LOCAL PRESS

 

Former employees of Serbian Interior Ministry in Kosovo on hunger strike (RTS/Tanjug)

Former employees of the Serbian Interior Ministry in Kosovo, who are demanding the resolution of their employment status in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Serbia, dissatisfied with the dynamics of the resolution of their problems following today’s protest before the Office for Kosovo and Metohija in Kosovska Mitrovica, have started a hunger strike. Employee representative Rajko Sekularac says that they received assurances and promises from Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic and the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric following the meeting in November that they will start resolving their demands, but that the expected deadline has passed. “The optimal deadline that we expected has passed. That is why we decided today to continue this process and to go on a hunger strike that will last as long as our demands are not fulfilled,” said Sekularac. He recalls that they had addressed the Serbian institutions on several occasions, starting from the President and ending with the parliament. “Unfortunately, we haven’t seen understanding, there has been no progress, we are at the same place where we had been two years ago,” said Sekularac. In his address to former employees of the Serbian Interior Ministry in Kosovo, he said that he now expects Prime Minister Vucic to resolve this problem. The former employees of the Serbian Interior Ministry in Kosovo temporarily stopped the protest on 10 November following talks in Belgrade with Minister Stefanovic and Djuric. The protest started a day earlier, with the demand that a law be passed that is in accordance with the Constitution and laws of the Republic of Serbia on retirement of employees of the Serbian Interior Ministry in Kosovo and Metohija and enabling employees who do not wish early retirement to go back to work. Namely, following the signing of the Brussels agreement and the Serbian government decree based on which employment was terminated for Serbian Interior Ministry employees in Kosovo, the employees were referred to “special pensions”. Around 800 employees demand that their employment status be regulated in accordance with the valid laws of the Republic of Serbia. Around 1,200 policemen and employees of the Interior Ministry in Kosovo and Metohija retired in 2013, following the signing of the Brussels agreement when the Serbian government adopted a conclusion to abolish jobs for policemen in Kosovo and Metohija and to send them to retirement in accordance with a special decree. Dissatisfied with the manner in which their status has been regulated, they have addressed all state institutions on several occasions.

 

Dacic: No textbooks from Kosovo and Albania (Beta)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has rejected today criticism of Serbian MP Riza Halimi on disrespect of the rights of the Albanian national minority and pointed out that not a single national minority is discriminated. During the debate on the 2016 budget in the Serbian parliament, Halimi said that the rights of the Albanian national minority are not respected and referred to the problem with the textbooks in the Albanian language and the fact that there is not a single broadcast in Albanian on Radio and Television of Serbia. “What are you talking about, you want textbooks from Kosovo and Albania to be applied here. You want lessons on Kosovo as an independent state, that Decani is a work by some dynasty of yours, well, this will not happen,” Dacic told Halimi. He also told Halimi not to seek help from international institutions, but from his state. “Resolve this with your state. Nowhere will you have more rights,” said Dacic. He also said that not a single Serb can be discriminated where the national minorities make up a majority.

 

Cadez: Focus on concrete cooperation (Tanjug)

The President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Marko Cadez said that Tuesday’s meeting with President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce Safet Grxhaliu and EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn dealt with concrete results yielded by the initiative launched by the two chambers. “We have so far had talks on a monthly basis between companies that are members of the Serbian and Kosovo chambers of commerce in either Belgrade or Pristina, focusing on specific sectors,” he said. According to Cadez, companies met each month, concluded agreements and dealt with concrete things. On the one hand, this affects business, and on the other hand, it sends a different message, this being that business people start their own negotiations in mutual interest, he added. The chambers of commerce cannot resolve political problems, he underlined.

Hahn congratulated them on the leadership and initiative to go beyond the dialogue and establish cooperation, describing it as important, the core being in economic growth. Economic development depends on individual initiatives and private companies to create jobs and business opportunities, and that is possible only if all barriers are lifted, Hahn said. “This applies to other countries of the region as well, and that is why I am thankful for the initiative of the two chambers for offering cooperation to other chambers in the region, and be part of the Berlin Process of cross-border cooperation,” Hahn said.

