LOCAL PRESS

 

Dacic: Serbia’s OSCE Presidency at a very difficult moment (Tanjug/B92)

Serbia took over the OSCE Presidency today. Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said in Vienna that the main challenges will be terrorism and the crisis in Ukraine. He stressed that the international community should remain vigilant before the existing and new terrorist threats and that Ukraine remains the central issue with which the OSCE will deal this year. Serbia’s OSCE Presidency comes at a very difficult moment, said Dacic, presenting the priorities of the chairmanship at the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna. Dacic said that the OSCE plays an important role in the processes of post-conflict transition, especially in offering support to a wide range of reforms throughout the Western Balkans. “Even though every region within the OSCE is specific, the need for dialogue and reconciliation is more visible in the present challenging geo-political circumstances,” said Dacic. “Obviously, the situation in and around Ukraine continues to represent a serious threat to this regions’ stability, as well as to European and global security. The leading priority for us will be to continue to deal with that crisis in a way that will give impetus to the peace process,” he stressed. Dacic said that Serbia intends to work, together with the Troika (Serbia, Switzerland and Germany), with the main actors towards finding a peaceful solution to this crisis, through dialogue. Without a sincere dialogue among the main actors, as well as among the participating states, it will be difficult, according to him, to reach a solution to the crisis. Therefore, it is of key importance to invest maximal efforts towards reaching a sustainable ceasefire and complete cessation of hostilities. The implementation of the documents from Minsk by all sides is crucial for reaching progress, Dacic is convinced. He added that he firmly supports the efforts of the head of the OSCE Observing Mission, which turned out to be valuable and unique, along with the expectation that the trilateral contact group will significantly contribute with its work to strengthening the agreements signed in Minsk and improvement of the peace process. Dacic said that Serbia would put on the agenda as the main task the resolution of frozen conflicts by way of agreed formats. He voiced assurance that there is room to try to overcome the “status quo” in view of the frozen conflicts in the OSCE region and that we should strengthen the efforts in this direction.

 

No chance of Kosovo becoming OSCE member (Tanjug)

Serbian Foreign Minister Dacic emphasized that Kosovo has no chance to become an OSCE member unless some political agreement is made, but it will not happen in Vienna. “When it comes to the OSCE, decisions are made by consensus,” Dacic added pointing that Serbia, as a chair country, has been struggling for two days already to harmonize the statement condemning the terrorist attack in France. “Talks and dialogue with Pristina are taking place in Brussels. It is out of the question for Serbia to support or allow Kosovo to become a full-fledged OSCE member because the status is not solved,” Dacic said.

 

Dacic: Serbian foreign policy priorities remaining same in 2015 (RTS)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic organized a New Year reception for the heads of diplomatic missions and international organizations, as well as for the media directors and editors. He has stated that the priority of Serbia’s foreign policy in 2015 will stay the same, and Serbia will strive as the chair of the OSCE to stand out as a reliable partner and help in solving the issues important for the stability and security of the European region. The membership in the EU remains our main strategic priority, and there is the widest possible social and political consensus on that in the country, Dacic said in his address to the guests of the reception. He reminded that the foreign policy priorities of the Serbian government are also the dialogue with Pristina, including the realization of the hitherto attained agreements, strengthening the relations with the neighbor countries and overall regional cooperation, and deepening the relations with the significant actors of the European policy and traditional friends all over the world.

 

Vucic, Hammond: Opening of chapters depends on Serbia and understanding of the EU (RTS)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic stated in Belgrade that Serbia enjoys the UK’s support to its EU course and reforms that are underway. At a press conference with British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond, Vucic said that Serbia is on its European path and it will not give up on this path, Vucic said. “I believe that, in addition to the comprehensive economic reforms we have conducted and which have been recognized by all the relevant factors in the world, we will also be able to do a lot at the political level in 2015,” said Vucic, describing this year as the key one in reforms and Serbia’s progress. He said he and Hammond had discussed Serbia’s OSCE presidency and the opening of chapters in Serbia’s EU accession talks, assessing he has met with a well-meaning British stand to Serbia’s future and EU integrations. Our course is not easy or simple at all and we will have to do a lot, said Vucic, stressing that the opening of certain chapters in talks on Serbia’s admission to the EU primarily depends on Serbia, but also on the understanding shown by our EU partners. The Prime Minister said he hoped the first chapters would be opened soon. There is a lot more to be done for opening Chapter 35 and Chapters 23 and 24, and I believe that opening Chapter 32 will the easiest, he said. Hammond stressed strong support to Serbian reforms and EU integrations, adding that, in order that the first chapters be opened, it is the most important to implement the Brussels agreement. He also gave support to the difficult decisions made by the Serbian Prime Minister with a view to reforming the Serbian economy and increasing competition. He said he knew from his own experience how difficult those reforms are on a short-term basis, but, on a long-term basis, they provide economic prosperity and jobs, he added. He congratulated Serbia on the professionalism with which it has approached OSCE chairmanship.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Will the Parliament of the Federation of B&H select the top leadership of FB&H today? (Oslobodjenje)

