LOCAL PRESS

 

Kosovo Assembly session with Serb MPs (RTS/Tanjug)

After more than two months of boycott, the Serb List MPs are again in the seats of the Kosovo Assembly, at the session on the occasion of the Day of Missing Persons. Kosovo Assembly deputy president, Serb List MP, Jasmina Zivkovic told Tanjug that the Serb List representatives returned to the Kosovo institutions since they had reached an agreement on implementing the coalition agreement. She underlines that the Serb List “will work at full power and implement what had been agreed”. She also stressed that the Serb MPs in the Kosovo Assembly would be engaged maximally “so the Serbs in Kosovo would see useful changes”.

 

Stojanovic: Conditions from coalition agreement still in force (RTS)

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Branimir Stojanovic told the morning news of Radio and Television of Serbia that the agreement on the manner of the functioning of the coalition and privatization in Serb regions had influenced the decision for the Serb (Srpska) List to return to Kosovo institutions. Stojanovic says there had been no new conditions, but all those conditions contained in the coalition agreement. He says that the talks in Brussels are very important and that it is important to keep up with the dynamics of these talks. He points out that the Albanians know the Serb List representatives are ready to leave the institutions and that nobody will be prepared to remain if there is no possibility for resolving the problems of the Serbs. “It has never been and it will not be simple. It is important that a political climate is created in the high-level dialogue, to relax the atmosphere. We must prevent incidents, because safety is most important,” says Stojanovic. “We will see whether we will find a partner on the other side, but the responsibility is also on the international community,” says Stojanovic. Speaking about the formation of a special court, Stojanovic says the Serb List said it would support this and that it considers this necessary. If the court doesn’t perform the job properly, there will be serious problems, and the most important thing is to provide justice and victims’ families to hear the truth. Stojanovic says that the Law on investments will be passed where mayors will have a greater role to negotiate investments and privatization of companies. He stressed that the management structure in the privatization agency would be changed and that Serbs would also take part in this.

 

Craiova Group – a foundation of better cooperation (RTS)

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, discussed in Craiova, Romania, infrastructural projects and cooperation in the fields of energy and transport and agreed on the formation of the Craiova Group. Vucic said he believed that the formation of the Craiova Group, to be formed by Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania, would be of historic importance. Together, we can do a lot. Our three countries will be able to protect our economic and political interests best. This is a strategic territory in the south-east, Vucic told a joint press conference. Ponta stressed that agreement was reached to represent the foundations of better cooperation and the presentation of economic, social and political interests of the three countries. We are also open for other Western Balkan countries, as only united can we reach much more, said Ponta, stressing that Romania is giving full support to Serbia on its EU course. He said he supported Serbia’s wish to become an EU member-state as soon as possible as that is best both for Serbia and for the two countries’ cooperation. We know that Prime Minister Vucic was resolute to progress fast on this course and we are giving him full support, said Ponta. Vucic thanked the Romanian and Bulgarian counterparts on the support they are giving Serbia on its EU path and stressed they had discussed cooperation in the field of energy, traffic and infrastructure. Borisov greeted the decision on the formation of the Craiova Group and stressed that Serbia was the best neighbor of Bulgaria and that the Bulgarian government would do everything to help Serbia complete the talks as soon as possible and become a full-fledged EU member-state. He said that cooperation in the field of infrastructural projects was essential for both countries and for the whole of Europe.

 

Greater Albania and Smaller Serbia (Politika, by Biljana Mitrinovic)

„As the Albanian proverb goes - a good friend is known in hard times,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State of European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, standing next to Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati last Monday in the State Department. Smiling, she added that Albania has been a friend to the U.S. in hard times and in good times, and that the just signed document between these two countries has made this official. While thanking the U.S. “for engagement and support that enables Albania to play a dynamic and constructive role in Southeast Europe”, Bushati perhaps didn’t even recall that the “Albanian proverb” is a verse by Petar Petrovic Njegos. He listened to praises to which the diplomats in Pristina have already had a chance to get used to ever since the fall of the Berlin Wall: “We share so much — our hard-fought independence, our love of freedom and democracy, our respect for human dignity, and our deep sense of history,” said the U.S. official, famous for an intercepted conversation in Kiev in which she described with words, not suitable for newspapers, what the U.S. thinks about the EU role in the war in Ukraine. This small performance in front of reporters in Washington D.C. is a result of the strategic partnership of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama made at the NATO Wales Summit last September. Since then, it seems that “Greater Albania” has become Rama’s legitimate and favorite topic. Now, what kind of “pains” do the Americans have in Southeast Europe when Rama plays the role of a hero in it and becomes a strategic partner? De-stabilization of the Balkans with re-tailoring borders and tearing off parts of territories of other’s people’s states is a present option if someone refuses “an offer that cannot be refused”. Re-composition of the Balkan state space has started with the chants that the creation of a “Greater Serbia” – ostensibly Milosevic’s political project – must be prevented at all costs. In the meantime, on the ruins of former Yugoslavia, news small states were created, while Kosovo seceded from Serbia by force. Historian Cedomir Antic tells Politika that it is clear that Albanian nationalism in the Balkans has been an exponent of the U.S. government policy over the past twenty years. “This, of course, doesn’t mean that the U.S. wants to create a ‘Greater Albania’, because if they wanted this, then it would have existed already,” says Antic, adding that there is interest at present to destabilize the region over geo-political and energy reasons, i.e. the Turkish gas pipeline. It could be seen how much Rama’s potentiation of the idea on the unification of Kosovo and Albania disturbs the Serbian public last Friday at the Political Science Faculty in Belgrade, when students asked the German Ambassador to Serbia Heinz Wilhelm what he thought about that. He diplomatically responded that nobody in the EU assessed this statement as useful and that bringing into question the issue of borders in Western Balkans, although unacceptable, is always present. There was sincerity in that statement, but Serbian students had to accept it with certain bitterness, since Germany also took part in the retailoring of borders in Western Balkans by supporting secession of Kosovo and Metohija. All the same, we didn’t receive from Ms. Nuland and her colleagues a diplomatically intoned statement similar to that of the German Ambassador.