 

Jevtic: Attacks in Kosovo and Metohija aimed at killing, not intimidating (B92)

The attacks against Serbs in Gorazdevac and Srbobran were not aimed at intimidation, but murders, the Minister for Returns and Communities in the Kosovo government Dalibor Jevtic told B92. “What has been happening over the past days is an obvious example of what we have been pointing out to for some time - there is the problem of instability in politics, that is being transferred to society as well.” According to Jevtic, opposition members of the Kosovo Assembly wish to use violence to achieve their goals in the Assembly and outside it, and thus send a message to citizens that they, too, can achieve what they want in that way. “People are scared. We have constant problems in returnee locations, constantly the returnees are being targeted,” he said. According to him, unlike what most people think the incidents in Gorazdevac and Srbobran represent attempted murder, not intimidation: “An example of using methods to achieve certain goals, and that is to kill people, to dissuade those who want to return.” Jevtic also told B92 that he spoke with Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa and pointed out to the problems that could escalate.
Hahn: Opening of chapters a moment for celebration (RTS)

The EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy Johannes Hahn has stated on the eve of tomorrow’s visit to Belgrade that the opening of the first chapters represents for Serbia a deserved moment for celebration. Hahn says that the EU focus will be redirected to supporting issues of economic recovery and rule of law, in order to ensure the opening of new chapters next year. According to him, “our joint strategic goal is to bring to all Serbian citizens benefit from EU accession”. Hahn will meet in Belgrade with Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, parliament Speaker Maja Gojkovic, caucus whips, representatives of the Serbian media and EU journalists who are visiting Serbia, reads the statement by the EU Delegation to Serbia. Commissioner Hahn will address the Serbian parliament with an introductory speech.

 

Dabic: Returnees from fronts pose significant threat to region (Danas)

“The Balkans is a multinational region with a strong conflicting past and numerous influences. Armed conflicts in Syria and forced recruitments have led to a significant increase in the number of migrants from the Near East, but also from Africa, who had been exerting enormous pressure on EU’s ‘southern’ borders. Space has opened for numerous illegal activities, including the possibility of inserting potential terrorists into the European region. Also, the number of holders of threats in the region has been increasing due to the return of radical Islamists to home states from battlefields in Iraq and Syria,” Brigadier General Slavoljub Dabic, the Head of the Military-Intelligence Agency (VOA) told Danas in an answer to the question on security threats in the region following the terrorist attacks in Paris. In his first interview for the media since he has been appointed to this post, Dabic notes that Serbia cherishes friendly relations with many Near East and African states, conducts a balanced foreign policy in the closer and wider environment and that Serbia doesn’t expect endangerment of its security. “Still, a significant number of supporters in the region have extremist ideas and the propaganda, especially on social networks, inspires unadapt, problematic, asocial and indoctrinated individuals who can seize weapons and perform independent terrorists acts. Therefore, we cannot exclude individual acts inspired by major terrorist attacks with civilian casualties like the downing of the Russian airplane and the tragedy in Paris,” says Dabic.

What is threat posed by people from our region who went to war in Syria upon their return to Europe? Do you have perhaps data on the number of people from this region who took part or is still taking part in the war in Syria?

“Proportionally to the population, the Western Balkans represents one of the regions with greatest participation of volunteers in the conflicts in Syria. Several hundred of fighters from the region are still present in Syria and Iraq in the ranks of the so-called Islamic State or Jabat al Nusra (Al Kaida). Part of the returnees poses only a potential threat, since their expectations from taking part in the war in Syria have not been fulfilled. The returnees who spent longer at the battlefield and those who are systematically returning to the region pose a significant threat. Thanks to acquired experiences and established links during their stay in Syria and Iraq, they can be a logistic support to potential terrorists who are using the region as a transit route.”

How much will the latest events impact the control of the refugee crisis, i.e. people who are coming to Europe fleeing the wars in the Near East?

“Serbia has been adhering to all international conventions during the current refugee crisis and tries to provide as human as possible conditions. Serbia has been respecting all international standards in dealing with refugees, but also takes care of its own security. The VOA will continue, as part of the intelligence-security system, with detailed monitoring of the situation in our direct surroundings, collecting and analyzing of data on all external security threats to Serbia, where we certainly classify terrorism.”