Although yesterday afternoon everything was ready for today’s constitution of the House of Peoples of FB&H, and the selection of the President and Vice-President’s of FB&H, after the latest appeal on the recent decision of the Central Election Commission (CIK), the formation of the Federation Government could be somewhat prolonged. The session of the CIK, which is expected to confirm the results of indirect elections for delegates in the House of Peoples was announced for 10 o'clock this morning, but the CIK yesterday afternoon received several complaints on decisions made on Monday about the allocation of seats in the second round of indirect elections of delegates for the House of Peoples. Complaints are filed by Mirnes Ajanovic as a commissioner, a lawyer and leader of the BOSS, on behalf of Haris Pleho and Rasim Smajic, Sarajevo cantonal MP’s of BOSS, to whom the CIK refused to confirm the mandate of a delegates from among the Serb people, because they both declared differently at previous elections. Pleho and Smajic have filed a complaint to the Court which was later on dismissed by the Court. The CIK will forward the latest appeals with its comments to the Court of B&H, and it is expected that the Court will react urgently because of the importance of the case. If the Court confirms the decision till Monday, the session would be called immediately in order to finally confirm the results of the elections for the House of Peoples. The PFB&H House of Peoples scheduled the constitutive session for today and the House of Representatives have scheduled a special one. The common point of the agendas of both Houses is the election of President and Vice-Presidents of FB&H. The CIK confirmed on Monday the selection of 54 out of the 58 required delegates for the House of Peoples, including a sufficient number of Bosnians and Croats, 17 each, and 7 delegates from among the Others, while in two rounds of the indirect elections 13 delegates from among Serbs out of 17 that are required are selected.

 

 

 

Government to be elected without Serbs? (Srna)

The Serb Caucus in the parliament of the Federation of B&H (FB&H) will propose neither an FB&H Vice-President nor the leadership of the House of Peoples at the parliament session that is scheduled for today, Slavisa Mihajlovic, an SNSD delegate in the FB&H House of Peoples, told Srna. In his opinion, this is why the FB&H leadership should not be elected today, but fears it might be done without the Serb representatives. “What I fear is that both the list for the election of the president from the ranks of Croats and the list for the election of vice-president from the ranks of Bosniaks will be incomplete. Such action would not only violate the House’s Rules of Procedure but also send a very bad message to the Serb people,” said Mihajlovic. He says he counts on a high level of democracy and respect of human rights and hopes that the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and Party of Democratic Action (SDA) “will not do something like that”. According to an inter-party agreement between HDZ, SDA, and Democratic Front (DF), the position of FB&H Vice-President from the ranks of Serbs goes to DF, which has one delegate in the Serb Caucus, says Mihajlovic. His Alliance of Independent Social Democrats is interested in Serb positions and it would be good if SNSD could participate in the FB&H government, says Mihajlovic, adding that the party will probably propose its own candidates for some positions. The caucuses of the constitutive peoples in the Federation have 17 delegates each, while the caucus of the “others” has seven. The Serb caucus has remained incomplete and right now has 13 delegates, six from the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and three from SNSD, one each from DF, Liberal Party, Our Party, and Progress through Work People's Party. According to the FB&H Constitution, the President and Vice-Presidents are proposed by one third of the delegates of the constitutive peoples’ caucuses, and the three names go for confirmation to the House of Representatives and then to the House of Peoples. Under the current circumstances, it is unclear what represents one third in the Serb caucus, whether it is six or perhaps four or five delegates. The previous government in the Federation was formed with an incomplete Croat caucus, with five of its delegates proposing the entity president. HDZ considered such a government illegal and illegitimate. A clear definition as to what constitutes one third in the Serb caucus has not arrived from the Central Election Commission or any other institution yet. FB&H President will be HDZ’s Marinko Cavara, while SDA has agreed on the Vice-President from the ranks of Bosniaks and named Melika Mahmutbegovic, a federal representative of the party in the past term.

