091213

Odalovic: We will request Pristina to open archives of so-called KLA (Radio Serbia)

The Chairman of the Serbian Government Commission for Missing Persons Veljko Odalovic has stated that this commission will request next week the Pristina authorities to open the archives of the so-called KLA in Skopje since this data could shed light on the fate of several hundreds of missing persons from the region of Kosovo and Metohija. At a platform of the Association of Families of Kidnapped and Murdered in Kosovo and Metohija dubbed “Do we have the right to truth and freedom,” Odalovic said the Commission representatives had recently learned about the existence of an archive of the so-called KLA in Skopje and that they have been unsuccessfully trying to inspect this documentation. According to the Commission’s data, around 1750 people in Kosovo and Metohija are still registered as missing.

 

Serbian political scene (Radio Serbia)

The local elections in Kosovo and Metohija have brought what was expected – the conditions to form the Union of Serb Municipalities. However, they also lead to something that was unwished for in Belgrade, but in the situation like that in Kosovo it was imminent – the confrontations within the Serb community. How much damage it inflicted is yet to be seen, so the first thing that must be done is to reinstate trust among the Serbs and get them together on the same page.

As it seems, we will finally see a party replacing its own staff from the managing positions, being dissatisfied with their work. A few days ago, the leader of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) Aleksandar Vucic gave such a promise at a pre-election rally. The opposition objects that the announced “filtration” is in the function of strengthening the position of the SNS prior to the forthcoming local elections in the Vozdovac municipality of Belgrade. It is possible, but the fact remains that this kind of move was a rare occurrence in these areas, and the message that the “untouchable” party managers are replaceable after all.

The parties and coalitions that have submitted their lists for the elections in Vozdovac are preparing the “heavy artillery”. It puts the highest party officials in the field, in the town sections and quarters, sometimes even in local markets, where they have never been before probably. In such gatherings there is not much talk about local problems, so it raises the question who are the citizens voting for – the party leaders, whose job is the global policy; or local candidates, who offer concrete solutions to daily problems? Certain analysts believe that it is the leaders who actually win the local elections, and not the suggested candidates, so it is the main cause of the weak personnel solutions in those environments.

The new round of the dialogue between Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and his Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaqi, under the auspices of the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, which discussed the police and judiciary in Kosovo and Metohija, has been assessed as a step forward in the implementation of the Brussels agreement. Dacic has pointed that the structure of the employees in the police service should reflect the ethnic structure within the municipalities in the province. He specified that the process of candidates applying for the police service should start in the following few days. The Serbian Prime Minister added that the issue of forming a first-degree court in Kosovska Mitrovica had been left opened. The EU High Representative has underlined after the meeting that general progress has been achieved, with regards to the future functioning of the police, as well as other aspects of the realization of the agreement on the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations.

 

Berlin hampers start of accession talks (Novosti)

Expectations that the accession talks for EU membership could commence at the end of the year are further away, while January is becoming a more certain deadline for organizing the first inter-governmental conference, whereby the negotiations will commence officially. Many European capitals had sent signals that Belgrade fulfilled the requested and that they should not wait any more. However, Germany is not easing. The government would have somehow perhaps agreed, along with additional results in the dialogue, for negotiations to commence without any time delay, but, as usual, the Bundestag has reserves. “Germany welcomed the successful holding of the local elections throughout Kosovo as an important and courageous step towards normalization. These elections are the key element in implementing the 19 April agreement on normalization. Integration into the Kosovo state of Serbian parallel structures that refer to the security and judicial sector are one more key aspect,” the spokesperson of the German Foreign Ministry told Novosti. Along with Berlin, London is another European capital that is voicing certain reserves when it comes to the content of the negotiating framework and the start date for negotiations and also requests additional results in the dialogue. “We welcome the progress reached by Serbia in implementing the agreement reached in the dialogue with Kosovo, facilitated by the EU. We also welcome the largely successful holding of local elections in Kosovo, with higher turnout in some municipalities than ever before. We expect further positive engagement in the following days, including further implementation of agreements reached in the dialogue. Based on this further progress, we hope that Serbia will commence the accession negotiations with the EU in January 2014 at the latest, as agreed at the council in June,” the spokesperson of the British Foreign Office told Novosti.