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Protocol on Cooperation between B&H and Serbia signed (Faktor.ba)

The B&H Minister of Security Dragan Mektic and Minister of Interior of Serbia Nebojsa Stefanovic signed the Protocol on cooperation in the field of forensic investigation and expert evaluation in Sarajevo, and the meeting of delegations of these two countries was held before the signing of the agreement. Mektic said to reporters that this protocol will contribute to the improvement of operational work regarding proving criminal offenses within the context of strengthening of forensic capacities, which is including biological and DNA analysis as well as chemical and toxicological expert assessments. Delegation of B&H and Serbia, he said, discussed the regional cooperation in the fight against terrorism, organized crime and all other security challenges that these countries are facing with. “It is impossible to fight against this evil by getting closed inside our national borders. We have to be much more opened, much more transparent, and we should not keep some big secrets from each other. We need to share information on any threats or persons that could be linked to terrorism,” said Mektic. Minister Stefanovic said that one of the topics of the meeting was the immigrant crisis that hit Serbia. He emphasized that more than 600 thousand people passed through Serbia so far. He also stated that Serbia, as well as the other countries through which migrants are passing, need answers to the question if there are persons that are potentially interesting due to the security. “Confronting terrorism and extremism is not a matter of a single country and the fight against it is not possible if we are completely alone, or on the regional level. This requires much wider international cooperation,” stated Minister Stefanovic.

 

Izetbegovic and Covic in Brussels: The European future of B&H after Dayton (Srna)

The Chairman of the B&H Presidency Dragan Covic and member of the Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic participate at the conference dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the General Framework Agreement for Peace in B&H, today 9th of December 2015 in Brussels. Members of the Presidency will hold opening remarks at the conference on the achievements of B&H so far, as well as on the European perspective of B&H. The conference will also be attended by high-ranking officials of the European Parliament, the European Commission, and President of the EPP Joseph Daul, the High Representative for B&H Valentin Inzko, and the head of the EU Delegation to B&H Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, Deputy Assistant of US State Secretary Brian Yee Hoyt as well as other senior officials. Members of B&H presidency will meet with the EU High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini, with EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and the Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, as well as with the President of the European People’s Party (EPP), Joseph Daul.

 

Covic and Stoltenberg: Cooperation between B&H and NATO intensifies (Bosna danas)

The Chairman of the B&H Presidency Dragan Covic has met in Brussels with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. During the meeting, the two leaders discussed strengthening of cooperation in the field of defense, implementation of reforms and the common security challenges. Covic said that, 20 years after the Dayton Agreement, there are efforts in B&H to intensify reforms in all spheres, including the fulfillment of “Tallinn condition” for activation of the Membership Action Plan (MAP) of NATO. “Cooperation of B&H with NATO has been intensified. There is significant progress in that cooperation which has been confirmed by successful and continuous participation in NATO operations, by which Armed Forces of B&H contribute to the establishment of peace in the world”, says the statement of the Presidency of B&H. Stoltenberg thanked Covic for all that B&H and its Armed Forces do, as part of many NATO programs and activities. “Stoltenberg has welcomed and supported progress of B&H in fulfilling all prerequisites for MAP activation. He expressed hope that NATO summit, which will be held in July 2016, will pave the way for further steps of B&H toward full membership in the Alliance,” the statement from Presidency said.

 

B&H’s visa regime not threatened (Oslobodjenje)

