LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic: We are annulling Pristina’s decisions” Trepca issue not going to Security Council (B92)

The Serbian government has passed the decision on annulling all legal consequences of documents and actions of the Pristina institutions on Trepca, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told a press conference in Belgrade. As he put it, the government has thus accepted for the most part the proposals of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija with the wish for Trepca to continue operating. “Trepca is of enormous significance and we will protect it. I don’t understand why the Albanians did this. Are they thinking to enter by force the flotation in the north? We will not allow them touch the right to property,” said Vucic. He also says there are a lot of confusions and misinformation in the public regarding Trepca, and he rejected the fact that Trepca has anything to do with the Brussels Agreement. Speaking about telecommunications, Vucic says that official Belgrade will continue to negotiate since it respects its signature and wishes to reach agreement. “We signed in Brussels that we will talk and we will implement this. However, I have been insisting all the time to discuss property, this is the crucial thing, but they never wanted; yet we always reach the property issue. The dialing code is not a problem, they have known this for months, but we ensured that Serbs in Kosovska Mitrovica do not have to use a dialing code for Serbia proper. The problem is property, just as with the Gazivode Lake that is partly located in Serbia proper. We cannot, we will not and we do not have the right to give this away,” said Vucic. He says there will be no shift in the policy and that negotiations with the EU will not be disrupted. “I promised in the election campaign that we will continue the EU path and that we will not introduce sanctions against Russia. I wasn’t telling fairy tales. We are ready for compromises, if others also wish that. We are ready because we are thinking about the future, we must continue to talk with everyone and to continue on our path,” said Vucic.

Asked about President Nikolic’s statement that there can be no more concessions to Albanians, and whether this meant disruption of negotiations, Vucic said: “We will continue negotiations, and I understood this statement as a moral, political message of the Serbian President.” Vucic says that the Serbs in northern Kosovo should feel secure and safe, which is guaranteed by NATO. “I didn’t accept for us to address the UN Security Council. This is the only proposal by the Office for Kosovo and Metohija that I haven’t accepted. Why? Because I am not a clownish prime minister, I don’t need to roar on TV and to hold the Serbian flag, while the score is 0:1. Apart from wasting state money to travel to New York, what would we gain? What would the result be, my Marko didn’t have an answer and accepted my suggestion. This is a dangerous move by Pristina, but I think that peace has not been threatened.”

Vucic also said that the government had not sent any letter to the European Commission in regard to Trepca. Our partners are sitting there. We want to be part of that society. We will first talk with them, said Vucic. He specified that it had been announced that a letter was being prepared, but that it wasn’t sent nor has he signed any letter to the European Commission.

 

Nikolic: No more concessions to Kosovo Albanians (Blic)

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic assessed that Serbia should not make concessions to Kosovo Albanians when it comes to the Trepca plant or Telekom’s property. Nikolic told Blic that Pristina’s moves in regard to these two companies represent “plundering, usurpation” that Serbia cannot accept. “We have already conceded a great deal to the Albanians. A limit needs to be set somewhere. That is why we must not make concessions when it comes to handing over of Trepca or Telekom’s property,” said the President. He adds that Serbia should not accept conditioning if Brussels is really posing this as a condition for continuing negotiations.

 

Djuric: Albanians unified, and we mediate over Trepca (B92/TV Prva)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said that in Serbia we have “political mediation” involved in a sensitive subject such as Trepca, Djuric said answering a question on what did the officials from Belgrade sign in Brussels on Trepca in the TV show “150 minutes” on TV Prva. “We have a problem here. While the Albanians are unified in their striving to secede, and take our property, in Serbia we face some kind of political mediation on that issue”, said Djuric. He noted that “it is a well-known fact” that two thirds of the Brussels Agreement refer to the Community of Serb municipalities, while the rest refers to judicial and police authorities. “In spite of that, there are those who attack the Serbian government while fighting to find a solution. No document foresees the obligation of shutting down some of our institutions, on the contrary,” said Djuric. He said that Belgrade “has been insisting for years now” on talks regarding Trepca in Brussels, but hey were rejected. “Aleksandar Vucic has been insisting on it for three or four years, but they kept rejecting. Therefore, we ask for the UN to join. The Albanian side wants to take away our property and by decision-making, puts itself into a situation to avoid compromise. They should not get the support of the international community for such an inflexible approach, because it only makes reaching an agreement impossible,” said Djuric.

