LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic to resign in March (Novosti)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic will officially resign at the beginning of March, whereby the mandate of the current government will cease, and Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic will slate early parliamentary elections for 24 April, Novosti has learned the most probable sequence of moves that will lead to a joint date of holding parliamentary, provincial and local elections. According to Novosti, it is not excluded that early elections for the Belgrade Assembly might be held on the same day, but there is still no final political agreement on that yet. Novosti was told at government headquarters that the prime minister and current government will not stop with operative work even when it will have a technical mandate after the prime minister’s resignation. The prime minister and SNS leader should also talk with the Vojvodina Assembly speaker Istvan Pastor in order to specify the date for elections, and this discussion will be joined by the Serbian parliament speaker Maja Gojkovic who will slate the general local elections. There is already a principle agreement in the state leadership for the official campaign to be legally the shortest one and to last 45 days. After the elections, and before the official formation of the new government, the SNS will hold an election assembly on 21 May.

 

Gojkovic: We didn’t dicuss the date of elections (RTV)

Serbian parliament speaker Maja Gojkovic has stated that the date of elections will be discussed in the following period. She says that it is certain that the parliamentary, provincial and local elections will be on the same day, which is the most important thing. She says that the dates will be discussed, and that there are legal deadlines that will be respected. “We will work in an unhindered manner this and the following month, until the moment when elections will be slated, said Gojkovic.

 

How will elections impact negotiations with Pristina (Novosti)

Since the official beginning of the election campaign until the formation of a new government, which may last more than two months, the dialogue with Pristina in Brussels will be held at a technical level. The prime minister rounds and initialing of agreements, to be eventually reached in the meantime, will wait for the new government to be completed. This means that it remains a little over one month for the negotiators to finalize agreements on the launched topics, and the most important thing for the Serbian side would be if the Statute of the Community of Serb Municipalities could be ‘ratified’ in Brussels. Even though the Prime Minister of the provisional Pristina institutions Isa Mustafa has stated that he will not appear at the round announced for 27 January if the European Commission doesn’t recommend by that time the visa-free regime for Kosovo, the spokesperson of the EU High Representative Maja Kocijanic has confirmed for Novosti that the preparations for the meeting are underway. Novosti’s sources point out that Federica Mogherini is expecting both Vucic and Mustafa. Talks between the two sides at the expert level began in Brussels yesterday and will last three days.

 

UNMIK to assume EULEX jurisdictions? (Novosti/Politika)

Eight years since the unilateral declaration of independence, Kosovo is expected to experience the biggest defeat in its attempts to legitimize as a state, since the strengthening of UNMIK’s role is planned, Pristina’s daily Gazeta Blic reports. Diplomatic sources in New York say that the authorized committees of the UN General Assembly are adopting the plan for reorganizing UNMIK, which also includes the return of those jurisdictions to UNMIK that it had given over to EULEX when the EU mission was deployed in Kosovo. This way, the plan that has so far passed several committees and should also pass the budget commission in April or May, will enable UNMIK to form the Directorate for the Rule of Law and Corrective Services. The same sources explain that this implies taking away jurisdictions from EULEX in the sphere of rule of law, but not necessarily the abolishment of this EU mission, since it may retain advisory and mentoring jurisdictions that concern the Pristina institutions.

 

What will Pajtic offer the opposition to unite (Danas)

The Democratic Party (DS) will make a proposal to the parties that responded to their invitation on joint forms of activities of opposition parties in parliament, media and public, the DS leader Bojan Pajtic told Danas on the occasion of today’s meeting of opposition parties that is organized by the DS and at the invitation of the DS.

 

Pastor: SVM to independently take part in elections (RTS)

The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) is prepared for the upcoming elections in which it will take part independently, the leader of this party Istvan Pastor said in Subotica. He told a press conference that the independent participation of the SVM at the parliamentary, provincial and local elections doesn’t exclude cooperation with other Hungarian parties, but that outside this framework the SVM will not enter any pre-election coalitions. He specified that following yesterday’s meeting with the representatives of the Democratic Party of Vojvodina Hungarians and the Party of Hungarian Unity he expects their support to the SVM list at the parliamentary and provincial elections, while the decision on the local elections will be made by the presidency and council of the party at the proposal of local boards.

