiving the start date for Serbia’s EU membership talks in January 2014. He voiced hope that B&H would follow the good example of Serbia. “I have told the interlocutors that this way the entire architecture in the Balkans is being changed, that Serbia had greatly contributed to this,” Inzko told the press after the meeting with Mrkic. He added that he had conveyed gratitude to the interlocutors for everything that Serbia has been doing regarding B&H, and reiterated that Serbia has special and parallel ties with Banja Luka, but also good, the best so far, relations with Sarajevo. He said that his report in the UN SC on 11 November, in which he had thanked Serbian politicians for contribution and cooperation in South-East Europe, had been discussed only on the margins of today’s meeting in Belgrade. Inzko added that today’s visit to Belgrade incidentally coincides with the visit of the RS member of the B&H Presidency Nebojsa Radmanovic.

Nikolic, Radmanovic: Serbia’s relations with B&H and RS at a high level (Srna)

Member of the B&H Presidency from the Republika Srpska (RS) Nebojsa Radmanovic and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic have assessed in Belgrade that Serbia’s relations with B&H and the RS are at a high level, and that relations in the region are heading in a relatively good direction, regardless of the difficulties. “We assessed that Serbia’s relations with B&H are at a high level, and not only with the RS, and that they are increasingly better compared to the old time,” Radmanovic told the RS press after the meeting with Nikolic. He added that they exchanged views on the trilateral meeting that is in a halt, as well as the regional process Brdo kod Kranja, that has the tendency to develop, but it is difficult to say at present in which direction. Radmanovic said they assessed that relations in the region, although complicated, were heading in a relatively good direction, regardless of the difficulties with the self-declared Kosovo and difficulties on the EU path of B&H and FRYOM, but that all this was within the limits of stability. He added that they exchanged views on the current issues in the Balkans and relations of the two countries, and pointed out that the fact that Serbia had received a date for starting negotiations with the EU represented Serbia’s great success, but of all in the region as well. Radmanovic said he discussed with Nikolic the situation in B&H since Serbia is the guarantor of the Dayton Accords and has the right to be informed and to influence the overall policy, and has special ties with the RS, which are improving. He added they also discussed today’s visit of the High Representative Valentin Inzko to Belgrade.

Greek blockade in Brussels does not pass smoothly (Utrinski Vesnik)

The EU summit in Brussels was not plain sailing for Greece, especially in terms of Macedonia, Utrinski Vesnik daily writes. Although the Greek politicians are publicly claiming that they are not faced with any pressure, according to the Greek Kathimerini newspaper, the meeting did not pass smoothly for Greece. The ministers had a tense discussion, which at certain point was terminated because of the disapproval on behalf of Greece. Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos was attacked from all sides as the member states already felt exhausted with the delay in Macedonia’s EU integration.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Bosnia’s Serbian President Visits Israel, Voices Solidarity (Israelnationalnews, by Michael Freund, 19 December 2013)

Nebojsa Radmanovic played a crucial role in opposing unilateral steps by the Palestinian Authority at the United Nations.

Nebojsa Radmanovic, a member of the three-man presidency of Bosnia & Herzegovina, visited the Jewish state this week for a series of meetings with senior Israeli officials.

Under the terms of the 1995 Dayton Accords which ended the war in Bosnia, the presidency of the country was divided among the three largest ethnic groups: Croats, Serbs and Bosnian Muslims, with each community having one representative.

Radmanovic represents Republika Srpska (the Serbian Republic), a constituent part of Bosnia, on the three-man presidium.

In a lecture delivered to an overflow audience at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies of Bar Ilan University on Tuesday, Radmanovic described his country’s key role in a UN vote which blocked Palestinian Authority ambitions to upgrade their status at the world body.

In November 2011, when the Palestinian Authority sought UN membership as a state, the deciding vote on the Security Council belonged to Bosnia. The Croat and Muslim members of Bosnia’s presidency both supported the Palestinian position, but thanks to Radmanovic’s principled opposition, a consensus could not be reached, which led Bosnia to withhold its support for the Palestinian cause.

“At the Bosnia & Herzegovina Presidency,” Radmanovic told the audience, “I did not support the initiative of Palestine for the membership in the United Nations and UNESCO.” His remarks were greeted with cheers and applause from members of the audience, who expressed their gratitude for the Bosnian Serb’s stance.

Under Bosnia’s constitution, the presidential triumvirate is tasked with determining the nation’s foreign policy via consensus, which often proves difficult to achieve.

Subsequently, when the Palestinians sought membership at UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), Radmanovic and the Republika Srpska once again proved essential in preventing Bosnia’s vote from going to the Palestinians.

During his stay, Radmanovic met with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, who has visited Republika Srpska and worked to foster closer relations. He also met with Rabbi Professor Daniel Hershkovitz, the President of Bar Ilan University who previously served as Israel’s Science Minister. The two discussed ways to strengthen bilateral educational links.

The Bosnian Serb republic has its own representative office in Jerusalem, which is headed by Aleksandar Nikolic and which aims to build economic, cultural and social ties between Israel and the Republika Srpska.

Current Bosnian politicians out of their depth, says US diplomat (Hina, 20 December 2013)

The political leaders in power in Bosnia and Herzegovina are not up to the task of integrating the country into the European Union and NATO, so the international community will have to think about what to do to remove the current political blockades, the US Embassy charge d'affaires in Sarajevo, Nicholas Hill, has said.

Bosnia needs brave and visionary steps to move on, he was quoted as saying in Thursday's Nezavisne Novine daily.

We are eagerly waiting for leaders to appear who will take that decisive visionary step. Unfortunately, the current political leaders are not of that calibre and this is disappointing, Hill said.

He said the United States and the EU also had the responsibility and the need to work on improving the situation in Bosnia, including its Constitution written in Dayton.

There is a certain disappointment in Washington. We counted on the EU being sufficient motivation to get the leaders in Bosnia started, Hill said, adding that the US was considering the possibility of being more active in Bosnia after the period in which it had left the initiative up to the EU, which had been ineffective.

Hill said Washington was constantly evaluating the situation and that now was the right moment to analyse the effects of the approach so far.

Two Croatian MEPs call for coherent EU policy towards Bosnia (Hina, 20 December 2013)

Croatian deputies in the European Parliament, Davor Stier of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Tonino Picula of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), said at a meeting of the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday that the European Union should pursue a more efficient policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to press releases from the offices of the two MEPs.

Stier pointed noted the absence of a coherent European policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina, which created a perception that Russia or Turkey were more influential in Bosnia and Herzegovina than the EU.

Stier asked the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Catherine Ashton, who submitted a report to MEPs after the EU General Affairs Council, when it could be expected to see a more coherent and efficient European policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Picula asked Ashton about her views on Bosnia and Herzegovina's prospects in 2014 when the country is due to hold elections, in light of the fact that the country has not yet implemented the verdict of the European Court for Human Rights in the Sejdic-Finci case relating to the election legislation.

The SDP MEP called on political leaders in that country to step up their work for the sake of the European future of Bosnian citizens.

Ashton said that Bosnia and Herzegovina would be put high on the agenda of the EU foreign and security policy in 2014.