 

Serbia will prevent implementation of the Law on Trepca (RTS)

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said that Serbia is obliged to take all legal and political measures to prevent the implementation of Kosovo’s Law on Trepca.

Djuric told Radio and Television of Serbia(RTS)that the adoption of the Law on Trepca in the Kosovo Assembly was “the scandal of unprecedented proportions” and added that he proposed and officially put into procedure the Serbian government to make a decision on annulment of “illegal laws” passed by the Kosovo Assembly. “Trepca was not topical last week. A phantom bill on confiscation of Trepca appeared out of nowhere in the Kosovo Assembly. We cannot help feeling that this is the attempted hijacking of our property in Kosovo. None of that is valid for us, and it will never be, nor will we allow this to happen in practice,” Djuric said.

When asked whether such a solution was envisaged by the Brussels agreement, Djuric said that out of the 15 points of the agreement, eight referred to the creation of the Association of the

Serb municipalities and others referred to forming the court in which Serbs would be the majority and the special police district. Djuric also said that he was not happy with “the silence of Brussels” about Trepca, but added that he did not want to accuse anyone without proof.

 

Opposition demands urgent session of the Kosovo Committee (RTS/Tanjug)

MPs of several opposition parties, members of the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija requested today the Chairman of this committee Milovan Drecun to urgently convene a session of this committee and demand the presence of the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric. Drecun had stated earlier that he expects the session will be held on 17 October, but these MPs demand that it convenes tomorrow morning at the latest, having in mind the current political, economic and security situation in Kosovo and Metohija. They expect to be informed about the course of negotiations with the provisional self-government institutions in Pristina under EU auspices, with special focus on the Trepca case.

 

Patriarch Irinej: Kosovo is not just geography, Kosovo is our Jerusalem (TV Pink/B92)

Serbian Patriarch Irinej said that the situation in Kosovo and Metohija represented a great injustice at the hands of the powerful suffered by a small nation.He pointed out that this was an injustice to our great history and culture but said that we would never allow Kosovo to be lost.

The patriarch said that not only was this problem familiar to every church that shared our views on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija but that we also had on our side all those who were fair and objective and whose views and judgments were fair. Another thing that the patriarch noted was the fact that politics drove people apart. “Kosovo is not just geography, Kosovo is our Jerusalem, our hallowed ground, everything that grew its roots in the Serbian history and culture; all of our most sacred is there and these people, who were many in Kosovo and Metohija, did not leave on their own volition or, but instead they were forced to do so... And this pressing force had been present for a long time – this struggle has been going on for more than a hundred years and, unfortunately, the powers that be have taken under their wing those who contributed to this,” Patriarch Irinej told TV Pink. The church is doing everything to draw attention to the situation in Kosovo and Metohija in its encounters with representatives of other churches,” head of the Serbian Orthodox Church noted. He added that there were parallel power, force, and justice – those of men and those of God. “Unfortunately, there is a country – a great power that cares not much for the past and history – whose judgment is based on the current condition and that is driven by them,” the patriarch said, noting that the Serbian community had lived alongside Albanians without any issues all until the end of the 17th century, when as many as 30,000 families left Kosovo. “That is when our tragedy began to unfold. Although there had been other migrations even much further in the past,” the first among equals stated. When asked if he could imagine Kosovo being lost, the patriarch responded that it might seem that way in our minds and our hearts but that Kosovo could never be lost and that we would never agree to that. He noted that “that which is taken away by force gets back by force.” “We have never accepted this situation. We have lived a long time alongside the Albanians and had no problems, but certain politics encouraged them to want and try to take away our sanctities and to present them as their own,” the patriarch said and cited as best the example of the Cathedral of Holy Salvation in Pristina, which for the Albanians – as he said – was a thorn in the flesh, and not a lone one.

