LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic: Statements from Pristina following Brussels round have nothing to do with the reality (RTS)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has stated today that Belgrade will continue to insist on resolving problems with Pristina, since this is of importance for a better life of both the Serbs and Albanians, and not for some future election result that the Pristina authorities have in mind. He says he is surprised with the statements arriving from Pristina after the latest round of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, since they have little to do with the reality.  “They stated some things that didn’t occur at all in our talks. If this suits someone more then let them do so, but it has little to do with the reality,” Vucic told journalists. According to him, some of them cannot exit daily political problems and their head is in some future elections, rather than in the present resolution of problems. He voiced hope that they will manage to overcome this and discuss again topics important for improving the life of citizens.

 

Djuric: Ivanovic in prison - blow to Serbia’s face (Tanjug)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said that taking Oliver Ivanovic from home detention to prison earlier on Thursday constituted a blow to the face of Serbia and its people. “Just when we thought the justice system in Kosovo and Metohija cannot possibly sink any lower, the torture of political prisoner Oliver Ivanovic took an inconceivable twist as he was imprisoned once again,” said Djuric. “The shameful and cowardly game of tactics of the so-called judiciary bodies in Kosovo and Metohija that waited for Wednesday’s round of the dialogue to pass to muster courage for this move reveals all the misery of the so-called legal and democratic system that currently exists in that territory,” Djuric noted, stressing that Serbia and the Serbian people would stand by Ivanovic.

 

Belgrade expects Brussels to pressure Pristina on ZSO (Novosti)

If Brussels and Washington do not use their capacities to influence Pristina to finally pass the decree on the formation of the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO), Belgrade should start thinking about countermeasures and how to further approach the dialogue, the Chairperson of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun tells Novosti. He says that, following the different interpretations of the deadlines for forming the ZSO, that Mustafa is probably trying to trade again with the EU. “This was also the case when Kosovo was supposed to receive the SAA. Every situation is used to postpone the ZSO, until Pristina receives some concession.”

 

Contradictory messages of Belgrade and Pristina following the Brussels dialogue (Danas)

Belgrade and Pristina representatives are once again giving contradictory interpretation of the agreements reached in Brussels, including the last round of talks between Vucic and Mustafa.

“If one looks back at all agreements, you will see that the only laws that have ever been mentioned as the basis for all agreements are the Kosovo laws. No sentence in the dialogue in any case had any other legal reference except the Kosovo law and Constitution. Any citizen or any journalist can confirm that this is true. The Brussels dialogue refers to the implementation of Ahtisaari’s plan, but it is not called so in order to make it easier for the Serbian government to ‘swallow’ the completely disbanded parallel institutions in Kosovo,” claims Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Petrit Selimi for Danas.

 

Djurovic: Resolution on Kosovo favorable for Serbia (Politika/Tanjug)

The Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE (PACE) adopted a resolution, submitted byRapporteur Augustin Conde of Spain, on the state of human rights in Kosovo that is favorable for Serbia, having in mind that all three amendments of the Kosovo Albanians had been rejected, the Head of the Serbian parliamentary delegation in the PACE Aleksandra Djurovic said. She told Tanjug that the rejected amendments were to erase the obligation to form the ZSO, to change the part of the text where it is states that UNESCO rejected Kosovo’s membership, and to include Kosovo in directly cooperating with Europol and Interpol, and not through UNMIK, which is part of the resolution.

Member of the Serbian delegation Zarko Obradovic commended Conde’s work on drafting the resolution. At issue is a high quality document that deals with CoE standards in areas of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and assesses to what degree all these are respected in Kosovo. He added that since neither Serbia nor the UN and a large number of CoE members recognize the so-called independence of Kosovo, he was “welcoming the status-neutral approach that Mr. Conde applied in drafting the resolution”. “The resolution states the numerous negative events and occurrences that Serbia has been pointing out to for 17 years, and that remain without an answer to this day,” Obradovic stressed.