In the framework of the two-day Ministerial Forum of Justice and Home Affairs of the EU and Western Balkans, discussing issues of the migrant crisis in the EU and the Western Balkans as a migrant route and the abuse of the visa regime spoke Dragan Mektic, B&H Minister of Security, Dimitris Avramopoulos, European commissioner for migration, internal affairs and citizens, and Jean Asselborn, Minister of Integration and foreign affairs of Luxembourg. “An enormous number of refugees have passed through the Western Balkans. The fact is that the majority of them were forced into it because of war, but part of them came from countries that don’t have that problem. Therefore the EU decided that economic migrants will be returned to the country whence they came, and migrants from war-affected areas will find their place. One of the topics was the abuse of the visa regime and it’s on us to do everything so it isn’t threatened. It’s good to know that thus far no EU member state has sought to call into question the visa regime, but it is important that the countries of the Western Balkans adopt standards and become EU members,” said Mektic. Asselborn pointed to the importance of cooperation of all countries in resolving these issues, adding that all countries must together bear the burden of the solution. The current exchange of information on migration routes and the total migrant crisis in Europe, he believes, is on a good level. B&H, as he said, is in fourth place among countries of asylum seekers in the EU, and this is an issue that the government must pay a little more attention to. “The refugee crisis and terrorism are challenges that face all of Europe, but we should use them to strengthen the relations of our countries and bring the Western Balkans closer to the EU. The crisis has taught us that there are no borders, and the responsibility of everyone is to protect these people. We have no time to lose, we need one another. Migration and terrorism are issues that link us and only together can we deal with them,” said Avramopoulos.

 

Government’s stance on the Republika Srpska day decision by the Constitutional Court (Srna)

The decision of the Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Constitutional Court which bans the Republika Srpska (RS) to celebrate its foundation day underlines the serious need to reform the Constitutional Court in order to restore the rule of law and trust among B&H constitutive nations, says the Government of RS. Srna conveys the entire statement of the RS Government regarding the B&H Constitutional Court decision on January 9, the Republika Srpska Day:

The Constitutional Court must be reformed to restore rule of law

Once again, the court’s three foreign judges aligned with the two Bosniak judges to outvote the majority of B&H judges (two Serb and two Croat judges) on political rather than legal grounds to support a case, not brought by allegedly injured citizens, but by one of the most divisive and powerful Bosniak politicians. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident but follows a long pattern of the court acting as a political instrument of the Bosniak parties and the High Representative. It is time for participation of foreign judges on the court to end, as should have happened 15 years ago according to the terms of the B&H Constitution.

An Indefensible Decision

The court’s three foreign judges and two Bosniak judges held that commemorating January 9, the date of the RS’s founding, as a public holiday discriminates against members of non-Serb ethnicities. The Constitutional Court’s Republic Day decision has no legally defensible basis. The Court has not published its decision but has only issued an order forbidding RS celebration of its founding date as a public holiday. Although the court has not fully explained its reasoning, press reports indicate that its allegation of discrimination rests on the fact that January 9, in addition to being the date of the RS’s founding, is also the feast day of St. Stephen on the Serbian Orthodox calendar. Such a rationale would ignore relevant law and the practice of virtually all European states. First, Republic Day is not a religious holiday. It celebrates the date on which the RS was founded, not St. Stephen. The fact that the RS happened to be founded on January 9, the feast day of St. Stephen, is coincidental and of no significance. Every day of the year is the feast day of at least one saint. The feast day of St. Stephen is just one of hundreds of feast days, and it is not a public holiday in Serbia. Moreover, even if Republic Day really were a religious holiday, that would hardly render it unlawful discrimination. If Christian holidays were to be considered discriminatory, most public holidays in Europe would be wiped off the calendar. Christmas, for example, is a public holiday in every European state. St. Stephen’s Day itself is observed as a public holiday in at least 22 European countries, under the name of St. Stephen’s Day, Boxing Day, or

Second Christmas Day

High Representative Inzko’s native Austria observes no fewer than ten Christian feast days as public holidays, including St. Stephen’s day. The three foreign Constitutional Court judges who voted to bar Republic Day all come from European countries in which multiple Christian feasts are observed as public holidays. For example, Judge Constance Grewe’s native German state of Baden-Baden-Württemberg celebrates nine Christian feasts as public holidays, including St. Stephen’s Day. Germany, like most other European countries, has no public holidays for important feasts of Islam or other non-Christian religions. The notion that religious holidays are discriminatory finds no support in European law. As a 2013 study by the European Parliament observes, “Several constitutional courts, in dealing with the supposedly discriminatory character of rules establishing Sunday and the most important festivities of the Christian religion as public holidays, have dismissed these cases, holding that a legislative choice as such is not unreasonable, having regard to the religious and historical traditions of each society, and to the fact that these festivities have acquired, over time, a secular meaning.”

