LOCAL PRESS

 

Rakic: Pristina refusing to verify statutes of north municipalities (Beta)

Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Goran Rakic has stated that Pristina has been refusing for four months to verify the statutes of the municipalities in northern Kosovo and Metohija, thus causing instability and bringing into question everything that has been agreed and accomplished so far in normalizing the life in the province. We have lot of reasons to conclude that Pristina is obstructing the dialogue with Belgrade, and will later try to blame Belgrade for that obstruction, as it was the hitherto practice, Rakic’s cabinet stated. It also seems evident that the whole thing is meant to make the new local elections in northern Kosovo unavoidable, reads the statement. In that regard, the municipal authorities have pointed that the Serbs in the north have no problem with the potential new elections, being sure that they will achieve even better results than in the recent previous ones.

 

Jablanovic: Serbs could become second strongest force in Kosovo Assembly (Tanjug)

Leposavic Mayor Dragan Jablanovic has stated that the Serbs, after the parliamentary elections on 8 June, cold become the second force in the Kosovo Assembly and become the masters of their own destiny. Serbs in northern Kosovo and Metohija will take part in the early parliamentary elections in the province unless Pristina sets last-minute “special conditions” that are impossible to meet, Jablanovic said in an interview with Tanjug. Jablanovic said that it is important for Serbs to vote in the elections because it could make them a major political force in the Kosovo Assembly, allowing them to become the masters of their own destiny. He said that he expects the Serbian government to take a clear position on Serb turnout in the Kosovo parliamentary elections. “Our state is in Belgrade, we have been given assurances that Serbia will not abandon us, and I am certain that it will not,” Jablanovic said. Having a single Serb electoral list would be the best, he said, adding that the list around Serbian Civic Initiative is open to all parties. Jablanovic, who is also member of the Management Team for the formation of the Union of Serb Municipalities, says that the statute of the Union has been ready a long time ago but that the Pristina authorities are the biggest problem since they have not adopted the legislative amendments required to make its formation possible pursuant to the Brussels agreement on normalizing relations with Belgrade. The Pristina authorities are purposefully dragging their feet on the formation of the Union, which they believe could decrease voter support, Jablanovic said, expressing hope that the Union will be established immediately after the elections. He said that the Union of Serb Municipalities should include all 10 Serb-majority municipalities and that it will have all the powers of a region or a province, but no political powers. “We will request for a municipality of Gora to be formed as well. We have the possibility, in line with Ahtisaari’s plan, to request the formation of another municipality with a Serb majority from Priluzje, parts of Kosovo Polje and Vucitrn, and this will be one of the main tasks of the Union of Serb Municipalities,” Jablanovic said.

 

Office for Kosovo and Metohija condemns seizure of medicines (Radio Serbia)

The Office for Kosovo and Metohija has condemned Pristina for seizing medicines intended for the health center in Kosovska Mitrovica and requested that the truck with medicines heads immediately towards this center. It is more than clear that at issue is the self-will of the Pristina authorities aimed at preventing treatment of patients of Serb nationality and threatens to cause a humanitarian catastrophe, considering that these are medicines necessary for transfusion and blood analysis, reads the statement by the Office. The Office requests the international community to urgently react so the medicines can reach the patients, and to enable smooth supply of all health centers in Kosovo and Metohija.

 

German soldiers to remain in Kosovo (RTS)

The German government passed the decision on extending the mandate of Bundeswehr within KFOR in Kosovo, while the final decision and “green light” will be passed by the German parliament within several weeks. Bundeswehr, which has 700 soldiers within KFOR, has been present in Kosovo for 15 years, and it is the longest German military mission abroad.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Vucic meets with Sarajevo Serbs (Srna) 

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic last night said that he was surprised by the level of hate he encountered in Sarajevo yesterday from some people and some of the media.

