LOCAL PRESS

 

Merkel invites Vucic to visit Germany in January (Tanjug)

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday invited Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to visit Berlin in January and he accepted the invitation with pleasure, the President’s office said in a statement following his phone conversation with Merkel. They discussed bilateral relations and the situation in the region. In a long, friendly conversation, they expressed satisfaction with constant progress of the political dialogue and economic cooperation between Serbia and Germany. Vucic thanked Merkel for Germany’s continued support for Serbia’s European integration, especially considering the German EU presidency in the second half of next year.

At the same time, he expressed a need for a clear plan of EU enlargement and a timeframe for joining the union and said European integration in the Western Balkans was significant for peace and stability in the region. He noted Serbia would continue to promote a policy of peace and cooperation with the same goal - regional stability. Commenting on possibilities for continuing the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Vucic said it would be important if Germany and Europe stood by the stance that Pristina authorities must lift their taxes on goods from central Serbia for the dialogue to be continued. He also noted Serbia was fully committed to the EU-facilitated dialogue in order to secure stability in the region by reaching a compromise, mutually acceptable solution.

 

Obradovic: Crimea is undoubtedly part of Russia, like Kosovo is part of Serbia (Beta)

 

The delegation of the Dveri Movement hosted the delegation of Russia in the Serbian parliament and the message from the meeting was that Crimea is a part of Russia, like Kosovo is a part of Serbia. According to the statement, the leader of Dveri Bosko Obradovic assessed during the meeting that Europe did not need a conflict, but partnership with Russia. “Europe has no interest in confronting Russia. On the contrary, there is a number of topics where close cooperation is possible, especially in the spheres of economy and energy, which is nowadays recognized by numerous European politicians and business people, who advocate the ending of sanctions against Russia,” Obradovic stated. He declared the full support to the territorial integrity of Russia, because there is no doubt that Crimea is a part of Russia, like Kosovo is a part of Serbia.

The Russian delegation includes the deputy president of the Russian Duma Committee for Foreign Affairs Natalya Poklonska, and the deputy head of the Council of Ministers of Crimea and permanent representative of the Russian president for Crimea Georgy Muradov. Muradov stressed that the support of Dveri to the status of Crimea, as a part of Russia, is important. Muradov stated that the reason for their visit was the first international conference about the recognition of the right of the people of Crimea to return to Russia, to be held at the Russian Club in Belgrade on 6 December. Several delegates from Serbia, Russia and the whole of Europe have announced that they would attend the conference.

 

Djilas to Weber: Mr. Weber, do you have any idea what country you were visiting? (Beta)

 

The president of the Party of Freedom and Justice and one of the leaders of the Alliance for Serbia  Dragan Djilas sent an open letter to Chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament (EP) Manfred Weber, who had just finished his two-day visit to Serbia with the EP delegation, asking him if had any idea what country he was visiting. “It was with great disbelief that a vast number of Serbia citizens listened to your statements on how much Aleksandar Vucic and you share in terms of values and ideas of fighting for the independence of institutions, the rule of law, and free media. Especially given that you are one of those notable leaders of EPP, who voted, out of principle and conviction, to suspend Victor Orban’s Fidesz from the EPP,” Djilas wrote. “For this reason,” added Djilas, “many of us were shocked to hear your statement, three days after Aleksandar Vucic had said that the only independent newspaper and one of the three free weekly magazines are plotting his assassination. They conspire to kill him all because of one photo and a caricature they’ve published.” “Do you really share the values such as the fight for the freedom of media with a man who has made such a statement? With a man who has organized the most gruesome campaign against journalists and caricaturists, against the opposition, a campaign that involves all ruling party’s officials, the prime minister, and the members of the Cabinet…. A campaign that was promoted and supported by all commercial TV stations with national reach and all the daily so-called newspapers,” he asked.

He also asked Weber if he was aware of the fact that “this campaign also put the lives of both daily Danas and weekly NIN’s journalists in danger, as well as all other professional journalists still working in Serbia. Is this the vision of the fight for the freedom of media you, together with Vucic, advocate?” “You spoke also of values, such as human rights, independency of institutions and the rule of law, while the man who came forward about the incredible crime in the Krusik arms factory, which implicates the very top of the Serbian Progressive Party, has been in jail and under house arrest for the last two months,” stressed Djilas. Djilas also asked Weber to explain “what kind of economic growth and good program that would stop the exodus in Serbia are we talking about when last year, according to official records, over 50,000 people left Serbia and when in reality this number is probably twice as high?” “Such statements mock all those who had to leave, every father and mother who had to say goodbye to their child, every grandmother and grandfather who will be in touch with their grandchildren only through Skype and Viber,” Djilas wrote. “I have to ask you if you, Mr. Weber, have any idea what country you have just visited? Do you know that it is the country for which the European Commission adopted a very negative report for the past year, a country that the Human Rights Watch deemed un-free,” Djilas further asked. Djilas also said that he, much like many of Serbia’s citizens, is eager to hear Mr. Weber’s responses to these publicly asked questions. “For, if you claim that that what Vucic is doing is in accord with EU values, then I, fighting for Serbia in the EU,  have for the past 30 years lived in an illusion,” Djilas concluded in his open letter to Weber.