The Constitutional Court’s Long Pattern of Politics

The Republic Day decision is only the latest manifestation of the Constitutional Court’s willingness to routinely rubber stamp the agenda of Bosniak parties and the OHR while setting aside the B&H Constitution and relevant European precedent. After serving as a foreign judge on the B&H Constitutional Court, Austrian professor Joseph Marko admitted that there was a “tacit consensus between the Court and the High Representative that the Court . . . will always confirm the merits of his legislation . . . .” Indeed, the High Representative’s interference with the Court was made clear by its order issued in March 2007 demanding that the court never challenge its decisions. And as recently as October 2015, the High Representative went so far as to declare itself, and not the court, as the final interpreter of the Constitution. The Republic Day decision is also just the latest example of a frequent pattern in which the court’s three foreign judges align themselves with the two Bosniak judges to outvote the Serb and Croat judges. Because of this, many of the court’s most important decisions have been opposed by four of the B&H citizens on the court and supported by just two. For example, the High Representative’s decreed law creating the Court of B&H, despite being in conflict with the B&H Constitution, was upheld by the votes of three foreign judges and two Bosniak judges, outvoting the four Serb and Croat judges. The High Representative this week publicly defended the role of the Constitutional Court’s foreign judges, and this is not surprising given their subservience to his office.

An Opportunity for Reform

It is a highly extraordinary measure for non-citizens of a country to serve as judges on a sovereign state’s highest court. It is even more extraordinary that they are appointed by a foreign court without any requirement of consent by officials of the sovereign state. The B&H Constitution recognizes this, and thus provides for three foreign judges only as a transitional measure. The Constitution authorizes the Parliamentary Assembly to pass a new law replacing the foreign judges five years after their initial appointment. Continuation of foreign judges 20 years after the Dayton Accords is incompatible with B&H sovereignty, guaranteed by Dayton. No other sovereign state in the world has seats on its constitutional court reserved for foreign judges. Domestic and international support for this eccentric practice, to the extent it exists, is not compatible with respect for rule of law and democratic governance. Rather it is a poorly disguised continuation of foreign intervention into the domestic affairs of B&H in support of Bosniak parties’ policies that discriminate against Serb and Croat communities in ways prohibited by the Dayton Accords and the B&H Constitution.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Kosovo hampers Serbia’s progress towards the EU (Global Risks Insights, by Robert Ledger, 9 December 2015)

After years in the political wilderness Serbia has started to make incremental progress towards becoming a full member of the EU. The events in Kosovo this month, sparking angry exchanges over the rights of the Serb minority in the north of the country, highlight the many obstacles in Serbia’s path to full EU integration.

During the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia, the international community, primarily consisting of the West, came to blame Serbia as the prime aggressor for many intra-ethnic atrocities. This narrative triggered NATO intervention during the conflict in Kosovo in 1999 and left Serbia as an international pariah. Nevertheless, in recent years it has started to move closer to the European Union. It signed a ‘Stabilisation and Association Agreement’ with the EU in 2007, which came into force in 2013, in order to foster trade cooperation as well as visa-free travel for Serbia’s citizens. At the start of 2014 it began accession talks with the EU, having allowed for the extradition of some of the most notorious leaders of the 1990s’ war, including Ratko Mladić, to the International Criminal Tribunal.

The Kosovo issue

One of the most difficult and painful issues for Serbia to resolve before it can join the EU is over the status of Kosovo. EU leaders specifically linked Serbia’s accession talks with normalisation of its relationship with its former territory. Germany is playing an increasing role in the region and many Balkan leaders now look to Angela Merkel for headway on integration.

The German Chancellor visited the region in July before Serbia and Kosovo signed an agreement on several contentious issues in August, including one over more autonomy for the Serb minority in northern Kosovo. In November, however, the accord was struck down by the Kosovo constitutional court after demonstrations by the ethnic-Albanian majority. The situation between Serbia and Kosovo has deteriorated and is said to be currently ‘tense’. The stand-off over Kosovo, along with economic difficulties, illustrates how far Serbia must go before it will be accepted into the EU.