 

McAllister: Signing binding international agreement does not imply formal recognition of Kosovo (Blic)

The signing of the document on the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations doesn’t imply formal recognition of Kosovo, the EP Rapporteur for Serbian David McAllister points out. “We don’t expect something like that from Belgrade. However, what we expect is that this process will lead gradually towards a comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo until the end of the negotiations on Serbia’s EU accession, with chances for both countries to be able to fulfill completely their rights and obligations,” McAllister told the EP TV web. He notes that Serbia will join the EU when it fulfills all criteria, pointing out that the infrastructure and environmental protection must improve in Serbia.

 

Klacar: OSCE to organize probably elections in Kosovo (Politika/Tanjug)

There needs to be an agreement between Belgrade and Pristina for organizing Serbian parliamentary elections on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, with EU and U.S. meditation, Bojan Klacar of Cesid (Centre for Free and Democratic Elections) says, who expects that the OSCE will organize the entire technical part of the election process, just as in 2014. Klacar says that in practice this means that the elections will be organized at fewer polling stations than what would be the case if Serbia would be organizing them, at places where there are enough Serbs who would turn out for them and where safety of voters can be guaranteed, but at the same time without provoking the Albanian community.

 

DS Presidency examines pre-election coalitions (Novosti)

Chances for a joint list of the Democratic Party (DS) and the bloc around the Social-Democrat Party (SDS) and the Liberal-Democrat Party (LDP) are becoming small, since the DS Presidency opposes a coalition with Tadic. The Presidency has not taken a definite stand at yesterday’s session since they are still waiting for the results on whether this partnership would bring them more votes in the election race. There was also a proposal to offer Tadic and Jovanovic cooperation that would not imply a classic coalition, but would imply agreement on non-attacking in the campaign, joint pre-election activities and a green light to local boards to make coalitions where possible.

 

Durakovic: Dodik is bluffing, there will be no referendum (Danas)

Those supporting Milorad Dodik is not and cannot be a friend of B&H, assessed Srebrenica Mayor Camil Durakovic for Danas. Welcoming the stands of the Serbian leadership, Prime Minister Vucic, President Nikolic, Deputy Prime Minister Mihajlovic, who oppose the referendum in the Republika Srpska (RS), he notes that Dodik is a ‘phony’ who has no practical way of realizing this intention of his. Durakovic, who visited Belgrade yesterday and met with Serbian Transportation Minister Zorana Mihajlovic on the occasion of the money set aside by the Serbian government for financing facilities of public significance for this B&H municipality, says that he has had a sincere relationship with the Serbian Prime Minister from the very start and that he stands behind his words. “I respect Vucic’s stand towards preservation of B&H, but sometimes his stand is contradictory. This was demonstrated on 9 January when nearly the entire Serbian government attended the marking of the RS Day. If you advocate preservation of the statehood of B&H, i.e. you respect, as you say, its institutions, then why don’t you respect the decision of the B&H Constitutional Court that declared the marking of this day as non-constitutional? I understand elections are pending in Serbia and that the situation is specific, but consistency lacked here. Vucic was contradictory,” said Durakovic.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

B&H Prosecution wants Dodik’s accounts checked (RTRS)

The Prosecution of B&H has issued an order to search premises, accounts, and transactions of Milorad Dodik, RTRS has reported.In its report, Republika Srpska (RS) public broadcaster quoted the RS news agency, adding that the order was issued on December 14, 2015.  Reacting on Thursday, prosecution spokesperson Boris Grubesic told the media in the Federation of B&H: “This is not our information and it is not correct. I have no comment on such information.”  In its report, RTRS added that RS officials in the past on several occasions pointed out that the work of the B&H Court and the Prosecution was politically motivated, and run by foreign citizen Hasan Pleh.  RTRS also said that officials several times pointed out that a politically motivated raid of RS institutions could cause unforeseeable and undesirable consequences. Some analysts consider the arrest of Radoncic to be merely a trial balloon to prepare the RS public for possible arrests of its officials. Vice-President of Dodik’s SNSD party Radovan Viskovic holds a similar opinion, RTRS reported, quoting him as saying that “this is all a reality (show), a media performance by the prosecution”.

