LOCAL PRESS

 

Constitutional Court rejects to decide on Brussels agreement (Politika)

The Constitutional Court of Serbia rejected the request for assessing the constitutionality of the Brussels agreement, because it had assessed by a majority vote that at issue is a political, and not a legal issue, Politika has learned. The decision was passed on 10 December, at the 35^th session of the Constitutional Court. The decision was preceded by several preparatory hearings, while the main hearing lasted all day. Politika has learned that the Court has elaborated its decision on 40 pages, but that it has not yet published it on its official website. “The Constitutional Court is not competent to assess a political document, because it would thus assume the role of the Serbian government for establishing and conducting politics,” said Serbian Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic in a public debate on the proposal for the assessment of the constitutionality of the agreement signed in Brussels in April 2013.

 

Samardzic: Constitutional Court trampled on principles (Beta/RTS)

The leader of the State-Building Movement Slobodan Samardzic says the Constitutional Court lacked both professional and moral capabilities to determine the constitutionality of the Brussels agreement. “Instead of assessing the constitutionality of the Brussels agreement, the Court went along with the pseudo-legal interpretation of the justice minister, and declared this anti-constitutional document to be a political act. With this cowardly act the Court has trampled on the Serbian Constitution and the basic principles of the legal profession,” he told Beta. Samardzic, while he was the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) vice-president, filed a request to the court to assess whether the agreement is constitutional, claiming that the Constitution was seriously breached with this agreement. Samardzic assessed that the Constitutional Court’s dishonorable intention was to take shelter from hanging out in the legal and political wind in the lee of the so-called purely legal issues”. “As far as this court is concerned, the Brussels agreement, as an act of surrendering Kosovo and Metohija to the Albanians, has no legal consequences. Is Serbia turning into a legally unrestricted autocracy? With this decision, the Constitutional Court joined the ranks of administrative organs that carry out the government’s orders,” said Samardzic.

 

Stefanovic: Court’s decision is strange (Beta)

The former head of the Serbian government team for the technical dialogue with Pristina Borislav Stefanovic has assessed that it is strange that the Constitutional Court has decided not to discuss the Brussels agreement, considering that both his report and this agreement were adopted in the Serbian parliament. He told Beta that the Brussels agreement has clear legal decrees and that it is “interesting” that the Constitutional Court now declares it a declaratory document.

 

Rakic: Peace Park to remain until a compromise is found (Politika)

“I have not received any warning, written or verbal, from the Ministry for Local Self-Administration from Pristina that the Peace Park violates the Kosovo Constitution, Brussels agreement or the Kosovo laws,” reads the statement sent by the Mayor of northern Kosovska Mitrovica Goran Rakic to the media. The Mayor of southern Kosovska Mitrovica Agim Bahtiri said that the Peace Park would be removed and that the Ministry for Local Self-Administration had warned Rakic when the park was set up that this is a step that violates the Kosovo Constitution, Brussels agreement and five Kosovo laws. Rakic further notes that Bahtiri committed himself in Brussels at the beginning of August, in the presence of EU representatives and the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric, that the park , or anything else on the bridge, would be removed until a solution was accepted by the citizens of both municipalities. “Since he ‘forgot’ to convey this to his fellow citizens after returning home, I am using this opportunity to remind him and invite him to jointly address the resolution of the problem of citizens, instead of inciting to conflict,” stresses Rakic. He notes that he expects the continuation of difficult and fragile negotiations of the government in Belgrade and the new government in Pristina, so this should not be additionally hindered with a dangerous statement. “We had a hard time in reaching fragile peace. The barricade from the main bridge was removed three years after the Serbs set it in fear for their safety, at the same time reassuring the frightened Serb community in northern Mitrovica. All sides welcomed this, up until 23 June this year, when fatal and unforeseen consequences were avoided only thanks to the resolute reaction of the international community and peacefulness of the Serbs,” said Rakic.

 

Pristina National Theatre again on its stage after 15 years (Radio Serbia, by Vukomir Petric)

On 12 December, the National Theatre of Pristina officially returned to its own building 15 years after it was expelled from Pristina. The permanent address of the national Serbian theatre in Kosovo and Metohija is the Cultural Center in Gracanica, which has been renovated and refurbished and now has good conditions for professional theater productions. The event will be officially marked with a premiere of the musical spectacle Hotel Kosovo, written by Nenad Todorovic and composed by Bojan Stojcetovic. Those participating in the performance told Radio Serbia that they selected an appropriate program for the new start - it is the first musical spectacle ever performed by a professional theater in Kosovo and Metohija. It involves almost the entire cast, as well as students of the Acting School from Zvecani and a dance group. About thirty performers appear on the stage and the performances will be “provocative but true”, as pointed out by Nenad Todorovic, script writer and theater manager. After five years of exile in Serbia proper, the National Theatre of Pristina was transferred to Kosovo and Metohija ten years ago he, but it only got offices in Kosovska Mitrovica. As for rehearsals and performances, the theater did what it could. According to Manager Todorovic, rehearsals were conducted in the sheds, streets or rented dilapidated buildings. “We played in backyards, homes, Serb enclaves. Everything has been worth it though. We have our own house and basic conditions for normal professional work. We will not give up any of the current working methods or disappear from the rest of Kosovo and Metohija,” says Todorovic. He promises that the Cultural Center in Gracanica will be a “small cultural space that will explode”, not only with the number but also with the quality of cultural events. “The most important thing for me and my actors is that we are no longer a lot of the poor and the homeless, hiding under the name of a reputable but inactive institution,” added the manager.

