LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic and Dodik differently on Erdogan’s disputed statement (Radio Serbia)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said that Serbia respected the Dayton Accords and its people and that he wished to believe that Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan did not give the statement about Turkish ships sailing into the Neum port in B&H. Vucic told a press conference after talks with the Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik that he had had talks today with the Turkish ambassador in Belgrade, who had assured him that the statement had not been given. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that Serbia would not accept any threats coming from Turkey and that Serbia was a guarantor of the Dayton Accords, which cannot be changed without the consent of the three peoples and entities in B&H. Dodik, on the other hand, stressed he believed that Erdogan had actually uttered the threat. Turkey has a military contingent in B&H and therefore the statement such as Erdogan’s represents dangerous intentions, stressed Dodik.

 

Who did Schockenhoff shock (Politika)

Did Schockenhoff shock Belgrade this time as well? According to the calm statements released after the official meetings, he didn’t: the talks moved within the expected span, from the Brussels agreement to reforms. According to the statements released by opposition politicians, he did. Sasa Radulovic claims that the Germans had agreed with him that “excessive concentration of power in the hands of one man destroys institutions and rule of law” (I suppose he has in mind Prime Minister Vucic). Bojan Pajtic notes that “concern over the fact that Serbia is not fulfilling its international obligations within agreed deadlines” was voiced at the meeting with him (though he didn’t specify what these obligations are). Blic learns from “reliable sources” that Schockenhoff shocked the Serbian MPs by conveying that Serbia would become an EU member when Kosovo becomes an UN member, but admits that nothing similar had been stated during the talks with Aleksandar Vucic. The top officials of the ruling CDU Andreas Schockenhoff, foreign policy advisor Hans-Joachim Falenski, and their colleagues (internally called in the Serbian Foreign Ministry “the death delegation”) didn’t hold a press conference before departing Belgrade. That is why everybody can now, in line with their interests, interpret what are the real messages of the people who are seen here as Angela Merkel’s emissaries. This time, an additional interpretation arrived from a representative of the German civil sector. Henri Bohnet, the Head of the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation in Belgrade, who attended the talks of the German MPs with the interlocutors in Belgrade, claims for Tanjug that the message of the German MPs during their visit to Serbia had been that Serbia’s negotiations with the EU will not commence until the Brussels agreement is implemented and that Serbia will not become an EU member until Kosovo becomes a full-fledged UN member.

 

Vekaric: I believe in a court for KLA crimes (Tanjug)

Serbian Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor Bruno Vekaric said that anyone who has blood on their hands and who has been proved to have committed a crime must be tried before the future tribunal for KLA crimes in Kosovo and Metohija from 1998 to 2000. He expects the court to be formed in early 2015, which has been indicated by a resolution recently enacted by the Kosovo Assembly, under international pressure. The international community is looking for a way to answer the questions of the families of Serbs and others killed in Kosovo and Metohija, Vekaric told the Frankfurt News. I have information from international sources that the tribunal will be formed in a third country, probably in The Hague or Brussels, where international trial chambers will abide by the domicile law, said Vekaric. Stressing that the witness protection issue is the most delicate one, Vekaric underlined that has also been emphasized in the reports by Council of Europe rapporteurs Dick Marty and Jean Charles Gardetto on the crimes committed by the KLA in Kosovo and Metohija, and in the so-called Yellow House.

 

The Turkish-German Balkan Equation (NIN, by Dusan Spasojevic, Serbian Ambassador to Turkey from 2010 to 2013)

Relations between Turkey and Germany have come a long way over the past two and a half centuries – from the Prussian-Ottoman agreement on friendship in 1761 to a sort of rivalry at the beginning of the new millenium

Even though they haven’t waged wars against each other, at least not since the second Turkish seige of Vienna in 1683, relations between Turks and Germans have lately been on an downward trajectory. One of the causes for disagreement is the Balkans. The roots of the Turkish-German confrontation in the Balkans reach deep, and today, in addition for other reasons, they can also be found in imperial nostalgia, especially exposed in the neo-Ottoman discourse of the current Turkish foreign minister.

One of the smallest common denominators of the Turkish and German Balkan policy through the greater part of history was their mutual interest to restrain and suppress the Serbian influence on this peninsula. When this goal was somewhat achieved by breaking-up Yugoslavia and when the greatest obstacle to the return of Germany and Turkey to the Balkans was removed, the first frictions between Ankara and Berlin appeared. Erdogan’s Turkey sees in today’s Germany the main obstacle on its way towards Europe, whereas Ankara views the Balkans is a springboard. Angela Merkel’s Berlin looks upon Ankara’s Balkan role as a factor that could disturb it from realizing its own domination in all of Europe (including the Balkans).