 

Actions of B&H prosecutor’s office are farce – Dodik and RS are main targets (Srna)

Political analyst Dragomir Andjelkovic told Srna that the fight against corruption is abused in B&H, that the actions of the B&H Prosecutor’s Office are a farce, and that the main targets are Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik and preparations for an attack on RS in order to weaken it. “Everything that is happening in B&H, from disputes and court proceedings, actions of the prosecutor’s offices in the so-called fight against corruption, to systemic crime, is, in fact, a farce,” Andjelkovic said. He says that this is nothing else but preparations for an attack on RS.

“Since Milorad Dodik, as RS President, proved to be a tough target, proved that he does not allow B&H to be centralized and RS to be degraded, then this attack is being personalized through him, and Dodik will also be a target,” Andjelkovic said. According to him, that which is happening now is a way to “attack” Dodik, and tomorrow, some other ways will probably be sought. Andjelkovic says that the western centers of powers, assisted by Sarajevo and Bosniak extremists, first tried to organize an “orange revolution” in RS, but failed. Then they tried to win over certain political forces in RS with which they would achieve their goals, but they again failed. “People proved to be mature and not ready to sacrifice RS for any political games,” Andjelkovic said. He said that a sort of a demagogic populist attack is about to start, where dissatisfaction of people because of their difficult position is used to launch a story that the RS leadership is to blame for everything and that they are getting richer while people are getting poorer. Andjelkovic said that during the transition period, there were various systemic flaws on all possible sides, in Serbia, the Czech Republic, RS, and other countries, and that this is something usual. “However, exaggeration of such things is aimed at political abuse for the purpose of destroying RS. Had someone else been president, and not Dodik, and had he defended RS, he would have been attacked in the same way,” Andjelkovic said. He feels that the harangue against Dodik would disappear if the RS President would agree to "dance on the music played” by Washington and Brussels, namely, if he would agree to spoil the relations with Russia, to distance himself from Serbia and to agree on centralization of B&H and its accession to NATO. “This whole story is about this. The fight against corruption is abused for the purpose of imposing everything that the Bosniak extremists, supported by NATO, wanted to achieve by arms at the beginning of the 90s and they are now trying to get a unitary Bosnia by other means,” Andjelkovic has concluded.

 

Radoncic at the hearing – other side of the story (Dnevni avaz)