 

Parties to receive funds from budget reserves (Novosti)

The funds for the announced early parliamentary elections will be withdrawn from the budget reserves and the rebalance of this year’s state register will not be conducted. The participants in the elections will share around 580.6 million dinars. Novosti was told at the Finance Ministry that “in case of early elections the authorities are obliged to ensure the amount of 0.07 percent of tax income of the republic for covering costs of the campaign”. According to the law, 20 percent of the total amount for the campaign, which sums to 580.6 million at present, which is 116.1 million dinars, will be equally distributed among all parties that wish to use the funds from the budget for the election. Before the money is paid to the account, they will have to offer guarantees to the state. In case the republican election commission declares 15 lists, each of them would receive around 7.7 million dinars, while their deposit should be as much. Parties give money, securities, apartments and business premises as guarantee. The remaining 80 percent from the total amount from the budget will be distributed after the voting, based on the number of won votes and mandates.

 

Lajcak: Normalization of relations condition for successful EU integration (Beta)

Slovakian Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak has stated that normalization of relations with Kosovo is a condition for Serbia’s successful EU integration, and that this doesn’t mean recognition of Kosovo, but implementation of agreements that arrange mutual relations. At a lecture on Serbia’s EU integration at the Belgrade Political Science Faculty, Lajcak said that Serbia’s EU membership should be a priority and that there is no better alternative for the state.

He listed three most important issues in that process. As the first one Lajcak cited the principle of “quality over speed”, and said the state must join the EU when it is absolutely prepared. The second principle is the rule of law, without which no country can function and this is why Chapters 23 and 24 are key, said Lajcak. The third principle is normalization of relations with Kosovo, said Lajcak and stressed this didn’t mean recognition.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Izetbegovic: I want to believe in the sincerity of Vucic’s message (Nezavisne)

Bosniak Presidency member, Bakir Izetbegovic, said that the relations between Sarajevo and Belgrade are, at the moment, “oscillating”, and said that he wants to believe in the sincerity of Aleksandar Vucic’s message, that Serbia wants to have the best relations in the region with B&H. In an interview with the Sarajevo RT1, Izetbegovic said that he minds Vucic’s attending the RS Day celebration in Banja Luka, in the convocation in which he came, instead of maybe sending a minister. Although he admits that the decision of the Constitutional Court on this date was not yet entered into force, so, we can say, that formally no law has been broken. The Bosniak member of the B&H Presidency and the President of the SDA believes that Vucic, wants to build closer relations both with Sarajevo and Banja Luka, by playing a game in which we are for now both right, B&H and Dodik. “The last positive decision on his part was not to support the referendum and to clearly and publicly tell Milorad Dodik not to go on with the referendum. I hope that Dodik will take into consideration such position. Is Mr. Vucic going to succeed in bringing our positions closer together and help the reconciliation, facts will show, we’ll see. One day I’m not satisfied with the things that he says and does, another day I am satisfied,” said Izetbegovic. He confirmed that he was on the phone line with Vucic a month ago when Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu visited Belgrade, and added: “We are now having a somewhat controversial political game by Mr. Vucic, and I hope that later on, as I would call it, legalistic and right politics would prevail.” Asked if he believes in political honesty of Prime Minister Vucic, that he wants the best possible relations with B&H, Izetbegovic said: “I want to believe. Every possibility which arises in this Balkan chaos, as a chance, I will take. The same thing is when Mr. Vucic is in question. At one point we strongly started the normalization of relations, especially between the two nations, we agreed to meet with groups of intellectuals and politicians last summer, and try to work on repairing relations.” Then, he recalled, the events related to Srebrenica happened – Oric’s arrest, the Russian veto on the resolution on Srebrenica, attack on Vucic, which spoiled the relations.