 

Kocijancic: Mutually agreed topics to be discussed in Brussels (Tanjug)

Belgrade and Pristina must both consent to putting Trepca on the agenda of the dialogue for the issue to become a topic in the Brussels talks, European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said Monday. When asked if the issue of Trepca would be raised in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Kocijancic said the principle of the dialogue was clear.

For an issue to be discussed as part of the dialogue, both sides must consent to that, she said in a statement to Tanjug. She said the EU had “taken note” of the fact that a bill on Trepca had been passed in the Kosovo assembly.

 

Slovakian Embassy: Most important to continue Brussels dialogue (Politika)

“Just as the whole is always stronger than the overall strength of component parts, so is the continuation of the Brussels dialogue more important than individual problems in the Belgrade-Pristina relations. For the EU it is important that all agreements already concluded and harmonized within this process are implemented. Of course there can be problems and debates outside the framework of the Brussels dialogue, and the sides have the right to put these issues on the table based on a mutual agreement. Yet, Belgrade and Pristina need to agree on this without Brussels determining this after a directive,” Politika was given a reply from the Slovakian Embassy in Belgrade, the country that is presiding the EU until the end of the year, to the question what is the way out of the situation after Pristina’s decision on the confiscation of Trepca, where the Brussels dialogue is threatened, and from which Serbia’s further progress towards the EU depends. “The dialogue has not been suspended, it continues. Experts reached agreement on the remaining elements of the agreement on freedom of movement in 2011; certain progress on telecommunications has been achieved. Now we have come to a point where sensitive issues are placed on the table that concern property rights, which have legal, international-legal and economic dimensions,” states the Embassy. Asked whether it is true, as some think, that Serbia is in fact a hostage of the great powers, they stress: “Serbia is a sovereign democratic state that implements its policy according to its choice. Nobody can force it to do what it doesn’t want to. On the other side: every decision carries with it also responsibility. There is no free lunch - a waiter will deliver the bill on the table sooner or later. It is important to keep this in mind always when the time comes to review stands.”

 

Serbian-Russian military exercise at Batajnica airport (Politika/FoNet)

Joint training of members of the air force of Serbia and Russia confirms successful cooperation of the two countries, while knowledge and operative capabilities are improved through exchange of experiences at these kinds of trainings, Serbian Army Deputy Chief-of-Staff Jovica Draganic said during the exercise BARS 2016. The exercise that is taking place at the Batanjica airport until 15 October includes the fighter aviation and helicopter units of the Serbian Air Force and Air Defense and 19 members of the Russian Airspace Defense Forces. Attending were Russian Defense Envoy to Serbia Andrey Kindyakov and Military Attaché Vladimir Korneyenkov. Following the address of the Deputy Chief-of-Staff, Deputy Commander of the 204^th Air Force Brigade Zeljko Bilic and representative of the Russian Air Force Command and Colonel Konstantin Yurevich Surikov signed the Technical Agreement for the exercise BARS 2016, whereby the exercise officially started. Pilots of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the Serbian Army will realize at the exercise, called “Control and protection of air space and combat search and rescue”, flying tasks within mixed crews, primarily with MiG-29 fighter jets and Mi-17 V5 helicopters, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Izetbegovic: SDA Collegium decided to ask CEC to annul elections in Srebrenica and Stolac (TV1)

Collegium of SDA held a session in Sarajevo on Monday, after which SDA leader and Chairman of B&H Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic addressed a press conference saying that SDA Collegium passed a conclusion on asking B&H Central Election Commission (CEC) to annul the local elections in Srebrenica and Stolac. “SDA Collegium demands that elections in Srebrenica are annulled, because the election process integrity has been harshly violated by entry of members of the RS Ministry of Interior (MoI) on October 4, 2016, into the building of Srebrenica Municipality where the election materials were kept”, Izetbegovic stressed. Izetbegovic noted that SDA also harshly condemns “open threat” that RS President and SNSD leader Milorad Dodik made to Bosniaks in the RS who did not vote for SNSD in the local elections. “It is too much, even coming from Dodik,” Izetbegovic remarked. Izetbegovic further explained that SDA Collegium discussed the issue of local elections in Stolac and he said: “We demand from B&H CEC to pass a decision on annulment of elections at regular polling stations (in Stolac) and schedule new elections within legally prescribed deadline i.e. 14-day deadline upon the day of enacting the decision. We warn CEC members not to politicize this issue but rather to act exclusively in line with the law. Failure to implement law can also represent abuse of office. There is no a single reason why this should be further delayed.” According to Izetbegovic, SDA Collegium assessed statements of ministers in Croatian government Miro Kovac and Bozo Petrov made during Sunday’s visit to Stolac – who spoke about discrimination of Croats in that municipality – as “absolutely unfounded”. Izetbegovic noted in this regard that HDZ B&H has ruled Stolac “since the first democratic elections in 1990, which means for 26 years”. Izetbegovic also said that “brutal ethnic cleansing was committed against Bosniaks, Serbs, and other citizens in Stolac” during the last war. “Peace in Stolac did not bring justice. Returnees in Stolac have had to fight for justice for years,” Izetbegovic noted.