“This is a pure political process and a showdown between secular and some other option, stated the leader of the Union for Better Future Fahrudin Radoncic at the end of marathon, nearly six hours lasting custody hearing in the case led against him before the B&H Prosecutor’s Office in a mounted, politically motivated process. Radoncic’s defense attorneys clearly pointed to a number of procedural omissions in this case, and blatant violation of human rights. SBB leader was apprehended three days ago in a process mounted by the state mafia that, as it shows, has its tentacles in a part of the B&H justice system.  However, during the hearing over the custody requested by the B&H Prosecutor’s Office, it was absolutely clear what was the motive for launching of investigation, since the most part of referred to reading of intercepted conversations and messages between Radoncic and his associates and persons from political life, including the member of B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic and many others.The Prosecutor’s Office tried to prove that there was a criminal group conspiring to engage in an illegal act. Radoncic said in his address that the Prosecutor’s office performed an inadmissible pressure on the freedom of media, when in explaining the reasons for custody of the leader of SBB, among other things, planting Radoncic with accusations that even after the apprehension, as the Prosecutor Bozo Mihajlovic has put it, “he has a direct control over Dnevni avaz and seemingly, while in custody, still provides headlines to the magazine about how “state mafia is lacking evidence against Radoncic and that the war veterans will take to the streets and protest against his apprehension.” “For 48 already I have been in complete isolation, without a possibility to make a call, and the Prosecutor’s Office finds me responsible of putting a pressure in terms of what Avaz will publish, providing the headlines and taking veterans to streets. As a former Minister of Security, I am so much of a legalist that it is inadmissible to accuse me of making those pressures, all the while I’m detention. It’s a peak of an iceberg – said Radoncic. Given the fact that the Prosecution, obviously lacking arguments to prove alleged offence of obstruction of justice, for which Radoncic was apprehended on January 25th, magically, the day before yesterday, during the hearing at SIPA premises, added another criminal offence of alleged “giving awards and other means of trading in influence”, Radoncic gave a detailed account of the events related to the appointment of the ambassador to Slovenia. “On Monday (11th January, author’s note) at 12 o’clock I met Izetbegovic (Bakir) and gave him a CV (Nermana Hadzijahic’s, author’s note) for consultations. The very next day he responded to me saying that the ambassador was appointed by B&H Presidency. I have to clarify the procedure of appointing an ambassador. The proposal first needs to go through an official protocol and B&H Presidency’s clerk’s office – said Radoncic showing to the judge Tatjana Kosovic, the formatting of those documents with headers and memorandums. He has explained that giving examples of previous appointments of SBB staff to Federal, Sarajevo Cantonal Government, and explained that those are procedures that take 20 or more days, and mentioned the example of, appointing Almir Dzuvo to the position of the ambassador when it took 25 days from submission of the proposal for his appointment to protocol, until the final decision was taken by the Presidency. Also, due to insinuations of the Prosecutor’s Office regarding Radoncic’s meetings with the Chief of OSCE mission to B&H Johnatan Moore, Radoncic stated that he, as a leader of a major political party at such level maintains contacts with ambassadors, and clarified that together with Moore and representatives of American Embassy, including the ambassador Maureen Cormack he has led discussions in terms of  “general concern of the international community that the current coalition in B&H does not break apart”. “This especially because on 15 February B&H submits an application for membership in European Union. All those discussions were related to the on-going political developments, and so all the correspondence that is being presented here was related to politics - clarified Radoncic. Further he reminded that the very day that he has announced that he is running for the member of B&H Presidency, an indictment was read in the “Keljmendi” case in Kosovo, and that on the day the SBB announced its candidate Bakir Dautbasic is running for a position of the state Minister of Transport and Communications, on 11th January, Dautbasic and his common-law wife Bilsena Sahman were apprehended. At the hearing, it was confirmed that Azra Saric, ex-girlfriend of Ramiz Delalic Celo, who, after his assassination in 2007, has never taken a witness by the Prosecution, since at the very beginning of the investigation she stated she knew nothing about Delalic’s business activities, or his assassination. Saric was examined in SIPA premises on 8^th of April 2014, in connection with “Keljmendi” case, and, according to the defense, when giving that statement either she did not mention the name of Fahrudin Radoncic in any context. Therefore, Radoncic emphasized that Saric is at no circumstances a relevant witness, responding so to the prosecutor’s claims that during the search of Radoncic’s premises there was a certified public notary statement made by Dautbasic and Sahman about Azra Saric’s attempt to racketeer them by approaching them and asking them to help her to get to Minister of Health through Radončić and assist her in obtaining from him a signature that would approve her specialization and a job at Clinical Centre of Sarajevo, telling them that in return she would not testify against Radoncic in Kosovo court. “Here we have a situation where I, as an individual proposing a candidate for the position of the Minister, had to ask from him this notary statement, for protection from potential legal controversy. Especially because Dautbasic and Sahman informed me of Azra Saric’s proposal only after they came back from their trip to Vienna (as presented at yesterday’s hearing, Dautbasic and Sahman spent four days in Vienna, author’s note). I’ve been dealing with “Keljmendi” case since 2009, when they tried to frame me up with the attempted murder of Bakir Hadziomerovic, and since 2009 to 2016 I have not been involved in a single illegal action, so why would I do it now and against the witness that is not relevant at all - said Radoncic. According to evidence presented in court, Bakir Izetbegovic, after he learned about the investigation in B&H Prosecutor’s Office, sent a message to Fahrudin Radoncic. “Just now Osmica informed me about Dautbasic, these people from the Prosecutor’s Office are really trying hard to break up our coalition - wrote Izetbegovic in his message. As read, Radoncic answered: “As late Alija (Bakir Izetbegovic’s father) used to say – to the Great God we swear we will not be slaves. Coalition will survive, even if I get arrested too. As an answer to his message Izetbegovic sends a new that says: “And I swear to you to the Great God that I have nothing to do with this.