 

Godfrey: If Serbian government wants legitimacy, it must secure fair elections (Juzne Vesti/Beta)

 

The US Ambassador to Serbia Anthony Godfrey stated that the US was concerned about the conditions under which the election in Serbia would be held, assessing that a government that aspired to consider itself legitimate had to secure a fair election. In a video interview to the Juzne Vesti daily from Nis, Godfrey said that an election boycott was neither fair, nor productive. My opinion is that an election boycott strips many voters of the possibility to express their opinion. I think it is unfair and unproductive. I would prefer it if politicians had the opportunity to freely express their opinion through participating in TV shows, in order to directly present their goals for Serbia to the voters, so that the voters can make the right decision, Godfrey said. Godfrey assessed that it was inappropriate for the US Ambassador or a foreign embassy to mediate in the dialogue about elections, because the role of the international community is not to be a political player in Serbia. That is the role of the politicians, he added.

However, the Ambassador did say that the US was concerned about the conditions under which the election would be held, and that it had conveyed that stance to the Serbian government and to those in charge, who have the possibility to change those conditions.

 

Lajcak’s appeal (Tanjug/B92)

 

OSCE Chairman-in-Office Miroslav Lajcak made an appeal at the beginning of the 26th Ministerial Council calling for greater willingness to compromise. In his informal Bratislava Appeal initiative, Lajcak indicated that the decision-making process today should be based on compromise and at the same time called for increased flexibility and willingness to make concessions. “This appeal is neither new nor radical. What I am saying is very simple - that this organization is worth fighting for it,” Lajcak said, according to an OSCE statement. The OSCE, he added, has strong principles and commitment that, if implemented, can ensure security in the region. It also has vital traditional and new mechanisms and resources at its disposal. “We don’t have to create anything new, just to take advantage of what exists. And the best way to do this is to move away from a zero-sum game in diplomacy, based on our own political goals, in the direction of dialogue that can lead to compromise. “Failure to do so will be a failure for all of us,” he said. He said it is good that more and more leaders are talking on a daily basis about supporting multilateralism, noting that words should be followed by tangible actions. “Investing in the OSCE - whether political or financial - is one way to do this. We must ensure that this unique dialogue platform has the best possible chance of finding solutions that can make a difference in people's lives,” Lajcak concluded.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

B&H HoR appoints SNSD’s Tegeltija as B&H CoM Chairman (BHT1)

 

During Thursday’s urgent session of the B&H House of Representatives (B&H HoR) Zoran Tegeltija (SNSD) was appointed to the post of a new Chairman of the B&H Council of Ministers (B&H CoM). He received support of 28 representatives, eight voted against his appointment, while two MPs abstained from voting. After presenting his exposé on the future B&H CoM work, Tegeltija received many questions from the lawmakers. Tegeltija said, during the exposé, that he is fully committed to respecting the Constitution of B&H and that he supports the continuation of the reform process in B&H, in light of the country’s progress on the EU path. Priorities of the B&H CoM’s work, he said, would be: improvement of economy; reform of the public administration; strengthening of the rule of law; social and economic reforms; the migrant crisis; problems of young people; and cooperation with international institutions. He said that these were some guidelines for the initial work of the B&H CoM, while his full program of work will be published right after appointment of the state ministers and their deputies. He emphasized the importance of unblocking the work of the B&H CoM, the B&H parliament, as well as adoption of the state budget. Most of the questions he received came from the opposition MPs. They asked him if he will work on the Program of Reforms of B&H, even if that means that this Program stipulates the activation of the Membership Action Plan (MAP) for the NATO membership. The opposition wanted to know why Tegeltija avoided talking about the Election Law of B&H and if he really loves B&H as his country. Talking about the NATO path of B&H, he said that he believes B&H should develop its cooperation with NATO, while all other decisions must be made in line with the country’s interests and needs. With Tegeltija’s appointment to the mentioned post, the process of formation of the entire B&H CoM convocation was unblocked and the leaders in this country previously said they expect this process to be concluded by the end of the current year. Tegeltija will attend consultations with leaders of SNSD, SDA and HDZ B&H, Milorad Dodik, Bakir Izetbegovic and Dragan Covic respectively, in the upcoming days. They will discuss appointment of state ministers and their deputies, which will then undergo a vetting procedure, conducted by competent state security agencies. When all that is concluded, the appointment of the B&H CoM ministers will have to be approved in the B&H HoR. A regular session of this House is scheduled for 18 December.

