Belgrade DMH 041213

LOCAL PRESS

Dacic satisfied about results of local elections in Kosovo (Tanjug)

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic expressed his satisfaction about the results of the recent local elections in Kosovo-Metohija (KiM) on Tuesday.
“The (Citizens’ Initiative) Srpska list, which had the backing of the (Serbian) government, achieved good results, which shows that the people of Kosovo-Metohija have confidence in the Serbian government,” Dacic said.
He added that that which was planned under the Brussels agreement – to establish a legal, legitimate form of organization of Serb municipalities in Kosovo-Metohija for the first time – is now achieved.
“The Srpska list may even have won more mayoral seats than any other party in Kosovo that took part in the local elections,” Dacic said.
In the future, talks in the framework of the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina will focus on police, judiciary, drafting the statute for the community of Serb municipalities (ZSO), said Dacic.
Dacic said that now, the Serb municipalities should decide whether they want to join the community of Serb municipalities, in which every municipality will have their own representatives and will have to elect the ZSO chairperson and executive body and decide about their competences, the headquarters and other important matters.
Dacic said that it is logical for the headquarters to be in Kosovska Mitrovica.
The police and judiciary issues are still open, and “consultations are underway on the forms for the Serb courts,” Dacic said, adding that “new topics are emerging, such as the issues of ownership, tax and the Serbian Orthodox Church.”
He noted that the Kosovo parliamentary elections are taking place next year, which is “very important.”

Serbia has deserved start date for accession talks

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic expressed expectation in Jagodina on Tuesday evening that Serbia would get an exact date for EU entry talks.
"We do not even want to consider the possibility that the EU will not deliver the decision on the start of negotiations. Serbia has deserved the date. Any other decision would be absolutely unfair," Dacic told reporters at the assembly of the town of Jagodina after a meeting with businessmen from the Russian Federation.
Any other decision would mean that Serbia would be punished for all the good things that it has done, instead of being granted the start date for accession negotiations, the PM underscored.

Serbia "ready for accession talks," says negotiator (B92, Novosti)

Head of Serbia's team for the accession talks with the EU Tanja Miscevic said in Brussels on Tuesday Serbia was ready to enter the talks.

Serbia is not starting from zero, as it began harmonizing its legislation with EU standards a decade ago, long before the Stabilization and Association Agreement was signed, she noted.

The Serbian team coordinates all its activities related to the talks with representatives of the civil sector and business community, she said at a conference on EU enlargement in Brussels.
The event was organized by the non-governmental organization Friends of Europe, while EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule opened the conference. Miscevic stressed that Serbia had additional issues regarding its EU integration, pointing to Chapter 35 of the talks, which is related to the normalization of the relations between Belgrade and Pristina.
The accession talks and the dialogue on the normalization of the relations between Belgrade and Pristina should support each other, and not be a hindrance to one another, she stated.
Slovakia's Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Miroslav Lajcak commended Serbia on its efforts in EU integration and the normalization of the relations with Pristina.
"It is obvious there are countries that are in the fast lane on their road to the EU and those that are falling behind," he remarked, adding that Serbia, Montenegro and Albania were among those in the fast lane.
Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina should look up to Serbia, he said, explaining that no one could convince him that Macedonia's dispute with Greece about its name or the constitutional issues in Bosnia-Herzegovina were harder to solve than the normalization of the relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

Djilas: DS wants Serbia in EU (Tanjug)

Leader of the Democratic Party (DS), which is in the opposition, Dragan Djilas said in Brussels on Tuesday, after a meeting with EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fule, that the DS wanted the accession talks with the EU to start as soon as possible.
Serbia's integration into the EU is something the DS has advocated for 23 years now and the most important thing to the DS is not who takes the credit for it, Djilas told reporters.
He stressed he had told Fule the DS wanted to help with Serbia's reforms.
The two discussed the economic situation, according to the DS president, who added that Fule was surprised when he told him that Serbia's debt had grown by USD 5 billion in over a year.
He was a little taken by surprise, because the total amount of USD 20 billion does indeed seem scary, Djilas said.
President of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina Executive Council Bojan Pajtic, who was part of the DS delegation together with DS Vice President Natasa Vuckovic, informed Fule about the difficult situation with public broadcasters in Serbia and Vojvodina.
Media freedom is a requirement for a parliamentary democracy to work, so it is important to secure funding for public broadcasters, said Pajtic, who is also a vice president of the DS.
Vuckovic, who also chairs the Serbian parliament committee on EU integration, stated that she and Fule had discussed the parliament's role in the coming accession talks and agreed that the role was significant.