It is no secret that it is precisely Germany that is the EU member state that most vocally opposes Turkey’s admission into this club. Pouring salt on an open wound, Chancellor Merkel is offering Turkey, instead of full-fledged membership, some sort of ’privileged partnership’ that Ankara doesn’t even want to hear about, considering, rightfully, such an offer to be indecent. The thing that makes our region an especially important place of German-Turkish rivalry is the fact that the Balkans is a place that represents, in the Turkish national consciousness, a source of its European legitimacy, a place where today’s Turkey, with its presence, is also proving, among other things, its western identity.

Over the past several years, Ankara and Berlin have been more and more frequently confronting eachother in Bosnia-Herzegovina (B&H). For example, while Germany advocated that the mandate of the High Representative falls within the EU competence, Turkey opposed this. When Ankara insisted that B&H moves speedily towards NATO membership, Berlin vetoed its progress. The calculation is quite simple. Germany plays a supporting role in NATO and full-fledged membership of Balkan countries in this Alliance doesn’t strengthen, but reletavizes, the significance of Berlin’s role in the region. On the other side, any oncoming of the Balkans towards the EU, where Germany now dominates also in the political sense, weakens the influence of Ankara, which has been stuck in the waiting room of this club for decades.

Even though both Ankara and Berlin recognized the self-declared secession of the Serbian provicne of Kosovo-Metohija, a sort of rivalry of the two countries, with every step, is being felt even with this issue. For example, while German generals are replacing each other at KFOR’s helm, Turkish troops in the southern province seem like a simple decoration. The exalted statement by Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan that „Kosovo is Turkey and Turkey is Kosovo“ should also be viewed as a consequence of being frustrated with the fact that, regardless of the enormous efforts of Turkish diplomacy in promoting an independent sepratist Kosovo, Ankara is completely excluded from the Belgrade-Pristina talks that are conducted under the EU auspices. Ultimately, Turkey’s ambition to be an important player in the Balkans in the neo-Ottoman conception implies Muslim communities as the key stronghold and support for realizing Ankara’s influence. However, in the perception of the majority of Balkan Muslims, for now, their protecting power is not Turkey, but the Western Balkans’ European perspective that, today, mostly depends on Germany’s good will.

Serbia’s role in this testing of srenght in the Westeran Balkans between Ankara and Berlin is not small, or simple. The Istanbul Declaration of April 2010 was percieved in Berlin as a finger in th eye, i.e. Belgrade’s green light for Turkey’s entrance into the Balkans. On the other side, the new Serbian government unambigiously, through statements of its prime minister, has opted for „more Germany in the Balkans.“ In the Balkan calculation, more Germany is equal to less Turkey. How much of the Balkans will remain to the Balkan nations, remains an unknown in the equation.

 

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Radmanovic: Erdogan’s statement most brutal insult and threat so far (Srna) 

“The latest statement by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has so far been the most brutal, severe and direct insult and threat against the Serbs and Croats and all other non-Bosniaks living in B&H,” the RS member of the B&H Presidency Nebojsa Radmanovic. “By calling all those people in B&H who have been living in their homes for centuries enemies and protecting just one people in B&H, the Bosniaks, Turkey has lost all credibility of a well-intentioned partner in our bilateral relations,” the office of the RS member of the B&H Presidency said in a press release on Saturday. Radmanovic has said he will re-examine his previous constructive political attitude towards Turkey because of the continuing gross and insulting statements of Turkish officials. The press release reads that in the future, Radmanovic will adapt his attitude and stance to the newly emerging Turkish representatives’ attitude towards B&H, until that changes. Erdogan has said that if anyone should lay a hand on the Bosniaks, 100 million Turks would stand against them. “Turkey or the Ottoman Empire gave over their Bosniak brothers in the ancient past to the enemy without any protection from Austro-Hungary. That we have never forgiven ourselves, and we never will,” said Erdogan. Radmanovic said that by this statement, Erdogan had shown his true colors and openly sided with one people in B&H, the Bosniaks, meaning against the present B&H as the community of three constitutive peoples. “When you read such a statement by one of the highest Turkish officials, you can’t help but wonder: Is that the Turkey that aspires to full membership of the EU? Politically speaking, this statement carries even more weight if you have in mind that Turkey is a member of the Peace Implementation Council in B&H,” said Radmanovic. The press release notes that this is not the first time a Turkish politician has given such dangerous and threatening statements on account of certain peoples in B&H or a country. “Prime Minister Erdogan is trying to turn back time, which is impossible. What the Serbs and other nations thought about the Ottoman Empire was said and shown in the national liberation struggle one hundred years ago or more and that for us is a finished story,” submitted Radmanovic. According to him, the demonstration of power and a verbal threat with warships that derives from Erdogan’s statement is no protection of B&H’s sovereignty whatsoever but “the most direct threat to its survival in the present form.”