 

Bosic: RS wants changes (Novosti)

“Most of the citizens of the Republika Srpska (RS) are dissatisfied with the present situation. The authorities have not fulfilled any of the promised things, while unemployment, indebtedness, crime and poverty are increasing every day. We are convinced in victory at the next elections, because everybody knows that there will be no changes if Milorad Dodik remains the RS President,” the leader of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) Mladen Bosic tells Novosti in an interview. “The citizens in the RS will have a simple choice between two blocs – the bloc for keeping the present state and the bloc that considers that fundamental changes should be conducted in the RS. In the end, all that will come down to voting for and against Dodik,” opines Bosic.

The authorities are nevertheless convinced that the RS is stable and prosperous?

“This is not true. In the RS there are a handful of privileged and super rich people gathered around the current government and a vast majority that lives on the verge of poverty. Pensions here are at the lowest level in the region, they are even higher in the B&H Federation, while Dodik persistently tells the people that they have a good life and that they should not trust their eyes and stomachs. That is why the top patriotic act now is to make from the RS a more just and better society. We see that as an historic mission of the SDS.”

With what party in Serbia does the SDS has best relations?

“We have had good relations with the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) even before they came to power, and it is the same at present. We cooperated more firmly with Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) in the past, but these ties are present today as well.”

Do you support Belgrade’s official policy towards the RS and B&H?

“Belgrade’s policy is not to interfere directly in relations in B&H, but it remains a firm guarantor of Dayton. That is a correct policy, compared to the past times when it represented taking photos of Dodik and Tadic without any real effects. Cooperation can improve in all spheres and I believe this will happen in the future.”

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic “froze” his participation in the trilateral talks of Serbia, Turkey and B&H. Do you support this stand?

“Tadic carelessly drew Serbia into these trilateral talks and now we have consequences. Turkey has never hidden its neo-Ottoman goals and open support to the Bosniak policy. The question is posed where Serbia’s interest could be in this.”

What is your position on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija?

“The issue of Kosovo and Metohija has been Serbia’s most painful problem for many decades now. Serbia has been brought to a wall, primarily with the behavior of the Western powers that had openly supported the interests of Albanians. All that has brought to a new exodus of the Serb population and the issue of survival in Kosovo and Metohija has come down to the formation of the Union of Serb Municipalities in the north. That is a sad, but realistic image of a decade-long process that any government would have a difficult time changing now.”

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Lagumdzija: Abuse of the essence of the Sejdic-Finci decission (Srna)
SDP leader Zlatko Lagumdzija said that there are still attempts by certain entities to abuse the substance of the Sejdic –Finci decision, dealing exclusively with matters that are not its subject.
There are people who consciously or unconsciously obstruct the process and tend to get us tired so we would give up on this, Lagumdzija said at the meeting with representatives of the European Commission. According to him, at the meeting in Sarajevo a recapitulation of previous conversations was made, and also of new proposals that have emerged in recent days and which caught us all. Recalling that the SDP B&H will never accept solutions that aim at further disintegration and drawing of new maps, he said that those are some of the solutions that had already been rejected in Prague. Lagumdzija added that he hopes that the next steps forward of the HDZ leader Dragan Covic in the negotiations will go more towards a solution, and less to maintain “status quo” or creating a “new chaos.” “I’m glad to see that no representatives of the EU are tired and are ready to look for a solution. For SDP B&H it is acceptable that the European Commission offers a modality of a solution that will respect European standards and principles in the implementation of Sejdic-Finci decision, and for all players to vote on the offered solution,” Lagumdzija concluded. The EU delegation, which met with Lagumdzija included Jana Sindelkova, envoy of the EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, and EU Special Representative in B&H Peter Sorensen.

 

Representative of the UN General Secretary for Western Balkans Expressed Support for Activities of Ministry of Defense and B&H Armed Forces (Sarajevo Times/Fena)

The Minister of Defense of B&H Zekerijah Osmić and the Deputy Minister of Defense for Policy and Planning Marina Pendeš with their closest associates had a meeting with a delegation of the UN led by representative of General Secretary of UN for Political Affairs in the Western Balkans Peter Due.