      Serbia's cooperation with ICTY is positive (Tanjug)

The UN Security Council will discuss the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Thursday, and the report on Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY will be positive, Tanjug has learned from the UN.
ICTY Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz visited Serbia in early November and met with officials of the government and prosecutor's office, which was followed by a statement that Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY was at a high level and free of any issues.
Brammertz met with Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic to discuss transfer of documents and access to government archives and witnesses. They commented that everything was going smoothly and that there were no standing issues.
Brammertz said that the regional cooperation related to war crimes investigations should continue, while Dacic reiterated Serbia's request for those convicted by the ICTY to serve out their sentences in the countries of the region.
During his stay in Belgrade, Brammertz met also with head of the national council for cooperation with the ICTY Rasim Ljajic and Defence Minister Nebojsa Rodic.
The ICTY chief prosecutor presents his report on the work of the ICTY to the UN Security Council twice a year.

"Countries informed" about anti-Serb incidents in Croatia (B92)

Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkic has confirmed that Serbia "informed the countries where it has diplomatic missions" about the anti-Serb incidents in Croatia.

He also stressed that Serbia was "doing everything to help its people in that country."

"After a series of not only incidents, but very ugly events in Croatia, we have created a register of all that, which is not something the perpetrators should be proud of," Mrkic was quoted as saying.
He then explained that the register was "transformed into a list, a document of sorts, that was sent to virtually every country where we have diplomatic missions, and to those where we are present on non-residential basis, so that all governments of the world can learn about our position, and these events."
According to Mrkic, this was "met with an abundance of reactions and of course no one could agree with such behavior."
Mrkic added that Serbia was in constant contact with the Croatian government, which, he said, "was itself trying not to profile itself abroad with such events, particularly those fully reminiscent of the (WW2 Croatian fascist) Ustasha era, and the worst time in relations between the two nations."
"We are doing everything in our power to help our people, but we do it in a way that we believe will be effective, not cheaply popular," the foreign minister was cited.
The Croatian news agency Hina previously reported that Serbia a few days ago sent a non-paper to foreign countries, listing the recent incidents targeting Serbs. They range from removal of bilingual signs on public buildings written in Serbian Cyrillic, an attack on a Serbian consulate, and a football game incident involving a member of the Croatian national team who used a fascist greeting.
The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said that the incidents were "an isolated phenomenon, not the rule," adding that the authorities respect the Constitutional Law on National Minorities.

REGIONAL PRESS

Dodik: Never against the policy of official Belgrade (Nezavisne novine, Srna)