Russian friends

One reason the EU remains enthusiastic about accepting Serbia into the Eurozone is the chance to loosen the country’s traditionally strong ties with Russia. The EU’s eastern periphery is a key ideological battle ground being fought between two models of governance: liberal democracy tilted to the West and the Russian state-centric model of clientelism. Serbia’s energy market is dominated by Russian energy firms and the government in Belgrade opposed sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine crisis.

Economic reform

Despite all this, Serbia has plenty to offer the EU. It has been steadily reforming its economy over the last few years, has been attracting foreign investment and has a well-educated population. The European Commission’s 2015 report on Serbia’s accession noted positive progress but also made a number of tough demands. It identified the urgent need of reform in the public sector, fiscal consolidation, development of the private sector, and restructuring of state-owned enterprises, as well as criticising the still-widespread corruption in the country. Kori Udovički, current Deputy Prime Minister in charge of public administration reform, is an economist with a PhD from Yale who seems to understand the workings of Brussels. Udovički, however, has identified the huge problems Serbia faces in reforming its institutions while at the same time having less money to spend. However, the government in Belgrade may be seeking a short-term windfall if rumours prove to be true that it is about to sell its stake in the state telecommunications company. Serbia’s accession to the EU is in the interests of both the Western Balkan region and wider European community. Achieving this aim will require extensive economic and political reform. The dispute over Kosovo only makes this process more difficult.

 

Wartime Bosnian commander arrested for crimes by Islamic fighters (Reuters, 8 December 2015)

SARAJEVO Bosnian police arrested a wartime Muslim army commander on Tuesday on charges of failing to prevent crimes committed by foreign Islamic fighters against captive Bosnian Serb soldiers during a 1992-1995 war.

The arrest of 63-year-old retiree Sakib Mahmuljin was carried out on orders of the state war crimes prosecutor, the prosecutor's office said in a statement. "The suspect is under investigation for acting in contravention of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions while serving as a commander of the 3rd Corps of the Army of BiH," it said. Mahmuljin has denied the charges during earlier proceedings. Many Islamic fighters, or "mujahideen", came from North Africa and the Middle East to help fellow Muslims fight against Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats during the Bosnian war, in which 100,000 people died. Prosecutors said the alleged crimes dated to July-October 1995 toward the end of the war, when the 3rd Corps and a detachment of foreign fighters known as El-Mujahid carried out offensives in central Bosnia.

The El-Mujahid detachment was under the official jurisdiction of the Bosnian Army during the war, though it operated autonomously and was comprised of foreign fighters from various Islamic countries. During the operation, members of the El-Mujahid abducted and killed 50 Bosnian Serb prisoners of war who had been previously captured by other units of the 3rd Corps, the statement read. Mahmuljin is also charged with inhumane treatment of about 20 prisoners of war and civilians whom El-Mujahid members refused to hand over to Military Police units, the office said. According to the office, Mahmuljin failed to prevent or punish the crimes committed by the members of the El-Mujahid Detachment despite being aware that crimes would be committed. In 2008, the U.N. war crimes court sentenced the former chief of Bosnia's army, Rasim Delic, to three years in jail for allowing the torture of Bosnian Serb soldiers by Islamic foreign fighters. At the time, Mahmuljin denied in local media any wrongdoing and said he did not have an effective control of the El-Mujahid detachment. The investigation against Mahmuljin was started by the Hague-based court which later transferred the lower-ranking cases to the Bosnian court.

(Reporting by Maja Zuvela; Editing by Matt Robinson and Andrew Heavens)

 

Bosnian Serb President’s Mladic Testimony Challenged (BIRN, 8 December 2015)

At the trial of Ratko Mladic, the prosecution challenged Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik’s claims that the persecution of Muslims and Croats was not a Serb wartime goal.