At a meeting with Serbs living in Sarajevo in the building of the Metropolitan of Dabar-Bosnia, Vucic said that he told Bosniak representatives that some of the media and some people in this city are still stuck in the war-time 1990s. In talks with Serbs, who informed him of the problems and difficulties they are facing, Vucic said that Serbia will always help Serbs outside its borders and take care of them. According to him, as Serbia strengthens politically and economically, and its reputation in the world increases, it will be easier for it to help its people outside its borders. Serb representatives informed Vucic that of the pre-war 160,000 or so Serbs who lived in the City of Sarajevo, there remain less than 10,000, which will be confirmed by the population census conducted last year. They told Vucic that Serbs in Sarajevo, from the demographic point of view, are reduced to a negligible number, that there are almost no Serbian children in the city, and that mostly elderly people stayed to live here. A similar situation, they said, prevails throughout the FB&H, where of the pre-war 600,000 or so Serbs, less than 50,000 remain. At the same time, there were 600,000 or so Bosniaks in the Republika Srpska before the war, and it is estimated that there are 200,000 or so now.  They said that the Serbs used to be a crucial factor in Sarajevo in every regard – scientific, cultural, political, developmental, demographic – but are now reduced to “a statistical error.” They said that there is no single magazine in Sarajevo in Serbian and Cyrillic, and that they fear that their churches in a few years may be reduced to monuments. There was also word at the meeting about the education of Serbs in Sarajevo and the restitution of Serbian property, primarily that of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Sarajevo Serbs told Vucic that they need political support, political protective mechanisms which will enable their presence in politics, economy and every other field.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Serbia pledges support for single Bosnia amid secessionist rhetoric (Reuters, by Daria Sito-Sucic, 13 May 2014)

SARAJEVO - Serbia's new prime minister, Aleksandar Vucic, pledged support for neighboring Bosnia's integrity on Tuesday, making clear Belgrade would not encourage calls by Bosnian Serbs for a Crimean-style secession of their half of the country.

Vucic, a former ultra-nationalist who has converted to the pro-EU cause, was sworn in as prime minister on April 27. He has announced deep economic reforms and a drive to get Serbia into the European Union after his Progressive Party scored a landslide victory in a March election.

Sarajevo was chosen as his first stop abroad to show Belgrade's shift from its nationalist rhetoric of the 1990s, when Serbia supported its ethnic kin against the Muslim Bosniaks and Croats during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.

The U.S.-sponsored Dayton peace accords ended the conflict, splitting the country into two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic - or Republika Srpska - and the Federation, dominated by Bosniaks and Croats.

"I came to visit Sarajevo and Bosnia as a friend ... representing a country that respects Bosnia's territorial integrity, which respects Republika Srpska, the Dayton agreement, all the people who live here," Vucic told a news conference.

In the Serb Republic, however, President Milorad Dodik has been calling for the country's secession. Neither region has the right to break away under the Dayton treaty, but Dodik has intensified his threats about an independence referendum, after Crimea seceded from Ukraine in a referendum and joined Russia.

Most analysts say his rhetoric is intended primarily to mobilize voters before a general election in October.

Serbia, which fomented the wars in the former Yugoslavia, has swung behind the goal of EU membership since the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. It does not want to be seen as encouraging Bosnia's breakup.

"Nobody can destroy either Bosnia-Herzegovina or Republika Srpska," Vucic said. "The stability of the whole region is important for us."

Bosnia's Prime Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda, a Croat, said that meeting confirmed good relations between the two neighbors. "Our common assessment is that we need to look forward and close the divides of the past," he said.

Bosnian Serbs have resisted any reforms at the central level, which they see as infringing on their autonomy. That has slowed progress towards the European Union and NATO, which two other former Yugoslav republics, Croatia and Slovenia, have already joined.

(Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Zoran Radosavljevic and Larry King)

 

Serbia pleads with Europe to respect its ties to Russia (World Socialist Website, by Ognjen Markovic and Paul Mitchell, 14 May 2014)

Following the parliamentary elections held on March 16, a new grand coalition government was eventually agreed in Serbia on April 27. It was immediately confronted by the fallout from the crisis in Ukraine.

