LOCAL PRESS

 

Ljajic: Brussels agreement increases price of “Telekom” (RTS)

Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajic told the morning news of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that he discussed in Geneva with the General Secretary of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) the implementation of the agreement reached between Belgrade and Pristina in Brussels and that it should be respected. “We specified that Serbia’s consent is important for receiving the three-digit geographical dialing code,” says Ljajic. He points out that all three sides to the agreement are important for its implementation, and these are the ITU, Serbia and Austria, as the side that will submit the request on Kosovo’s behalf, i.e. the EU in this case. Austria has not yet submitted the request, says Ljajic, adding that the deadline for this is 15 November. He notes that the agreement defines, once the three-digit 383 code is published in the ITU bulletin, for Kosovo to be marked with an asterisk and for the footnote to state that this does not prejudice the final status. The daughter company of “Telekom Srbija” that will operate in Kosovo according to the agreement should have been registered on Monday. However, there has been a deadlock in the Kosovo agency for business registers. “They told us that the employee who deals with this is on leave and that we should wait for another two-three days. So, let us wait,” said Ljajic, without commenting whether this is an obstruction. “Telekom Srbija”, i.e. the daughter company that will be registered will receive a full license for fixed telephony, and a temporary license for mobile telephony. Namely, according to international regulations, participation in the tender is necessary in order to receive a permanent license. Receiving a temporary license is also significant in the privatization process of Telekom. If Telekom is sold, the company that purchases it will be able to take part in the tender for a permanent license in 2017. If it is not sold, the temporary license will be automatically extended,” explained Ljajic, noting that this will contribute to the increase of the price of the Serbian company. Eight companies and investment funds are interested in the privatization of “Telekom Srbija” and it will be known in November which ones are really prepared to take part in the privatization process. Ljajic explains that the process of documentation purchase is underway and lasts seven days, while binding offers will be opened at the beginning of November.

 

Gasic: Serbia under pressure over high migrant inflow (Tanjug)

Serbia is under pressure due to the high migrant inflow and the Serbian Defense Ministry and Serbian Army are providing assistance to the migrants, Serbian Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic said in the talks with Deputy Defense Minister of the Czech Republic Jakub Landovsky. Gasic and Landovsky discussed the possibilities for improvement of cooperation in the defense sector and the current migrant crisis, the Serbian Defense Ministry released. Landovsky is a member of the permanent delegation of the Czech Republic visiting Serbia.

 

Stefanovic, Chovanec on police cooperation (Tanjug)

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic and his Czech counterpart Milan Chovanec agreed on Tuesday that the cooperation between the two countries’ police services is exceptionally good. Stefanovic and Chovanec concluded that police cooperation is especially good in the sector of operational criminalist work in countering narcotics trafficking, irregular migrations and hi-tech crime. They agreed that good partnership relations between the two countries have been asserted through the joint participation in projects aimed at prevention of irregular migrations and implementation of the strategy in the fight against drug trafficking. Chovanec said that the Czech Republic is ready to provide financial assistance and various modes of help to Serbia as a friendly country faced with a major refugee wave. He underscored that all EU member countries need to show solidarity and responsibility in the search to solutions to the migratory crisis. Minister Stefanovic thanked Chovanec for the assistance of the Czech Republic and underscored that at this point, Serbia needs help since the migratory crisis is one of the most heated issues.

 

The Serbian example (Politika, op-ed by Julian Harston, former UN assistant secretary-general)

Thank God, at last someone is angry!

Speaking on French television on Sunday, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius described the actions of some EU member states as scandalous. On Hungary’s fence and wall, he said, “I take a very dim view, a very dim view. Hungary is part of Europe. Europe has values and these values are not respected by putting up wire fences”. Fabius was angry. Thank God. At last we were hearing a genuine emotional outburst over the scandalous failure of Europe to address what European politicians keep describing as the worst refugee crisis in Europe since the end of World War Two.

At last Germany, the UK, and France are urging emergency measures to tackle the crisis.

They must base their discussions on fact, rather than emotion. Only Germany, with its decision to deal with all asylum applications from Syria, comes out with some honour today. No one in this situation should be looking for short or medium term political advantage. And the latter applies in particular to the United Kingdom. Safe on its Schengen proof islands the United Kingdom had just 26,000 asylum applications in 2014, of which only 11,000 were accepted. Germany had 92,000, France 67,000, and Sweden 40,000. As a percentage of population the UK lags behind Belgium, the Netherlands, and Austria. In 2014 the UK ‘welcomed’ 187 Syrians legally, Turkey has 1.6 million! (All figures from the Guardian UK, 30 August 2015).