In the past few days, both actors and construction workers have been each doing their jobs, preparing the show, and completing the construction works. And so it will go on up to the very start of the performance. This does not seem to bother anyone because an important job is being completed that was equally wanted by citizens of this part of the province, local authorities, the government of Serbia and the National Theatre. Todorovic emphasizes the role of the Serbian Ministry of Culture, which, as he stated, most aggressively demanded for the Pristina Theater to become a renowned house and gladly provided funds.

 

Vukadinovic: 11 conditions leading to independence of Kosovo (Radio Serbia, by Mladen Bijelic)

Media allegations on the list of 11 points from Berlin that Serbia should fulfill prior to the opening of Chapter 35, which was denied by the German Embassy in Belgrade, represent an elaboration of the existing seven conditions, and essentially, at issue is the recognition of Kosovo, political analyst and editor in chief of the New Serbian Political Thought magazine Djordje Vukadinovic told International Radio Serbia. The set of 11 conditions that are now discussed, are detailed and precise concretization of some previous conditions, or the previous 7 conditions, which in the opinion of the German side, are not fulfilled, Vukadinovic explains. Basically a “set” of conditions can be interpreted in different ways, hence the difference in the number of conditions. But essentially they all revolve around the basic condition. “Serbia is requested to reconcile with the fact about Kosovo’s independence and not to obstruct Kosovo’s membership in the process of European integration and in joining various regional and other organizations,” says Vukadinovic. But someone here does not understand nor does want to understand this, he says reminding of the admission of Kosovo to the International Olympic Committee. Kosovo will continue to receive such support in sports and other federations, Vukadinovic believes, all the way to the seat in the United Nations. He has no doubt that, Germany will probably set that condition at some point.

Whether these conditions will be formulated, as recently announced by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, who claims Serbia is requested to recognize Kosovo, is a secondary issue, according to Vukadinovic. “President Nikolic is essentially correct, because Serbia is actually requested to recognize Kosovo through the form of acceptance of independence and non-opposition to independence. But whether it will be formally asked of Serbia - that is another question. Prime Minister Vucic and First Deputy Prime Minister Dacic assure us that this is not required. This is probably true, but I believe that this is actually like burying one’s head in the sand and not seeing the upcoming problem,” explains Vukadinovic.

This political analyst reminds that several years ago the main motto of the then policy of the ruling coalition gathered around Tadic’s Democratic Party was “two-track policy”. “If we did not understand then, today it must be clear to everyone that such a policy, embodied in the slogan ‘Both the EU and Kosovo’, is simply unsustainable for us,” concluded Vukadinovic.

 

DSS, Dveri, intelligentsia call for debate on EU integration (Tanjug)

BELGRADE - Leading representatives of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), Dveri Movement and prominent intelligentsia are calling on the authorities to go public with the minutes of the meeting between Serbian top officials and European officials so that everyone could know the truth whether Serbia will be forced to choose between the EU and Kosovo.

They expressed great concern at Friday’s meeting over the diametrically opposite statements by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic on the content of the talks with EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn and other European officials. “It is high time to tell the whole truth to the citizens, and therefore the authorities should go public with the minutes, since when it comes to official statements, there is no room for diverse interpretations,” reads a statement issued after the meeting. They insist on opening a broad public debate on the EU integration process, which would engage government representatives, representatives of all political parties, prominent individuals and vital national institutions, such as the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. In the meantime, participants of the meeting have requested that all forms of the EU accession negotiations should be suspended until the debate is finished, including fulfillment of all conditions and ultimatums stemming from the negotiations to date.

 

Keefe: I haven’t heard that you are beginning negotiations (Novosti)

“Brussels is not implementing the policy of punishment and constant conditioning of Serbia, there are no new conditions regarding Kosovo. All that is requested of Belgrade stems from the Brussels agreement,” the British Ambassador to Serbia Denis Keefe tells Novosti in an interview, saying that “he hasn’t heard that anyone in the EU is talking about the opening of the first chapters in December, and that even Prime Minister Vucic is not talking about dates”.

“There is a clear set of conditions. The EU stated that it wants to see the full normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. This has been built in the Brussels agreement and the current task for the participants in the dialogue is to implement it.”

Is London also asking that a set of conditions be fulfilled, including the removal of the Peace Park in Kosovska Mitrovica?

“Chapter 35 is complex and the present focus is on the implementation of the Brussels agreement. Here we have many details, many complicated issues, and Belgrade and Pristina should work on this with the help of Brussels.”

Is President Nikolic right when he says that the EU is asking us to recognize Kosovo in order to gain membership?

“What the EU is asking is full normalization of relations.”

What does that exactly mean? A legally binding agreement?