 

Ministry of defense of B&H should not be linked to terrorist act in Paris (Fena)

Ministry of Defense of B&H has not sold surplus weapons and ammunition or announced public or international tender to sell surplus weapons since it was established. That is why the Ministry of Defense of B&H should not be linked to the terrorist act in Paris, the Ministry stated. It was explained that procedures of exporting weapons and ammunition are regulated by the Law on Transit of Weapons and Military Equipment which is led by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of B&H and exporters are companies from B&H which have license issued by that ministry. Ministry of Defense of B&H does not have any information on selling of weapons before 2004, because it was done by the entity defense ministries at the time. Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces of B&H do not have anything to do with the ammunition that was used in a terrorist attack on “Charlie Hebdo“. All weapon factories work freely in the market, including the factory “Igman“ Konjic, whose ammunition is mentioned in the media reports, PR Office of the B&H Ministry of Defense stated.

 

 

 

Croatian FM says that the new President will tone down her rhetoric (Dalje.com)

Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic assumes that President-elect Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic will tone down her rhetoric when it comes to the enhancement of relations with Serbia. Pusic, who is also the first deputy prime minister, was asked on Croatian Radio on Wednesday how that would reflect on Croatia's relations with Serbia and B&H. “From her rhetoric in the first days after the election, it is logical to conclude that the lead and prominent role Croatia has in relations in the region at this moment comes into question,” she said, adding that she would like to believe that it was a matter of election campaign euphoria, when all sorts of things are said. “I believe that Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic will identify with the presidency when she assumes it. I will certainly use every argument in talks with her so that we harmonize all positions on that.” Grabar-Kitarovic has welcomed a German-British initiative on B&H’s road to European Union membership, but objected that it does not include political reforms that would bring Croats equality. “B&H is an important neighbor for Croatia (and) the European path is the only way out for B&H,” Pusic said, adding that now was not the time to think about changing B&H’s political organization. “Everything will be easier to solve when B&H gets a future, when we see that it is capable of going towards the EU. All the nations and political forces there are necessary for B&H's European success at this moment and they should be brought together and not antagonized.” Pusic said she would be glad to discuss foreign policy with the new President but that she did not think that its general direction would change.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Serbian PM celebrates Orthodox New Year with Kosovo Serbs (EUbusiness.com, 14 January 2015)

(GRACANICA) - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic on Wednesday launched a highly symbolic Orthodox New Year visit to Kosovo, the former Serbian province that unilaterally seceded in 2008 despite Belgrade's fierce opposition. In Gracanica, a Serb enclave at the outskirts of Pristina, Vucic called for a peaceful coexistence with the ethnic Albanian majority that makes up 90 percent of the nearly two million Kosovo population. "We wish to live in peace with our Albanian neighbours and send them a message that we want to solve all (issues) in peace and to live next to each other in peace," Vucic told the crowd of some 2,000 Serbs. He also urged Kosovo Serb residents, who like Belgrade have not recognised the former province's independence, to remain in Kosovo. "Please do not sell your land and stay at your fireside. You will have more important aid from Serbia than ever," Vucic said. Earlier, he made the same appeal to hundreds of Serbs in the southern village of Strpci. The premier's landmark stopover, which did not include meetings with Kosovo's leaders, started in the village of Pasjane, a Serb enclave in the country's east. Several hundred fellow Serbs greeted the premier upon his arrival to inaugurate a maternity ward there. Two-thirds of the 120,000-strong Kosovo Serb minority live in enclaves scattered throughout the breakaway territory, while some 40,000 live in the north, near the border with Serbia. The premier's entourage also included Serbia's ministers of defence, interior, justice, health and work. No incident was reported during the visit that was secured by significant police presence along the route. Unlike more than 100 other countries, including the US and most of the EU's 28 member states, Serbia refuses to recognise Kosovo's independence, but both Belgrade and Pristina have been forced to normalise ties if they want to progress towards EU membership. Kosovo's leaders in Pristina had said they approved the visit which is both "humanitarian and religious" in nature, Foreign Affairs Minister Hashim Thaci told reporters. "We strive to intensify visits on both sides, we must not be afraid to communicate," Thaci added. Links between Belgrade and Pristina have improved since their relations were put on a more formal footing in 2013 with an agreement brokered by the European Union. Following the 1998-99 war between Serbian forces and ethnic Albanian guerrillas, a NATO bombing campaign forced Serbian troops to withdraw from Kosovo and cede control of the territory. After the recent election of a new Kosovo government that ended a six-month political crisis, new talks between Belgrade and Pristina on deepening their relations are expected to take place in Brussels in early February.

