LOCAL PRESS

 

Drecun: Present position by U.S. (Politika/Beta)

The Chairman of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun assessed yesterday that the statement by U.S. Ambassador Michael Kirby - that Serbia needs to allow Kosovo membership in the UN – is a present position that may be corrected. “This is real politics, but it doesn’t mean that we will be in a situation that someone will request this from us. The U.S. have played a constructive role on several occasions, but this statement is negative since it will encourage Pristina for obstruction and it will direct it more towards status issues that come out of the negotiating framework. It is possible that this request will be waiting for us at the end of the negotiating process, but this is unacceptable for us. We are aware of this, we respect this stand, but we also expect our stand to be respected since Kosovo is part of Serbia.”

 

Markovic Palma: U.S. continues to justify aggression (Novosti)

The leader of the United Serbia (JS) Dragan Markovic Palma assessed yesterday that the statement by U.S. Ambassador Michael Kirby that “the U.S. implies under the normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations Kosovo’s UN membership” is new only for those who have not been keeping track of this country’s official policy since the bombardment of Serbia. “We have double standards in relations between Serbia and the self-declared Kosovo, where the Albanians are always privileged for the U.S. Washington recognized the self-declared independence, and by pushing them towards membership in international organizations, they wish to justify the NATO aggression on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

 

Serbs and Albanians oppose extension of EULEX mandate (Politika)

While the EU is slowly preparing the ground for ensuring another mandate for the EULEX mandate in Kosovo and Metohija from June 2016, the Serbs and Albanians think that the EU mission has not justified expectations and wish to see its back. EULEX, assessed by the British Guardian as “the flamboyant symbol of incompetence”, has spent more than one billion Euros in seven years, but didn’t manage to process one single war crime against the Serbs. Its greatest “success” is the two-year farce of the trial of Oliver Ivanovic. Precisely everything that is bad in the EULEX mission has come out in the trial to the leader of the SDP Civic Initiative. Charges for corruption, persecution of whistleblowers and forgery of evidence show that international prosecutors and judges in the province have accepted the local way of behavior, instead of introducing legal standards of the countries of their origin. Even the media in Pristina assessed Ivanovic’s trail as a failed “attempt of building a tower in the air, but without any foundation”. Leposavic Mayor Dragan Jablanovic claims that EULEX courts “chase” only small fish when it comes to the Albanians, but that the Serbs are their constant targets. He says that the EU mission, instead of improving the rule of law in Kosovo and political stability in the Balkans, has achieved almost nothing. “The EU mission has not brought anything good except for launching several large investigations that haven’t brought any results. Announced as a mission that will find the kidnapped and missing Serbs, it proved to be absolutely incompetent even though this was allegedly one of the priorities in its work,” Jablanovic tells Politika. He cites as crucial evidence of incompetence of EULEX courts the unresolved crime in the Metohija village Gorazdevac when two boys were killed on 13 August 2003, and four were wounded while they were swimming the Bistrica River. Jablanovic asks how come this is possible and he is certain that the Albanians know very well who the murderers are. Officially, there have been suspects for this crime, but despite this, not a single indictment has been issued, and the proceeding was closed as unresolved. Belgrade has officially requested from EULEX to reopen the investigation, but everything remained on requests. “What are the results of the EULEX mission? How much private property was returned, how many responsible for war crimes have been indicted, and how many members of organized crime are behind bars?” the Serbian government summarizes EULEX’s past results. The EULEX mission has even managed to join great political opponents Marko Jaksic of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and Ilir Deda of the Self-Determination Movement. Both think that the best thing for Kosovo would have been that the judges from the EU countries never came to Kosovo. “EULEX did almost nothing in its mandate and it is illogical to expect the extension of their further presence on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija. The stand of my party and the majority of Serbs is that EULEX came to complete the Kosovo state. In their mandate, this mission has done nothing except for supporting the Albanian side,” Jaksic tells Politika, adding that the issue of the southern Serbian province should be returned under the auspices of the United Nations Security Council, which is also the essence of UNSCR 1244. EULEX officially didn’t respond to Politika’s questions on the work of this mission, but in statements to the Kosovo media they boasted on several occasions how their judges have delivered around 600 verdicts. An analysis of the Pristina media has established that these are fruit thieves and resellers of old cars. Deda says he doesn’t know what they base on their statistics and wonders what their concrete evidence is. He opines that this mission must leave as soon as possible, since only the employees, who receive high salaries in Euros, have benefit from it. “They are unsuccessful in building legal and credible institutions. When you make an objective summary of their work, we see that the judicial system in Kosovo has for years been built and controlled by the international community, yet it is in a bad state. How is it possible that hundreds of millions of Euros have been invested in the judicial institutions, yet shifts are negligible,” wonders Deda. Despite the united stand of the Serbs and Albanians, the EU plans to extend the mission’s mandate for at least one year. Jablanovic confirms that it is almost certain that consent had been reached among the EU member states to extend the EULEX mandate, since he had discussed this with an EU high official. “They plan to stay, and Brussels and Washington make decisions on the extension of the mission. Nobody will ask us, the Kosovo inhabitants, about anything,” concluded Jablanovic.