 

Palmer: US not focused on B&H’s membership in NATO but on strengthening of partnership (RTRS)

 

US Special Representative for Western Balkans Matthew Palmer told N1 that the US is not focused on B&H membership in NATO but on strengthening of the partnership with the Alliance. He added that the Program of Reforms of B&H is not the so-called Annual National Program (ANP), which was an obstacle to formation of the B&H Council of Ministers for almost a year. “Submission of the report itself is a beginning of the process that strengthens the partnership between B&H and NATO. What we are focused on right now is not the issue of membership in NATO, which is an issue that causes major political tensions here,” Palmer was quoted as saying.

 

Palmer and Inzko warn of problem of Mostar, urging authorities to make it possible for elections to be held in this city after 11 years (N1)

 

US Special Representative for the Western Balkans Matthew Palmer has urged SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic and HDZ B&H leader Dragan Covic to find a solution that would make it possible to hold elections in Mostar after 11 years. Palmer warned that too much time has passed since citizens of Mostar were in a position to elect their leaders. “We would really like for this to change, for the elections to be held in Mostar, for the Municipal Council to be formed, for the Municipal Council to really be at the service of citizens, because citizens of Mostar have the right to expect that from the leaders they elect,” Palmer was quoted as saying. High Representative Valentin Inzko said that Mostar is the only city in Europe and maybe even in the world, whose citizens have been unable to elect the authorities for 11 years now. Inzko stressed that this is a top priority issue that needs to be solved in the context of amendments to the Election Law of B&H, given the fact that there are only six months left, so that the elections can be held next year. “We pray to God that nothing happens to (Mostar Mayor) Ljubo Beslic. We wish him good health, otherwise Mostar would completely lose its leadership if he got seriously ill, for example,” Inzko said. Chairman of SDA City Board in Mostar Salem Maric said that SDA City Board will not accept solutions that refer to amendments to the Election Law of B&H only – without solutions to the Statute of the City of Mostar. “That means that the Statute of the City of Mostar and amendments to the Election Law should be solved all at once,” Maric stressed. According to HDZ B&H, the talks will be intensified next week. However, many deem that one should not expect too much from new talks or from the ruling ‘Baralija vs. B&H’, according to which the Election Law of B&H must be amended and conditions for the elections in Mostar must be met within the next six months, the reporter noted.

 

Plenkovic: Bonds Between NATO and EU Inextricable (Hina)

 

Croatia considers NATO and the European Union main partners in projection of peace and also believes that the bonds between the USA and the European Union are inextricable and inseparable, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said in London on Wednesday after a two-day summit meeting of NATO which observed its 70th anniversary. "The cooperation between the USA and Europe as regards security is firm and inextricable," he added. This is the message given today by all heads of state or government and they have underscored that the development of strategical autonomy at the EU level, which implies the strengthening of the EU defense policy, can and is simultaneously complementary to the strengthening of the European pillar of NATO, the Croatian Premier said. Plenkovic said that Croatia had a unique experience in comparison to other NATO member states and in this context, he recalled that while it was a non-member of the alliance, Croatia was a victim of the aggression launched by the regime of Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s, and now after it became a NATO member, Croatia contributes to efforts to restore in crisis areas worldwide. He said that this information about the transformation from a victim of the aggression into a country which is going to chair the EU in the first half of 2020, makes it clearer to other counterparts in NATO how the alliance is important for the security. During his participation in the summit, Plenkovic met with the summit's host Boris Johnson for the talks on the role of Croatia, as the next EU chair, for preparations of a negotiating framework for the future relations between the EU and Great Britain in the event that the next British parliament ratifies the Brexit agreement. Plenkovic said that he had also talks with French President Emmanuel Macron about possible scenarios for the exit from the current situation after the opening of the EU accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania was vetoed by Paris. It is in our interest that the EU-Western Balkans summit, set for May in Zagreb can be successful, the Croatian premier said. Plenkovic and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed plans for the Croatian prime minister's possible visit to Berlin in January.