The majority of those on the move from Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Eritrea are not economic migrants. They are refugees. Their worlds have collapsed. The destruction in Syria is beyond belief. As we rightly fret about the loss of historical sites to ISIS, we don’t notice any more the destruction of yet another Syrian town, or the bombing again yesterday of a part of its own capital city by the blood soaked Syrian Government. Mr Cameron these are not a ‘swarm’, or as your Foreign Minister claims ‘marauders who will soon hasten the collapse of European civilisation’. These are families like ours who are facing hell to escape hell. These are the people you can now see every day next to the Economics Faculty of Belgrade University, and strung out in desperate columns stretching from Greece to the borders of Hungary.

No Mr Hammond, these refugees will not speed the collapse of Europe as we know it. What will speed this collapse is ignoring the very humanitarian ideals on which the European idea was founded.

200,000 refugees have arrived in Europe this year so far. That is 0.027% of the 740 million people who make up the population of the world’s wealthiest continent. Surely the European Commission, and the civil servants who return reluctantly from the sun today, can come up quickly with humane and lasting solutions which do credit to European ideals and take heed of Europe’s obligations under international law and conventions.

Meanwhile let’s stay angry. What the hell is Hungary doing building a fence and a wall. This addition to the unhappy and brutal history of the border with Serbia, would doubtless have been welcomed by Miklos Horthy, but has absolutely no place in 21^st Century Europe. Condemnation has not been loud enough. For God’s sake what does the Hungarian government want. The women, men, and children that are now facing razor wire and being menaced by Hungarian police dogs don’t want to stay in Hungary, they want to move on. Does the government in Budapest really want to see them dying in the open air without water and food. Does the Government in Budapest have a solution?

But, while we are being angry, let us take some comfort in the behaviour and moral stance of the Government of Serbia as it seeks to deal with the growing numbers of refugees in transit through Serbia. We should be proud of the tolerance and human kindness shown by ordinary citizens in Belgrade and along the route taken by these families fleeing from chaos and death in Syria and Iraq and Afghanistan. We should be proud of the emergency services, the city cleaners, and many others on whom this burden has fallen during the hottest summer on record. What an example the people and government of Serbia are to the rest of Europe.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Dodik: Give a chance to a structural dialogue in Brussels (Srna)

The Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik said that the announced structural dialogue on judicial reform in B&H, which is soon to be held in Brussels, should be given a chance, and that he expects that the dialog would definitely resolve all the outstanding issues, and thus achieve the goal of a referendum in RS. Dodik pointed out that the basic reason for the RS referendum on the judiciary and imposed decisions of the High Representative in B&H is in a joint statement, which he signed four years ago with former EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, but that nothing has been completed nor defined. “If the goals that we have laid out in the joint statement get realized, the reasons for calling a referendum could be declared as realized, in this respect, the referendum has already achieved its objective,” said Dodik. The RS President expressed his expectation that the structured dialogue will define all that is necessary to make the reform of the B&H judiciary, comprehensive, high quality, and in accordance with the Constitution and competencies. “I expect from the structured dialogue to provide the basic and definitive the element of this reform which the institutions, in accordance with its responsibilities, would effectively implement by the day the referendum is due to be held,” Dodik said. He said that if all these elements are not agreed and completed, and the reasons for holding a referendum remain, referendum will be held. “But I am convinced that it is possible to do all this, and that is why my support to the structural dialogue, that is now taking place in Brussels, is in such volume. In this regard I have the expectation that this dialog would definitely resolve all the problems,” said Dodik. He reiterated that the referendum was not a threat to anyone, that is the democratic expression of the will and a way of expressing the will of the people in all democratic societies and to threaten the referendum represents undemocratic and uncivilized act.

 

Three Bosniak soldiers convicted of Trusina massacre (Nezavisne)

The state court in Sarajevo convicted three former B&H Army soldiers of the killings of Croat civilians and soldiers in 1993 and sentenced them to a total of 37 years in prison. The court on Tuesday convicted former soldiers Nihad Bojadzic, Nedzad Hodzic and Mensur Memic of involvement in an attack on the village of Trusina near Konjic on April 16, 1993, when 15 Croat civilians and seven Croatian Defense Council fighters were killed and four injured. Bojadzic was sentenced to 15 years in prison, Nedzad Hodzic to 12 years and Mensur Memic to ten years. The court concluded that Bojadzic, the deputy commander of the Zulfikar detachment of the Bosnian Army, ordered his soldiers to attack Trusina and told them to leave no one alive. During the attack, according to the verdict, Bojadzic remained on a nearby hill and did not distinguish military targets from civilian ones. Six of the Bosnian Croat soldiers who surrendered were killed by a firing squad. Memic, a former soldier in the Zulfikar unit, was found guilty of taking part in the killings, while his fellow serviceman Hodzic was convicted of lining up the firing squad and then participating in the shooting of the Croat troops. Dzevad Salcin and Senad Hakalovic, were found not guilty because of a lack of evidence. This was the longest first-instance trial in the history of the B&H court. The arrests began in 2009, and the trial started a year later.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Kosovo: the Association of Serb Municipalities (Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso, by Violeta Hyseni Kelmendi, 2 September 2015)