 

Izetbegovic: B&H’s EU application should be made credible regardless of date of submission (Fena)

The application of B&H for membership in the EU will be submitted in January, but it should be made credible and acceptable regardless of the date of submission, said the President of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) of B&H Bakir Izetbegovic at a press conference that was held after a regular session of the Presidency of the Party. Urgent adoption of effective coordination mechanism is needed, that would be tailored to the Stabilization and Association Agreement.

“The coordination mechanism must be functional and have based on the B&H Constitution and in accordance with constitutional law,” said Izetbegovic. He pointed out that, in terms of a credible application, it is necessary to publish the final results of the population census.

 

Izetbegovic: Dautbasic and Jusic can be appointed despite being arrested (Bosna danas)

Coalition with Alliance for Better Future has contributed to the stabilization of situation in B&H, said SDA leader Bakir Izetbegovic. After the meeting of the SDA Presidency, Izetbegovic said that they expect the vacant position in B&H Council of Ministers to be filled as soon as possible. Reporters asked him whether the arrest of SBB candidate for position of Communications Minister can affect the appointment of candidates to the vacant positions. “They have passed all checks, and they can be elected as members of Council of Ministers,” Izetbegovic said, adding that Prosecution and Court will continue with their work on this case. The SBB proposed Bakir Dautbasic as minister of transport and communications and Sead Jusic as deputy defense minister. The SDA Presidency also discussed implementation of reform agenda.

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Cvijanovic: Final coordination mechanism needs to be adopted as soon as possible (Srna)

Republika Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic said that a final coordination mechanism, as a condition for B&H’s progress on the path to the EU, needs to be adopted as soon as possible. At a meeting today with the Head of the EU Delegation to B&H and the Special EU Representative to B&H, Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, Cvijanovic said that RS is committed to maintaining the active role in the European integration process while fully respecting the constitutional competences of all government levels in B&H and the Dayton Peace Agreement. A press release from the RS Government’s Public Relations Office says that Cvijanovic and Wigemark discussed the European integration process in the light of B&H’s intention to submit an application for membership in the EU and that they exchanged opinions on the current security challenges in B&H and the world.​

 

Macedonian Prime Minister: Parliamentary elections will be held in April (MNA)

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski announced on Monday evening that the early general elections will be held on April 24, as was agreed by the leaders of the four largest parties in Macedonia during their negotiations over the summer, facilitated by EU Commissioner Johannes Hahn. Gruevski announced the decision after a meeting with the his coalition partners, coming days after a marathon discussion on Friday aimed to win the approval of the largest opposition party SDSM to stick to the agreed date. Parliament met shortly after Gruevski spoke, to approve the letter of resignation which he submitted last week. This opened the door for the election of a new Prime Minister, which VMRO-DPMNE already announced would be Emil Dimitriev, currently the party's Secretary General. VMRO-DPMNE and its immediate coalition partners hold 59 seats in the 123-seat Parliament, and the two parties that represent ethnic Albanians, DUI and DPA, have indicated they will support holding the elections on the agreed date. SDSM objected the date, saying that there is not enough time to revise the electoral roll, to verify if it has been properly updated, and to pass media regulation, which the four parties could not agree over. Gruevski said that his party will speed up the process of verifying the electoral roll, by removing all its objections to the methodology that the State Electoral Commission proposed to be used. “Standing firm behind the elections, which were agreed by all the main parties, reaffirms our faith in democracy, and in the basic promise that all power comes from you, the citizens. This reaffirms that the only way for us to move ahead as a country and a nation is for the leaders to put the will of the people ahead of their personal ambitions and interests. VMRO-DPMNE and the ‘For a Better Macedonia’ coalition have today removed their objections to the methodology proposed by the SEC. We will fully accept the method that, as both of us and Commissioner Hahn were informed, can be implemented in time for the elections. The two institutions that are most responsible for conducting the elections are both in the hands of opposition nominees. The State Electoral Commission and the Interior Ministry, which is led by the technical Interior Minister nominated by SDSM, Oliver Spasovski, have the capacity to guarantee fair and democratic elections. Respected citizens, it is now time to move forward,” Gruevski said. In its initial response, SDSM repeated their objections to holding the elections unless the electoral roll is examined and the media regulation are adopted, but did not explicitly say they will not take part in the April 24 elections. “The decision by the VMRO-­DPMNE Executive Committee again proved that Nikola Gruevski is afraid of free, fair and democratic elections. Gruevski does not want a revised electoral roll so that he can be able to manipulate with fabricated voters. Nikola Gruevski does not want free media because he needs the media darkness he created to hide his crime in the past 10 years. The Family would like to use the non-revised electoral roll and the media darkness to save its own skins. That is why Nikola Gruevski and VMRO-­DPMNE did not meet the basic obligations from the Przino Agreement. For SDSM, it is unacceptable to take part in elections without free media and without a revised electoral roll, and we will not take part in such elections. SDSM will continue to fight to create the conditions for fair and democratic elections, with all the democratic means at our disposal,” SDSM informed in its initial, written response following the decision by the ruling coalition.