 

Without presidential elections in 2016 (Danas)

Presidential elections will not be held in 2016, Danas was told in the Serbian government. According to Danas’ interlocutors, the leader of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic does not plan to initiate presidential elections, i.e. to try to make a deal with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic. When it comes to holding early republican elections together with local and provincial, Danas’ interlocutors claim they are certain. Danas learns that amendments of the Serbian Constitution will follow the early republican elections that might imply the revision of provisions that concern the election of the president of the state directly at the polls into a system that determines the election in the parliament. The most certain month for holding local, provincial and early parliamentary elections is April. Danas was told in Vucic’s cabinet that he doesn’t know what Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic wishes to discuss, i.e. the cabinet claims that the SNS and SPS leaders have not yet met. It is also not certain when this meeting will occur since it was not yet agreed, even though the Prime Minister had stated that he would talk with Dacic this week.

 

SPS to take part in elections with old partners (Novosti)

We will not enter an election coalition with the SNS since it would win between 60 and 70 percent of votes at the elections and would completely stultify the Serbian political scene, the leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) Ivica Dacic said yesterday in Novi Sad at the marking of the 25^th jubilee of the SPS. Dacic called his partners from the United Pensioners Party (PUPS) and United Serbia (JS) to join him again in the united coalition at the upcoming provincial and local elections. “The media has been reporting over the past days, for unknown reasons, that the SNS is inviting the SPS to join an election coalition. This is not true. Such reports show that many fear such a coalition, which would stultify the elections with its strength. Still, we will be on two lists.” Dacic said that his party was ready for the local and provincial elections, and that the republican election could also be slated as far as he was concerned. “If it weren’t for the SPS, Vojvodina and the Vojvodina issue would have been internationalized just as the Kosovo and Metohija issue was internationalized. Our platform for the elections in the province is that Vojvodina is Serbia, that this is autonomy in Serbia and not against Serbia. No country in the world would tolerate breaking up of its territory.” The president of the SPS provincial board Dusan Bajatovic was announced as the future prime minister of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.

 

Getting closer to NATO: B&H getting the green light in June (Pravda)

B&H should get the green light on the NATO summit that will be held next June in Warsaw, in order to activate the Action Plan for the NATO membership, even if the RS continues to refuse the registration of perspective immovable military property to the state of B&H. With this move, the member states of the Alliance wanted to give a clear signal to B&H that the NATO’s door are wide open for her, regardless of the position of the RS. The initiative will be launched in the NATO Alliance, similarly to the British-German initiative which unblocked the activation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, and established a new approach to the conditions for the membership in the European Union, as confirmed by several sources. In practice, this would mean that the MAP would be activated by finalization of registration of the prospective immovable military property in Federation of B&H, where from a total of 63 such sites, 40 of them are held there, and 23 of them have been registered so far. It will be insisted on registering this property in the RS as well, where so far, none of the 23 sites has been registered on the state of B&H, whose government emphasizes the fact that they will not allow it in the future as well. Therefore, it is expected that, in order to strengthen their own interests, NATO members could support the activation of MAP B&H, and thereby undo the effects of Russia’s policy on the RS, which directly blocks the membership of B&H in NATO, reports Pravda.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Izetbegovic: Vucic supports Dodik in “politics of conflict” (Faktor)