The process of B&H for EU integration, participation of B&H Armed Forces in peacekeeping operations, regional cooperation and fulfillment of international obligations as an integral part of the integration process were the topics of conversation. Osmić expressed his gratitude for the assistance that the UN provides to the Ministry of Defense and Armed forces, mainly through UNDP projects related to the destruction of surplus weapons and ammunition and to increase safety stocks.

Representative of General Secretary of UN for Political Affairs for the Western Balkans Peter Due thanked them for the reception and expressed the UN’s interest for participation of “experienced and quality members of B&H Armed Forces to UN operations”. Due expressed his intention to organize a Regional meeting on the topic -participation to the peace support operations, announced the Office for Public Relations of B&H Ministry of Defense.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Brussels Gets it Wrong on Balkan Asylum Seekers (BIRN, by Alexandra Stiglmayer, 6 December 2013)

The EU’s new ‘suspension clause’ is the latest in a series of misguided measures that will not resolve the problem of the flow of Balkan asylum seekers.

On December 5, EU interior ministers adopted the much feared “suspension clause”. It will now become effective in a few weeks, allowing the EU to suspend visa-free travel with a third country in a fast-track procedure if there is a surge in unfounded asylum claims. Citizens and officials in Western Balkan countries are concerned that it might be used against them. This would be a huge mistake and continue a misguided policy.

Since the EU abolished visa requirements for their citizens in 2009 and 2010, the number of asylum seekers from Serbia and Macedonia, but also from Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro, has more than quadrupled. The applications are overwhelmingly rejected – in 2012, only 2.2 per cent of claimants were granted international protection in the EU.

However, the economic crisis has bit and the benefits for asylum seekers, from accommodation and food to medical care and cash payments, are compelling - in particular if the asylum procedure lasts several months. During this time, many asylum seekers also work on the black market and save money for the time back home after their claim is rejected.

The number of Western Balkan asylum seekers is not dropping: there were more than 37,000 applications during the first ten months of 2013. The number of applications last year, which was the year with the highest number ever, was 43,000. This year may set a new record. So, will the suspension clause be used?

There is hope that this will not be the case. Unofficially, EU government officials admit that it would seriously damage relations with Western Balkan governments and undermine the region’s EU integration process.

There is also hope that some EU member states are finally realising that the best remedy is to shorten the asylum procedure for Western Balkan citizens. The new government in Germany, the country that has received most applications from Western Balkan citizens, has announced that it will declare several Western Balkan states “safe countries of origin”, streamlining the asylum procedure.

More EU member states need to follow Germany’s example. It would be best if the Western Balkan countries are declared “safe countries of origin” at the EU level. As part of the visa liberalisation process, the Western Balkan governments had to put in place anti-discrimination and minority policies whose implementation the European Commission continues to monitor. By and large, they are safe countries for their citizens. Claimants must still have the opportunity to explain in a full interview why they are asking for asylum, but they can be prioritised and the decision-making can be accelerated.

In addition, the discourse on the issue has to change. It must move away from putting the responsibility for resolving the problem on Western Balkan and threatening them with a re-introduction of the visa requirement, which the suspension clause will now make easier. The governments simply cannot do it unless they violate the human rights of their citizens. Recently, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights has criticised them severely - for carrying out measures that the EU has demanded from them.

Since the beginning of the “asylum seekers’ crisis” in 2010, it has been evident that the Western Balkan claimants target EU countries where the procedure lasts longest – from some three to 10 months at that time: Germany, Sweden and Belgium. Countries with comparable systems but shorter procedures, such as Austria, France and the Netherlands, did not register significant increases. They resolved claims in one to four weeks. In Austria and France, the Western Balkan states were on national lists of safe countries of origin, and the Netherlands has an efficient system for certain categories of claimants.

There is also evidence that shortening the procedure leads to a fall in numbers of claims. At the end of last year, Germany brought the length of the asylum procedure for Western Balkan citizens from three months down to nine days. The number of claimants dropped from 6,600 in October 2012 to 3,400 in November and 1,000 in December 2012. The German asylum office could not sustain this effort due to a lack of personnel – it was done at the expense of other claimants who were kept waiting - so the length of the procedure for Western Balkan citizens and numbers of claimants started rising again in 2013. The new government coalition has now promised more resources. If Germany succeeds in shortening the procedure and thus reducing claims, it will have an EU-wide effect: so far, 20,000 of the 37,000 claims submitted in the EU in 2013, were filed in Germany.