 

Cvijanovic: Erdogan’s statement does not contribute to preservation of sovereignty of B&H (Nezavisne novine) 

The Republika Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic considers that the latest statement of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan does not contribute to preservation of sovereignty of B&H, but instead contributes to degradation of B&H which is already frail. “B&H itself is not sure if it can survive. When you add to this a message of this sort, then it should be clear to everyone what the scenario is and what is happening here”, Cvijanovic has told the reporters in Laktasi. She added that there is “something terribly wrong” with B&H if everybody from outside has the need to comment, threaten or take the task of protecting someone. “If a statement like that had come from Serbian of Croatian territory, you would have been able to see how much of terrible reaction it would have triggered in political Sarajevo. In Sarajevo you are not safe even to say that a bird flew over the border and went from Republika Srpska to Serbia, without it being perceived in a context of some kind of a great conspiracy theory”, Cvijanovic said. Turkish Prime Minister has said that if anyone should “lay a hand” on the Bosniaks, 100 million Turks would stand against them and added that no one should be surprised if “a Turkish warship sailed to Neum because it would be a sign of support to B&H’s sovereignty.” 

 

Danaj: Macedonia is a dead country, Serbia is next (Vecer)

Albanian historian and leader of the League for Natural Albania party, Koco Danaj, said that Macedonia was a dead country, while Serbia was the next in the list, Vecer writes.In his words, at the moment a Natural Albania was being established and it will spread over the greater part of Macedonia and over half of South Serbia. According to Danaj, the protests in Skopje were an expression of the fight of the Albanians, who were considered second-class people in Macedonia.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

US expresses satisfaction with Serbia's progress (Xinhua, 14 July 2014)

Victoria Nuland, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, said on Sunday that the United States is satisfied with the progress Serbia has achieved following the March elections.

"The United States is impressed with the progress here in Serbia - the elections, your progress as an EU candidate which the U.S. strongly supports, and now starting from 2015 your assumption to the very important role of the chairman office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)", said Nuland after the meeting with Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic in Belgrade.

This is the first visit of an assistant secretary Nuland to the Balkans since she was appointed in September 2013 as well as the first visit of a high ranking U. S. official since the new government of Serbia was formed after March 16 elections.

On Sunday morning, before visiting Serbia she visited Pristina, capital of the Serbian southern province Kosovo, where ethnic Albanians unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008.

"The U. S. have a profound interest in the full normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo," said Nuland, adding that in Pristina she got assurances that they will be committed to negotiations as soon as the new government is formed.

She said that United States strongly supports economic reform plans of the Serbian government and emphasized that US wishes to deepen and broaden the joint work of the two countries on regional security issues, Euro Atlantic security issues and economic relationships.

Nuland said that among the topics of her conversation with Dacic were stability and development in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the crisis in Ukraine, where Serbia will have an essential role in creating stability when it takes over the chairmanship over the OSCE next year.

"We want to see an end to the flow of weapons and support for fighters across the border (between Russia and Ukraine), we want to see border security monitored by the OSCE, we want Russia to break from its separatists, we want those separatists to come back to the peace table and to a ceasefire", she said when answering a journalist question and concluded that US will judge Russia not by its words  but by its actions.

 

Serbia comes in from the cold with EU ambitions (CNBC, by Katy Barnato, 11 July 2014)

An international pariah at the end of the 20th century for its role in conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and Kosovo, Serbia has undergone a long rehabilitation to reach where it can approach the European Union (EU) for membership.

"Our main orientation and goal is to be part of the EU… that is very rational and reasonable," Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić told CNBC in Belgrade on Friday.