 

Steinemier: We need Belgrade and Pristina to normalize relations (Tanjug)
“Germany and the European partners expect a comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, and Germany has not made Serbia’s admission to the EU conditional on recognition of Kosovo,” says German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “Germany and the European partners expect a comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo in the form of a legally binding agreement,” Steinemier said in an interview with Tanjug, pointing out that the EU had made that clear at the very beginning. The German government has never spoken about international and legal recognition of Kosovo by Serbia as a prerequisite for Belgrade’s admission to EU membership, said Steinmeier. Steinmeier added that Germany would like to see Chapter 35 (Kosovo) opened at the very beginning of negotiations - as soon as obligations under the agreement on normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina are fully implemented - which he said was a long and difficult process. Despite being so difficult and taking a lot of time to complete, these very tasks must start being dealt with in time instead of being postponed indefinitely, Steinmeier said.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

FB&H government already in crisis: HDZ threatens boycott of sessions (FTV/Oslobodjenje)

Not even a month has passed since its appointment, and the FB&H government has fallen into a deep crisis. Namely, ministers from the HDZ B&H at a session of the collegium threatened to boycott sessions of the government if at the next session the regulation that regulates selection of the members of the supervisory boards of public enterprises isn’t removed from force, FTV reports. According to the current regulation, the departmental ministers are responsible for appointment of members of the boards in public enterprises, while the HDZ insists that the appointments be made by the government. Ministers from the DF believe that rescinding the regulation, which disempowers the ministries, violates the existing legal framework and if the regulation is rescinded they will not participate in further work. Nasa Stranka gives full support to the DF in its position on depoliticizing public enterprises in FB&H, or consistent respect for the law and giving priority to expertise in the selection of leadership positions in these companies, the party said in a statement. “The DF’s conflict with its coalition partners on this issue just shows publicly that the DF’s partners as usual did not even think to implement the agreement on which the coalition is supposedly based. The SDA and HDZ signed the agreement only in order to come to a position for their party cadres to award distribution of the electoral spoils, and divide management positions in the public sector,” said Dennis Gratz, Nasa Stranka delegate in the FB&H parliament. “We advocate the de-politicization of administration of public enterprises, and with that, we support the recent statement by the DF. Individuals who have been removed from their positions after the collapse of the Platform, and whose status was resolved in the manner that the SDA and HDZ want to resolve the existing leadership, received cases before the relevant courts. Now they are returning them to work, we must pay them salaries for their period of unlawful dismissal, and the burden is borne by the federal budget. So, for every stupidity that the governing coalition does today, we are all responsible together tomorrow,” concluded Gratz, the statement reads. Fadil Novalic, PM of the FB&H government, confirmed that in the government there are disagreements around the disputed regulation. This is one of the reasons that a session of the government wasn’t held last week

 

Dodik: Referendum on RS’ status possible in 2018 (Srna)

Unless there is a visible sign of the stabilization and acknowledgement of RS’ views and restoration of its competences in line with the B&H Constitution by 2017, we will propose to the Assembly to call a mandatory referendum of the status of the RS, says Milorad Dodik, the leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD). Dodik told a press conference in Istocno Sarajevo, after the end of the 5th SNSD Assembly on Saturday, that a proposal at the referendum would be that the RS become an independent state. “The Constitution and law of the RS envisage a referendum because we do not hold referendums at the level of B&H, but at the level of RS,” explained Dodik. According to him, this is the SNSD’s view that was presented in the Declaration “Republika Srpska – a free and independent future and responsibility,” on which other parties and non-governmental organizations also can agree. He stated that towards the end of 2017, the SNSD would hold a convention that would assess whether the process of acknowledging the RS’s views had started and what kind of a proposal would be put out to the Assembly. Dodik, who was re-elected SNSD president on Saturday, said that in order to be European, B&H would first have to be a Dayton B&H and that a European B&H could not exist without the Dayton B&H.