“It is up to the two sides to agree on this through the dialogue process.”

Does London expect formal recognition of Kosovo before it votes for Serbia to join the EU?

“The only official request is to reach full normalization. Britain’s position on Kosovo is known, but there are countries in the EU that didn’t recognize it.”

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

SNSD has just six ministers in the new government RS (Oslobodjenje)

The Republika Srpska (RS) should get the new government on 17 December, confirmed the President of the RS National Assembly Nedeljko Cubrilovic. Mandate holder Zeljka Cvijanovic sent the initiative to the National Assembly to convene a special session of the Parliament of this B&H entity in which she seeks the support to form the new government. After the second special session, at which the MPs will discuss and decide on the expose delivered by Cvijanovic and about the Government convocation led by her, according to the announcements from Cubrilovic’s office, there will be a third special session of RS parliament at which the Vice- Presidents will be elected alongside with the other governing bodies. Over the past week, the President of RS and the SNSD leader Milorad Dodik, as he himself acknowledged, held more talks with the top leadership of his party, Nebojsa Radmanovic, Nikola Spiric and Nada Tesanovic, which were focused on the division of ministerial positions in the new government. The public curiosity was piqued by the fact that none of these meeting was attended by Vice President of the SNSD Igor Radojicic. Dodik spoke about the composition of the new government and the division of the department with the leaders of the Socialist Party and the Democratic People's Alliance, Marko Pavic and Petar Djokic. If, in the meantime, there is no sudden turnaround, the Socialist Party, although it has only five seats in the National Assembly of RS, will receive four departments, i.e. the Ministry of Industry that will be led by Djokic, Labor and veteran protection, Trade and Tourism and the Ministry of Youth and sport. The DNS receives three departments. Lejla Resic remains in the present ministry of the local government. In addition, the party will receive the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Ministry of Education and Culture. The DNS has not yet released the names of the two future ministers. One department will be led by Davor Cordas from the HDZ B&H, probably as it was before, the Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons, based on an agreement with HDZ B&H on reciprocal representation of Croat or Serb ministers in the entity governments. One ministerial post will go to the Progressives led by Adam Sukalo, who just a few days argued that this party is not interested in the executive branch of government. It is the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Regional Cooperation that would be led by Drasko Acimovic. The SNSD will get the remaining six key sectors, including police, justice, and finance. For now it is certain that the extensions of the old ministerial mandates will be approved for the Government Finance Minister Zoran Telgetija and Health Minister Dragan Bogdanic. The former Minister of Education and Culture, Anton Kasipovic is making a return to the government, this time he will perform the function of the RS Minister of Justice. If the new government is elected on 17 December, Dodik announced that by 28 December the regular session of the National Assembly would be held, at which they would adopt the economic policy and RS budget for 2015.

 

B&H defense industry: Companies prepare for export to Turkey (Oslobodjenje)

Military industry firms in B&H have the opportunity to increase export of arms and ammunition to Turkey and an agreement between B&H and Turkey on cooperation in the field will enable this after it entered into force in February of this year. But to increase export to the country, first it is necessary to prepare projects and consider all the opportunities that the agreement offers.

This was the reason for the meeting of the military industry group within the Foreign Trade Chamber of B&H (VTK B&H) with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of B&H. “This was the first preparatory meeting between the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations and the military industry group, in order for us to situate what are the models of direct economic cooperation that we can achieve on the basis of this agreement,” said Ognjenka Lalovic, director of the economic sector of the VTK B&H. “Turkey, as well as countries in the Middle East and Asia, is our traditional market and before the committee’s first meeting we want to prepare and show our joint projects that we could offer Turkey,” said Dragisa Mekic, deputy minister of foreign trade and economic relations. Military industry export has seen growth in this and previous years. In first ten months of this year total exports exceeded all of last year’s, and if this trend continues through the end of the year, exports could exceed 85 million KM. Jusuf Hubjer, director of Unis Ginex in Gorazde, said that his factory is working extremely well, and doing business well in relation to a decade ago when they had a total income of three to four million KM, and this year they hope to reach 25 million KM, of which more than 80 percent is export. The firm exports to Turkey, and from this meeting, Hubjer added, he expects to expand cooperation with this country. In military industry, according to Zija Fazlagic, director of the Repair Institute in Hadzic, there are several problems, one of which is the lack of continuity in production, which is reflected in the loss of staff, because they do not have enough work to train new staff in practical applications. This prevents following global trends in the field. “The problem is that factories are on the entity ministry level, and the Ministry of Defense is on the state level. This dissolution separated the factory from its main consumer in the Ministry of Defense, from its main promoter in the world,” said Fazlagic.

