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LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: Unity in battle against crime (RTS)

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic has stated that there is complete unity and consent in the Serbian Government that the battle against crime and corruption is a priority in the work of the Government and that it is in Serbia’s best interest to continue with the uncompromising battle against crime and corruption. “There are no dilemmas and disunity in the Serbian Government regarding that, either at the level of parties or Government members. We are building a better Serbia, without crime and corruption and there is no giving up on this,” Prime Minister’s statement reads. “Progress that has been achieved in the dialogue with Pristina and the results in the battle against crime and corruption have been recognized by the EU as the key criteria for opening EU accession negotiations that will commence on 21 January,” Dacic was quoted by the Office for Media Relations. The Prime Minister states that these values implied the establishment of the rule of law and equality before law of all citizens, regardless of social status, financial power and political affiliation. In the following period, Dacic said, the key chapters and criteria in European integration, apart from the dialogue with Pristina, will be Chapters 23 and 24 that concern justice, security and the battle against crime and corruption. This Government has been formed on those principles and it is in Serbia’s best interest for such policy and uncompromising battle against crime and corruption to continue, said Dacic.

Djuric’s arrest increases tensions between Vucic and SPS (Politika/Novosti)

The arrest of businessman Dragan Djuric over embezzlements during the privatization of Zemun Veterinarian Institute increased tensions in the ruling coalition, because the statement of the chairman of executive board of Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and Minister without Portfolio in the Government Branko Ruzic that Djuric was innocent caused a harsh reaction from the leader of Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and the first deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, news agencies reported. He told that Ruzic should not sit in the Government and go somewhere else if he did not like its actions. Ruzic gave the statement as an official of Partizan Football Club, where Djuric was a chairman. On Tuesday, it was decided that Djuric should be kept in detention for one month. Vucic emphasized that the Ruzic’s statement was scandalous and unfair towards those who worked on solving the case of Zemun Veterinarian Institute. The privatization of the institute was one of 24 disputable privatizations that needed to be solved at the request of the EU.

At the press conference in Serbian Government building, Vucic said that he had enough of “deceiving tricks” of the politicians who attempted to turn the case into “sports issue”.

“I have no problem to take the blame for that when Ruzic and his buddies are involved in criminal actions or at least the authorities believe so”, Vucic emphasized. He stressed that he also had no problem when his friends or someone else was doing the same, but that he had problem “if you take the side of the others every time the state does its job”. “You want to leave me alone in the field? You want to say that Vucic is fighting alone against tycoons and drug dealers”, Vucic asked. He warned that he had enough of the situation where the tycoons were always having support from some people who publicly supported Government’s actions and kept saying to the tycoons that they would be on their side. When asked if the clash with Ruzic would be an introduction into decision on extraordinary Parliamentary elections, Vucic said that, if he should make a decision to go to the elections, he would “explain that with something else, not Ruzic”.

“If I announce tomorrow that there would be elections, some would say that we want the power for ourselves, and if I say the opposite, the same would say that I chickened out. Anyway you put it, I am at a loss”, Vucic said.

REGIONAL PRESS

Fule to visit Sarajevo on 17 January (Srna)

The EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule plans to visit Sarajevo on 17 January. “The aim of this working meeting is to continue discussion with political leaders on resolving the issue of Sejdic-Finci and finding a way for BiH to finally move forward on its European path,” Fuel’s spokesperson Peter Stano told Srna. Fule should speak with the leaders of the seven major political parties in B&H. The Strasbourg Court five years ago ruled in favor of Sejdic and Finci and requested the B&H authorities to adopt amendments to the B&H Constitution in this regard, which has never been done. The European Commission on several occasions has warned that there is the possibility that the next elections in B&H, scheduled for this year, could be declared invalid because of this. 

SDP expects series of meetings on implementing Sejdic-Finci (Fena)