 

Dodik: RS has the right to decide its fate (Glas Srpske)

The SNSD President Milorad Dodik said that the RS has the right to decide its own fate and that B&H can only be a Dayton’s state and not unitary and centralist one. “The message of the Declaration that was adopted at the SNSD session is - You have violated our rights and taken our jurisdictions, but now is the time to express our views. Our right is to decide on our own destiny and we are using it,” said Dodik and added that the SNSD will continue to work to stabilize the RS. “The session has proven that the SNSD is big, powerful and united, and that all strikes of the so-called united opposition, the international community and political Sarajevo have failed. The SNSD has shown that it is united in its decision-making process,” said Dodik. He stressed that the RS wants to stay in B&H, but that it needs back the jurisdictions that have been taken away, jurisdictions in the field of justice, finance, and many others. “Instead of support in the fact that we want to maintain the Constitution and the power of the international agreement, the OHR and other foreigners are trying to present the blade to a declaration that is affirming political rights, not the war and violence,” Dodik said.

 

OHR on SNSD declaration: Per Dayton Accord, entities have no right to secede (Oslobodjenje)

After the party congress of the SNSD adopted a declaration on the “free and independent Republika Srpska, responsibility and future”, the Office of the High Representative reacted. The OHR in a statement recalled the earlier clear stance of the high representative that B&H is an internationally recognized country whose sovereignty and territorial integrity are guaranteed by international law and the Dayton Peace Agreement. “According to the Dayton Accord, entities do not have the right to secede from B&H and they exist solely on the basis of the B&H constitution. The constitutional structure of B&H can be changed only in accordance with the amendment procedure defined by the constitution. No party paper can change these facts,” the OHR emphasizes in a statement.

 

SDS: SNSD’s motive not a referendum, but generating political crises in RS and B&H (BN TV)

Aleksandra Pandurevic, Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) delegate to the B&H House of Representatives, said today that unfortunately the SNSD's motives when it speaks of a referendum in RS are not honest. She stated that the motive is not a referendum, but rather the generating of political instability in both the RS and in B&H. She pointed out that everyone will therefore be dealing with the referendum and the crisis instead of how many jobs the RS government creates, who will be responsible for the stolen and destroyed economy, for the Bobar Bank affair, the Voter Factory, and many other affairs. “Unfortunately, the only consequence will be that in the next three to four years in RS, we will have not a single serious investor,” Pandurevic told BN Television. She also recalled that the SNSD's story on the referendum began in 2006 and will apparently last until 2018.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

EULEX Uncovers Suspected Mass Grave in Kosovo (BIRN, by Petrit Collaku, 27 April 2015)

The EU rule-of-law mission, EULEX, on Monday said it had found human remains in a village cemetery in the Skenderaj/Srbica area of Kosovo after a villager provided information.

The department of forensic medicine within the EU law mission EULEX said it had found mortal remains buried in a village cemetery of Llaushe/Lausa in Skenderaj/Srbica municipality.

A resident of the village apparently approached the forensics team last December when they were on a visit to another suspected grave in the area of this village. The resident told the department of a possible burial location in the village cemetery, indicating an area of seven to eight square meters, claiming that four bodies were buried at the location in March 1999. “So far we have exhumed three bodies in this location. The team will continue the work and see what else is there,” Arsim Gerxhaliu, director of Kosovo’s department of forensic medicine, told BIRN. The Kosovo authorities last week said they were commencing searches in 20 locations in Kosovo that they suspect contain mass graves. A total of 69 missing persons from the Kosovo war were identified in 2014. Another 1,653 people remain unaccounted for.

 

Flow of asylum seekers from Kosovo drops sharply in Germany (Deutsche Welle, 25 April 2015)

The number of Kosovars asking for asylum has fallen by 94 percent in the last two months, according to a German official. Berlin has said the vast majority of migrants are economic, and will not be allowed to stay. During early February, German officials would get up 1,500 asylum request from Kosovars every day. However, the daily number of applicants sunk below 100 in April, president of Federal Office for Migration and Refugees Manfred Schmidt said to German Rheinischen Post newspaper. "The people have understood that asylum system in Germany cannot be a solution for their difficult economical situation in Kosovo," Schmidt said.

Number of people from Kosovo asking for asylum in Germany had suddenly jumped in the beginning of the year, reaching some 11.700 applications in March, and putting the small Balkan country at first place when it comes to number of asylum applicants, ahead of Iraq and Syria.

Poverty no reason for asylum

The unexpected wave of immigration is believed to have been triggered by economical hardships. Kosovo is among the poorest countries in Europe, with unemployment reaching 45 percent. However, political asylum in Germany is reserved for people whose lives are at risk should they return to their countries. This is not the case for the overwhelming majority of Kosovo applicants, leading German authorities to approve only 0.2 percent of their requests for the current year.

Expensive asylum lottery

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, although the move remains disputed by Belgrade and its allies. Since Belgrade's official position is that Kosovo is still part of Serbia, the refugees can move across Serbian territory more or less freely, and attempt to enter EU illegally at the Hungarian border. People-smuggling remains a lucrative line of work in the Balkans, with refugees paying thousands of euros for a chance to seek asylum in Germany, Austria or Scandinavia.

Easier to reject claims

Faced with a wave of Kosovo immigrants, Germany recently introduced a fast-track procedure of dealing with asylum claims. The authorities are now requested to provide an answer within two weeks, down from an average of four months, leading to faster deportations. The new, faster procedure is one of the reason for fewer refugees, the German official Manfred Schmidt said. According to him, another reason for the lower numbers is a media campaign by the Prishtina government, which provided information on the chances of getting an asylum.