 

Alternate deputy and deputy ministers in Macedonia’s transitional government elected (MNA)

Few minutes before midnight the Macedonian Assembly elected the Alternate Deputy and the Deputy Ministers who will be part of the first transitional government in the country, who’s Prime Minister elect is Emil Dimitriev. The Deputy Prime Ministers and their alternates were elected with 72 votes in favor, not one against, whereas six MPs abstained from the vote. Same as the ministers, the transitional Government consists of the Deputy Ministers who served that position thus far. Therefore, Ilmi Selami remains Deputy Defense Minister, Zemri Kamili remains to serve at the Interior Ministry, Biljana Briskoska-Boskovski at the Justice Ministry, Dragana Kiprijanova at the Foreign Ministry, Ardian Xheladini at the Finance Ministry.  Hristijan Delev will stay at the Economy Ministry, Vanco Kostadinoski at the Agriculture Ministry, Jovica Andovski at the Healthcare Ministry, Spiro Ristovski - the Education and Science Ministry, Ibrahim Ibrahimi at the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, Ljupco Prendzov at the Local Government Ministry, and Dragan Nedeljkovic at the Culture Ministry. Timpo Mucunski remains to serve at the Ministry of Information Society and Administration, Nimetula Halimi at the Ministry of Transport and Connections, and Stevo Temelkovski at the Environment Ministry. Mitko Cavkov remains the alternate Deputy Minister of Interior Affairs, Dime Spasov as the alternate Deputy Labor Minister, Kire Naumov - the alternate Finance Minister, Ljupco Nikolov - alternate Deputy Agriculture Minister and Aleksandar Kiracovski remains to serve as the alternate deputy minister at the Information Society and Administration.

 

Hahn: All political and institutional actors in the country to ensure fair elections (MRT)

The EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn’s statement on the decision for the early elections adopted on Monday by the Macedonian Assembly and dissolution of the government:

“I take note of the decisions taken today to conduct early elections on 24 April as foreseen in the Przino agreement. But as stated, I would have preferred a consensual solution by all parties. Now it is critically important that all political and institutional actors in the country do their utmost to ensure fair elections in line with democratic standards. To achieve this, the urgent preparatory work must be stepped up, notably on the voters' list. Despite the failure to find a common agreement on the election date, I expect all political parties to cooperate constructively and to stick to all their commitments under the June/July political agreement, including the urgent reform priorities.”

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January 24 - vote of confidence in the Montenegrin parliament (RTCG)

Is the government of the Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic going to receive the confidence in the Montenegrin Parliament on January 24, will depend on the vote of the opposition Positive Montenegro. This is the epilogue of Djukanovic’s sudden, announced in which he initiate the vote of confidence in his government. The opposition, however, is now seeking the formation of a transitional government which would prepare regular parliamentary elections. The Prime Minister and his Democratic Party of Socialists are opposing, arguing that there are no elements to do so.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Serb election likely to result in government romp (politico.eu, by Andrew MacDowall, 19 January 2016)

Serbia’s leader says he needs a fresh mandate to push EU accession.