 

SDA has its partner in Radoncic, and we wish them luck in that “marriage” (Patria)

According to some media sources, allegedly individuals from the SDA prior to the arrest of Bakir Dautbasic, Bilsena Sahman and Fahrudin Radoncic lobbied Zeljko Komsic to return the Democratic Front to coalition with the SDA, Patria reports. But in a statement to Patria, Komsic rejected the possibility of return to the coalition and government, saying: “We will not return to government and the coalition as anyone from the SDA wants. In addition, the SDA has its partner in Radoncic and we wish them all the luck in that ‘marriage’,” Komsic said. Since Radoncic’s arrest, the SDA and SBB say that the coalition is shaken, although they are committed to preserving the same, but it is clear that the SBB cadres are listening and waiting for more concrete moves from the SDA, which are focused on the work of the prosecutor connected with suspicion that the SBB leader Radoncic formed a joint working group to commit a crime directed toward the witness Azra Saric, who testified in the trial of Naser Keljmendi in Kosovo. Otherwise, today Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic confirmed that on 3 February at the session of the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina  they will not appoint a minister of transport and communication and deputy minister of defense (both from the SBB) because they did not acquire the procedural requirements. Of course, appointment is impossible to perform, because the candidate for Minister Bakir Dautbasic on 3 February will still be in pretrial detention for obstruction of justice.​

 

Izetbegovic and Ambassador of Iran discuss current political situation in B&H (Fena)

Member of the B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic met yesterday with Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to B&H Seyed Hossein Rajabi to discuss the current political situation in B&H, bilateral relations between the two countries and situation in the Middle East. Ambassador Rajabi informed Izetbegovic about entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear Agreement between the Islamic Republic of Iran and E3+3 on January 16 and lifting of provisions of resolutions on sanctions of the UN Security Council, the USA and the European Union regarding Iran’s nuclear program. He said he hopes that lifting of these sanctions might have a positive impact on bilateral relations between B&H and Iran, firstly in areas of economic cooperation and investments. In that sense, he said that Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran expects B&H to take necessary actions to lift previously issued decisions on implementation of these sanctions. Izetbegovic said he hopes that implementation of the Comprehensive Nuclear Agreement will result in further normalization of relations between Iran and the international community. He emphasized that B&H will closely monitor implementation of the Agreement and harmonize its earlier decision on implementation of the international sanctions with the newest decisions of the UN Security Council, the USA and the EU. They also talked about the fight against terrorism and agreed that the growing problem of terrorism and violent extremism is a global threat and that all states need to confront it together, Presidency of B&H stated.

 

Krivokapic calls the DF to engage in dialogue (RTCG)

Montenegrin parliament speaker Ranko Krivokapic called the Democratic Front (DF) to enter parliamentary dialogue, because, as he said, there is a new space for all possible arrangements regarding the government to implement fair and free elections. Asked to comment last night’s announcement of the DF that, after the meeting of the Presidency and the party, they would call everyone who voted against confidence to Milo Djukanovic’s government to meet and organize joint protests, Krivokapic again called the DF to parliamentary dialogue. “The situation is new, a new space has opened, and I would called them to talk,” he said, explaining that they are respected parliamentarians and the strongest opposition party. He said that this was new political moment and new circumstances. “It would be good to think about it, engage in the dialogue, because the space is open to make consensus and all possible agreements regarding the government to implement free and fair elections,” Krivokapic told reporters. Asked whether he believed that the entry of the opposition into the government in accordance with the offer Djukanovic made last night and fulfillment of all the conditions foreseen by the new law on elections would create the atmosphere for holding fair elections, Krivokapic explained that this was not a short path. “We just got political turnover when the government accepted to start the process of forming a substantially new government. The entry of the opposition into the government is essentially an elections administration government,” explained Krivokapic. He pointed out that the opposition positions have not been known yet. “The parliamentary dialogue is yet to follow. It is obvious how it was important as the form and means that gave results to the infrastructure part of the preparations of the elections, and now in the political part also,” he said. Krivokapic added that it was necessary to take advantage of the good political climate on February 1 and get real results for the citizens of Montenegro.