 

Serbia's Democrats Test Strength at Rally (BIRN, by Gordana Andric, 25 April 2015)

The once mighty but now weakened Democratic Party held an anti-government protest in the Serbian capital, pushing its demand for early elections. Several thousand people gathered in Belgrade for an anti-government rally organised by the opposition Democrats. The Democrats and their supporters called for resignation of Aleksandar Vucic, Serbian Prime Minister. “We demand Vucic’s resignation. All that is happening is his responsibility,” Bojan Pajtic, the leader of Democratic Party, said describing Vucic as an “autocratic leader who abolished state institutions.” Pajtic also said that Vucic is responsible for the poor economy of the country and that he is pushing Serbia into crisis in all areas of social life. The rally ended peacefully, after a peaceful march from Belgrade’s central Republic Square to the government building, where the protesters left notes with messages to the government. Ahead of a rally, Pajtic explained that the “poor condition” of the country triggered the protests and that Serbia needs snap elections. “Between 2000 and 2012, Serbia’s debt was by 1.5 billion euros. Under three years of Vucic, the debt has increased by 10 billion," he claimed. “The media are under pressure, freedom of expression is being abolished, political opponents are being attacked, anyone who dares to criticize the leader is being viciously defamed,” Pajtic told Beta news agency on Friday, adding that early elections were the only way to reverse this. The planned anti-government protests in Belgrade are just a first step towards the snap polls, he continued. “This will be first big rally but there will be more protests across Serbia until we return the light to the country again,” Pajtic said. The Democrats expect their protests in Belgrade to draw dissatisfied workers, pensioners whose pensions were cut in a course of austerity measures and others unhappy with the current regime. “Serbia has had enough humiliation and needs its dignity back - the dignity of free citizens and a free community, the dignity of independent institutions and an independent media. "We invite all those who think there was enough of silence, suffering and humiliation to join us,” Pajtic stated. The Democratic Party was Serbia's main ruling party from 2008 to 2012. Since its lost power to Vucic’s Progressive Party in the May 2012 general elections, its popularity has waned and some former leaders and prominent members have left. Boris Tadic, the former leader of the Democrats and Serbia’s former President, left the party before March 2014 snap general elections, and entered the election race with his new Social Democratic Party, taking away some of Democrats voters. The Democratic Party won only 6.2 per cent of votes in those elections, only just ahead of Tadic’s new party, which won 5.7 per cent. According to a recent survey conducted in December and January by the website New Serbian Political Thought, the Democrats have recovered slightly and now enjoy support of about 10.8 per cent of voters. The ruling Progressives remain by far the most popular party in the country, however, with the support of about 47.9 per cent the voters. Their main coalition partner in government, the Socialist Party of Serbia, SPS, enjoys support of about 12 per cent of people. All other parties, according to the same survey of 1,020 respondents, are below 5 per cent in the polls, which means they are below the threshhold to enter parliament.

 

Serbian Guard Officers Head to Moscow for Victory Day Parade (Sputnik, 25 April 2015)

Earlier in April, Sputnik Serbia confirmed that the Serbian military would take part in the parade after receiving an invitation from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

BELGRADE — A unit of the Serbian Army Guard left its military base near Belgrade on Saturday to participate in rehearsals for May 9 Victory Day military parade in Moscow.

In total, 75 Serbian guard officers, including two women, will take part in Moscow's ceremonial parade. The Serbian guard officers, who had never participated in military parades abroad in nation's modern history, were sent off from Batajnica military airbase some 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of Belgrade. Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces Gen. Ljubisa Dikovic and Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Chepurin were present at the ceremony.

"The Serbian delegation headed by the president will also be present at the [Victory Day] parade. We appreciate it and realize that Serbia puts its best foot forward," Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Chepurin told reporters.

The upcoming Moscow parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany will be the largest one in Russia's modern history. Some 16,000 troops from the Russian Armed Forces will take part in the ceremony along with ten foreign parade teams with a total number of 732 people, according to Russian military officials. Leaders of at least 25 countries, including Serbia's President Tomislav Nikolic, will attend the parade.

 

‘Stability in Balkans impossible without partnership between Turkey and Serbia’ (Today’s Zaman, 25 April 2015)