 

Round table calls for Croat equality in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Vijesti)

A round table on the survival and prospects of Croats in the RS was held in Banja Luka, with participants calling for joint action by domestic politicians, business people, the Church, Croatia and the international community so that Croats could return to the RS and exercise equality throughout B&H. Banja Luka Bishop Franjo Komarica said the number of Catholic Croats had fallen dramatically in the past century, notably in the 1992-95 war, when they were ethnically cleansed from half of RS and the Croat-Bosniak Federation entity. He said Catholic Croats in B&H had the same fate as Catholics in Iraq, Syria and Bangladesh, where they continued to be driven out. “It’s a disgrace and it’s happening in the 21st century.” Komarica said representatives of the international community were responsible for not preventing that, as were Croat representatives, who he said kept quiet about the continued expulsion. He called for drawing up a joint strategy under the aegis of politicians, business people and the Church so as to make way for sustainable returns. B&H Presidency member Dragan Covic said the most important thing was to secure Croat equality in the country, including the survival of Croats in the RS. “We must create an atmosphere to make a normal state out of B&H, create an atmosphere of legal certainty with clear indications of what to do in the economy and social protection. We won’t succeed if we don't secure the constitutional and all-round equality of the Croat people in B&H. Euro-Atlantic integration must be our commitment and through internal reorganization we must ensure efficiency,” he said. Council of Ministers Chairman Vjekoslav Bevanda said the other two constituent peoples, Bosniaks and Serbs, “must stop thinking that they are giving us (Croats) something, because we seek what belongs to us and the months ahead will show if we will get what belongs to us.” The High Representative to B&H, Valentin Inzko, called for protecting the rights of the smallest ethnic community in B&H, the Croats, on whom he called to be the most important link for drawing closer to the EU. Croats are the smallest of the three brothers and should be paid the most attention, but this smallest brother can act as a go-between between the other two brothers. Croats must be the ones pulling towards Brussels, Inzko said. Croatian Ambassador to B&H Ivan Del Vechio said “Croats in B&H are important to Croatia’s leaders, as shown by this year’s visits by both the Croatian prime minister and parliament speaker. It’s essential that Croats in RS define priorities. Define priorities and we will back them. Prime Minister Milanovic said so and I’m saying it too.” The participants in the round table announced a strategy on the survival and return of Croats to the RS.

 

Seselj: Best option would be that B&H joins Serbia (Oslobodjenje)

Vojislav Seselj, president of the Serb Radical Party (SRS), said that he is prepared to reconcile and cooperate with Tomislav Nikolic and Aleksandar Vucic, the president and prime minister of Serbia, if they stand in the position where Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik does in leading policy. Seselj says that Vucic and Nikolic should renounce the EU, oppose the “wheeling and dealing of Western powers,” move into ever tighter integration with Russia, including discussions about entering a customs union with that country, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, as well as the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Speaking of relations with the RS president, Seselj said that Dodik today is the foremost fighter in its defense. “He defends RS stubbornly, sometimes makes statements that are sharper than even those that I would make, and today leads an extremely pro-Russian policy. Those are our motives why we support him forming a government again,” Seselj told Press RS. According to him, for the RS it would be ideal for the SNSD and SDS to form a coalition and government, or unite in a strong patriotic option, like Dodik’s party today, like the traditional patriotic option that had great merits in forming the RS, like the SDS. “If such a coalition was formed, then those whom the West instrumentalized would surface, because they would oppose it and be recognized in public,” said Seselj. He warned of the deleterious effects of the divisions between the SDS and SNSD for RS, stating that "radicals hold Dodik’s side.” “The SRS now belongs to the majority that supports Dodik’s government, but we would even more gladly support a great national coalition, not seeking for itself any privileges, and really we would do this from the most sincere intention to help Srpska,” said Seselj. Commenting on the mutual accusations of the SNSD and SDS on cooperation with Croats and Bosniaks, Seselj said that in principle he would always prefer to cooperate with Bosniaks, but that in the concrete circumstances it is the interest of RS to help Croats to form their entity in B&H. When it comes to B&H’s future, the radical leader believes that the country will fall apart as soon as foreigners leave. “The best option would be that all of B&H join Serbia, and that is the option that Alija Izetbegovic missed in 1991. The second option would be for the RS to join Serbia, and the Federation to remain as a separate state or join Croatia,” said Seselj.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Kosovo Officials Vow Serb ‘Peace Park’ Removal (BIRN, by Milka Domanovic, Petrit Collaku, 15 December 2014)

Kosovo Albanian officials have again promised to get rid of a ‘peace park’ created by Serbs to replace a barricade on the bridge that divides the town of Mitrovica. South Mitrovica mayor Agim Bahtiri said on Sunday that the ‘peace park’, which sparked violent protests by Kosovo Albanians after it was set up in June, would be removed "very soon". Bahtiri said that the bridge that divides the Serb north from the Albanian south of the town, which used to be blocked by a barricade that was replaced by plant pots and soil by local Serbs, would be restored to its original state. "I'm not saying January or May, but the peace park will be removed soon," he said.