The President of the Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik said that Serbia is guarantor for the survival and future of Srpska, and that Srpska would never go against the official policy of Belgrade.
"Serbia is for all of us, but we are aware that it needs to look at its economic and political interests.  Of course, we are trying to help Serbia when we can, but our options are limited. We fiercely defend the interests of Serbia wherever we can, because they are ours. We did the same in the case of Kosovo, by not allowing the central government in Sarajevo to recognize its independence, "Dodik said.
The President of the Republika Srpska said for "Pres Republika Srpska" he has nothing against that Belgrade and Sarajevo have close cooperation, because it is inevitable in the region, noting that Serbia assumed that obligation under the accession to the EU.
"We would not have accepted close relations if they would be damaging the status of the Republika Srpska, but that will never happen, I believe" Dodik said.
He stressed that the relationship with the Serbian leadership is friendly, brotherly and unconditional.
When asked what if Serbia is conditioned from Brussels to, on its path to EU, sacrifice status of Republika Srpska, Dodik said that Serbia is a guarantor of the Dayton Agreement in Brussels and that something like that cannot come from Serbia.
"We will sovereignly decide on our issues here. What Germany thinks and wants is for respect, because it is a great power, but if it does not comply with the Dayton Agreement and relationships here and if there is conditions for some concessions not provided by the Constitution of BiH, it will not go" Dodik said.
He reminded that different concessions in terms of the status of the Republika Srpska were requested by some larger countries than Germany, and they did not get them, so Germany won’t get them either.
"We want to build Bosnia on the Dayton agreement, but the problem is that many are building BiH by destroying the Dayton agreement and they ask us to applaud to that. Of course we will not applaud. I am confident that the leadership of Serbia won’t do it and that it does not have an intention of transferring those various pressures to the Republika Srpska" Dodik said.
The President of the Serb Republic said that he is in excellent relations with the President of the SNS and the first Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, who has great understanding for solving the problem, because he has a real emotion towards the Republika Srpska.
"Of course, I have a good cooperation with the President of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolic and Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, but also with the opposition leaders, because it is important for the future of the Republika Srpska. It is also very important for us that they all have a unique position that the Republika Srpska is a guarantee of protection of Serbian national interests in BiH",  Milorad Dodik stressed.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

EU satisfies over second round of polls in Kosovo (KUNA, 3 Dec. 2013)

BRUSSELS- EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton Tuesday expressed her happiness with the smooth second round of voting at the municipal elections in Kosovo on Sunday and congratulated the voters for their participation.
"These elections are crucial for Kosovo's future and for the process of normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia," she said in a statement.
Ashton announced that she will be meeting Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic together with his Kosovar counterpart Hashim Thaci in Brussels on Thursday for a new round of the dialogue.
"We will discuss how to take forward the remaining implementation issues of the April Agreement," she added.
The two prime ministers last April signed an agreement under Ashtons mediation to normalize relations between Kosovo and Serbia. 

Tax Rises in Serbia's 2014 Budget Defended (BIRN, 4 Dec. 2013)

Ahead of a vote by MPs on the 2014 budget, Serbia's Finance Minister says the planned VAT hike and other reforms will help the country avoid a Greek-style financial meltdown.

Ahead of a parliamentary vote on the budget for 2014, Serbian Finance Minister Lazar Krstic said the proposed measures were “the only way to save Serbia from an unwanted scenario”.

Besides adopting the budget, parliament is due to adopt 11 new financial laws.

“The laws will create a better environment for business, and the new labour law will benefit both employers and employees,” Krstic told parliament in Belgrade.

As of January 2014, the government plans to increase VAT from 8 to 10 per cent in order to fill holes in state coffers. The opposition has criticsed the move, however, saying it will hit the poorest parts of society hardest.

“The increase of VAT will affect the purchasing power of ordinary people, while leaving out state aid for agriculture will further destabilise our economy,” Bozidar Djelic, from the opposition Democratic Party, said.

Djelic also criticised the envisaged deficit of the budget, which is around 7 per cent of GDP, saying it was far too high.

“This deficit is among the highest in the world, and can be usually found only in war-torn countries,” Djelic maintained.

The planned deficit has also been criticised by economists, who say Serbia’s deficit is now the highest in the Balkan region.

The government adopted the budget last month, while it is expected that parliament will adopt it by a deadline of December 15.

Bosnia’s Unfinished Business (New York Times, 3 Dec. 2013)

Regarding “Bosnia, in peril once more”: Kati Marton draws welcome attention to Bosnia’s perilous trajectory and the role American disengagement has played in allowing it. The lack of U.S. State Department follow-through after Vice President Joseph Biden’s 2009 warning of a return to “ethnic chaos” owes to European insistence that its enlargement strategy would suffice to impel forward movement by Bosnia’s kleptocratic ruling class — warlords, as Ms. Marton rightly calls them. The European Union cannot offer them a better deal than the one they have now: the power to rob their citizens and remain unaccountable.