In an exclusive interview with Sunday's Zaman, the Serbian consul general in İstanbul Zoran Markovic, has called on Turkey to develop bilateral relations on both an economic and political level with Serbia, saying that the two countries have common interests and mutual respect in line with their strategic partnership. “All the legal preconditions are set. We signed a free trade agreement, visas have been eliminated and thus the groundwork for boosting economic relations has been set. Politicians did their part, and now it is up to businessman on both sides to meet each other and start investing. There are many opportunities on both sides,” he stated. The Republic of Kosovo announced its independence from Serbia in 2008, in a move Serbia strongly opposed. However, Turkey was one of the first countries to officially recognize Kosovo's independence from Serbia, and some 90 other countries, including the US and 23 EU member countries, now also recognize the country's independence. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan even said “Do not forget that Kosovo is Turkey and Turkey is Kosovo” during an address in the Kosovar capital of Prizren, where there is a significant ethnic Turkish population, on Oct. 23, 2013. Only a day later, the Serbian Foreign Ministry condemned Erdoğan's remarks, the Serbian state news agency TANJUG reported. Markovic stated that in politics, no one should be emotional because it is just a matter of interests and respect. “Those remarks are something that by no means should have been expressed. But I believe we have to overcome this situation for the sake of our bilateral relations. So let's go further and look at the future. If we take a glance at history, there are many things that can take us apart. We have to find common interests for both countries. That's why we should focus on the future in order to promote relations between Turkey and Serbia. It is estimated that now more than 3 million people in Turkey are from the Balkan Peninsula, including from Serbia. I believe that this fact is the strong power that can unite us and help us to understand each other better,” Markovic stated. He also emphasized that Turkey is at least 10 times bigger than Serbia in every sense but if the two countries respect each other, there will be no problems in our future relations. After Erdoğan's remarks in Kosovo last October, Serbia demanded an apology and an explanation. Then-Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu spoke on the phone with his Serbian counterpart, Ivan Mrkic, and promised that he would use the first opportunity to express his regret publicly about the misinterpretation of Erdoğan's Kosovo remarks. Even though Davutoğlu expressed regret over the comments, Serbia was not satisfied. A trilateral meeting, scheduled to take place in Belgrade in December 2013 between Turkey, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina has been postponed indefinitely by Serbia. Markovic stated that it is impossible to see a stable Balkan region without Serbia as well as Turkey. “Destabilizing any of the Balkan countries means destabilization of the entire region. At this point, our future relations step in because mutual respect and understanding will pave the way for a stable region. If we are united in common interests, this can be a good opportunity to promote our relations,” he said. Markovic also complained about the high number of people who have joined the terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from Balkan countries. “This is a very sensitive and serious issue. Unfortunately many people join terrorist groups from the region, especially from Bosnia and Kosovo. For instance, more than 150 people from Bosnia have joined those groups, according to Bosnian officials. I think there are even more of them, unfortunately. But at the same time, for me, it is more surprising that a lot of people, especially youngsters, are coming from Western countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom and others. That's why everybody should collaborate in exchanging their information. In this regard, I would like to stress that nowadays it is very important to have very close relations between the relevant authorities of our two countries. For them, the most important thing is to work closely together. My country is very concerned about this issue and therefore is undertaking wide and strong measures. In our parliament, a law preventing people from joining these groups has been adopted in order to prevent potential terrorism. In this sense, we are doing our best,” Markovic stated. Markovic also praised Turkish TV series, saying that many people in his country learn Turkish from these series. “I have no time to watch these series, but my wife has almost learned Turkish by watching them. Turkish filmmakers are doing a great job. Before I came to İstanbul, all of my friends and relatives told me how lucky I was. Many of them still ask me if they can visit me here because they all know that İstanbul and Turkey are amazing. Everybody in Serbia knows a lot about Turkey. We know the beauty of this country and the rich traditions of the Turkish people,” Markovic added.

 

Serbia, Abu Dhabi Sign $3-Billion Property Project Accord (Bloomberg, by Misha Savic, Zainab Fattah, 26 April 2015)

Eagle Hills, an Abu Dhabi-based developer of international projects, signed a contract with the Serbian government to redevelop part of central Belgrade. The Belgrade Waterfront will occupy a 1.8 million square-meter (19 million square feet) area and will be 68 percent owned by the Abu Dhabi company, while the rest will be held by Serbia, according to the government. Total built-up surface will be about 1 million square meters, including 5,700 homes, office buildings, eight hotels with 2,200 rooms and the Balkan’s largest shopping mall of 140,000 square meters. “Nothing will remain unsold,” Construction Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said. “Everything in the contract shows that such risk, for now, according to all analysis, does not exist. Belgrade will not bear risk.” Eagle Hills, led by Emaar Properties PJSC Chairman Mohamed Alabbar, is also planning large developments in several countries including Nigeria, Bahrain and Egypt. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways took over Serbia’s flag carrier in 2013. The plan to redevelop riverside real estate hasn’t been without controversy. While the government says it will draw billions of euros and create 20,000 jobs, opponents say the project was approved without proper planning and ignores flood and groundwater risks. A few hundred protesters were kept at a distance by police from a mansion where the contract was signed. “Citizens have shown they won’t trust the fate of the city to shady deals between politicians and investors,” said the organizing group called “Don’t Strangle Belgrade” in an e-mail.

99-year Lease

Under the contract, Eagle Hills will provide an initial investment of 150 million euros ($163 million) for the $3 billion project. It will also provide 150 million euros as a shareholder advance and a loan of 130 million euros to the Serbian government to clean up the area and buy land it doesn’t already own, according to the statement. In return, the Abu Dhabi developer will be granted a 99-year lease on the land. Half of the project, including a 22 floor mixed-use tower, must be completed within 20 years, according to the statement from the Eagle Hills unit Belgrade Waterfront Capital Investments LLC. Eagle Hills became one of the Gulf’s largest developers, with billions of dollars of projects, after taking over Al Maabar in October. Al Maabar, also an Abu Dhabi developer, is building across Jordan, Morocco and Libya. Eagle Hills is planning two hotel developments in the United Arab Emirates sheikhdoms of Dubai and Fujairah, two people with knowledge of the matter said in February. The company is also planning a $4 billion mixed-use development in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, MEED magazine reported in March.