Vučić is symbolic of Serbia's rehabilitation into the West. During the breakup an war among states of the former Yugoslavia, he served as Minister of Information under President Slobodan Milošević, who was later charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

U-turn

However, now Vučić is a pro-European reformist steering Serbia's EU bid. In particular, he has led the way in normalizing relations with Kosovo—a key requirement for EU membership.

Vučić was rewarded at the start of this year, when Serbia was allowed to start accession negotiations. This means it is on route to membership—as long as reforms continue.

"All of Serbia is ready to join the EU," Serb agriculture tycoon Miodrag Kostić told CNBC on Friday.

"If you look at the map, it makes no sense that Serbia should be out of the EU and we will have much more benefit if we join as soon as possible."

This June, Vučić called on ethnic Serbs living in Kosovo to participate in its national elections, following years of encouragement by Belgrade to boycott them. His efforts were rewarded when tens of thousands of Kosovar Serbs turned out at the polls.

Difficulties materialized however when the election results proved inconclusive, with the outgoing prime minister narrowly failing to secure enough seats to hold power.

This ignited a row between the ruling party and the opposition over who should form the next government. This has been taken to Kosovo's constitutional court, where the debate is seen dragging on for months.

During this time, Kosovo will remain without a formal government. This is a big blow to Vučić, because stability in the Balkans is viewed as crucial to securing Serbia's accession. Its bid is unlikely to progress while Kosovo on its doorstep remains so unstable.

'Worse than hell'

Crunch time for the prime minister and his Serbian Progressive Party could be autumn, when a raft of public sector cuts come into effect, aimed at decreasing the country's sky-high deficit prior to joining the EU. Strict cuts are planned to the number of government employees and to wages and pensions. New privatization, bankruptcy, labor and construction laws are also slated.

"That is all going to come in with a bang potentially cause a lot of social tension," William Bartlett, an academic specializing in south-east Europe at the London School of Economics told CNBC.

"It will be bad news for Serbia if it is going to run into economic and social problems in autumn, but has no good news to offer on accession."

Vučić also saw problems ahead. "It is not an easy situation—we have been delaying all reforms for decades."

"Whenever you try do any kind of reforms in the Balkans—it doesn't matter whether that is Croatia, Bosnia or Serbia—it is going to be worse than hell…But I am absolutely dedicated."

Record flooding

Meanwhile, the country is grappling with the aftermath of this year's floods, which killed 60 people across Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia.

Preliminary estimates put the damage at $2 billion-$2.7 billion in Serbia. The agriculture sector, which accounts for about 10 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) was particularly badly hit, with most of the arable land in affected areas destroyed. These places also remain infested with mosquitoes, a problem which extends to a lesser degree all the way to Belgrade.

As an EU candidate country, Serbia can apply for financial aid from its Solidarity Fund. This helps member states which have suffered severe natural disasters, assuming the damage exceeds 0.64 percent of gross domestic product. In addition, the EU allocated 65 million euros ($88 million) in May to help the three countries affected.

 

Russia Follows 'Different Strategy' As Serbia Courts EU (RFE/RL, by Robert Coalson, 9 July 2014)

When it comes to European integration in its neighborhood, Russia has a clear double standard.

Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine have had to battle relentless opposition from Moscow every step of their path toward closer ties with Europe.

Meanwhile, Balkan countries like Macedonia, Montenegro -- and particularly Serbia -- have largely been left to pursue closer relations with the European Union, including possible membership, in peace.

The harsh approach toward the former Soviet countries that Russia historically dominated and the softer line for the kindred Slavic lands of the Balkans is rooted in a deeper strategy aimed at increasing Moscow's influence within the EU, analysts say.

"Russia has very different strategies when it comes to their former fellow republics in the Soviet Union -- this is part of their previous sphere of influence," says Dmitar Bechev, director of the Sofia office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). "The Balkans are a level up [from that]. I think it is a foregone conclusion that one way or another [Balkan countries] will be integrated into the EU. But, having said that, Russia looks at the EU as a set of countries and so it sees an opportunity to have more members who are friendly."

The Kremlin's "Trojan horse" strategy was on full display when Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic visited Moscow for two days of talks on July 7-8. Belgrade, Vucic said, was bent on EU membership but also did not intend to "damage its good, friendly relations with Russia."

Working From The Inside

Serbia has made dramatic strides toward the EU, signing an Association Agreement in 2008 and becoming a candidate for membership in 2012. At the same time, Moscow has augmented its considerable influence in the country.