Calling snap elections is a proven political gambit for Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, who said over the weekend that he wants a poll two years before his government’s term expires.

“Serbia needs four more years of stability so that it is ready to join the European Union,” was Vučić’s rationale. The real reason may be simpler — he and his nominally conservative Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) are far ahead in opinion polls and are almost certain to win.

“Vučić is good at elections, likes them, and his opinion poll ratings have been remarkably durable despite rolling out some difficult reforms, extending to fiscal consolidation and structural reform,” wrote Timothy Ash, an emerging markets analyst with Nomura, an investment bank. “So it seems inconceivable at this point that the ruling SNS would not win again with a landslide.” The SNS is polling at more than 50 percent, while the opposition is weak and divided. The vote will probably be held in late April. Vučić pulled a similar maneuver in 2014, when his party was part of a governing coalition. The SNS took 48 percent of the vote, won 158 of 250 seats in parliament, and Vučić became prime minister. This time he is facing both political and economic headwinds and will be helped by a fresh and even larger mandate. The country of 7 million has struggled through three recessions since 2009, and last year signed a three-year stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund that demands tough economic reforms, including privatization and fiscal consolidation. Vučić has reached out to Bosnia in particular, attending a joint session of Serbia and Bosnia’s governments. Some progress has been made on passing new economic laws and piecemeal sell-off of some state assets, but deep cuts to the top-heavy public administration have yet to take place, and in December the government cancelled the sale of Telekom Srbija, the state-owned telecoms company widely regarded as the government’s most attractive asset. Vučić has also led an anti-corruption campaign — an important contributor to his popularity, though critics say it is politicized and avoids shady figures in his inner circle. He has also balanced his nationalist roots — he was a hardline information minister under Slobodan Milošević during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War — with a friendlier approach to Serbia’s old enemies in the former Yugoslavia. Vučić has reached out to Bosnia in particular, attending a joint session of Serbia and Bosnia’s governments, and ceremonies to commemorate the Srebrenica massacre (where he was pelted with bottles and stones). However, he also attended controversial ceremonies to mark the anniversary of the founding of Bosnia’s Serb Republic, whose forces committed the massacre. There is a similar balance in foreign policy. The Vučić government has refused to join EU sanctions on Russia, Serbia’s historical ally, but it has also asserted its commitment to eventually joining the European Union; Belgrade and Brussels are in accession talks and the government says the goal is to join the bloc by 2020, though many think this is unrealistic. Serbia has also been conspicuously active in helping migrants and refugees through its territory with minimum fuss, with Vučić’s “European values” praised by diplomats in contrast to the hostility shown by Serbia’s fence-building EU neighbours in Hungary, among others. The process is made much easier because few if any asylum seekers want to stay in Serbia. Almost all are pushing on to much wealthier Germany. The talks with the EU are the main reason Vučić gave for his election call. “My estimation is that Serbia needs a full four years to make all the necessary preparations to make the integration process irreversible,” he told reporters. “Serbia needs four years of stability so nothing can turn it back.” But the opposition takes a more cynical view of the prime minister’s motives, accusing him of centralising power, curbing media freedom, and failing to get to grips with the sluggish economy. “The upcoming elections are not the consequence of the PM’s proclaimed will for speeding up reforms, as he could have done so with the vast parliamentary majority he already enjoys,” said Konstantin Samofalov, spokesman for the centrist Social Democrats. “To the contrary, the prime minister called snap elections in order to prolong his power.”​

 

Serbia’s Opposition ‘Must Unite or Face Defeat’ (BIRN, by Sasa Dragojlo, 19 January 2016)

Serbia’s liberal opposition parties must set aside their quarrels and unite to have any chance of competing with the ruling Progressive Party at the upcoming pre-term parliamentary elections, analysts said. The only possible election strategy that could offer any success to Serbia’s liberal opposition parties is to create a coalition that could challenge Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s ruling Progressive Party, according to analysts. Zoran Stojiljkovic, a professor at the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade, told BIRN that the opposition parties are too weak to achieve anything alone and must put up a united front. “The only possible strategy for the pro-European liberal parties is to make a coalition. That’s their only option if they want to oppose the Vucic domination,” Stojiljkovic said. Serbia will hold early parliamentary and local elections this spring, Vucic announced after a meeting of the main board of the Progressive Party on Sunday.