 

Vucic Visit Lifts Serb Spirits in Kosovo Village (BIRN, by Una Hajdari, 15 January 2015)

Kosovo Serbs gathered in Strpce in southern Kosovo welcomed the Serbian Prime Minister - who promised more money for their shrinking community and urged them not to leave

Kosovo Serb children in the village of Strpce on Wednesday donned Serbian traditional dress before gathering at the local hall of culture to welcome their guest of honor, the Prime Minister of Serbia. Two days earlier they heard that Aleksandar Vucic was coming to visit their town and that they would be the ones to welcome him. With the Prime Minister being more than an hour late, some children were itching to get out of their outfits. They waited another 40 minutes in the freezing cold, with a couple hundred other residents of Strpce carrying Serbian flags. Strpce was one of three towns, including Pasjane and Gracanica, that Vucic visited on Wednesday in honor of Serbian Orthodox New Year. For most of the remaining Serbs in Kosovo, who cherish ties to Serbia, Vucic - not the Prime Minister of Kosovo - is "their" Prime Minister, and this visit represented a top honor. In the event, Vucic tried not to disappoint. “The government of Serbia, and Serbia itself, has not and will not forget the people in Strpce and the rest in Kosovo and Metohija,” Vucic said in his speech in front of the Dom Kulture and after being offered the customary pogaca bread. “The government of Serbia will offer much greater support. We will invest in your road infrastructure. We will invest in the food and food processing industry, so that you will know how to better sell and profit from the goods you produce,” Vucic continued, generating a round of applause. Vucic also urged Serbs to stay in Kosovo and not sell up. “I know Albanians will offer a lot of money for your houses. I ask you not to sell your houses. You are the ones who protect and build our country,” he said. Locals seemed cheered by the oration. “I think it’s very nice that he came. Our hopes lie with Serbia and we’re hoping they don’t betray us,” Marica Pesic, 65, who works at the refugee center in Strpce, said. “Vucic said he’d be investing in Strpce. The ski center is the only thing people live off of since the factories closed - and there is no agriculture,” she added. Her recently married daughter is not employed and is considering moving away. Situated on the side of a mountain in the Sharr range, the Serbian-majority community mainly serves as stopping point for people traveling to the Brezovica ski resort, Kosovo’s top winter destination. It is home to 7,000 inhabitants according to the 2011 Kosovo census. However, the majority of Serbs in Kosovo boycotted the census. Some claim that around 13,000 live in the Strpce zupa,or region. A couple of people in the crowd had come all the way from Serbia. “I live in Belgrade. I came here to my grandma and grandpa for the holidays. I like it more here than in Belgrade – I wouldn’t mind living here,” said Anja Seslija, 14, whose parents were born and raised in Ferizaj - Urosevac to the Serbs. However, her friend who lives in Strpce says that she doesn’t feel at ease living in Albanian-majority Kosovo. “There are places we can go out to, but Albanians are there, too, so I don’t feel very comfortable,” Bojana Geric, aged 15, said. She usually travels around with her parents. Vucic’s visit also had a more specifically political purpose, beyond reassuring Kosovo Serbs that Serbia had not forgotten its former province. It was also designed to underline Belgrade's continuing support for the Serbian List for Kosovo and Metohija, a party which won eight of the 120 seats in the Kosovo assembly in Kosovo's last elections. “I told my people who joined the Prishtina government: You did not go in there to become richer. You did it so that our people in Kosovo and Metohija become richer than they are today. You will fight for them,” Vucic noted. The Serbian List is a crucial factor in the implementation of the Brussels agreement, which is aimed at "normalising" relations between Kosovo and Serbia - which does not recognise Kosovo's independence. An important component of the EU-led deal concerns the creation of the Association of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo with broad powers of self-rule. However, many Kosovo Serbs say the Brussels agreement and the Serbian List MPs, which now has two ministers and a deputy PM in the Kosovo government, betrayed them. Strpce, like Pasjane and Gracanica, all have mayors from the Serbian list. Officially, these mayors are part of the Kosovo system – but the fact that Belgrade backs the List makes it easier for staunch opponents of the independence of Kosovo to accept them. Confusingly, Vucic’s government has undermined the Brussels agreement by continuing to back so-called "parallel structures" in Kosovo, responsible only to Serbia. Thus, mayor Bratislav Nikolic, after being elected mayor in local elections in Kosovo, was also chosen to be mayor of the Serbian-run parallel structures. Currently he is mayor according to both systems, both of which maintain offices in the same building in the municipality of Strpce. Meanwhile, not all Serbs were wowed by the Serbian Prime Minister's promises. Some say they have heard it all before. “I don’t expect anything to change after the visit. Vucic should come and spend 24 hours with us, see what it’s really like,” Randjel Filipovic, 22, said. “My goal is to find a way to move to the West.”