 

Meeting Dimitriev-State Election Commission: New draft proposals noted (MIA)

The new Prime Minister of Macedonia Emil Dimitriev on Thursday afternoon met with the members of the State Election Commission (SEC) for the purpose of holding the parliamentary elections on 24 April this year. Emil Dimitirev assessed the meeting as positive and constructive, pointing out that all the requirements of the State Election Commission from the previous meeting were resolved and the requirements of this meeting will be addressed in the next government meeting. “We discussed the conclusions that the government adopted to a previous session, but we noted quite new draft conclusions which will be subject to discussion at the next government session, which are in function of the work of the State Election Commission towards the best possible organization of the elections in April,” Emil Dimitriev said after the meeting. He pointed out that they expressed the readiness on a daily basis to maintain the communication and to solve all the problems that will help organize fair and democratic elections, which will be verified by all the institutions which are responsible for monitoring. Dimitriev added that they would further communicate with the State Election Commission and that on Thursday they agreed the holding of the line meetings on individual topics in the following period. “We discussed the providing of premises, vehicles, financial structure for specific needs, for technical logistics of the State Election Commission, and we were briefed on their preparations for the purification of the Electoral roll,” Dimitriev said. Asked whether he believes that the State Election Commission can produce results within the deadlines, he said he is positive from what he had heard at the meeting. “From what I could hear from them, assuming they agree quickly the methodology of the purification of the Electoral roll which is a subject to talks between the political parties, they are prepared. So they have made serious preparations for putting into function the methodology and we believe that this timing and these deadlines will be preserved,” Dimitriev said. President of the State Election Commission, Aleksandar Cicakovski, as it is stated in a press release from the State Election Commission, at the meeting informed on the issues related to the personnel staffing of the Commission, for the spatial and technical equipping as well as for the implementation of methodologies for updating the Electoral roll.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Balkans at the beginning of 2016  (Today’s Zaman, by Hajrudin Somun, 26 January 2016)

The old white and cold winter finally settled across much of the Balkan Peninsula in January after the mild and foggy final months of 2015 that may have caused lethargy for humans and animals alike.

Frigid air has brought storms, snow has fallen on the mountains of northern Greece and temperatures plunged in Romania to a recorded -29.5 degrees C. They might reach our Sarajevo since, as far as I remember, there was a recorded -27 C degrees nearly half a century ago. Snow and ice are causing many travel delays and the cancellation of hundreds of flights. In such a freezing winter various TV channels are transmitting images that are in stark contrast with one another. On the one side, on Serbian, Bosnian or Croatian mountains children are seen enjoying skiing and other winter sports. And on other channels at the same time, children from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan are shown dragging themselves after their tired parents who are trudging along borders and muddy roads in Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia trying to reach Germany or Scandinavia. On one side there is resonant laughter and rejoicing, and on another a gentle sadness and fear in eyes. Many of those latter children are without clothing or boots appropriate for hard European winter weather, but they insist on continuing their uncertain path even when some have pneumonia and fever. Contrary to migratory birds that find refuge from the cold north in warmer south areas, nothing can stop human migrants to escape from the death in war-torn countries as it is Syria, even if their children might die while roaming the frozen Balkan roads. These images are reflexing a very serious issue of migrants from the Middle East almost all Balkan countries are forwarding it from 2015 to this year. Though they all deserve special analysis, I will make only a brief review of this and other questions the Balkans confronts at the beginning of 2016, relying on reports of the Balkan Insight, Al-Jazeera Balkan, other regional media and my own considerations.