When Vucic was forming his new government earlier this year, Moscow lobbied hard and successfully to have outgoing Prime Minister Ivica Dacic -- considered one of Serbia's most pro-Russia politicians -- given a powerful post. He was named deputy prime minister.

In an interview with ITAR-TASS on the eve of Vucic's visit to Moscow, Russian Ambassador to Belgrade Aleksandr Chepurin noted that Gazprom's oil refinery in the Serbian city of Novi Sad alone accounted for 14 percent of Belgrade's budget revenues.

The Balkan region is essential to Russia as an energy-transit corridor hosting the South Stream natural-gas pipeline. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is touring the region this week, launching his trip with a visit to Sofia for talks focused on South Stream. Vucic said in Moscow that he expected an agreement on the Serbian portion of the project to be signed "soon."

Belgrade-based analyst Boris Varga says Belgrade remains dependent on economic support from Moscow, support the Kremlin "is not willing to offer without political concessions."

This is why the ECFR's Bechev believes Moscow does not object to Serbia's European ambitions. "The rule of law and the attitudes of the elites [in Serbia] are not up to what you might call European standards," he says. "In other words, obviously Russia has a lot of influence to wield -- they can call people, they can bribe people, and they can build influence from within. So that's why I don't think Russia will object at any point to EU enlargement [in the Balkans]. On the contrary, they will embrace enlargement to the Balkans, and it has embraced enlargement to the Balkans as an opportunity to build its influence inside the union."

Bechev notes that Moscow has long been building its influence within the EU, through other "Trojan horses" like Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Greece, as well as by building up pro-Moscow lobbies in critical EU countries like Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

Will Belgrade Have To Choose?

But Moscow is also keeping its options open and is poised to scuttle Belgrade's EU ambitions should the need arise.

Jelena Milic, director of the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies in Belgrade, notes that Serbia's potential EU membership is still a decade away and that Moscow cannot count on Belgrade's reliability that long. "My thesis is that the whole thing is much too long-term and that the Russians will actually want to stop the process of Serbia's European integration," she says. "It won't wait for Serbia to squeeze into the EU to be used as a Trojan horse, but will stop the process beforehand."

Milic says Moscow is already covertly funding "anti-EU structures" in the Balkans, including university programs, nongovernmental organizations, and political parties with the aim of reducing public support in Serbia for European integration.

Meanwhile, the crisis in Ukraine has tested Belgrade's policy of pursuing good relations with both Moscow and the EU.

Serbia has not joined EU sanctions against Russia over the situation and has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin's public initiatives for resolving the violence in eastern Ukraine. At the same time, it has endorsed EU statements supporting Ukraine's territorial integrity, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea that Russia annexed in March.

This dilemma will become sharper next year when Serbia takes over the rotating chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the main international organization tasked with regulating the Ukraine crisis and frozen conflicts throughout the former Soviet Union.

Dusan Lazic, a former Serbian ambassador to Ukraine, says the crisis there is already "one of the most controversial international topics" in Serbia. "And we are going to be in a situation where we will be coordinating the work of OSCE while trying to find solutions that are acceptable to the East and the West," he says. "That is not something easy to achieve, because the Russian side will try to bring its position to the fore. The Serbian OSCE chairmanship will be a huge challenge for our policy and for our relations with other countries."

Lazic concludes, "It will not be easy at all to coordinate all that and to bring all the positions and interests together."

Editor's note: 

RFE/RL Balkan Service correspondents Milos Teodorovic, Branka Mihajlovic, and Ljudmila Cvetkovic contributed to this report from Belgrade.

 

Serbia Rattled by Turkish PM’s Bosnia ‘Threat’ (BIRN, 14 July 2014)

The Serbian prime minister called urgent meetings after media reported claims that Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that anyone who dares upset Bosniaks will have to face 100 million Turks.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic is due to hold meetings with the Turkish ambassador to Serbia and the President of Bosnia’s Serb entity Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik on Monday to discuss Erdogan’s alleged comments.

Erdogan was reported to have told an election campaign rally that Turkey would take action if Bosniaks were threatened in any way.

“This is the reason why it should not come as a surprise if a Turkish war ship sailed in to Neum [a Bosnian port in on the Adriatic coast], because this is a sign of support for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s sovereignty,” Croatian newspaper Vecernji List quoted him as saying on Sunday.