There is ample reason to believe that given a different international approach, Bosnia’s citizens would choose a different path that would ultimately lead to E.U. and NATO membership. But the Dayton Accords lock in this oligarchical arrangement, as does American and European Union insistence that the only progress possible is that which this ruling elite arrives at on its own. The collective posture of the West can be a crucial catalyst, changing the incentives under which they operate.

U.S. leadership is a vital missing ingredient. But so is the position of Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s firm response to a challenge in Kosovo in 2011 shaped the environment to allow the progress seen between Kosovo and Serbia in the past year. Only Washington can approach Berlin to lead the West out of an impending collective humiliation in Bosnia. Doing so would require a simple declaration that the international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina and the U.N. Security Council-mandated peacekeeping force in Bosnia (Eufor) — both required by Dayton — will remain until the constitutional order is radically changed to allow citizens, not party elites, to control the destiny of the country.

Until then, the declaration should also say, the High Representative post will be assumed by an American, Eufor will be reinforced to respond to potential threats and international funds will be withheld. President Obama, Mr. Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry must urgently make this request.

Kurt Bassuener, Sarajevo

The writer is co-founder and senior associate of the Democratization Policy Council.

Ms. Marton has alerted us to the real danger that Bosnia may revert to chaos. But to address the major underlying problems of postwar Bosnia we must first understand their causes. The chief cause is the dysfunctional state created by the Dayton Accords, which has allowed the nationalists to set the agenda. While Dayton ended violent ethnic cleansing, it tragically legitimatized its results: Witness the inclusion of Srebrenica within the borders of Republika Srpska.

I agree with Ms. Marton that no treaty can serve as a nation’s permanent constitution. It is time that the European Union and the United States scrapped Dayton and helped the people of Bosnia create a functional state with a workable constitution that will heal the wounds of the war rather than deepen its scars.

D. Jeffrey Manners Overijse, Belgium

While it is true that the Dayton agreement stopped the war, it did not, as Ms. Marton says, give “birth to a new country,” quite simply because that country had already existed since 1991, following a popular referendum. More importantly, as the author fails to highlight, the Dayton agreement did not produce viable institutions, capable of promoting progress through compromise. Rather, it favored brinkmanship and corruption among political leaders, who could thrive on separatist and nationalist rhetoric to perpetuate their grip on power. Furthermore, Ms. Marton correctly points out that Dayton has been “neither implemented nor updated.” One reason for this, however, is that Richard Holbrooke’s team at the time did not include a review mechanism in the agreement.

As a recipe for improving the situation in Bosnia, Ms. Marton advocates a more muscular U.S. diplomatic role. Washington, according to her analysis, has been disengaging and this has “emboldened nationalists.” She also contends that the European Union has been ineffective in stopping a dangerous “slide” toward another conflict, which could break out any moment, when the “next Milosevic lights the fuse.”

This reflects some misperceptions. First, there is no sign of U.S. disengagement — the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo is one of the largest in Europe — though one hopes that the American strategy amounts to something more sophisticated than “Pull your socks up!” Second, it is hard to believe that a more brawny international role would solve Bosnia’s problems. It is precisely the excess of international interventionism that created a society and political class highly dependent on foreign support. More important, the risk of another Slobodan Milosevic appearing on the Balkan scene is fortunately very slim, if nonexistent. And this is very much thanks to the E.U. enlargement process, which has stabilized the countries of the western Balkans, including Serbia, now a candidate to join the Union.

Finally, Ms. Marton’s portrait of Sarajevo is as superficial as her views about Bosnian politics. Sarajevo has neither a “fine opera house” (only an old national theater) nor “one of the world’s richest libraries.” In fact, during the last conflict the historic library went up in flames, together with most of its precious content, and is still being restored, thanks to money from the European Union.

Andrea Cellino, Sarajevo

To suggest that Bosnia and Herzegovina is sliding back into a state of civil war misreads the contemporary context. Political dinosaurs many of them may be, but Bosnia’s politicians, without support from Belgrade, and Zagreb in the case of Croat nationalism, can only go so far.