 

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that Serbia is ready to be "an honest broker" in peaceful resolution of crisis in Ukraine (Sputnik, 15 January 2015)

MOSCOW – Serbia, which holds the 2015 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) chairmanship, is ready to act in that capacity as a mediator in a Ukrainian crisis settlement, Serbian Foreign Minister said Thursday.

“Serbia ready to act as honest broker in peaceful resolution of crisis in and around Ukraine, and utilize [the] advantages the OSCE offers,” Ivica Dacic tweeted.

Dačić: Serbia ready to act as honest broker in peaceful resolution of crisis in and around Ukraine, and utilise advantages the OSCE offers

According to Dacic, the situation "in and around Ukraine continues to pose a serious threat for stability of the region, and European and global security."

The Serbian Foreign Minister expressed hope that efforts by the so-called Contact Group will contribute to a de-escalation of tensions in the crisis-hit country and the implementation of the ceasefire agreement reached in Minsk last year.

The OSCE is a party to the Contact Group on the Ukrainian settlement, which includes representatives from Ukraine, Russia, Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics. The group, which has held meetings since August 2014, brokered a September 2014 ceasefire in Ukraine.

 

Pro-Yugoslav Montenegrins Oppose ‘Nazi’ Cemetery (BIRN, by Dusica Tomovic, 15 January 2015)

Government plans to build a cemetery for German soldiers killed in World War II in Montenegro insult the country's history and anti-fascist traditions, a group of protesters say.

A group calling itself the Consulate of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia on Wednesday asked Montenegro's parliament and the state prosecutor to halt the burial of the remains of World War II German soldiers near the military airport in the capital Podgorica.

The authorities plan to build a German cemetery there. But the NGO says the plan humiliates Montenegro and belittles its anti-fascist traditions. Nazi Germany occupied Yugoslavia from 1941 to 1945. The head of the so-called SFRJ Consulate, Marko Perkovic, said the organization did not oppose the "civilized act of burial of the German soldiers" but their remains do not belong in one of the few active barracks of the Montenegrin army. "All those coming through Podgorica airport will have to pass a monument to unknown fascists, which is humiliating for anti-fascist Montenegro," Parkovic said in a statement. In 2011, Berlin and Podgorica signed an agreement on burying the remains of the German troops killed in Montenegro during World War II. A site containing more than 400 bodies was excavated in Podgorica in 2007. Since the discovery of the bodies by construction workers, the remains have been kept at a Catholic community house near the capital. Around 2,000 German soldiers believed to have been killed in Montenegro during the war are still officially considered missing. The so-called Consulate is a non-government organisation based in the coastal town of Tivat, where it has opened a museum of the former Yugoslavia. Visitors can see memorabilia from the former regime and some of the uniforms and vehicles owned by Yugoslavia's long-time leader, Josip Broz Tito. It has also issued commemorative former Yugoslav "passports". Nearly 5,000 people have requested them so far.

 

Trial Starts for Man Accused of War Crimes in Bosnia (AP, 14 January 2015)

A Bosnian war crimes suspect living in Vermont is on trial in federal court. If convicted, 55-year-old Edin Sakoc could be deported. Prosecutors allege Sakoc lied about being involved in war crimes against a Bosnian Serb family in 1992 when he came to the United States. The Burlington Free Press reports attorneys played videotaped testimony of a man who said two men kidnapped his niece and killed two other female relatives. Prosecutors allege Sakoc was one of the men. Sakoc's lawyer said the alleged accomplice is the person who is guilty. Sakoc is charged with lying to immigration officials when he entered the United States in 2001 and lying again when he applied to become a naturalized citizen in 2007.

 

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Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ. The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.