The example of Switzerland, a non-EU Schengen country, proves that this is the right approach. In August 2012, it reduced the length of the procedure for Western Balkan citizens from three to four months to a few days. In August 2012, the number of Western Balkan claims was 780. In 2013, it has been on average 70 per month.

The reverse is also true: in March 2012, a court decision forced France to take Albania off its safe list of countries. As a result, the length of the procedure for Albanians jumped to six months and there were better benefits. While in previous years France recorded around 500 Albanian claims per year, the number went up to 2,700 in 2013 and could reach 4,000 this year.

However, none of this has played much of a role in the EU discussions of the problem. The responsibility for reducing the number of unfounded asylum claims has been put on Western Balkan governments. “As Commissioner Malmstrom said many times: visa liberalisation for the Western Balkans is a great achievement, a great freedom,” declared the European Commission’s spokesman for home affairs last year. “But it comes with huge responsibilities. It is more than time now for these countries, their authorities and their citizens, to prove they can handle this huge responsibility.”

In its four “post-visa liberalisation monitoring reports”, which the European Commission has issued since 2011, it has suggested to Western Balkan governments a set of measures, which the counties have carried out, fearful of a reintroduction of the visa requirement. However, most of them are pointless or ineffective – such as information campaigns, investigation of bus companies, close cooperation with the EU and neighbouring countries. The problem is that the asylum seekers have all the information they need, and it is not illegal to transport people to the EU who are entitled to enter it without a visa.

The Commission has also demanded that Western Balkan governments increase assistance to Roma, since they make up the bulk of the asylum seekers. This is necessary. However, improving the living conditions for Roma is a long-term solution to a challenging problem. Balkan Roma are underprivileged communities with entrenched social problems that are genuinely difficult to address. Cash-strapped Western Balkan governments can do little to prevent their Roma in the next few months or years from seeking temporary shelter in the EU and earning a few euros (or Swedish krona) on the black market.

The most contentious recommended measure is “exit controls”. Complying with it, Western Balkan governments have prevented tens of thousands of potential asylum seekers from leaving their home countries. However, this violates the right to leave one’s country and to seek asylum in another country, according to the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, Nils Muiznieks. “The situation is of particular concern,” his report of 6 November 2013 reads, “given that these restrictive, migration-related measures have been adopted at the instigation of EU member states in pursuance of their immigration and border control policies, and have been tainted by discrimination as they have targeted and affected, in practice, the Roma.”

So, it is a no-win situation for Western Balkan governments – either they do what EU member states tell them to do and violate human rights, or they do not do it and face the reintroduction of the visa requirement.

If it did not involve serious matters, the situation would be ironic - even more so as there is a solution that is fair and effective: to shorten the asylum procedure, while still giving each claimant the opportunity to explain why he or she thinks that they deserve asylum. This is an effective and fair approach to resolve the issue of unfounded asylum claims from Western Balkan citizens and to refocus on what visa-free travel has achieved: more contacts and travel between the Western Balkans and the EU, and for the Western Balkan citizens the feeling that they belong to Europe.

Alexandra Stiglmayer is a Senior Analyst and Editor with the European Stability Initiative. She has led the Schengen White List Project and followed visa-liberalisation for the Western Balkans since 2008.

 

Serbia police detain hundreds in massive anti-drug sweep (AP, 6 December 2013)

BELGRADE, Serbia – Serbian police say they have detained hundreds of people in a massive sweep against drug traffickers throughout the Balkan country.

Senior official Milorad Veljovic says police on Friday searched more than 900 locations and seized various drugs, weapons and ammunition. Veljovic says soccer hooligans and extremists are among those arrested.

Serbia and other Balkan countries are considered to be one of the key transit routes for drug smuggling to Western Europe. Organized crime soared in the region following the wars of the 1990s.

Veljovic says at least 250 people will face criminal charges.

 

Macedonian Progress on Rights Modest, Ombudsman Says (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 9 December 2013)

Macedonia made only modest progress towards greater respect for human rights, the state Ombudsman admitted ahead of December 10, international Human Rights Day.