Marking 9 January as a Republika Srpska (RS) Day presents glorification of discrimination and domination against citizens who are not Serbs, ignoring the judgment of the Constitutional Court, and therefore the state of B&H, said the B&H Presidency member and the SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic. Izetbegovic criticized the announcement by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic that all members of the Serbian Government will attend the ceremony in Banja Luka on January 9, adding that Vucic is trying to merge two incompatible things. “Vucic is trying to merge two diametrically opposed positions. On the one hand, he wants a cathartic renunciation of a stubborn Serbian politics which, a quarter of a century ago, led to the disintegration of the country and bloody wars. At the same time, he stands firmly with Milorad Dodik who clearly and openly advocates such politics“, Izetbegovic told Faktor newspaper. Izetbegovic said Vucic is providing increasingly strong support to Dodik, although he often says he respects B&H sovereignty. He said Vucic’s words are not followed by the deeds. If he really respected B&H and its sovereignty, he would respect the decisions made by the highest court instance in our country. Some say that Vucic’s behavior could encourage Dodik in disobeying decisions of the B&H state institution. Izetbegovic said that marking the 9th of January presents “return to unilateral politics of spite and conflict.”

 

Crnadak: I will participate in RS Day observance on 9 January (Oslobodjenje)

B&H Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak confirmed that he would also participate in the official celebration of the RS Day on 9 January in Banja Luka. The B&H Constitutional Court at the end of November adopted the request of Bakir Izetbegovic to consider the constitutionality of Article 3b of the law on holidays in RS, which regulates that RS Day be observed on 9 January, and declare it unconstitutional. After the decision, a joint statement by leading political representatives of the B&H entity followed that rejected the decision of the court. RS officials and their representatives in B&H institutions agreed on 29 November that the RS National Assembly should make a decision and call a referendum in which the people would decide whether to accept the court’s decision to abolish RS Day on 9 January. In a joint statement in 12 points, they asked the B&H Parliament to, in a timeframe of 120 days, adopt a law on the Constitutional Court that assumes decision-making with the participation of at least one justice from each of the constitutive peoples and both B&H entities. According to the law, the court will not have foreign judges in its makeup. “If in the timeframe of four months a new law on the court is not adopted, political parties in this period will make a decision of whether to participate in further work of B&H institutions and sign a joint statement on it,” the statement reads in part. It was signed by all officials of RS and their representatives in B&H organs.

 

Dodik: No future with those whose heritage is idea of Islamic Declaration (Srna)

The RS President Milorad Dodik has stated that B&H has no future with those who have grown up and acted according to the ideas of the Islamic Declaration by Alija Izetbegovic, which should be always and everywhere a warning to everyone in B&H. “Izetbegovic’s dream was the ‘Islamic Declaration’ and Sharia law instead of the Constitution, and his son Bakir, who stated on Saturday that the SDA followed Alija’s way, confirms that this is his dream too and way which he will never give up on,” Dodik told Srna when asked to comment the statement by Bakir Izetbegovic, the leader of the SDA, that his father was a realist and that the SDA took his direction. Dodik has said the danger is that the current SDA leader makes such statement at the SDA Youth Convention, who he intends to direct clearly which way to take. “Is there a future for such B&H? Of course not, with Bakir Izetbegovic and those who he have grown up with ‘Islamic Declaration’. What kind of future and the European way we then talk about, when the Sharia B&H based on Izetbegovic’s way is openly being announced?” asked Dodik.