Justice Report

Under cross-examination at the Hague Tribunal on Tuesday, Dodik was asked whether the Bosnian Serb Army followed the strategic war aims declared by the Republika Srpska parliament in 1992, the first of which was the separation of Serbs from Bosniaks and Croats. “The Army of the Republika Srpska, in the framework of the law, implemented the decisions of government and parliament,” Dodik agreed. But, he insisted, “the primary objective was the defence of the population from Muslim, and later from Muslim-Croatian aggression”. Bosnian Serb military commander Mladic is on trial for the persecution of the Bosniak and Croat population throughout the country, which in six municipalities allegedly reached the level of genocide. During the war, Dodik was an independent member of the Republika Srpska parliament. Asked if he had ever heard at parliament sessions “even a hint” that the persecution of non-Serbs was being advocated, Dodik replied: “I have not heard such a story about ethnic cleansing and persecution.”

When the prosecutor recalled that one Republika Srpska MP said in May 1992 that there was a need for “conquests” in places where Serbs were a minority, such as the town of Brcko, Dodik said that he did not remember. He said that Brcko was “an important communication point and a legitimate military target, but not from the standpoint of ethnic cleansing”. Shown a statement from a Republika Srpska MP from autumn 1992, speaking about “Muslims and Croats that we expelled”, Dodik responded: “I do not remember who this gentleman was, let alone what he was saying.” Dodik responded in a similar way when prosecutor Tieger quoted another Republika Srpska MP saying that “we want an ethnically pure state” and so “there must be moving and resettlement” of the non-Serb population. “I do not know who this man is, I think he is not an MP, and I do not know whether I was in the assembly meeting,” Dodik said. Using parliamentary statements by Republika Srpska President Radovan Karadzic, prosecutor Tieger try to prove that Bosnian Serb leaders had an advance plan to create their own state.

Dodik however insisted that all of the Bosnian Serbs’ actions were to preserve Yugoslavia in reaction to the secession of the Bosniaks and Croats from the federal state. “You’re wrong that there was a plan in advance... I do not know about this plan, I have never seen it before,” he said Dodik. Mladic is also on trial for genocide in Srebrenica, terrorising civilians in Sarajevo with a lengthy shelling and sniping campaign, and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

 

NATO Moves Forward with Montenegro (the-American-interest.com, by Janusz Bugajski & Srdjan Darmanovic, 8 December 2015)

NATO’s invitation to Montenegro could help refocus NATO on its core mission and bring the rest of the Balkans into the Alliance. NATO’s invitation to Montenegro to become its 29th member is an important step forward for the Alliance. The Brussels ministerial meeting on December 2 overcame any latent opposition to further NATO enlargement, demonstrated that the Alliance does not retreat in the face of Moscow’s threats, and indicated its commitment to bringing the entire Balkan peninsula under one effective security umbrella. To date, NATO enlargement throughout Europe’s East has enhanced security, promoted stability, encouraged investment, fostered inter-state cooperation, and helped protect against future challenges to national integrity. However, since the accession of Croatia and Albania in April 2009, NATO leaders have been reticent in bringing in qualified candidates such as Montenegro or Macedonia and reluctant to even offer Membership Action Plans (MAPs) to aspirants such as Georgia and Ukraine, partly as a result of “out of area” missions and partly in attempts to pacify Russia.