But North Mitrovica mayor Goran Rakic said that the removal of the park could be seen "as a threat to peace". Rakic said on Sunday that Serb officials had not received any warning from Pristina that the park contravened Kosovo’s law or EU-mediated agreement to normalise relations between Belgrade and Pristina. “The aim of the Peace Park is an expression of the desire that the point which separated the two nations over the past 15 years becomes a place where they meet,” Rakic said in a statement. The director of Serbia's government office for Kosovo, Marko Djuric, also said that the park would not be removed until a solution was found that was mutually acceptable solution for Serbs and Albanians in Mitrovica. "It was agreed [in Brussels] that mayors of South and North Mitrovica should agree on solution which would meet the interests of the citizens from both parts of the town," Djuric said on Sunday. The main bridge over the Ibar river in Mitrovica separates what are now two municipalities: South Mitrovica, largely inhabited by Albanians, and North Mitrovica, where mostly Serbs live. For the past several years, a large barricade manned by local Serbs has prevented the free flow of traffic over the bridge. The barricade made of stone and sand was transformed into the ‘peace park’ in June, after which Kosovo Albanians staged protests, some of which turned violent. Several people were injured and many vehicles burned. The protests underscored tensions between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs that persist despite the success of EU-facilitated talks, which have made strides in normalising relations between Kosovo and Serbia. The April 2013 agreement between Kosovo and Serbia - which does not recognise Kosovo's independence - brought Serbs in northern Kosovo back under the overall authority of Kosovo institutions, with the offer of limited autonomy through an association of northern Serb municipalities. Since then, Serbs in the region have participated in local and national elections held in November 2013 and in June.

 

China to help Serbia build 350 MW coal-fired power plant-media (Reuters, 14 December 2014)

BELGRADE - Serbia and China will sign a deal worth more than $600 million next week to add a new unit at the Kostolac coal-fired power plant, the first major investment in more than two decades in Serbia's ageing energy infrastructure, the plant's manager told local media.

The agreement will be signed on the sidelines of a summit of leaders from central and eastern Europe and China on Dec. 16 and 17 in Belgrade, Dragan Jovanovic told Pink Television.

Chinese investors are increasingly targeting energy projects in the Balkans, boosting their presence and showing a willingness to take bigger risks than European rivals in a potentially lucrative market with good links to the European Union and scope for price rises.

The project will include the construction of a new 350 megawatt (MW) unit and expansion of nearby Drmno coal mine. It will take five years to complete, said Jovanovic. He said that China will finance the project via a $608 million loan to be repaid over 20 years. It will include a seven year grace period and fixed annual interest of 2.5 percent. The Serbian government and the state-run utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) will provide the remaining $107 million. EPS is already undertaking a $1.25 billion upgrade at Kostolac, mainly financed by Export-Import Bank of China and using China Machinery and Engineering Corp. Due to the outdated technology the plant's B1 and B2 units operate below their full capacity and the upgrade is designed to boost their output, extend life span and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Serbia generates two thirds of its electricity from ageing coal-fired plants and the rest from hydro power. It urgently needs to upgrade its energy infrastructure to meet rising demand. Its energy sector has been under severe strain since major flooding in May this year inundated a mine supplying Serbia's biggest power plant and forced the country to import power and coal to meet its energy shortfall. (Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

 

Serbia Awaits Benefits from China Summit (BIRN, by Ivana Nikolic, 15 December 2014)

Serbia is hoping for an economic boost from infrastructure projects that will be discussed at a summit of leaders from China and central and eastern Europe in Belgrade this week. On the opening day of the summit in Belgrade, Serbian officials expressed optimism that the country would benefit from stronger economic ties with China. Zorana Mihajlovic, Serbia’s deputy prime minister and infrastructure minister said on Monday that China would invest 10 billion euro in central and eastern Europe, and that Serbia would be its infrastructure hub. “During the summit, we will discuss the modernisation of the Belgrade-Budapest railway, the Ub industrial zone and Belgrade’s beltway,” Mihajlovic told public broadcaster RTS on Monday. China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang, the country’s first head of government to visit Serbia in 28 years, told Belgrade’s Politika daily that the two countries’ relations were “like a fast train that is rushing forward”. “We have built a Chinese bridge [the new Zemun-Borca bridge in Belgrade], and in the future we will construct a Chinese road [a highway linking Belgrade to central Serbia] and a Chinese power plant, which will provide an inexhaustible driving force for the development of Chinese-Serbian relations,” the Chinese premier said. Under the motto ‘New Engine, New Power, New Platform’, the summit will be officially opened on Monday and continue at the Palace of Serbia on Tuesday and Wednesday, with some 6,000 delegates expected each day, the Serbian government said. “This is how the summit looks in numbers – 16 prime ministers, several hundred delegation members, 500 big world companies with 1,200 representatives, and 1,100 journalists,” Milivoje Mihajlovic, the head of the Serbian government’s press bureau, told RTS on Sunday. The summit will give the country a chance to become the centre of the region, Belgrade-based economic expert Milan Kovacevic told BIRN. “The aim of the meeting from the Chinese side is to try to approve loans to south-eastern [European] countries, and to employ its companies to work here,” Kovacevic said. The summit will also give Serbia worldwide prestige, improve tourism and investments and contribute to the popularity of the current regime, he added. The Chinese premier will be welcomed by his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic at Belgrade airport on Monday, and the two men will officially open the new bridge together during the Beijing leader’s visit. During his stay in the Serbian capital, the Chinese PM will also be made an honorary citizen of Belgrade, media have reported. During the summit, prime ministers and business leaders will also attend the 4th Economic Forum at the Sava Centre on Tuesday. The forum will be officially opened by the Serbian and Chinese premiers alongside Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz, who will announce the creation of a joint economic committee of China and the central and eastern European countries.