The parliamentary elections could be held on April 24, Belgrade-based newspaper Politika reported on Monday, quoting an unnamed high-ranking Progressive Party official. The opposition has claimed in recent weeks that elections are needed because the Progressive-led government has devastated the country. However public opinion surveys have suggested that an early vote will only strengthen the ruling party’s grip. A survey in October 2015 by Ipsos Strategic Marketing suggested that the Progressive Party would win 45.8 per cent of the vote if a new poll was held immediately – much more than all the others. The Social Democratic Party led by former Serbian President Boris Tadic and the Liberal Democratic Party led by Cedomir Jovanovic made a pact with the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina on Monday. They also said that they are willing to talk with the former ruling Democratic Party on Tuesday about a bigger opposition coalition. Political analyst Bosko Jaksic told BIRN that a strong opposition is needed in a fragile democracy such as Serbia’s, but he thinks that the potential opposition coalition is “artificial”. “It would be really important for Serbia to gain a strong opposition that would control the work of the government,” Jaksic said. “However, their announced coalition would be just a pre-election truce since they have shown a high level of personal animosity,” he added, referring to the Democratic Party split before the elections in 2012, when longtime leader Boris Tadic quit and founded his own Social Democratic Party. After splitting, former party associates denounced each other in the media, blaming each other for losing power. Several other high-ranking members of the Democratic Party have also been expelled or voluntarily left the party in order to form their own political groupings in the past two weeks. Stoiljkovic said he thinks that Vucic made a clever tactical move to call elections two years ahead of schedule to capitalize on his current popularity ahead of painful reforms. The move also denies the opposition enough time to make a significant impact on public opinion. “This is really smart from Vucic since his support will probably be far less in 2018 after all the tough economic measures. Also, the opposition cannot do anything significant in just three months,” Stoiljkovic said. “In the opposition you have recycled politicians. They need time to reorganize,” he added.

At the last elections, both the Liberal Democratic Party and the Social Democratic Party struggled to secure their places in parliament, as Jovanovic's party failed to break the five per cent threshold and Tadic’s scored just above that mark. The Democratic Party, which led the government before the Progressives came to power in 2012, won only 5.9 per cent of votes in 2014.

 

Bosnian Court ‘Under Pressure’ After Politician’s Arrest (BIRN, by Denis Dzidic, 18 January 2016)

Legal experts and victims’ groups claimed that political elites were trying to control the state judiciary after a leading political party expressed anger about the arrest of one of its senior figures. Bosnian legal expert Vehid Sehic, a former judge, told BIRN that the state judiciary has been facing “continued pressures by political elites” after the prosecution came under fire last week over the arrest of a leading politician. “They are in essence trying to put the judiciary under control – through trying to decide who is elected to be a judge and prosecutor, and also through media, through these statements,” Sehic said. One of the country’s leading political parties, the Alliance for the Better Future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SBBBiH, strongly criticised the prosecution last week after one of its members, Bakir Dautbasic, was arrested for allegedly interfering in a drug-trafficking and murder trial. After the arrest ordered by the Bosnian prosecution and a custody remand agreed by the court, the SBBBiH called on the state judiciary not to “allow the closing of its credibility by upholding politically motivated charges”. The SBBBiH, which is led by media tycoon Fahrudin Radoncic, went on to nominate Dautbasic for a ministerial position despite the fact that he was in custody. The state court and prosecution responded on Friday by issuing a joint statement sharply condemning what they called “attempts to exert brute political pressure on the operation of the state-level judiciary”. “The court and prosecutor’s office will not allow disgruntled individuals, using powerful media outlets, to bring into question impartiality of these institutions and prosecute all those who have, by their actions, clashed with the law. There can be and there will be no exceptions in that regard,” said the statement. “It is completely inappropriate that political parties should exert pressure on the work of judicial institutions in such an overt manner and spearhead a media lynching of state prosecutors and judges,” it added. Murat Tahirovic, president of the Victims and Witnesses of Genocide association, told BIRN that political pressures on the judiciary were not new and that the court and prosecution have been working for the past few months “in impossible conditions, with the threat of a referendum above their heads”. “This referendum threat has been going on for months now and nobody seems to be dealing with it and this is why we have a situation in which it is very difficult for the judges and prosecutors to focus on professional work,” said Tahirovic. Parliament in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska has called for a referendum questioning the authority of the state-level judiciary because it believes it is biased against Serbs, especially in war crimes cases. In a separate statement last week, the Bosnian court also said that this year’s draft budget was insufficient for the work of the institution.