 

The RS opposition signed memorandum joining forces against Dodik (Nezavisne)

Leaders of six opposition parties signed in Banja Luka, a Memorandum of cooperation and joint participation in the upcoming local elections. The memorandum was signed by the presidents of the SDS Mladen Bosic, PDP Branislav Borenovic, NDP Dragan Cavic, SRS Milanko Mihaljica, NS Adam Sukalo and President of the Movement for Justice and order Nebojsa Vukanovic. The signatories stressed that their goal is “end of the regime” in the RS and that in future, they will act synchronized in order to achieve this goal. Already in January, they announced the beginning of the talks on the joint candidates for the municipalities throughout the RS. Also, the memorandum envisages establishment of a working body or the president of the Union for Change, led by Mladen Bosic as the leader of the largest opposition party in RS.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Serbia to Maintain Policy Despite Disagreements With US - Serbian PM (Sputnik, 28 December 2015)

Serbia respects the United States but disagrees with Washington on a range of issues, and has no intentions of changing its policies because of this, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told Sputnik.
BELGRADE— Vucic made his statement commenting on US Ambassador to Serbia Michael Kirby's recent interview with local media. The US diplomat stated last week that a normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo would mean the latter joining the UN.

"I tried finding words to respond to this question without causing harm to Serbia, Serbian national interests. The only thing I can say is that we, of course, respect the United States, its power, size, and we respect the US ambassador to Belgrade," Vucic said. While considering Kirby "a decent man," Serbia's policy is "different from that of the United States," he continued. "We are carrying out our own policy which does not change from day to day. We consider it responsible, serious, and we will continue to behave this way in the future," Vucic said. He added that during the recent negotiations with the Western countries, Serbia succeeded to protect its national interests as much as possible, but it would not be so easy in future. Washington and Belgrade disagree on a set of international issues, such as recognition of Kosovo's independence and its membership in international organizations, as well as mass killings in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica and the resolution of the UN Security Council condemning the killings as a crime of genocide.

 

Bosnian Serb Govt Spars with Unions over Reforms (BIRN, by Danijel Kovacevic, 28 December 2015)

Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska is bracing for a clash with trade unions and the opposition over a new labour law which is a key to getting new financial support from the IMF.

The Republika Srpska National Assembly on Monday will debate and probably vote on the new labour law despite strong criticism from the opposition bloc and protests called by trade unions.

Resistance to the legislation represents a major challenge to the ruling coalition in the entity, led by the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD. The law is a key condition for Bosnia to get new financial support from the International Monetary Fund, after the country’s other entity, the Federation, already adopted the same legislation this summer. The IMF support appears to be the only thing that can save Republika Srpska and the rest of the country from a looming liquidity crisis, experts believe. Republika Srpska’s trade unions however have strongly opposed changing the current law, while the opposition bloc - led by the Serb Democratic Party, SDS - has been waiting for this moment to try to further weaken and eventually topple the current government. Throughout last week, the RS government held talks with the unions and the RS Union of Employers' Associations in an attempt to find a compromise. But these talks eventually broke down over the weekend as union representative Ranka Misic maintained her position that the new law was drafted by IMF and undermine workers’ rights. "I will not give my approval for a new labour law that reduces workers' rights, because they [the government] want to take away those few workers' rights which have been secured by the trade union," Misic told media on Saturday. Misic said that the unions will organize protests on Monday in front of the RS National Assembly in the entity’s administrative centre of Banja Luka. But RS president and SNSD leader Milorad Dodik asked workers not to take to the streets. "I ask all workers in RS to remain calm and to remain in their homes. There is no need to come out to the protests [because] the [new] law has a high level of social and labour responsibility," Dodik told local media on Saturday. RS Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic said that the unions’ claim that the new law was drafted by the IMF was unfair and said it provides better rights for workers than the one that was approved in the Federation this summer. The passing of the legislation in the Federation also provoked major protests by unions. Bosnia's chapter of anti-corruption watchdog group Transparency International has raised further concerns about the legislation. "There are numerous ambiguities [in the draft law] that can lead to poor implementation and arbitrary interpretations at the expense of the workers," Transparency International said in a statement.

 

His Majesty the Sultan Issues Royal Decree (ONA, 28 December 2015)

Muscat - His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said on Sunday issued Royal Decree 50/2015 appointing a non-resident ambassador to Montenegro.

Article 1 appoints Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Zahir al Hinai, Oman’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland, as the sultanate’s Non-Resident Ambassador to the Republic of Montenegro.

Article 2 says the Decree shall be published in the official gazette and be enforced from its date of issue.