Serbia, like Ukraine, is being forced to choose between a European Union (EU) partnership agreement and a deal with Russia. When the Ukrainian government decided to go with Russia, it was toppled by a US-EU backed coup d’état using fascist provocateurs.

Faced with this crisis, top Serbian government officials pleaded last week with the EU to allow the country to continue on its path to EU integration while maintaining its historical and economic links to Russia.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic declared, “Serbia has its own path… [which] means Serbia does not wish to pick one side and thereby endanger its relations with the other. Serbia does not divide the world into just two powers or just two blocs. The world is big and diverse and Serbia has friends everywhere. Let the big ones argue, we have to develop.”

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic told a Council of Europe ministerial meeting in Vienna on Tuesday last week that his government could not join the US-EU-imposed sanctions on Russia, explaining, “We are trying to have a balanced position. The prime minister [Aleksandar Vucic] and I explained that to [the EU’s foreign policy chief] Catherine Ashton…Such balance is in our national interest.”

Vucic said that he had asked EU Commissioner for Enlargement Stefan Füle, who had flown into Belgrade to deliberate on Serbia’s decision, declaring, “We support the territorial integrity of every member state of the United Nations, and of Ukraine of course, but for many reasons—historical, traditional and others—I beg that Serbia maintains its different stance compared to other countries and not impose sanctions on Russia”.

Füle refused to comment on reports that the EU was putting pressure on Serbia behind the scenes, saying, “We were discussing this issue like many others. Serbia is a sovereign country and we respect her decision.”

He insisted Serbia’s path to EU integration depended on three main priorities—economic reform, the fight against corruption and normalisation of relations with Kosovo, which Belgrade refuses to recognise and still regards as one of its provinces.

Ashton’s spokesperson, Maja Kocijancic, was more forthright, telling reporters that, “as a rule, the EU always invites third countries to align themselves with our positions, in particular regarding sanctions.

“This is very valid for candidate countries and potential candidates who have committed themselves through their association agreements to increasing convergence with the EU on foreign policy issues. Their progress toward the EU is assessed also in that context.”

Russia responded to the West’s increased pressure on Serbia by sending Russian Duma Chairman Sergey Naryshkin, who is also on the list of people sanctioned by the EU, to Belgrade. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is also expected to visit the country soon.

During his visit, Naryshkin expressed President Putin’s gratitude to Serbia for refusing to back anti-Russian sanctions and agreeing to elevate the relationship between the two countries to a “strategic level”. He presented President Nikolic with copies of letters written by Russian Tsar Nicholas II and King Aleksandar of Yugoslavia, which show the two countries and their armies promising mutual support in the event of war. In return, Nikolic presented Naryshkin with World War I and II documentary films.

During his visit, Naryshkin opened a conference at Belgrade University on the “lessons of world wars”, celebrated the May 9 joint holiday of “victory over fascism” and placed a wreath at a memorial dedicated to the victims of NATO’s 1999 bombardment of Serbia.

Nikolic thanked Naryshkin, saying Russia “understands correctly Serbia’s position on the crisis in Ukraine” and had supported it over the issue of the independence of Kosovo. He said that Serbia wanted to step up construction work on the South Stream gas pipeline from Russia in order to ensure its energy security and develop the Serbian economy.

Naryshkin replied, “South Stream will be built, I have no doubt about it. The laying of pipes in Serbia will start this year and everything is ready for it. As early as 2016, Serbia will begin to receive significant revenues to its budget.” He added that the countries participating in the project were coming under pressure “from our American partners [who] care about their own geopolitical and economic interests.”

Last week, National Bank of Serbia governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic revealed that the country was suffering economically from the Ukraine crisis and having problems with making payments in US dollars. “We are taking a risk if the destination [of payments] is Russia with which we have well-developed relations and is one of our most important foreign trade partners, alongside Germany and Italy,” he said.