“If such a budget is adopted, the court of will not be able to meet the requests coming from the prosecutor’s office, which has been increasing the scope of its activities,” the court warned.

“The discrepancy between the number of judges and the number of prosecutors is so wide that we need to warn the public, that the Court will not be able to prosecute cases of terrorism, organised crime, corruption and war crimes,” it said. In the past two years, more than 20 new prosecutors have joined the prosecutor’s office to work on war crimes and terrorism-related cases. Sehic said however that although it was true that the Bosnian court has not been receiving the same level of support as the prosecution - and there was a need to level up the number of judges and prosecutors - more can be done “even with these capacities”. “What we are seeing are victims waiting for justice and that is the biggest injustice of them all… If we see a more professional approach, then better results can be achieved,” he said.

 

Montenegro to Hike Funding for Political Parties (BIRN, by Dusica Tomovic, 19 January 2016)

Political parties in Montenegro have been allocated twice as much state money in the 2016 budget than during the previous election cycle in 2012, despite the fact the country is facing large budget shortfalls. Political parties in Montenegro will receive about 6.56 million euro from the state budget this year - almost twice as much as they were allocated in 2012, when the last general elections were held. Of the funds, 4.63 million euro are intended for the financing of regular party work and 1.93 million for the campaign for the general elections planned this year. The funding allocation is proportional to the number of seats a party has in  parliament, so the largest amount will go to the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, led by Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, which holds 29 of the 81 seats. According to an analysis by a local watchdog called the Centre for Democratic Transition, CDT, which BIRN has seen, four years ago, ten parties with parliamentary status received 2.98 million from the budget and an additional 1.48 million for the election. “In comparison with the budgets of [state] institutions, in 2016 parties will get only one million [euro] less than the state prosecution’s budget, four times more than newly established Anti-Corruption Agency or 3.5 times more than the Constitutional Court for its work,” the CDT's report said. The organization calculated that political parties will cost Montenegrin citizens 18,000 euros a day or 750 euros an hour in 2016. The funding increase for political parties comes as the approved budget for 2016 of 2.1 billion euro is targeting a deficit of 276.6 million euro, equivalent to 7.2 per cent of the country’s GDP. The size of the public debt is projected to rise to 68.5 per cent of GDP by the end of 2016 and the government will borrow up to 205 million euro. While the cabinet said the budget would support society and the country’s development, the opposition, which voted against it in parliament, said the rise in public spending was mainly designed to support the ruling parties in an election year. Economic analyst Ivana Gudovic said that the budget for 2016 was designed more with electoral considerations in mind than development. Gudovic noted government plans to increase funds for civil service salaries by 13 million euros, even though it has been urged to reduce public sector spending by the EU. “There is no announcement of public-sector layoffs; on the contrary, the government is employing additional staff from the ruling party,” Gudovic told BIRN. Montenegro has been often criticized for excessively large allocations to political parties from the state budget, the lack of audit reports on political parties and non-transparent financing. The 2015 EU Progress Report on Montenegro, published in November last year, warned that alleged irregularities in the area of political party and electoral campaign financing, such as the abuse of state funds for political party purposes, have not been appropriately investigated. "Only a very small number of irregularities were established in connection with the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns. They all relate to the failure to submit annual reports on incomes, assets and expenditures," the report said.