The Brussels deal between Serbia and Kosovo has been met both with enthusiasm and disappointment in the region

On August 25, Kosovo and Serbia have signed in Brussels a set of agreements which, according to the EU, marks a turning point in the normalization process between the two countries. A key deal establishes the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities, enabling the Kosovo Serbs to have a greater autonomy. Other agreements foresee the removal of the barricade on the Mitrovica bridge, a new dialing code for Kosovo and the energy sector. Authorities in Pristina say the agreements will open the path to extend the sovereignty of Kosovo in the Northern part of the country, with a majority Serb population, and enhance Kosovo’s territorial integrity. Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, following the long Brussels meeting, said the agreements achieved to preserve the statehood of Kosovo. “We consider that all agreements are in compliance with the Constitution and the Laws of Kosovo. The Association would enable assistance to Serb majority municipalities, but it will not have any executive power,” he emphasized. Deputy PM Hashim Thaçi said the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities will simply be an NGO, with a voluntary and a non-mandatory character, similarly to the Association of Kosovo Municipalities, based in Pristina. Serbs in Mitrovica North consider the agreement on the Association as a great victory, and celebrated with fireworks. The Mayor of Mitrovica North, Goran Rakić, said that through this agreement Belgrade created a better life for Serbs in Kosovo. The radical leaders in the North, however, oppose the integration of Serbs in the Kosovo institutions and estimate that Serbs will not benefit at all from this association. “It will not help Serbs to remain in Kosovo. The Association of fisherman will have more competences than the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities. This agreement means Serbia handing over Kosovo,” said the politician Marko Jakšić to local media. The Association incited harsh reactions among opposition parties and civil society organizations in Pristina. Some called the people to stand up against the implementation of the Agreement. The main opposition party, Vetëvendosje (Self-determination), did not exclude the possibility of using violence for opposing this Agreement. Opposition leaders say that, with the creation of the Association, Kosovo will be divided in two. “Kosovo will now have two Assemblies, two Presidents, a Government and a Board of Agreement of the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities, two telecom operators, two energy companies, a divided judicial system, divided police, an increasing number of civil servants – the number of employers in the Association with be from five to ten thousand – two health and education systems. Hence, now Kosovo will become a place where the government in Pristina will govern with Albanians, Bosnians, Turks and Roma, while Serbs will be governed by the Association of Serb Majority Municipalities and Belgrade,” says Ilir Deda, an MP from Vetëvendosje. Ramush Haradinaj, leader of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, said that the Agreement on the Association endangers the functioning, sovereignty, integrity and statehood of Kosovo. The opposition, stated Haradinaj, will form a working group which will “find discrepancies between the latest agreements in Brussels and the Constitution, the Comprehensive Status Settlement for Kosovo and the deal for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia”. Civil society members claim that the Agreement on the Serb Majority Municipality Association does not create an organization, but a third level of government. As they say, the full oversight over education, health, local economic development, local planning, shows that this Association introduces a third level between the municipality and the central government. Jetmir Bakija, of the Kosovo Democratic Institute (KDI), denied the claims of Deputy PM Thaçi that the Association will simply be an NGO. He listed five reasons why this is not the case. “The Association is allowed to initiate proceedings in the Constitutional Court; its workers will be civil servants under the Civil Service Law; the budget will be administered by the Law on Public Procurement; it will be audited by the General Auditor, and the Association will propose the police commander for the Northern region,” Bakija said. The Kosovo Democratic Institute stated that the Association will deepen the ethnic division in Kosovo and prevent the integration of Serbs into the Kosovo institutions. The Kosovo Government issued a long statement trying to convince opponents of the deal that the Kosovo law will function in the whole territory. For the first time, Kosovo will have an independent dialing code, 383. Austria will apply on behalf of Kosovo to get this code, and all existing codes (including the one used by Serbs in Kosovo, 381) will be part of the new code, explains the Government. Furthermore Serbia will remove all barricades for Kosovo’s membership in the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity, and will extinguish all Serbian energy operators in the north of Kosovo. The Government also stated that the Association will be a body composed by Serb majority municipalities, functioning in full accordance with the Constitution, and will help municipalities to implement local projects. Last but not least, the deal on the removal of the barricade in Mitrovica bridge will take place on 15 October, and until mid-June 2016 the bridge that divided the city will be opened for pedestrians and vehicles, becoming a bridge uniting communities, reads the statement of the Government. The package of agreements between Kosovo and Serbia followed several unsuccessful and difficult meetings in Brussels, along with international pressure in both sides to give a chance to the normalization of relations. The compromise to sign the deal was achieved after both Pristina and Belgrade boosted hopes of a faster accession to the European Union.