After the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001, NATO’s attention was riveted on Afghanistan, Iraq, and the broader Middle East. Throughout the 2000s, the European homeland was largely neglected as NATO capitals assumed that the continent was permanently safe from armed conflict. In the aftermath of Russia’s attack on Ukraine in early 2014, however, NATO is now returning to its core mission in Europe as the primary mechanism for mutual defense against outside aggression. In announcing Montenegro’s invitation at the foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg aimed his comments at Moscow. He underscored that every nation has the right to decide its own security arrangements and no one can interfere in that decision. Montenegro’s accession talks, or “technical negotiations,” will be completed early in 2016, but ratification by all NATO member state parliaments could take longer. In Montenegro itself, the benefits of NATO accession must be explained more effectively, as there is still significant opposition to it, mostly among the sizeable Serbian population. Resistance to NATO accession is predominant among Serbs for two main reasons. First, they view NATO as an organization that bombed Serbia during the war over Kosovo in 1999. Second, they exhibit some latent nostalgia for Josip Broz Tito’s Yugoslavia and membership in the now-defunct “Non-aligned Movement.” However, the era of neutrality is no longer credible, as NATO is developing into a security structure for the whole of democratic Europe. Montenegro has no constitutional obligation to hold a referendum on membership in international organizations, and indeed few NATO members have organized such a vote. Parliament is likely to decide on accepting membership and the general elections scheduled for October 2016 will become a de facto plebiscite on NATO entry. Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin has been adamantly opposed to further NATO enlargement. Following NATO’s invitation to Montenegro, Russian officials immediately asserted that they would be forced to react. But it is unclear what steps Moscow could take, as no European state seeks membership in organizations that Russia dominates, such as the Eurasian Economic Union or the Collective Security Treaty Organization, and many former Soviet republics are seeking closer ties with the West as protection against Russia. Quite possibly, the Kremlin may endeavor to destabilize the Western Balkans by supporting Serbian separatism in Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina or by stirring inter-ethnic conflicts in Macedonia and Kosovo. But Russia possesses no committed allies in the region and even Serbia uses Russia for diplomatic and economic purposes rather than having any ideological, political, or strategic commitments to the Kremlin. Paradoxically, the Alliance response to Russia’s aggressive words and deeds can revitalize the core mission for which NATO was created. One essential component of this mission is to bring qualified European democracies into the organization both to enhance their security and to contribute to the security of the Alliance. In this strategic context, much of the Western Balkans still remain a missing piece in the NATO mosaic. NATO interests throughout the Balkans have come into sharper relief since the onset of the war in Ukraine and the stark reality that forcible partition, territorial acquisition, and military aggression are realities that persist into the 21st century. To counter such temptations, the entire West Balkan zone needs to join the rest of the peninsula under the NATO umbrella. As Central Europe has demonstrated, NATO accession enhances regional security, solidifies existing borders, promotes democratic consolidation, attracts foreign investment, and improves each country’s economic prospects. It will also help neutralize Moscow’s attempts to sow discord and conflict in the region, efforts designed to preoccupy Western capitals and shift attention away from its ambitions in the post-Soviet neighborhood.

Just as it led regional opposition to Slobodan Milosevic and helped to terminate the Yugoslav experiment, Montenegro can now take the lead in bringing the rest of the Balkans into the AllianceMontenegro can now take the lead in bringing the rest of the Balkans into the Alliance. Conversely, one of the most effective ways for NATO to demonstrate its own vitality and determination is to include Montenegro and underscore that all remaining West Balkan states will become members. Montenegro’s inclusion in NATO represents a congruence of both interests and values. NATO is not only a military alliance, but also a community of democracies membership in which brings several practical domestic and regional benefits. Accession will eliminate any doubts about Montenegro’s future and encourage Western investment, rather than the corrupt and politically linked Russian investment witnessed in recent years. It will bring the entire Adriatic coastline within the NATO zone and thereby assist in joint operations and interoperability in such endeavors as emergency response, humanitarian assistance, anti-smuggling, and anti-terrorist coastal patrols. In addition, it will boost confidence in Montenegro during its already advanced accession talks into the European Union. Montenegro’s membership will also encourage Serbia to look toward a NATO future. While this will necessitate a political decision by Belgrade, Serbia’s military appears to support NATO entry, as membership would help modernize the armed forces. Montenegro can also encourage Bosnia-Herzegovina to push toward accession and move Kosovo in the same direction as it develops its security structure. Additionally, a new initiative is needed to bring Macedonia into NATO and overcome the veto that Greece continues to wield in opposition to the country’s name. If this ambitious agenda is accomplished, there will be no black holes or grey zones left in the Western Balkans and common security will enhance inter-state cooperation in other spheres, from culture and education to economic investment, energy linkages, and infrastructural development. The Balkan states have been misperceived as the land of ancient hatreds. Now, they have the chance finally to assume a modern identity as a zone of ethnic, religious, and inter-state coexistence.

Janusz Bugajski is a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) in Washington, DC. Srdjan Darmanovic is Montenegro’s ambassador to the United States, and this article reflects his views and not necessarily those of the government of Montenegro.

 

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