Finance Minister Lazar Krstic stated that the country was in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on a three-year precautionary loan deal that was up to twice its IMF quota—around $1.5 billion. The country has a fiscal deficit of over 7 percent of GDP, public debt standing at €20 billion, which is 62.3 percent of GDP, and experienced a slump in foreign direct investment—just €606 million in the first nine months of 2013, way below the €2 billion expected by the government for the whole year.

Vucic outlined the general course his administration will take in a recent column in the Financial Times, “Serbia is poised for a new future.” Acknowledging that, “There will be tough decisions along the way,” he promised to financial circles, “This Government is under no illusions about the scale of the task facing us, but we will not lose sight of our goals.”

These included “balancing the state budget and putting Serbia’s irresponsible fiscal legacy behind it. The proposals have already won the support of the IMF and the global financial community and we will ensure they are realised... No fewer than 21 changes to the law are already underway to improve the conditions for economic investment. Our reforms will include a new, more flexible labour law... We will have to curb our more generous public-sector salaries... [and] are also in the middle of a significant national privatisation process...”

“Serbia will be well and truly ‘open for business’ over the next four years,” Vucic wrote.

Some of the measures announced so far are a 10 percent cut in public-sector wages and termination of subsidies for 153 state-run firms, which collectively employ some 60,000 workers. Over the next two years the government will “most likely” sell its stake in companies such as Telekom Srbija and the power utility Elektroprivreda Srbije.

The political elite is aware this agenda is deeply unpopular and will provoke mass opposition. That is why all political parties have entered a conspiracy against the population. Even though Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS)-led alliance won 158 of the 250 seats in the National Assembly and were perfectly capable of forming a government on its own, it chose instead to form another coalition with Dacic’s second-placed Socialist Party-led alliance, which has 44 seats, and a minority party representing Hungarians in Vojvodina (six seats).

Vucic can also count on the unions to disarm the working class and help impose austerity measures. President of the United Branch Unions “Independence” (UGS Nezavisnost) Branislav Canak said that the unions will be “partners” with the new government, agreeing that “public-sector layoffs have to be made,” calling only for them to be “gradual” and that a “minimum wage must be provided [to the dismissed workers] so they can survive.”

Speaking about the 153 state-run subsidised firms soon to be “restructured,” Canak said, “Unfortunately, we cannot save a single one of them.”

 

Palestinian Leader Expected to Visit Serbia (BIRN, 14 May 2014)

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic has discussed a visit by Mahmoud Abbas to Serbia with the Palestinian ambassador to Belgrade, marking a shift from the previous, Democrat-led government's emphasis on ties with Israel.

Nikolic met with Mohammed Nabhan, the ambassador of Palestine in Belgrade, and discussed the forthcoming visit of the President of Palestine to Serbia and the strengthening of economic cooperation.

The date of the Abbas visit has yet to be set. According to the Serbian President's office, Nikolic said that relations with Palestine are "on an upward trend in all segments".

The Palestinian ambassador said the "similarity of the fate and mentality [of the two peoples] represents a quality that should be cherished".

Nikolic and Nabhan agreed that cooperation should be improved, particularly in the fields of commerce and investment.

"We are attempting to bring investors from some wealthy Arab countries, which abound in oil, to Serbia," Nabhan said.

The ambassador added that investors from Palestine are especially interested in the pharmaceutical and processing industries in Serbia.

Belgrade has nurtured good relations with Palestine ever since the days of communist Yugoslavia whose leader Josip Broz Tito was strong supporter of Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO.

Yugoslavia recognized the State of Palestine in 1988 but it also re-established relations with Israel in 1991, and ever since then Serbia has balanced the two.

However, after Kosovo declared independence in 2008, under the Democratic Party-led government of 2008 to 2012, Serbia drew closer to Israel.

Israel was then seen as the closer partner as it strongly opposed Kosovo's declaration of independence.

Serbia still opposes Kosovo's independence, but the issue has lost some of its potency since Serbia and Kosovo in 2013 agreed to work towards "normalised" relations.