 

Presevo Valley demands the same association as the Serbs in Kosovo (Independent Balkan News Agency, by Elton Tota, 1 September 2015)

Albanian political representatives in the Presevo Valley warn that they will announce autonomy and united with Kosovo. The head of the National Committee of the Albanians in the Valley, Jonuz Musliu, says that this process must take place in compliance with the 1-2 March 1992 referendum. “Such act is also in compliance with international conventions and UNO Charter, which guarantees the right of self-determination”, he says. Musliu notes that there will be coordination with Pristina and Tirana in order to demand reciprocity in relation to the rights that Serbs in Kosovo are given. “We demand the same rights that Serbs are given in education, judicial system and police through the Association. We will first try and attain our goals through dialogue and then we will look into other measures”, he says. Musliu says that he has constantly asked for the Presevo Valley to be included in the talks between Kosovo and Serbia, but such request has been ignored. “We’re not demanding a war. We just want dialogue. We, in the Presevo Valley, have problems with Serbia’s discriminating policies. These policies must end once and for all”, he says. The same positioning was also taken by the mayor of Presevo, Ragmi Mustafa. He says that such request is not something new. According to him, Albanians in the south of Serbia, have demanded since the start of talks in Brussels between Kosovo and Serbia, to benefit the same rights that Serbs in Kosovo benefit. Following the signing of the agreement for the creation of the Association of Serb Communes in Kosovo, there has also been a reaction by the Albanian National Committee in the Valley of Presevo, which demands support from Albania, Kosovo and the international community for the cause of Albanians in the Republic of Kosovo.

 

Minister signals possibility of allowing refugees to cross Czech territory to Germany (Radio Praha, by Ian Willoughby, 2 September 2015)

The Czech Republic has promised to provide financial aid to Serbia to help it deal with a wave of refugees passing through the country on their way into Hungary and the EU. Speaking in Belgrade, the Czech interior minister also said he was considering a plan under which asylum seekers would be allowed to travel through Czech territory to Germany rather than being returned to Hungary. Serbia has been one of the countries most affected in recent months by Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II. The Balkan state lies on one of the main routes by which migrants are entering the European Union. Around 65,000 potential asylum seekers have crossed its borders into EU member Hungary since the start of the year and there are an estimated 8,000 on its territory at present. On a visit to the Balkan state the Czech prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, on Tuesday told his counterpart Aleksandar Vucic that Prague would provide Serbia with some CZK 10 million in aid to help it deal with the unprecedented situation. Also in the Czech delegation making a two-day visit to Belgrade has been the country’s minister of the interior, Milan Chovanec.

“We are ready to co-operate. We are ready to help financially, technically and in terms of materials and experts – whatever is needed. We’re interested in the views of people who are on the ground. If they ask us for assistance that is acceptable to us, we will simply send it.”

Speaking to a reporter from daily Mladá fronta Dnes in Belgrade, Mr. Chovanec also discussed what would be a major change in Czech policy toward refugees. Hours after Czech police detained a “record” 200 migrants in the border town of Břeclav, the minister said that Prague had been in discussions with officials from Germany after it opened its doors unconditionally to Syrian refugees; Berlin has thus suspended its adherence to the Dublin Regulation, under which asylum seekers must be returned to the state where they entered the EU. Mr. Chovanec said one option on the table was the creation of a railway corridor via which Syrians could legally travel straight through Czech territory on their way to Germany. The minister said Berlin had not yet confirmed its position on this possibility but that Prague was looking into how such a “simplified procedure” could ease the Syrians’ situation. Germany, which this year is expecting to process 800,000 or more asylum requests, is again pushing for a quota system under which EU members would take in set numbers of migrants. Mr. Chovanec said this remains unacceptable to the Czech government. Prime Minister Sobotka is due to meet on Friday with his Hungarian, Polish and Slovak counterparts to discuss a common position toward pressure from Berlin and Brussels on the quotas issue.