 

Grujicic: Unacceptable threats and electoral engineering (Srna)

The candidate for the head of Srebrenica Municipality Mladen Grujicic has pointed to the threats made to the Serb observers and numerous irregularities at the polling stations in the FB&H where the votes for Srebrenica in absentia were cast. He emphasized at the press conference that the Serb observes were prevented from having access to the electoral process and entering the observed irregularities into the records, therefore he expects the Central Election Commission of B&H to sanction these electoral boards and individuals who threatened. “The observers were threatened with beatings and, at some polling stations, were not allowed to obtain information about the number of voters. The excess envelopes in relation to the number of voters that appeared at some of these polling stations, were destroyed or were offered to the observers to destroy them, which the observes did not accept,” explained Grujicic. He has added that, thanks to illegalities, voting with other people’s personal documents and other manipulations, the 80 percent turnout was enabled at the polling stations in FB&H, where the votes for Srebrenica were cast, which is a much higher percentage than in other polling places in B&H. “According to these polls, my opponent Camil Durakovic could get a maximum of 1,100 votes, but we heard him saying he would get about 1,500 votes from the voters who cast their votes in absentia. Thus, this is the way to put a pressure and strive to annul the elections at some polling stations in order to provide even greater engineering during repeated elections, which is unacceptable,” said Grujicic.

 

Covic meets Moore, Moore announces opening of temporary field office of OSCE in Stolac (FTV)

HDZ B&H leader Dragan Covic met with Head of OSCE Mission to B&H Jonathan Moore on Monday. They discussed the local elections in B&H and violently interrupted election process in Stolac. Covic and Moore agreed that, in general, the local elections were carried out in line with laws and democratic standards, with the exception of Stolac. They condemned violence as unacceptable pattern of behavior, which threatens to irreversibly deteriorate inter-ethnic relations in multi-ethnic areas such as Stolac. Moore informed Covic that OSCE will open a temporary field office in Stolac.

 

Coalition ‘Bijeljina Pobjedjuje’ plans protest in Bijeljina for Tuesday because of alleged election theft (RTRS)

Members of the Coalition ‘Bijeljina Wins’ will stage protests in Bijeljina on Tuesday because of alleged electoral fraud carried out in this town. Representatives of the Coalition said on Monday that peaceful protests will show the true will of the citizens, which is a victory of candidate of this Coalition for the post of Bijeljina Mayor Zlatko Maksimovic. “We will fight with all legal means at our disposal, which is why we hired legal teams both in Bijeljina and Sarajevo,” Maksimovic underlined, claiming that Coalition has a number of evidence that point to election irregularities. Maksimovic stressed that they will forward the evidence to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of B&H and ask for recount of votes for Bijeljina Mayor and repeating of elections at certain polling stations. “We are certain that I won more votes than my rival,” Maksimovic underlined.

Candidate of the Alliance for Changes (SzP) for the post of Bijeljina Mayor Mico Micic claims that there was bribing of voters, but not by him, but by his rival. Micic called on the citizens and the Ministry of Interior (MoI) of the RS not to allow riots in Bijeljina. “I urge the citizens not to do anything against their will so that there is no destabilization, riots or conflicts. Have confidence in the institutions and the RS MoI and express your will freely,” Micic said. According to preliminary results of the elections presented by the B&H CEC, Micic has 627 more votes in the race for Mayor of Bijeljina than his rival Maksimovic.