 

Russia, Europe confrontation continues in Serbia, Moldova and Georgia (Natural Gas Europe, by Sergio Matalucci, 13 December 2014)

The last 48 hours witnessed a frenzy of diplomatic activities by Balkan and Southeastern countries with both Russia and Europe, underlining the importance of this area for the ongoing if relatively silent confrontation between Moscow and Brussels/Berlin. Against this backdrop, Serbia, Moldova and Georgia are making headlines.

SERBIA

‘The Serbian government and the European Commission concluded financial agreements today worth €1.6 million for cross-border cooperation programmes in which Serbia participates with Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) and Montenegro’ reads a note released by the Serbian government on Friday. A few hours before, Serbian authorities met with Gazprom officials in Moscow. ‘The parties noted the strategic nature of their partnership in the energy sector and named, in particular, the cooperation in the gas supply, underground gas storage, oil refining and electric power generating sectors’ Gazprom wrote on its website. Earlier this month, Russian authorities increased diplomatic ties with Serbia and Hungary to discuss cooperation opportunities. Moscow sees in Belgrade and Budapest important partner to win the arm-wrestling with Europe.

MOLDOVA

Despite Moscow cementing its business ties with German companies like Siemens and E.ON, Berlin (or better, Frankfurt) is taking the lead in some key countries. Following national authorities' intention to focus on targeted investments in the area, Germany stepped up coordination activities with Moldova. ‘Prime Minister Leanca and KfW project manager for Ukraine and Moldova, Gunnar Wälzholz, signed the extension of a German aid program by 2 million’ the Moldovan government wrote on its website on Friday, referring to the German government-owned development bank KfW. The funds will be allocated to increase energy efficiency in ten districts in the north, on the border with Ukraine.

GEORGIA

The announcement comes a day after the meeting between Armenian and Georgian Prime Ministers. ‘As we looked at ways of improving infrastructure and transport communications, we discussed in detail the border checkpoint modernization issue, including the construction of the new Friendship Bridge at Bagratashen-Sadakhlo border checkpoint, for which I am grateful to the Prime Minister of Georgia’ reads the joint statement as reported by the Armenian government. Armenia is really close to Russia. On Wednesday, Russia's lower house of the Parliament approved a treaty paving the way for Armenia to the Eurasian Economic Union, the trade block offering an alternative to the European Union.

IS THIS IT?

Earlier this year, Professor Alan Riley wrote for Natural Gas Europe that EU has to protect its flank from Russia, focusing on energy projects. ‘With the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, the realization that Russia is becoming a revanchist and destabilizing power gave the EU no alternative but to prioritize its energy security’ reads the article, adding that the Western Balkans are a key area for Europe. But the problems seem to be more all-encompassing. Recently, British media reported of alleged Russian infiltrations in Western Europe. On Tuesday, Business Insider UK wrote that Russian President Vladimir Putin is becoming increasingly influential in the UK, France and Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece. Through cooperation with local far-right parties, Putin is reportedly exerting growing clout. Nonetheless, it is not all rosy for Russia. As said, Moscow is suffering the consequences of Western sanctions and a plunging rouble. In this sense, the sanctions might turn out to be a resolved instrument, despite Russia's growing ties with India and China in the energy and military sectors. Experts see Russian banking system to go through extreme consequences in case of additional 12-18 months of sanctions. At this point, the last questions are: Will Bulgaria and Hungary hold for other 18 months? Will European governments find a way out of the current increase in populism across the continent? Following the meeting of representatives of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Romania and Slovenia, it seems clear that there are some countries that are concerned for the failure of the South Stream project. It seems equally obvious that Putin could use this dissatisfaction to further trigger populism in the countries. In this sense, the take-home message is indisputable. If Russia moves fast, leading EU member states should give some proof of knee-jerk reactions. The wait-and-see approach, which rarely paid out, is more dangerous than ever.

Sergio Matalucci is an Associate Partner at Natural Gas Europe

 

Does the EU want to bring Russia and Turkey into the Western Balkans? (EurActiv, 12 December 2014)  

As there are no signs that the EU economy will revitalize soon and lift with it the Western Balkans, the region is looking for new business partners, writes Dušan Reljić.

Dušan Reljić is Head of Brussels Office of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). This article has originally appeared on the website of Politička misao (Croatian Political Science Review) in Zagreb.

The European Union (EU) has only to fear itself, instead of straying into misleading fantasies about how Russia is achieving ever-increasing influence in southeast Europe. Only if the EU’s credibility and economic pull in the region continues to diminish, non-European powers may achieve a greater role in the so-called Western Balkans. To integrate – in the political, security, legal and economic sense, is a capacity inherent only to the European Union. However, its member states may also forfeit southeast Europe to the bickering of Russia, Turkey, China and some Islamic states which, without a doubt, would prefer to have more influence in the region. Leading EU members should make up their mind. After the end of the wars for Yugoslav succession, the EU, with the blessing of the US, designed a plan to achieve permanent stability on the continent. This plan, known also as the European Security Strategy (2003), envisaged as its chief instrument in southeast Europe the eventual membership of all Yugoslav successor states and Albania in the European Union. The functioning of this scheme cannot, not even theoretically, be prevented by ploys devised by Russia, Turkey or any other “third” factor. It is solely jeopardized by the endless postponing of the admission of the remaining Western Balkan states into the EU into an uncertain future. The root causes of the protraction are the increasing economic contradictions in the process of European integration and, in particular, the failure of economic transition in most former socialist countries. These critical problems are aggravated by inconsistent EU enlargement policies, particular political priorities of some more powerful EU member states and the opportunism of EU countries in southeast Europe which abuse the enlargement process for their national political ends.