 

Ready to open Chapter 8 (RTCG)

 

Montenegro readily expects a letter of invitation to hand over the negotiating position for Chapter 8 - Competition, said Chief Negotiator Aleksandar Drljevic, adding that, despite current developments, the commitment to European integration continues to be confirmed by a commitment to reform. At a meeting of the Stabilization and Association Committee between Montenegro and the European Union (EU), he said that all current Union reform processes should be carried out in parallel with all the Western Balkan countries reform processes and that the door to the EU should remain wide open to new members. "We received with special attention the news of the adoption of the Report on Meeting the Initial Benchmarks for Chapter 8 - Competition from the EU Council," Drljevic said. He said that Montenegro readily expects a letter of invitation to hand over the negotiating position for Chapter 8, which the government adopted in March this year.

 

Zaev returns optimistic from the NATO Summit in London (Nezavisen vesnik)

 

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev has returned extremely pleased and optimistic from the NATO Summit held in London over the past two days. Zaev stressed that he stood shoulder to shoulder at the NATO summit, as an equal and almost full-fledged member of all Alliance leaders, and was greeted and welcomed as such. He said he received a promise from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez that Spain would soon ratify the Protocol for North Macedonia’s NATO membership. Zaev also appeared optimistic about the European integration process.

“Things are going in a positive direction, ours is to continue to work, to continue with the reforms and I hope the real decision will be adopted,” Zaev said, following meetings with French President Emanuel Macron. The government in Skopje hopes that in parallel with the process of reforming the membership methodology, the country will get a date for starting EU talks.

 

Joint North Macedonia-Bulgaria Commission stuck – no deal for Goce Delchev (Nezavisen vesnik)

 

No progress has been reported in the works of the mixed North Macedonia-Bulgaria expert committee. North Macedonia’s President Stevo Pendarovski acknowledged that the commission is operating at an extremely slow pace. The chairmen of the special teams of this committee also agree that there is no progress and that this is a period of delay in the works of the Commission. The problem is the figure of Goce Delchev, and who he belongs to, North Macedonia or Bulgaria. “What is problematic now with the work of that committee is speaking in principle without interfering with their work. You can’t catch us in 2019, and in 2020, you decide what the ethnicity of a man who lived 150 years ago was”, Pendarovski said in an interview with TV24.

The idea of ​​this Commission and the Macedonian-Bulgarian good neighborly Agreement, says Pendarovski, is to see what brings us together for certain historical figures. “If you write a shared history, and you want Goce Delchev to be written down as a pure Bulgarian, what is the reason to celebrate him is he is just yours. It has to be part of you, part of me, so that you and I can celebrate it together. It is clear as daylight. That is the wording”, the head of state explained. According to him, it would be much better if several international experts, who know the Balkans at that time, were included in the North Macedonian-Bulgarian Joint Expert Committee. “I think one of the reasons for the success of the Prespa Agreement is that it has had an international presence,” President Pendarovski said. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said Bulgaria should support North Macedonia’s EU integration, but not at the expense of Bulgarian history, language and identity. At a meeting in September with Bulgarian officials, he set deadlines for a solution. “If next month no agreement is reached on the disputed issues, a new national position for the protection of the Bulgarian interest should be prepared … If there is no progress, the government should take concrete measures and take a new position with clear criteria for the protection of the Bulgarian national interests that will affect the negotiation framework for the Republic of North Macedonia. We will not allow unresolved neighborly problems to be brought into our European family,” Radev said. And at the last meeting of the Joint Committee at the end of last month in Sofia, it was estimated that there was a period of slowdown with very little progress in the work of the experts. The standoff began when the issue of Goce Delchev was opened. Both sides are trying to prove that Goce Delchev is either a well-known Macedonian revolutionary or a Bulgarian who fought for the freedom of North Macedonia or Bulgaria. Historians on both sides have failed to bridge this dispute.