Looking at the migrant crisis

The migrant crisis is likely to become the most serious problem for the Balkans in the next months if the European Union's member states continue to close their borders for refugees and Turkey doesn't stop them leaving its territory. Around 2,000 migrants have crossed from Macedonia into Serbia daily in January in spite of temperatures plunging well below zero. Greece reported 100,000 new arrivals in December alone. It is difficult to imagine what might happen if they are prevented to pass further north toward Europe and get stuck in the countries of the western Balkans that have enough economic and social problems within their borders. The European Union's heads are fixing their eyes on Turkey, hoping the deal to keep more people on its soil in exchange for refugee funding and reviving its EU membership talks will work. However, even if Turkey stop refugees heading to Greece -- what is unlikely, if not impossible to happen -- the EU should respond to the grave problems the Balkan states have with migrants who are already on their way to Europe. In the political arena some Balkan countries entered 2016 with a new government, some decided to have early elections and some continued to fight deep economic crisis, but the whole region remained in the clutches of corruption and a platform for more or less open rivalry between Euro-Atlantic alliances and Russia. The youngest EU member state Croatia, whose population believes that being in the EU places them outside the Balkans, is showing just these days that it is not so easy to escape the old Balkan mentality. Its parliament has approved a new center-right government led by Tihomir Oreskovic, a Croatian-Canadian entrepreneur who previously served as chief financial officer for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, an Israeli-American multinational company headquartered in Israel. Although he comes from the business world, it is difficult to predict how his government will be able to face the challenge of dealing with scant economic recovery after six straight years of recession. His new job will be made more complicated by the mere composition of his government, one that was dictated mostly by conservative-clerical party the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). There was immediate public criticism of the appointment of some of the new ministers, including Justice Minister Ante Sprlje (36), a judge with only three years experience working in a local municipal court, and Minister for Social Issues and Youth Bernardica Juretic (52), a former Catholic nun. However, critics from the media and staunch liberal intellectuals spoke out about the choice of new Minister of Culture Zlatko Hasanbegovic (42), a Croatian Muslim. They accused him of having spread far-right and even pro-fascist ideology. Hundreds of intellectuals and human rights activists gathered in the center of Zagreb and outside Parliament to protest against the appointments and the new conservative trend that brings to an end the four-year rule of the center-left. Despite having a parliamentary majority and wide public support, Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said last week he had decided to call early parliamentary and local elections next spring. The former Serb nationalist became prime minister after his Progressive Party and coalition partners won the elections of 2014. By calling for new elections after only two years, Vucic apparently intends to consolidate his power as a populist leader who works hard to seek EU membership, but at the same time keeps strong ties with Serbia's traditional ally Russia. Moscow didn't object its opening of the accession talks with the EU last year, but it would certainly oppose Serbia's approach to NATO. Besides the support Bosnian Serbs enjoy from of Moscow in their opposition of Bosnia and Herzegovina's accession to NATO, Russia's influence could also be seen in the recent anti-NATO demonstrations in Montenegro as well. At the beginning of December 2015, the Montenegrin government enthusiastically accepted NATO's formal invitation to join the military alliance. The pro-Serbian and pro-Russian opposition Democratic Front (DF) brought out thousands of its supporters onto the streets of Podgorica to protest NATO membership. At the beginning of January it issued an anti-NATO petition, calling for a referendum on the country's accession to the alliance. Almost half of the country of only 650,000 people is nationally, as well as religiously, affiliated with Serbia. That is why the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro urged the authorities to organize a referendum on NATO membership after Russian clerics and political leaders voiced their opposition to Montenegro joining the Western military alliance as well.