 

Inzko Raises Bosnian Serb Residence Checks (BIRN, by Elvira M. Jukic, 14 May 2014)

The High Representative has raised the issue of residence checks in Republika Srpska in a meeting in Washington, while the Bosnian Croat Presidency member said the new rules had been rushed through ahead of the general election.

Prior to presenting his latest report in the US, the High Representative to Bosnia, Valentin Inzko, raised the issue of new rules on checking residence in Republika Srpska, one Bosnia's two entities.

In a meeting in Washington on May 13, Inzko presented his concerns about the situation in Bosnia to Hoyt Yee, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and to Senator Ben Cardin, Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The High Representative said he welcomed the fact that the Chairman of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic, had sent an appeal to the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the recent decision on residency in Bosnia's mainly Serbian entity.

New residency rules in Republika Srpska introduced in April mean that more documents proving ownership of a home are now needed than in the rest of Bosnia.

The decision was made after Bosnia's state-level Parliament failed to agree on a new residency law. Republika Srpska said it took a unilateral decision in the light of security concerns. However, critics said the decision violated the constitution and harmed the rights of returnees.

Zeljko Komsic, Croat member of the Bosnian Presidency, said in a Tuesday interview with the newspaper Oslobodjenje that the decision meant any Bosniak or Croat could lose his or her residence rights if the police did not find them at the address they reported.

He referred to several hundred cases of Bosniak returnees whose residence and identity cards were annulled last year because of earlier checks by police who did not find them in their registered homes.

These cases were described as discrimination against returnees. Some assert that the intention is to deter returnees from having their documents registered in Republika Srpska.

Komsic said security concerns were not the real reason why the entity authorities adopted the decision in April.

“The final goal of that rule is 'cleansing the voting lists' in Republika Srpska in order to prevent the returnee population from significantly affecting the elections results,” Komsic maintained.

“I don't see any problems related to residence reported in RS,” he added.

“The RS surely is not an 'economic haven' to which immigrants would rush from Africa, Asia, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia or other countries, creating problems with organized crime,” Komsic said.

“When they say that in Germany, Austria, France, Holland or Italy, then it makes sense, but in BiH or one of its parts, such as RS, that is simply not true,” he added.

Komsic argued that Republika Srpska had rushed to adopt the new rules ahead of the general elections in the country.

If two or three lawmakers elected from Republika Srpska were not under the control of the Serbian parties, it could change the perception of the entity at state-level, he suggested.

 

Obama's Half-brother Arrives in Montenegro (BIRN, by Dusica Tomovic, 13 May 2014)

US President Barack Obama's half-brother, Malik, is visting Montenegro to spread the message of 'peace and tolerance' among former war-torn Balkan nations.

Malik Obama, who runs a charity foundation, on Monday said it was time for the people of the Balkans to turn to one another and cooperate closely to ensure a better life.

"After the wars, peace and friendship can be built again and the Balkans can show that in the best possible way," Malik said on a visit to Bijelo Polje, in northern Montenegro, which the OSCE has named the most ethnic-tolerant town in the region.  

Obama arrived in Montenegro on Friday and has met President Filip Vujanovic and visited the mosque in the capital, Podgorica.

This is his second visit to the Balkans. Last year, he visited Serbia and Macedonia to receive a peace award from a local non-governmental organization.

Malik Obama is the founder and president of the “Barack H Obama” Kenyan charity foundation. Named after Malik’s and Barak’s late father, it aims to improve healthcare, literacy, education and general living conditions for the poor.

Back in 2011, the charity was the focus of controversy in the United States after an investigation reported that the foundation, which collects funds in the US, obtained tax-exempt status in a record period of only a month.

The organization's website stresses that it is “not dependent on the endorsement of his [the founder’s] brother, President Barack Obama”.

Last year, Malik Obama ran for the post of governor of the Kenyan county of Siaya, but lost.

In an interview for the Mail Online last year, Malik, who has 12 wives and has been criticized for his ties to former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, said he was fed up with people accusing him of cashing in on his half-brother’s name.

The brothers were best men at each other's weddings and are still in contact.