Croatia is now a member of the European Union, and Serbia desperately aspires to be a member. Neither will allow Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska, the Bosnian Serb entity, or his Bosnian Croat counterpart, to interfere with their national priorities.

Moreover, Bosnia and Herzegovina now has a unified army — polls suggest it is one of the country’s most respected institutions — committed to maintaining the territorial integrity of the country.

Rather than the E.U. incompetence Ms. Marton suggests, Europe is probably betting that gradual generational change, helped by a growing public impatience with Mr. Dodik’s stewardship of the economy and public purse, will allow an evolution toward Bosnia and Herzegovina’s eventual association with Europe, much as is happening in other parts of the former Yugoslavia.

Clearly, a forceful effort by the international community, led by the United States, to replace Dayton with new constitutional arrangements could certainly help. Unfortunately this has been tried before and failed, suggesting that perhaps slow but steady may be the way to go after all.

Joseph Ingram, Ottawa

The writer was formerly president and C.E.O. of The North-South Institute, the World Bank’s special representative to the United Nations and the W.T.O., and director of the World Bank office in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

EU Says Progress Achieved At Marathon Bosnia Talks (RFE/RL's Balkan Service, 4 Dec 2013)

PRAGUE -- EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele says "some positive progress" has been achieved at marathon talks with Bosnian leaders to remove a key obstacle to the country's EU integration.
The 16-hour talks in Prague, which ended in the early hours of December 3, were aimed at reaching an agreement on changes to the electoral system of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The changes are necessary for the implementation of a 2009 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights in a case filed by Dervo Sejdic, a Romany activist, and Jacob Finci, who is Jewish.
The changes must guarantee the right of all citizens, regardless of ethnicity, to be elected to all electoral positions, including the collective presidency.
Under the Bosnian Constitution, negotiated as part of the Dayton peace accords that ended the 1992-95 war, certain electoral positions can be held only by representatives of the constituent nations of Croats, Bosniak Muslims, and Serbs.
Failure to implement the court's "Sejdic-Finci" ruling has held back Bosnia's efforts to apply for EU membership.
Fuele, at a briefing early on December 3, said the leaders had achieved some progress on the issue of selecting representatives to the House of Peoples, the 15-member chamber of the Parliamentary Assembly equally divided between Croats, Bosniaks, and Serbs, as well as on elections to the tripartite collective presidency.
But he cautioned: "Now, it is necessary that the political leaders remain committed and continue their efforts to find the solution on the last remaining element for the election of the members of the presidency. Only then Bosnia-Herzegovina can start to move again on its European path."
Bakir Izetbegovic, the Bosniak Muslim member of the presidency, appeared confident a final deal would be struck.
"I think we've made a good deal for the election of the House of Peoples and almost entirely for the election of the Bosnian presidency. We could have completed the whole deal," Izetbegovic said.
"However, we were consumed by fatigue. Hence, the negotiations will most probably continue in Sarajevo. In a few days, we'll strike a deal and then we'll go to Brussels to sign it."
Several of the political leaders who participated in the talks did not take part in the news conference.
Milorad Dodik, the president of the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, left the talks early, saying the meeting was nothing more than posturing.
The talks are expected to continue at the expert level later this week in Sarajevo.

Bosnian police sentenced for war crimes in Serbia (World Bulletin, 3 Dec. 2013)

A court in Belgrade sentences Ilija Jurisic, an ex-police officer from Tuzla, central Bosnia, to 12 years in prison for war crimes committed in 1992.

A Belgrade court has sentenced a former Bosnian police officer to 12 years in prison for ordering his units to attack former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) troops, an attack that resulted in the deaths of 51 soldiers in 1992.

The verdict found that Jurisic, who was member of the police in Tuzla at the beginning of the war, ordered his units to attack a column of soldiers of the JNA on May 15, 1992. The column were withdrawing from the city when the attack occurred.

Judges concluded that there was an agreement between the JNA and Bosnian representatives on a peaceful withdrawal of the army from the barracks in Tuzla. However, the court concluded that the Bosnian side broke the deal and opened fire on JNA soldiers.

The prosecution asked for 15 years in prison and the defense team announced its decision to appeal.