A new challenge for Greek politics

Of some other current Balkan events that by their causes and consequences cannot be regarded only as regional ones, let me point to Greek politics where a new challenge has appeared for its government, led by the left-wing Syriza party. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, under pressure by Greeks unsatisfied with austerity measures from one side and from the other by European creditors to undertake new steps for negotiating the latest bailout package for up to 86 billion euros agreed last year, got a dangerous rival on the domestic political front. Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the son of a former prime minister and the brother of a former foreign minister, won the Jan. 10 contest to lead the center-right New Democracy party that is getting new supporters from Greeks disillusioned with Syriza's unrealized promises to reduce high unemployment and encourage social spending after years of recessionary reductions. Thus, some Balkan countries are joining a wider European tendency of increasing conservative, rightist politics and ideologies. There is the question of how much the migrant crisis and the terrorist attacks carried out by Islamist extremists contributed to such a trend. Consequently, due to their large Muslim communities, Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia are regarded by western Europeans as al-Qaeda and Wahhabi terrorist bases. The so-called Islamic State (ISIL) only reinforces this by spreading its murderous propaganda among young Muslims in those countries. Though there are much less terrorist acts in Bosnia or Kosovo than in Western Europe, ISIL's sympathizers there become more dangerous for their security. Ninety Muslims have been arrested in Kosovo since 2014 on charges of membership or affiliation to Islamist groups in the Middle East. Imam Husein Bosnic was sentenced last November to seven years in prison for urging Muslims in several Bosnian towns to join ISIL in Syria and this January eight Bosnians were released after a month spent in detention on suspicion of planning terrorist acts. Bosnian Mufti Husein ef. Kavazovic joined in a courageous way the state authorities in efforts to resist the recruitment of fighters for ISIL and other radical Islamist groups. He initiated a campaign in mid January to close more than fifty illegal preaching sites, so-called para-dzemats, which are not under the roof of the official Islamic community. There is, however, an issue that is mentioned above and is not exclusive for the Balkans. It is the corruption that is spreading through the world of politics and business as a remediless virus. This region as well does not lack high-level corruption prosecution cases. Some former prime ministers and ministers celebrated the turn of the new year in prison. The former president of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic, was arrested at the beginning of January on the suspicion that he was responsible for the budget damage of 120 million euros of his hometown Budva. Money becomes a synonym for power and vice-versa in the neoliberal world order, perhaps more than in any other period in history. This is, however, so grave an issue that needs a much longer and more permanent study. For this occasion I would only quote the prominent Bosnian professor of theology and political analyst Fra Ivan Sarcevic who joined me in a recent TV dialogue, saying, “A moral and spiritual corruption has captured political institutions in our region to such a measure that nobody is ready to admit he did any wrong.”

* Hajrudin Somun is the former ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Turkey.

 

RSF supports Serbian journalists’ refusal to “kneel” before government (Reporters Without Borders, 29 January 2016)

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Serbian authorities to heed the legitimate demands of the country’s journalists, hundreds of whom have taken to the streets in the capital and a dozen other towns in the past two days to denounce the “deterioration” in media freedom. Four similar protests have been held in the past two months The media accuse the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of putting political pressure on journalists, while Prime Aleksandar Vucic has described the protests as an “attempt to destabilize” Serbia and has called for parliamentary elections in April, two years ahead of schedule. According to the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (NUNS), journalists in the northern city of Pancevo are “obliged” to join the SNS to keep their jobs. Journalists told RSF that the level of political pressure on the Serbian media has intensified in recent months. They are often the targets of smear campaigns or are accused by the government of being “mercenaries in the pay of foreign powers.” “Insulted, badly paid and fired,” journalists chanted during the demonstrations held at midday yesterday and the previous evening. The protests against the decline in conditions for journalists began in early December, after an incident involving defence minister Bratislav Gasic and a woman journalist with B92 TV. “I like these female journalists who kneel down so easily,” Gasic told Zlatija Nabovic, when she knelt to avoid getting into a camera’s field of vision during a news conference. His sexist comment sparked an outcry. The NUNS immediate demanded Gasic’s resignation. The prime minister promised at the time to fire him but has not kept his promise. His dismissal, if it did materialize, would anyway have to be approved by parliament and this could not take place before March, adding to the frustration. But the defence minister’s removal is just one of the demands of the movement, called “Journalists don’t kneel.” The protesters are also calling for an investigation into the illegal surveillance of journalists, ordered by interior minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, and they want culture and information minister Ivan Tasovac held to account. “The Serbian government seems to have a problem accepting that the time is long past when the authorities could use the media as propaganda tools,” said Alexandra Geneste, the head of RSF’s EU-Balkans desk in Brussels.