 

IMF likely to revise Serbia growth forecast to zero- finance minister (Reuters, 25 April 2015)

BELGRADE - Finance Minister Dusan Vujovic expects the International Monetary Fund to revise its 2015 forecast for Serbia's economy to no change from 0.5 percent shrinkage, he said on Saturday. The IMF begins a review of a 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) standby loan agreement with Serbia next week. Vujovic told a news conference he expects the full year budget gap to be smaller than originally planned because savings reduced the first quarter shortfall to around two percent of gross domestic product (GDP), half the gap agreed with the IMF. "Whether we can maintain that level of savings by the end of the year, it's unlikely, but we will achieve something significant by the end of the year: we will be below the planned deficit," Vujovic said. He later predicted that the full year shortfall, for spending by the government, municipalities and some state enterprises, should be 4.8 percent of output, down from around 6 percent planned in the 2015 budget. Economists have warned that the first quarter narrowing of the deficit may be temporary due to one-off dividend payments by public enterprises, less capital investment and improved collection of value-added tax. The central bank had also forecast Serbia's economy would shrink by 0.5 percent this year, although the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said 0.5 percent growth was possible. "I think the IMF will revise its growth figure from minus 0.5 to zero," Vujovic said. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic earlier predicted 1 percent growth this year, after a 1.8 percent contraction last year. Vujovic said public debt stood at 73.3 percent of gross domestic product or 24.2 billion euros at the end of March. He also said the government expected an agreement to be signed in May on the restructuring of power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), a priority as the government tries to shed loss-making public businesses. ($1 = 0.9193 euros) (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Matt Robinson/Ruth Pitchford)

 

Bosnian Party Congresses Set Stage for New Conflicts (BIRN, by Srecko Latal, 27 April 2015)

Three key parties held their congresses over the weekend, re-elected their existing leaders and reiterated their hard-line agendas - setting the stage for further political tensions. Bosnia's main Serbian party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, on Saturday re-elected its leader, Milorad Dodik, at a party congress in Eastern Sarajevo for another four years. The SNSD also elected other key party bodies and adopted several declarations, setting out its long-term strategic orientation. One called for a referendum for the independence of Bosnia’s Serbian-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, RS, in 2018, unless Bosnia’s political and administrative settlement under the original 1995 Dayton peace accord is restored by then.
“Based on the results of the referendum, RS governmental institutions … would propose the peaceful dissolution [of Bosnia] and mutual recognition to the BiH Federation [Bosnia's other entity],” the declaration stated. Bosnia's international overseer, the Office of the High Representative, OHR, reacted with a statement underlining that Bosnia’s two entities “have no right of secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The SNSD also adopted a declaration on economic development, which effectively ignores the “Compact for Growth” reform agenda prepared under EU auspices. “In the implementation of economic reforms and speeding up the EU accession process, the SNSD is open to broad cooperation with all levels of authorities and international institutions. But it will not wait for the international community, or for the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to propose solutions to get it out of the crisis and improve the economy,” the declaration said. A senior international official told Balkan Insight that SNSD’s separatist agenda, while not new, posed a threat to Bosnia’s stability. “Dodik has lost power at state level and is close to losing it in the RS. He seems desperate and willing to do anything to stay in control,” the official claimed. Two other key parties in Bosnia held congresses on Saturday. The main Bosnian Croat party, the Croatian Democratic Union, held its own party congress in the southern city of Mostar and re-elected its president, Dragan Covic, for another four years. The party called for the constitutional reorganization of Bosnia's mainly Bosniak and Croat Federation entity. It suggests turning the current ten cantons into four regions, including the Sarajevo district. The HDZ has proposed this before, but international officials and Bosniak parties have rejected it as an effective division of the Federation and the creation of a separate Croat entity. “We want to make changes to the internal setup of Bosnia and Herzegovina because organized like this, Bosnia and Herzegovina cannot survive,” Covic said in his speech. Also on Saturday, the second-strongest Bosniak party, the Alliance for Better Future, SBB, held its congress in the northern town of Tuzla, where it re-elected its founder, the media and construction mogul Fahrudin Radoncic, as party leader for the next four years. “The start of work of the new government is very bad and conflicts within the ruling coalition are visible,” Radoncic said. The SBB is currently in opposition on all administrative levels, but could play more significant role in the future because of growing rifts among key parties in the ruling coalition at state level and in the Federation entity. Relations are especially poor between the HDZ and the Democratic Front, DF, a civic-oriented party which, together with the HDZ, the main Bosniak party, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and the block of Bosnian Serb opposition parties, has become the axis of ruling coalitions at state level, in the Federation entity and in several Federation entity cantons. In addition to personal animosities between HDZ and DF leaders, the main stumbling block is the control of key public companies. While the SDA and especially the HDZ want to replace the current management of public companies to reflect latest elections results and new ruling coalitions – standard practice in Bosnia after past elections – the DF has rejected this, insisting that the current managements should complete their legal mandates. To get their way, the SDA and HDZ have announced that at the Federation government session on Monday they will change the rules on the appointment of managers of public companies. However, DF officials have warned that if they are outvoted, they may leave the ruling coalition. If the DF quits the coalition, it could cause a ripple effect and force the reorganization of ruling coalitions on almost all levels of government.