 

Interrogation of suspects in referendum case ‘Dodik et al.’ starts before B&H Prosecutor’s Office (RTRS)

Members of the Commission for Implementation of the Referendum in the RS Goran Zmijanjac and Milan Petkovic were interrogated at the B&H Prosecutor’s Office on Monday. They were both called to give statements as part of the investigation in the case against RS President Milorad Dodik for the crime of failure to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court (CC) of B&H related to the Day of the RS and holding of the referendum in the RS. Zmijanjac and Petkovic told journalist following the interrogation that they are not only defending members of the Referendum Commission and the RS President, but also the referendum, citizens and institutions of the RS. They further said that they made it clear that there are no elements of criminal liability of the accused in this case. “I explained that I was a member of the Referendum Commission in the capacity of a legal expert and not in the capacity of a politician,” Petkovic underlined, adding that he clearly told prosecutor Miroslav Markovic that there is no criminal liability of Dodik and members of the Referendum Commission and especially of the citizens who voted in the referendum on the Day of the RS. “Citizens cannot be held accountable, because the Venice Commission said that Law on the Referendum is in accordance with the law and the Constitution,” Petkovic stressed.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Montenegro Elections 2016: Profile (BIRN, 11 October 2016)

Elections in Montenegro are scheduled for October 16, with 17 coalitions and parties fighting for positions in the 81-seat parliament. The 81-member parliament is elected for a four-year term from a single nationwide constituency under a proportional representation system. Candidate lists must pass a three per cent threshold of valid votes while special rules apply for parties and coalitions representing national minority communities. According to OSCE report, the State Election Commission received and registered 17 candidate lists by the September 20 deadline. To promote women’s participation, the lists are required to include at least 30 per cent female candidates. The electoral register is maintained by the Interior Ministry and the election commission has a supervisory role over the process. It is estimated that about 590,000 people have a right to vote. These elections are being conducted under a new EU-backed election laws. Key changes include new provisions on the allocation of mandates to minority lists, voter registration and voter identification on election day, candidate registration, including the representation of women in parliament, campaign financing, and the composition and competencies of the election administration. The outgoing parliament was elected on November 2012, following the victory of the coalition For a European Montenegro, led by the Democratic Party of Socialists and including the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Party (LP). To form a government, a party or coalition needs to have 41 seats in parliament.

 

Sarajevo exchange opens Balkans' first Islamic index (World Bulletin, 11 October 2016)

A stock index of firms compliant with the principles of Islamic Sharia law, in cooperation with Bosna Bank International was launched today

Sarajevo's stock exchange on Monday launched an Islamic index, a first for the Balkans region, officials said as investment by Gulf states in Bosnia grows. The SASX-BBI Index includes 25 Bosnian firms which respect Islamic teaching, director of the Sarajevo stock exchange, Tarik Kurbegovic, told reporters. The companies do not do business in sectors prohibited by Islam such as gambling, pornography, the alcohol trade, tobacco and pork meat. They also do not receive or pay interest. "This index is present not only in the Islamic world. All big global stock exchanges have had their Islamic indexes for a long time," Kurbegovic said. "But we are the first stock exchange in the region to have launched it." The index was set up in cooperation with the Sarajevo-based Bosnia Bank International (BBI), founded by Gulf countries. The bank plays an important role in attracting rich Arab investors in the former Yugoslav republic. "With this index we are putting the Sarajevo stock exchange and its companies on the map of global strategic investors," the bank's director Amer Bukvic said. Investment in Bosnia by Gulf countries will grow in a "significant way" during the next three to five years, he added. The goal of the Islamic index is to direct new investment towards the sectors of agriculture, tourism, metallurgic industry and energy. In the last few years, Gulf businessmen have invested significantly in tourist and residential real estate in Sarajevo and the surrounding region. The projects are mainly for clients from Gulf states. Some 40 percent of Bosnia's population of 3.8 million are Muslim, with the rest Roman Catholic ethnic Croats and Orthodox ethnic Serbs.