Jurisic pleaded not guilty, saying that he was not in charge of any unit on the day of attack.

This is the second time this court pronounced the first instance verdict in this case. The first pronouncement gave 12 years and was quashed in 2010 by the appellate chamber, and a re-trial was scheduled.

Ilija Jurisic was arrested at Belgrade Airport in 2007 in adherence with an international warrant issued by Serbia.

After the first sentence was quashed, Jurisic was allowed to defend himself. 

Hague Tribunal President faces protest in Bosnia (Netherlands Times, 3 Dec. 2013)

Last week in Bosnia, Judge Theodor Meron, president of the Hague tribunal, was met by a silent protest by activists and survivors of the war of the early 1990s, Institute for War & Peace Reporting said Monday.

On November 27, Judge Meron was speaking at an event in the capital Sarajevo to mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The two-day conference was attended by officials and transitional justice experts and covered the tribunal’s role and legacy in the former Yugoslav states.

When Judge Meron started his speech, representatives of victims’ associations turned their back on him. Another group held up a sign with the words “R.I.P. Justice” before walking out of the hall.

The protests are unhappy with tribunal rulings in recent months.  The tribunal freed three individuals involved in the Bosnian conflict, and in March, the head of the Yugoslav army, Momcilo Perisic, was acquitted on appeal. Then in May, Jovica Stanisic, the wartime intelligence chief in Serbia, and his subordinate Franko Simatovic were acquitted of all charges at the end of their trial.

Judge Meron agreed that not everyone was happy with the work of the ICTY. “Some people claim that the tribunal has failed to fulfill the victims’ need for justice, some claim that our verdicts are controversial, while others still ask what our contribution to reconciliation and history is,” Judge Meron said.

Despite this, Judge Meron believes the tribunal had “exceeded expectations”.

 

Deripaska's En+ affiliate seeks EUR 100 mln from Montenegro (RAPSI, 4 Dec. 2013)

MOSCOW- Cyprus-based Central European Aluminum Company (CEAC), a subsidiary of En+ owned by Russian oligarch's Oleg Deripaska, and one of the major shareholders and creditors of Aluminium Plant Podgorica (KAP) has filed EUR 100 million lawsuit against the government of Montenegro and a number of state funds, CEAC says in a statement.

CEAC is likely to increase its claim amount.

The claim was filed after Montenegro breached conditions of an amicable agreement on Kombinat aluminijuma Podgorica (KAP) that was signed by CEAC and Montenegro in 2010, which resulted in the bankruptcy of KAP. The commercial trial will be held in Vienna and will be the second arbitration initiated by CEAC against Montenegro. The first trial regarding the international agreement between Montenegro and Cyprus on the protection of rights of foreign investors started last August, with the main hearings to begin next February.

Currently, Montenegro has initiated bankruptcy proceedings over KAP, which resulted in CEAC losing business in Montenegro without receiving any compensation.

“During the sale procedure, the government provided an inaccurate financial statement. As a result, CEAC was deprived of the opportunity to build energy capacities for KAP without proper reason,” Matias Menke representing CEAC in court says. However, CEAC remains open to resolving the issues out of court.

CEAC is a majority stakeholder in KAP, a bauxite mine in Montenegro. KAP's debt to CEAC and En+ is over 90 million euros.

Macedonia’s Small Parties Demand Election Reform (BIRN, By Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 4 Dec. 2013)

Several smaller parties are calling for the formation of a single nationwide electoral district, instead of six, as now, as it would boost their chances of winning some seats in parliament.