The Social Democratic Party of B&H (SDP), in the course of this week, expects a series of meetings on implementing the Sejdic-Finci ruling, both with representatives of B&H political parties and with members of the international community. Sasa Magazinovic, member of the SDP Presidency and this party’s delegate in the B&H House of Representatives, told Fena that his party’s stance has long been known. “We will be part of the solution and a constructive participant in every meeting on solutions that integrate B&H into the EU and also not have a disintegrative effect on the country,” said Magazinovic. He added that in the SDP they sincerely hope that holidays influenced some of the actors of the present parties to relax, consider their unrealistic demands, and accept that the European path for B&H is more important than anyone’s personal or party interests. Asked to comment on the SNSD President Milorad Dodik’s statement that “under the condition that Bosniaks and Croats agree in the Federation on a model solution for implementing the European Court of Human Rights’ decision in Sejdic-Finci, the Republika Srpska will insist that the entities sign an agreement around it,” Magazinovic said that changes to the B&H Constitution have clear procedures and rules, and in these procedures and rules there are no obligations for any lower levels of government to sign any agreements. “Obviously the election campaign has started, and unfortunately, in this sense, from certain political parties, in this case from Dodik, there is abuse of the process of constitutional amendment. It’s known how the B&H Constitution is amended, it is changed with a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives and a majority in the House of Peoples, and this is the only way,” said Magazinovic. All else, he added, is political exhibition that has no basis in the legal acts of the state of B&H. Magazinovic said that this is not the first time that the B&H Constitution has been amended, recalling the amendment linked to Brcko District, which was adopted in the procedure found in the Constitution. “I don’t remember if Dodik or the SNSD demanded such things, nor did he interpret the Constitution the way he does now. This is yet another fact that speaks to the fact that this is a campaign statement,” said Magazinovic. The joint session of the House of Representatives and House of Peoples, at which the amendments submitted thus far relating to implementation of Sejdic-Finci should be considered, has been scheduled for 21 January. To the question of whether debate at this session could be a step closer to a solution, Magazinovic said that, when it comes to the Parliamentary Assembly, it is quite unwelcome to predict the outcome of voting on any point.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Serbian ex-security men held over Milosevic-era killing of journalist (Reuters, by Aleksandar Vasovic, 14 January 2014)

BELGRADE - Two former Serbian state security agents were detained on Tuesday over the killing of opposition newspaper publisher and journalist Slavko Curuvija during the rule of strongman president Slobodan Milosevic in 1999.

The arrests arose from a series of investigations, led by the deputy prime minister, into politically-tinged organised crime and corruption as Serbia seeks to improve democratic credentials needed for entry into the European Union.

Miljko Radisavljevic, Serbia's prosecutor for organised crime, told a news conference that former state security operatives Ratko Romic and Milan Radonjic had been arrested in connection with Curuvija's death.

Radisavljevic said a tip-off from Milorad Ulemek-Legija, an imprisoned ex-head of a secret police unit under Milosevic that together with paramilitary gangs targeted his opponents, helped steer police to Romic and Radonjic.

Ulemek is serving 40 years in prison for masterminding the assassination in 2003 of then-liberal Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who was a prominent political foe of Milosevic before his fall to a popular uprising in 2000.

"Ulemek testified without asking or receiving any benefits ... I believe the investigation will be over in a month or two and that we will have an indictment," Radisavljevic said.

Lawyers for Romic and Radonjic were not available for comment. A day before his arrest, Romic denied involvement in Curuvija's death. "I am in Belgrade and ... they can arrest me. I will defend myself with the truth that I was not a part of that," Radonjic was quoted by Politika daily as saying.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the continent's main rights watchdog, welcomed the arrests. "(They) show that progress is only possible when there is clear political will and commitment by the authorities," OSCE media envoy Dunja Mijatovi said in a statement.

Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who coordinates Serbian security agencies, apologised to Curuvija's family.

"There will be no fooling around and playing with the state ... I am very sad that the investigation took so long," Vucic told the news conference.

"After 14 years prosecutors acquired ... testimony from different sources to confirm the role of the state, the criminal role of the state and individuals who committed such a crime allegedly in the name of state."

Vucic was once a firebrand of the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party and also Milosevic's information minister at the time of Curuvija's killing. But Vucic has since rebranded himself a reformer keen to help guide Serbia into the EU.

Critics have long held Milosevic's security apparatus and inner circle responsible for the shooting death of Curuvija outside his Belgrade flat on Orthodox Easter 1999, when NATO was carrying out air strikes on Serbia over its bloody military campaign against the uprising in its province of Kosovo.

But no one has ever charged with Curuvija's killing.

Milosevic was extradited in 2001 to The Hague for trial before the international war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia. He died in 2006 before a verdict could be reached. (Additional reporting by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by)

Bosnia may lose IMF funds after regional finance minister sacked (Reuters, 14 January 2014)

Zivko Budimir, president of the Bosniak-Croat Federation, sacked its finance minister Ante Krajina on Jan. 3 over what he said was a violation of the budget law.