The Turkish ambassadors in Sarajevo and Belgrade denied that Erdogan had made any such statement.

But the Serbian government warned that it could be a threat to regional stability.

“Serbia has always been committed to peace and stability and will remain such in the future as well, and will not allow others to destroy what western Balkan countries and nations have created in the past decade,” the government said a statement.

Republika Srpska President Dodik said on Sunday meanwhile that Erdogan's statement constituted a "threat" by Turkey to interfere in the internal affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Dodik said that it "encourages Bosniak political parties to be even more agile and aggressive against others in Bosnia".

 

Serbia Apologised for the Bombing of Dubrovnik (Euinside, by Adelina Marini, 12 July 2014)
It is great that we have all gathered here in Dubrovnik - bombed and destroyed during the war, which Serbia absolutely condemns. Hardly someone expected to hear precisely this during the ninth consecutive Croatia Forum, dedicated this year to the European integration of the Western Balkans and precisely from a Serbian official. The words belong to the first deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic, uttered during the round table in the end of the forum when elected officials discussed the situation in the Balkans with experts and analysts. And although it was surprising, Mr Dacic's statement was a logical finale of an event during which everyone were unusually open and blunt.

Asked by euinside whether this was the crown achievement of this very successful forum, Croatia's first deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Vesna Pusic was reserved and said she welcomed the statement but pointed out that it definitely is not a crown achievement. The time of apologies is over but this statement shows how dramatically relations have changed in the region.

 

Macedonia’s Albanian Opposition Demands Ethnic Rights Boost (BIRN, Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 14 July 2014)
An ethnic Albanian opposition party said it would support the Macedonian government’s proposed constitutional changes only if Albanians are granted more cultural and political rights.

The Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, said it will file amendments to the proposed constitutional changes in a bid to ensure greater use of the Albanian language and national symbols in the country.

The DPA said it would make its case at the start of the parliamentary session on government’s constitutional changes on Tuesday.

The party controls seven MPs in the 123-seat parliament, and its support may prove key for the government package.

It also said that it would seek ‘consensual’ decision-making on all topics in parliament, meaning that Albanian parties must approve any decision before it is adopted.

They also say they will demand that the national budget be divided up on ethnic lines, with Albanians, who make up a quarter of Macedonia’s 2.1 million population, getting a proportional share of funds.

The DPA believes that the ruling VMRO DPMNE party and its ethnic Albanian coalition partner, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, the biggest Albanian political party in Macedonia, are failing to tackle ethnic issues properly.
“From what the government has proposed, it is obvious that the government partners have decided to stay away from inter-ethic issues. We are against this so that is why we will file additional amendments and our support of the entire package will depend on it,” a well-informed DPA member told Balkan Insight under condition of anonymity.

The government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski recently filed a set of eight proposed changes to parliament, which it said would “greatly improve” the country’s constitution.
The most controversial was a change aimed at ruling out same-sex marriage and gay adoption by defining marriage strictly as a union of one man and one woman.
Also proposed is a change to the Court’s Council, a body that appoints judges, removing the Justice Minister as a way of reducing the political influence in courts.
Another change aims to introduce a so-called ‘constitutional complaint’ which people or institutions can file against the authorities.
But in order to pass, the government motion needs the support from two-thirds of MPs. The ruling coalition is close to controlling two-thirds of parliament, but cannot pass the changes alone, so may need the DPA’s votes.

The biggest constitutional changes improving Albanian rights happened after the 2001 armed conflict between ethnic Albanian insurgents and the security forces. Provisions guaranteeing proportional representation of Albanians in the administration, army and the police were agreed after both sides ended hostilities and signed a peace deal.

Albanians also got the right to official use of their flag and language in areas where they make up a considerable part of the population.

Renata Deskovska, a law professor at the Skopje state university and former opposition legislator, argued meanwhile that making constitutional changes at a time when almost the entire opposition is boycotting parliament was problematic.

“We need political and social consensus as well as an expert debate before we launch constitutional changes. These individuals who pose as oppositionists in the parliament have no capacity to give legitimacy to the constitutional changes,” Deskovska said.

After April’s early general and presidential elections, the opposition led by the Social Democrats, SDSM, refused to take up seats in parliament, accusing Gruevski and his VMRO DPMNE party of electoral fraud.

Talks aimed at ending the crisis were launched last month but there have been no new developments since then. The government is rejecting the key opposition demand for a formation of a caretaker government that would stage fresh elections.