Macedonian Ombudsman Ixhet Memeti said progress towards greater respect for human rights had fallen short of expectations in 2013.
“It is worrying that this year we again notice a trend towards postponement of court procedures [in human rights cases], which hampers access to justice,” Memeti said in an interview for MIA.
However, he was encouraged that this year people filed a record number of complaints about breaches of rights to his office, which he said showed an increased awareness of this issue in society.
Speaking about conditions in prisons and detention facilities, a regular subject of criticism from local and international watchdogs, and the European Union, the Ombudsman noted a slight improvement.
Overcrowded prison cells remained one of the main problems, he said.
“Although the authorities have opened a new prison in Kumanovo, and have taken some steps to improve conditions in prisons elsewhere, overcrowdedness is still worsening conditions, violating the rights of incarcerated persons,” he said.
Memeti added that, in this respect, Macedonia still does not meet the international standard of allowing each prisoner at least 4 square meters of space in a cell - and not having more than five prisoners per cell on average.
The Ombudsman said this year also saw new cases of detainees being held for far too long in pre-trial detention. “The need for a trial within a reasonable period is still pronounced,” he said.
December 10 is marked across the world as Human Rights Day, honoring the UN General Assembly's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.

 

Croat nationalists seek referendum to curb Serb minority rights regarding language (AP, 6 December 2013)

ZAGREB, Croatia - Nationalists in Croatia said Friday they are seeking to curb the rights of minorities to have their language used in official documents and signs in the towns where they live.

Currently, minorities have this privilege in areas where they make up at least 30 per cent of the population. Croatia's liberal government has said no change is needed, insisting that the existing law complies with standards of the European Union, which Croatia joined in July.

Nationalists in the eastern town of Vukovar, the hardest hit area during the Serb-Croat war in the 1990s, have pulled down official signs there that were written in both the Latin alphabet of Croats and the Cyrillic one of Serbs.

On Friday, the nationalists said they have collected the 650,000 signatures required for a national referendum proposing to change the law so that a minority would have to make up at least 50 per cent of a town population to have that language privilege.

Serb leader Milorad Pupovac warned that the initiative already has fueled ethnic tensions stemming from the 1991-95 war. He said, "Unless steps are taken to stop this, tensions and conflicts will go on."

Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic has said minority rights cannot be questioned in a referendum.

More than 10,000 people died during the Croatian war, which erupted when the country declared independence from Yugoslavia and minority Serbs rebelled against the decision.

Since becoming an EU member, Croatia has seen a strengthening of nationalist and conservative groups, largely fueled by joblessness and economic hardship.

 

Djukanovic Pays Landmark Visit to Serbia (BIRN, 9 December 2013)

Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic is to make his first official visit to Serbia in a decade with a view to improving the previously tetchy relations between the two neighbours.

Djukanovic arrives in Belgrade on Monday for his first official visit to Serbia since Montenegro regained independence in 2006.
The last time that he paid a visit to Belgrade was in 2003, to attend the funeral of slain Serbian premier Zoran Djindjic, when both countries were still loosely united in a single state.

Relations then soured over repeated Montenegrin allegations that Serbia was meddling in its former Yugoslav neighbour’s internal affairs after Podgorica declared independence.

Ahead of his visit, Djukanovic told Montenegrin media that relations between Montenegro and Serbia were now “brotherly”.

But he added that the neighbouring countries should each follow their own mutual interests.

"It is best that both countries take responsibility for their own development and future," he said.

Djukanovic will meet with his Serbian counterpart Ivica Dacic, as well as the leader of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, Aleksandar Vucic, and parliamentary speaker Nebojsa Stefanovic.
During his stay, the two countries are to finalise several agreements discussed during Dacic’s visit to Montenegro in September.
The two premiers then agreed that railway and highway links between Serbia and Montenegro needed improvement.
They also said both countries should work jointly on projects aimed at attracting foreign investment.
Serbia and Montenegro are already implementing several agreements, such as joint applications for EU funds for roads and railways. They are also sharing information on EU integration.
However, Dacic and Djukanovic failed to agree on the question of dual citizenship. According to Dacic, they took opposing positions on the issue.
Belgrade was willing to allow dual citizenship but Podgorica said that applicants had to renounce any previous citizenship in order to obtain a Montenegrin passport, Dacic said.