SARAJEVO: Bosnia may lose an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan tranche due this month because of a legal vacuum created after the sacking of a regional finance minister, an IMF official told Reuters on Tuesday.
Losing the IMF funds would deal a serious blow to the stretched budgets of the country's two autonomous regions which urgently need the IMF cash to plug soaring deficits and have already included the lender's funds in their 2014 budgets.
Ruben Atoyan, head of the IMF mission in Bosnia, said the lender's executive board meeting scheduled for Jan. 22 had been postponed because a letter of intent listing all reforms Bosnia must pursue under the standby deal did not have the finance minister's signature.
The board was expected to release a 48 million euros ($65.54 million) tranche under its 385 million euro stand-by loan for Bosnia and to approve a nine-month extension and an increase of the ongoing deal by 150 million euros.
"There is still time for the board to meet this month if the solution is found quickly. But the time is running out," Atoyan told Reuters.
This is the second delay since December, when the IMF postponed the release of new funds due to the failure of Bosnia's national parliament to pass the 2014 budget.
The delay was rooted in the complex ethnic power-sharing deal worked out in the 1995 Dayton Agreement that created two autonomous entities, the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Serb Republic, in a peace deal to end the 1992-1995 war.
Zivko Budimir, president of of the Bosniak-Croat Federation, sacked its finance minister Ante Krajina on Jan. 3 over what he said was a violation of the budget law.
Nermin Niksic, prime minister of Bosnia's national government, called his decision legally disputable and asked Budimir to reconsider it. International community representatives in Bosnia supported his stand.
Niksic also sought legal advice from the regional Constitutional Court, which should discuss the issue this week.
Budimir and Niksic have been at odds since 2012 when a new ruling coalition was formed in the regional parliament and Budimir's party was left out of the coalition.
Diplomats said Budimir's decision threatened the country's financial stability.
"We call on President Budimir and all parties to take immediate action to avoid significant damage to public finances," Bosnia's international peace overseer Valentin Inzko said in a statement on Tuesday. 

Macedonia Tops Balkan Economic Freedom List (Balkan Insight, 15 January 2014)

The latest Index of Economic Freedom has put Macedonia at the top of the Balkan region in terms of economic freedom.

Macedonia is ranked in 43rd place in the annual economic freedom index of the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal, published on Tuesday which lists 186 countries overall.

Albania is in 54th place, while Bulgaria is in 61st place, Romania 62nd, Montenegro 68th, Slovenia 74th and Croatia is in 87th place.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is in 101st place and Greece in 119th place. Kosovo’s economy is not graded in the 2014 Index due to insufficient data.

Macedonia's relatively high ranking in the list is largely attributed to the success of the banking sector, which has weathered the global financial crisis relatively well.

On the other hand, the report says, "systemic weaknesses persist, however, in the protection of property rights and enforcement of anti-corruption measures".

Serbia is ranked 37th out of 43 European countries and in 95th overall position in the list, with an overall score below the world and regional averages.

"In the 2014 Index, Serbia has achieved its highest economic freedom score ever. Despite significant progress in a few areas, however, it continues to lag in promoting the effective rule of law. Implementation of deeper institutional reform remains critical," the Heritage Foundation said on its website.
In four of the 10 economic freedoms, including investment, business and monetary freedom, Serbia has advanced.

However, declines were recorded in Serbia's control of government spending, and in fiscal  business and trade freedom.

Croatia is the only country in the region whose position has dropped in the index compared to 2013, when it was in XXX position.

According to the report, "Croatia’s rule of law has deteriorated and remains fragile, undermined by substantial continuing corruption", and it needs deeper systemic reforms to strengthen the independence of the judiciary.

Hong Kong has the highest index in the world, followed by Singapore and Australia.

Croatia, Slovenia Demand Facts About Tito’s Safe (Balkan Insight, 13 January 2014)

Zagreb and Ljubljana want a list of all items discovered in a recently-opened safe in Belgrade belonging to former Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito in case they have claims on them.

The two former Yugoslav countries said that they wanted to be informed about what is inside the safe, which is located in the National Bank of Serbia and whose contents are officially only known to a commission reporting to Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic.

Although no information has yet been made available about what was found inside, sources in the Croatian foreign ministry told news site Jutarni.hr that because the three-person commission opened the safe last July without representatives from other former Yugoslav republics present, Zagreb is suspicious about any Serbian claims about its contents.

According to the Belgrade media, the safe contains around 30 kilogrammes of gold, 2,663 golden coins, 194 gold objects and diamonds that originally belonged to Serbia’s Karadjordjevic royal family which abdicated on the eve of the Second World War.

Both Croatia and Slovenia want to know if they have any claims over the items inside the safe as successor republics to the Yugoslav state, and both have demanded a list of its contents.

“Based on that list, we could determine if some of the objects can be a part of the succession process. If not, the whole thing would be over for us,” Franci But, a Slovenian representative in Belgrade, told on Saturday.

He said however that he believed that most of the contents belonged to the Karadjordjevic dynasty.

A former advisor to the Serbian president, Oliver Antic, told media last July that the official name of the safe is ‘Deposit 555 of the Yugoslav presidency’ and that the name ‘Tito’s Safe’, as it has been called, does not correspond to reality.

However, Antic also explained that he could not say what is in the safe because he was waiting for the official report from the court expert that drew up the list of contents.

According to statements from Tito’s widow Jovanka Broz before her death last year, the safe could still hold some of the last salaries and author fees that Tito received, as well as some of his documents. She also claimed that valuable objects things that belonged to her and her husband had been stolen from the safe.

Tito’s granddaughter Svetlana, who lives in Sarajevo, has also announced that she will sue Serbia at the International Court for Human Rights in Strasburg because neither his heirs nor the court was informed about the contents of the safe.