 

Bosnia's Serb Republic leader threatens referendum on independence in 2018 (Ukraine Today, 26 April 2015)

Republic's nationalist President Milorad Dodik adopts resolution making independence threat official

The largest Serb party in Bosnia said over the weekend that it will push for a referendum on independence for the country's autonomous Serb Republic in 2018, unless the region is granted greater autonomy. The SNSD party, which is led by the Republic's nationalist President Milorad Dodik, adopted a resolution making the independence threat official party policy. The threat represents potentially the greatest challenge to Bosnian statehood since it split from federal Yugoslavia and descended into war between 1992 and 1995, killing 100,000 people.

Milorad Dodik, Serb Republic President and President of SNSD party: "Unless there are visible and concrete improvements in stabilising the position of the Serb Republic in accordance to the constitution by 2017, which means that many jurisdictions that are taken away have to be given back, in 2018 the Serb Republic would conduct a referendum on its status. The proposed option will be the independence of the Serb Republic."

Dodik accuses state authorities in Bosnia of trying to usurp autonomous powers granted the Serb Republic under a US-brokered peace deal. The resolution states that unless the Serb Republic is able to strengthen its autonomy by the end of 2017, the regional assembly - in which SNSD currently holds a majority - will call a referendum to break from the Bosniak-Croat Federation, the other half of Bosnia. Dodik argues that the Serb Republic's own constitution and laws leave room for self-determination.

Milorad Dodik, Serb Republic President and President of SNSD party: "SNSD will call other partners in the Serb Republic, governmental and non-governmental institutions and opposition, to unite on this path of the Serb Republic. If that doesn't happen, the Serb Republic cannot accept that, under cover of certain reforms and other things, they strengthen the central institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and weaken the position of the Serb Republic."

Dodik has long advocated Bosnia's dissolution, putting him at odds with Western powers that have invested thousands of troops and billions of euros in securing sovereignty for the Balkan state. Analysts speculate that Dodik has been emboldened by events over the past year in Ukraine, where where the Crimean Peninsula was annexed by the Kremlin after an internationally-unrecognised referendum and militants in the east of the country backed by Russia have declared 'people's republic's'.

 

Montenegro's Main Union to Stage Mayday Protest (BIRN, by Dusica Tomovic, 27 April 2015)

Union leaders in Montenegro are calling on people to show discontent with government policies at Mayday protests in the capital, Podgorica, next week. Marking International Labour Day in Montenegro on May 1, the Independent Trade Union is urging Montenegrins to dismiss worries about publicly expressing dissatisfaction with government policies and join a mass rally.

Citizens need reminding that "we are all slaves to the neo-liberal economy," the head of the union, Srdja Kekovic, said. Organizers expect a significant number of workers, unemployed people and students to hit the streets under the slogan "Let's breathe the freedom", although similar rallies in recent years drew only a few thousand people. Union head Kekovic complained that workers in modern Europe are expected to be satisifed with nothing more than "crumbs" from the table. "Vulgar capitalism tramples on the rights of workers and their dignity and turns them in poor, economic ancillary citizens who are forced to obey to get crumbs from the table," Kekovic told the press. He added that workers face "institutional slavery" because the state no longer protects them from rising crime and nepotism. Montenegro's unemployment rate of 15 per cent is by no means the worst in the region. However, unions note that about a third of the jobless are university graduates under 30 years of age. The average monthly salary in the country is around 490 euro, but, according to recent data from the Tax Administration, one in every eight people lives on less than 200 euros a month.

 

Macedonia Albanian Leader Urges Peaceful End to Crisis (BIRN, by Una Hajdari, Paulina Nushi, 27 April 2015)

The head of the main ethnic Albanian party in Macedonia has pledged his party's continued commitment to peace and dialogue during a visit to Kosovo.

Ali Ahmeti, head of the the main party representing Albanians in Macedonia, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, said on a visit to Kosovo on Monday that Albanians in Macedonia sought a peaceful solution to the country's problems. “Albanians in Macedonia want to see a full realization of the Ohrid Peace Agreement so that they can feel like equals amongst their fellow citizens,” said Ahmeti, referring to the deal that ended the 2001 conflict in the country. The DUI is a junior partner in the coalition government under Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and his VMRO DPMNE party. Commenting on claims that Albanian "terrorists" linked to the so-called National Liberation Army, NLA, had attacked a remote border post, Ahmeti said his party was striving to find a solution to all national tensions. “The DUI wants to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem,” Ahmeti said, stressing that the only solution for Albanians in Macedonia was to work within the Ohrid Agreement. Kosovo Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci, who hosted the Macedonian politician, said Kosovo also supported peace in Macedonia. The Ohrid Framework Agreement, OFA, ended a brief conflict in Macedonia between Albanian militants and ethnic Macedonians in 2001. It increased the rights of the Albanian minority in Macedonia, who make up about 25 per cent of the population. However, Albanians complain that the deal has never been fully honoured. The DUI is the political successor to the long disbanded National Liberation Army. Macedonian police last Tuesday said a group of 40 armed and masked gunmen wearing the markings of the NLA had stormed a police outpost near Kosovo. Calling it a "terrorist attack", they said the attackers appeared to be from Kosovo, spoke Albanian and took four policemen who were manning the border post hostage, later releasing them. The scene of the reported attack, the village of Goshince, part of the ethnic Albanian rural municipality of Lipkovo, is some 25 kilometres northeast of the capital, Skopje. The region saw hostilities during the conflict in Macedonia in 2001. The police say the incident is being investigated, and are maintaining a heavy presence in the area. Some experts as well as some former NLA commanders have accused the authorities of inventing the incident to distract the public from the country's ongoing internal crisis. The opposition Social Democrats have accused Prime Minister Gruevski of orchestrating the illegal surveillance of thousands of people and have released a slew of secretly recorded tapes of conversations among top officials that point to widespread corruption.