The initiative to scrap the six existing electoral districts comes from former Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski who is now part of the new Alliance for Positive Macedonia.
“An electoral model with six electoral districts stimulates the bi-party system,” Buckovski said.
He says the current model unjustly disperses the votes for smaller parties, forcing them to join one of the two main political blocs if they wish to enter parliament.
“If Macedonia became one electoral district, smaller parties now aligned with the ruling VMRO DPMNE, or with the opposition Social Democrats, could run alone in elections,” he said.
“A ruling majority comprising more than two parties would also mean greater political tolerance, would stimulate dialogue, and impose the need for compromise,” he added.
The proposition comes amid a debate in parliament on reforms to electoral legislation that are being carried out ahead of March presidential elections, which some predict will lead into early general elections.
Macedonia has a so-called proportional model of representation. This means that the number of seats that each party wins is proportional to the number of votes it receives.
For election purposes, the country is divided into six electoral districts, each having roughly the same number of registered voters. Each district sends 20 legislators to the 123-seat parliament. Macedonians living abroad elect three more legislators.
The parties run lists of 20 candidates in each district and the top places on the lists are traditionally reserved for prominent party members. The higher a candidate is placed on a party list, the more chance he or she has of entering parliament.
But, this makes it very hard for the smaller parties to compete against the two big blocs. In practice, only the big blocs cross the threshold so that their votes translate into seats.
The votes of the smaller parties end up dispersed among the six districts and often go to waste as they do not manage to result in the election of any representatives in parliament.
"Let’s say that in the first district you win the majority of votes but in the second district you win fewer votes. Those votes now go to waste,” noted the former mayor of Skopje, Risto Penov, from the small opposition Liberal Democrats, who also favour the proposed reform.
VMRO DPMNE and the Social Democrats have not said whether they would support the proposed change.
Observers believe the big political players are simply not interested.
“Past experience has shown that with the current six districts the only option for smaller parties is to join a big political bloc,” Skopje University law professor Tanja Karakamiseva told the media.
She argues that, at the moment, this reform is not a priority.
“Macedonia needs stabilization and consolidation [in politics], not further fragmentation into smaller centres of power, which would happen if we introduced one electoral district,” she said.
At the last general elections in July 2011, not one of the smallers party that ran alone managed to enter parliament.
The coalition led by VMRO DPMNE won 46 per cent of the seats and the opposition bloc won 34 per cent. The remaining 20 per cent went to the three ethnic Albanian parties.

Croatian Anti-Cyrillic Campaigners Eye Referendum (BIRN, By Josip Ivanaovic, 3 Dec. 2013)

Campaigners in Vukovar opposed to public use of Serbian Cyrillic script say they have gathered enough signatures to call a referendum on the issue.

Ivan Gavric, of the "Committee for Defence of Croatian Vukovar", said they had collected enough signatures to call a referendum on changing minority rights law regarding official bilingualism in areas with large ethnic minorities.

Although the results of the two-week drive to collect names are not yet official, Vlado Iljkic, another member of the Committee, said they had already gathered “perhaps even 10 per cent” more signatures than they needed.

Croatian law states that if 10 per cent of registered voters sign such a petition, organisers have a right to call a referendum.

The drive to call a referendum on use of Serbian Cyrillic was launched on November 17 by war veterans angered at the installation of new bilingual signs in Latin and Cyrillic in the town of Vukovar, which was the scene of fierce fighting between Serbs and Croats during Croatia's independence war in the 1990s.

After a gruelling siege, the Serb-led Yugoslav Army took the border town on November 17 1991, expelled the remaining Croats and executed hundreds of men they found incapacitated in the hospital.

Vukovar was eventually returned to Croatian control, after which many Croats returned, but a third of the population remains Serbian, entitling the community to bilingual signs.

The Committee proposes that minority language rights should apply only where at least half of population is from an ethnic minority, instead of a third, as under current legislation.

After the authorities started installing the controversial bilingual signs in Vukovar in September, many were immediately torn down by angry veterans of the campaign to defend the town in 1991.

Gavric insisted that his Committee has no intention to discriminate against anybody but to “synchronize Croatian law with that of progressive, Western EU member-states”.

However, the centre-left government of Zoran Milanovic is alarmed. Embarrassed by the success last Sunday of a referendum against gay marriage, which he opposed, he has condemned the anti-Cyrillic initiative and vowed that the referendum won’t be held.

Independent MP Furio Radin, president of the Committee on Human and National Minority Rights, said the government has already prepared a set of changes that will forbid any such initiatives whose aim is to curb reduction minority and basic human rights.