Integration within the EU should achieve convergence - which was understood to mean roughly comparable legal, economic and social conditions in the member states. Instead of this, the financial and economic crises since 2009 exacerbated the divergence between them. Broadly speaking, the north of Europe (Germany, the Netherlands, and Nordic states) suffered less from the crises and is improving its economic performance, whereas the south of Europe (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal) is in fact not catching up. The transition of former socialist countries of eastern Europe should have led to convergence with the old EU member states. Instead of this, not even Eastern Germany, which was showered with two trillion West German euros, could draw level with the rest of the country. Eastern Europe seems to be condemned to lag lastingly behind the north-west of the continent in terms of economic performance and social prosperity. In former Yugoslavia, in spite of Slovenia and Croatia being now EU members, the promised results were also not achieved: living standards are mostly abysmal, industrial production has to a great extent died down and there is the ubiquitous felling of hopelessness among young people which causes them to migrate towards the northwest, like their cohort in southern Europe. EU enlargement strategy in the recent past mostly did not acknowledge such contradictions. Instead, the officials in Brussels seemed foremost eager to mollify the EU populace, which expresses increasingly unsympathetic attitudes when it comes to accepting new members to the club. Since some time, less than 50 percent of EU citizens favour letting more countries in. In Germany, this percentage is close to 20 percent and among the lowest in the EU. Apparently, Brussels strategists thought that by exerting strictness towards potential new EU members, they would avert giving new grounds to xenophobes. The candidates for EU membership should be 110 percent ready, said former Enlargement Commissioner Štefen Füle, repeatedly. If the recent election results of right-wing populists in several EU states are an indicator of the success of this strategy, then it did not prove to be the suitable one. By linking its enlargement process foremost to the mood of the broad masses of Western Europe, the EU neglected the fact that her own financial and economic crises had badly hurt the economies of the Western Balkan and diminished the candidate countries’ capability to draw nearer to the Union. As a crucial part of their drive to connect to the EU already before membership, the countries of the region directed almost two thirds of their foreign trade to the bloc (for the most part to Germany, Italy and to a far lesser extent other member countries). The banking system of the Western Balkan countries belongs to almost 90 percent to a few banks from EU countries (Germany, Italy and to a smaller proportion also France, Austria and Greece). The economic crises in the EU led to less trade with Western Balkan countries, to the withdrawal of capital from the Western Balkan branches of EU banks, and to an almost full halt of EU investments in the region. Migrant workers’ remittances also declined. As there are no signs that the EU economy will revitalize soon and lift with it the Western Balkans, the region is looking for new business partners – in China, Russia, Turkey, Arab states and wherever else there is economic growth. In the long run, this reorientation provides the ground for increased political influence of non-European actors. However, geographical factors by themselves play a decisive role: it is ludicrous to believe in the possibility of, for instance, of Serbia joining the Eurasian Economic Union. Or: nobody in the Balkans, not even right-wing Muslim leaders in Bosnia-Herzegovina or hard-core Albanian nationalists in Priština, care much about Turkish invitations to join efforts to enter the EU – just now when Turkey itself is rapidly moving into a different geopolitical direction. The EU’s enlargement strategy did in one way respond to the steep economic recession in the Western Balkan since 2009: improving economic governance in the candidate and potential candidate countries became an additional priority. Evidently, the rising deficits in state budgets and rocketing external debts stirred fears that a “Greek scenario” might be looming in the Western Balkans. If yet another group of countries would enter the default zone, the EU will perhaps have to provide financial guarantees for them or even pump in fresh money. This is why the European Commission is keen to increase its surveillance over economic governance in the enlargement region. However, the war in Ukraine alarmed some decision makers in Europe and prompted the German government to convene a Western Balkans Business Conference in August 2014. At present, it is not clear whether this initiative will spawn a “Marshall Plan for the Western Balkans” – and a venture of this magnitude is required to induce faster growth and increase employment in the region. For most leading EU states, the priority in the recent past was to draw on the EU enlargement process in order to find a way out of the Kosovo conundrum. Governments in Belgrade, Priština, Tirana and Skopje declare EU membership to be their top political consideration so that diplomats in Berlin, London and elsewhere capitalize on this to try to regulate the “Albanian question” in the region. However, parliamentary elections in Serbia and Kosovo this spring brought this course of action more or less to a standstill. It is yet to be seen when and with how much dynamism negotiations might resume. In this context, Russia definitely plays an important role. As long as Moscow (and China) can veto any attempt to have Priština become a member of the United Nations in the Security Council, Kosovo will not be a fully-fledged recognised state. However, Serbia will also not be able to enter the EU until it has concluded a deal with its leading members about its relationship with Kosovo. Nonetheless, in this respect, the war in Ukraine could bring some changes. For a while, Serbian and Montenegrin government leaders have been trying to convince their Western interlocutors that they suffer under increasing Russian pressure so that the West should soften the conditionality for the EU membership of their countries in order to strengthen stability in the Western Balkans. To express it in the shared language of sports and politics: It would be a spectacular show if this trick really works. Yet, the "Greek clinch” is perfectly functioning as a firm part of EU enlargement policies. For many years, Athens has blcked any progress of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia towards EU or NATO, hoping to win in the “name dispute” with Skopje. The opportunity to apply this political wrestling technique exists only during the pre-accession period. This is why Slovenia blackmailed Croatia, why Croatia seems to be preparing to blackmail Serbia, why Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary are injecting their bilateral conditions, pertaining to their ethnic kin in the neighbouring candidate countries, into the enlargement negotiations. EU members in southeast Europe do not hesitate to “nationalize” the EU enlargement process. It is often presented that the right of entry into the EU come as a result of a more or less technical procedure (“The EU delivers when the EU-aspiring countries deliver.....”). In reality, new admittances into the EU has always been based on the interest of EU members to build up stability and security on the continent. The EU itself was created to restrain the power of Germany in Europe. Later, Greece, Spain and Portugal were ushered in to prevent the return of fascist rule in those states. Then the majority of former Warsaw Pact states were invited to join in order to prevent the return of communist oppression and Russian hegemony in that part of Europe. After the failure of the EU to avert the Yugoslav catastrophe, the Western Balkans were offered a “membership perspective” to prove - urbi et orbi – that the EU is capable of taking care of stability and security in its own courtyard. Will now the fear of imagined Russian forcefulness in southeast Europe persuade the western powers to get their act together and turn into reality their good intentions and grand promises to the Western Balkan countries? This could prove to be the only benefit from so much evil that the war in Ukraine has brought about.