 

Little Dictator Gruevski’s End is Nigh (Balkan Insight, by Vladimir Lazarevik, 27 April 2015)

Time is fast running out for Nikola Gruevski as even his erstwhile supporters wake up to the reality of his corrupt regime. January 31st, 2015, was the date marking the end of the ruthless political career of Nikola Gruevski, the dictator who has ruled Macedonia for almost nine years. This date marks the beginning of a new era for Macedonia and the region. On January 31st, at a press conference Prime Minister Gruevski made public his dramatic accusations that Zoran Zaev, leader of the main opposition Social Democatic Party, was a collaborator with foreign secret services. To this day, the country of origin of the implicated secret services remains a mystery. In the infamous tradition of world dictators, Gruevski, who is politically cornered by a scandal that has revealed his flagrant abuse of power, is defending himself by making accusations. The Prime Minister’s allegations have no rational basis to them, nor has he provided any convincing evidence to support his claims. They are based on claims that he and the people around him have been spied on, and the material, in the form of recorded telephone conversations, was then given to the opposition by the foreign secret services with the primary goal of destroying the country. Days after the Prime Minister’s address, Zaev called a series of press conferences where he publicly played recordings of talks between high officials including Gruevski and his ministers. These have revealed major elections forgeries, the telephone wire tapping of more than 20000 citizens, multi-million dollar corruption scandals, and other almost incredible crimes, unacceptable to any normal person. Since then, the opposition has conducted 26 press conferences releasing more compromising material. None of the persons involved in the talks has denied that the alleged conversations took place. However, while the opposition continues to release this material, and as the public learns more about the disgraceful and humiliating manner in which Gruevski’s government rules of the country, he stills maintains tight control over almost all the media in the country. Officials are also pressuring the public administration on a daily basis, which spreads additional fear among people. Over the past two months, citizens of Macedonia have been led to believe in two mutually opposing truths: one propagated by Gruveski who is claiming to protect the country from foreign secret services, and the opposite, advocated by Zaev, who is claiming to protect the country from Gruevski and from his first cousin, the chief of the secret police, Saso Mijalkov, the eminence grise of the regime. The ongoing situation continues to paint a cruel and almost unbelievable portrait of the reality of Macedonia’s brutal political scene. As the time passes, I felt personally deeply embarrassed, because I participated in the first Gruevski government in the period between 2006 and 2008. It is due to that personal embarrassment, responsibility and conscience that together with Nikola Dimitrov, and Pero Dimshoski, we decided to meet in Amsterdam on March 7th, 2015, and to call for a Revolution of Conscience in Macedonia. The three of us used to hold high government positions for which we were nominated by the ruling party. Dimitrov is a former ambassador to the United States and The Netherlands, and the former Chief Negotiator over the country’s name in the dispute with Greece. Dimshoski is a former Deputy Minister of Agriculture who was also responsible for overseeing Macedonia’s EU accession processes. I was former a Deputy Minister of Health and executive president of the World Health Organization for the Europe Regional Committee. Over the past few weeks we have established strong collaboration with Jove Kekenovski as a person with strong ties to VMRO DPMNE’s political base, and with former police general Stojance Angelov who leads the “Dostoinstvo” political party. Together we are building strong coalition of supporters many of whom are coming from the ruling VMRO-DPMNE. We have promoted our ideas in a series of articles, public statements and TV shows on the few independent media outlets left in the country. I have been a guest on Bulgarian National Television, which was also a historical moment due to the decades-long intentional blockade in communications between Macedonia and Bulgaria, due to political reasons whose roots date back to Tito’s communist regime. Unfortunately, for me, as Macedonian citizen, it has been impossible to be guest on Macedonian National Television, for which I have paid taxes for years, due to my criticisms of Gruevski’s government. Our manifesto, called the “New sun of freedom”, has drawn thousands of supportive reactions on the internet and social networks, where an increasing number of people openly express disappointment and anger over the way a handful of high government officials have captured state institutions. People now see hope in new but experienced officials who could restore freedom and democracy in the country and together with the other political parties bring Macedonia closer to the European Union. Our mission has only just started, and we intend to continue our quest until complete and unconditional capitulation of Gruevski from his position as Prime Minister and president of VMRO-DPMNE.
The author is a former deputy minister of health in the Cabinet of first Gruevski government 2006/2008 and one of the Amsterdam trio, the informal group that is seeking the resignation of Prime Minister Gruevski

 

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