 

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

 

NATO’s Continuing Enlargement Aims at further Weakening of Russian Influence in the Balkans (InfoBrics, by Paul Antonopoulos, 3 December 2019)

 

Of the 29 NATO member states, 22 have already ratified the accession protocol of North Macedonia into the anti-Russian alliance. The ratification process will likely be completed before the end of NATO’s summit taking place in London this week, which will make North Macedonia the newest country in military alliance. This now appears even more likely since U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gave his endorsement, saying on Twitter: “Pleased to announce the United States deposited its ratification of North Macedonia’s NATO Accession Protocol. One step closer to welcoming North Macedonia as NATO’s 30th Ally!” This will make North Macedonia the fourth country out of the six successor states of Yugoslavia to become a NATO member, following Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro. With Bosnia effectively a NATO satellite, this leaves Serbia as the bulwark of anti-NATO and pro-Russia sentiment in the region, especially as the other fellow Balkan countries, Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, are also NATO members. The confusing Macedonia question was a key priority for Russia’s Balkan policy – North Macedonia is an overwhelmingly Orthodox and Slavic country that had the potential to become another pro-Russia state in the Balkans, alongside neighboring Serbia. However, North Macedonia since its independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 pursued a pro-Western policy and joined the NATO program Partnership for Peace as early as 1995 and became a European Union candidate a decade later. This had not discouraged Russian efforts to push North Macedonia out of the NATO sphere of influence. The governments in Athens and Skopje have competed over the name Macedonia since North Macedonia became independent from Yugoslavia, as Greece’s northern region is also confusingly called Macedonia. Effectively, as North Macedonia was continuously vetoed by Greece from joining NATO and the EU because of the name dispute, Russian efforts to radicalize Macedonian identity was encouraged. The strategy to radicalize Macedonian identity to be more anti-Western and pro-Russian was an effort to avoid a situation like the Prespa Agreement that brought a finalization to the Macedonian name dispute in 2018, opening the way for North Macedonia to join NATO and the EU, without a Greek veto. The Prespa Agreement, named after a lake that traverses the borders of Greece, North Macedonia and Albania, defined exactly what was meant by “Macedonia” and “Macedonian.” For Greece, according to the agreement, these terms denote an area and people of Greece’s northern region, who continue the legacy of the Ancient Macedonian Hellenic civilization, history and culture, as well as the legacy of Alexander the Great. In reference to North Macedonia, these terms denote the modern territory of North Macedonia, Slavic language and Slavic people with their own history and culture unrelated to the Ancient Macedonians. The agreement also stipulates the removal of North Macedonian irredentist efforts against Greek territory and to align them with UNESCO and Council of Europe's standards. The radicalization of an independent Macedonian identity was in the hope that North Macedonians would reject the name change, despite the scholarly and historical consensus that the Ancient Macedonians were Greek. This hoped North Macedonian denunciation of the West was on the basis that resolving the name dispute goes against North Macedonian nationalist doctrine as any name change must support the historical reality that the Ancient Macedonians were Hellenes. This was a bad calculation that encouraged the North Macedonians to concentrate their efforts and resources on historical revisionism on not only Hellenic legacy, but also Bulgarian and Serbian, as  historical figures like King Samuel of Bulgaria, Ilyo Voyvoda, Aleksandar Turundzhev, Yane Sandanski, Hristo Batandzhiev and many others are claimed by both North Macedonia and Bulgaria, and the unrecognized and schismatic Macedonian Orthodox Church separated in an ugly divorce from the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1967. This historical revisionism meant ignoring serious ambitions for a Greater Albania that expands into the western territories of North Macedonia. Ignoring efforts for Albanian expansionism, something that has been partially achieved with the Albanian control of Kosovo, has undermined North Macedonian security and opened the gates for it to become a major puppet of NATO to preserve their territorial integrity. As argued in a previous article, because the overwhelming majority of Albanians want a Greater Albania, it is unlikely to be achieved with Washington’s backing in Greece, Montenegro and North Macedonia as they do not pose a threat to U.S. hegemony in the Balkans, but rather serve it, by resisting Russian influence in the region. As long as Skopje remains loyal to globalist agendas, the U.S. will not back Albanian expansionism in the country. However, the U.S. can certainly use the Albanian minority as a destabilizing force, as seen with Kosovo’s illegal declaration of independence and the 2001 Albanian uprising in North Macedonia. In addition to Washington having the option to use the Albanians as a destabilizing factor, the Albanians themselves may formant instability without U.S. backing as 53% of the approximately 500,000 Albanians in North Macedonia believe in a Greater Albania. With Russian influencers failing to invigorate anti-NATO sentiment in North Macedonia, there comes the reality that the Balkan country, confident after the finalization of the name dispute, can now march into the hands of its new NATO puppet masters. It is for this reason that a senior Russian Foreign Ministry official said that: “Russia's position regarding the expansion of NATO is well known: it is a destructive process that undermines confidence and stability in Europe, leads to increased antagonism.” According to the official, it is not a military threat that North Macedonia would pose to Russia but a set of risks to European security that “must be guaranteed by totally different methods, instead of involving this [Balkan] country in military planning of the Alliance and in an anti-Russian policy.”