 

'Mass grave' unearthed in Bosnia and Herzegovina (World Bulletin, 14 December 2014)

The search for more bodies at what is believed to be a new mass grave site in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been called off.

The search for more bodies at what is believed to be a new mass grave site in Bosnia and Herzegovina was called off on Saturday. The excavation at the latest site lies in the Hadzici near the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, where five bodies were unearthed on Dec. 9. Hadzici Association of Missing Families Secretary Farida Nisic said in a statement that bodies found at the mass grave were fully clothed and wrapped in blankets. "We witnessed difficult moments during the excavations. For example, a girl who had been looking for her father recognized the blanket that her father used before the war. Everyone who followed the exhumation had difficult moments. Everyone hoped to find the remains of their missing relatives," Nisic said. Out of the five bodies recovered, two bodies were remains of women and three were of men. The bodies were then transported to a memorial service center in Visoko city for identification. "The excavation has ended, but according to our list, three more people are missing and we believe that they are in this region," she said. Around 250 people are listed as missing in the municipality of Hadzici. "We found most of the victims, but 90 are still missing. The victims’ relatives are still trying to find the remains of their loved ones by using all opportunities they can." Nisic recalled her own harrowing experience of discovering her dead relatives at a similar mass grave site. “Once, I got a phone call from an unknown man, who said he wanted to meet to tell me a location of a mass grave, where 10 of my own relatives, including my brother were found buried," she said. “I think, he was the man who killed them. We gave him money in exchange for the information," Nisic said. Families of the Bosnian victims are still searching for 8,000 missing persons since the Bosnian War.
Montenegro Ruling Party Wins Local Poll (BIRN, by Dusica Tomovic, 15 December 2014)

The party of the Montenegro's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic won the most votes in local elections in the coastal town of Herceg Novi, continuing its run of municipal victories.

Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, scored its latest local government poll win on Sunday in Herceg Novi, a town on the Montenegrin-Croatian border. Although no party won an absolute majority in Sunday’s poll, it was clear that the united opposition list had lost its majority for the first time in 14 years. In May's local elections in 12 municipalities in Montenegro, the Prime Minister's party also won 11 of them. Herceg Novi and the town of Pluzine were the only two municipalities in the country in which Djukanovic’s party was in opposition. According to preliminary results, the DPS will now hold 13 out of the 34 seats on the Herceg Novi council. The opposition Socialist People's Party and the Democratic Front together will have eight seats, while Djukanovic's partner at the nation level, the Social Democratic Party, will have two.

But the ‘kingmaker’ role on the municipal council is likely to be taken by an independent non-party list called Izbor (The Choice), which won nine seats even though it was only founded in September to campaign on purely local issues. “A new history of Montenegro and the region has been written in Herceg Novi,” said Dusan Radovic Kruso of Izbor. “As absolute first-timers, we are the genuine and moral winners of the elections,” he said. Turnout at the local elections in Herceg Novi was over 66 per cent of the total 24,810 registered voters. No significant irregularities were reported to the Municipal Election Commission.

 

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