LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic, Rama – “Russia factor” and campaign (Tanjug)

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Monday Serbia was advancing more quickly along the EU path because of “the Russia factor”, and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic replied to the remark, which was a digression from the topic of an EBRD summit in London, by saying he did not know an election campaign was underway in Albania. The EU is more favorably disposed to Serbia than to us, as we do not have Russia. They keep Albanians in Kosovo without visa liberalization, keep telling us that we are doing fine, but that there is more to be done. And then, he (Vucic) flies to Russia and gets the start of EU entry talks, Rama said humorously. Going on in the same vein, Rama said this was not criticism, but described it as “well-played”. To this, Vucic replied: “There’s an election campaign in Serbia... I was not aware a campaign had also started in Albania.” Rama then said he was "merely supporting" Vucic in his campaign. Rama’s initial remarks came as Vucic was replying to a question from the audience about Serbia's ties with Russia in the context of EU integration.

 

Coordination of security services necessary towards resolving crimes in Kosovo and Metohija (RTS)

The importance of coordination among all services has been pointed out at the session of the Working Group for collecting facts and evidence on shedding light on crimes against Serbs and other communities in Kosovo and Metohija. The Chairperson of the Working Group and the Chairperson of the parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun has stated that the data of security services on the crimes cannot be a secret and that the point of their joint work is the resolution of crimes. He also notes that Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Aleksandar Vucic will be informed about everything that they agree upon. The representative of the Security-Information Agency (BIA) Bojan Dimic says that this agency disposes with serious documentation on the crimes committed in Kosovo between 1998 and 2000 that should be used in a proper manner. He notes that the data is operative, but that there is also data that could be used in the criminal procedure. Dimic says that they have not been keeping selfishly all data they possess and that they have been submitting it to the prosecution. A representative of the Military-Security Agency (VBA) has stated that all data they possess had been forwarded to the prosecution, that it is operative and does not criminal-legal-procedure function, but nevertheless may help. They also agreed at the session to form an expert team that would be work with submitted data, i.e. their systematization. Data, reports and studies that were submitted to the working group contain several thousand pages.

 

Still no solution regarding disputable Kosovo textbooks (Danas)

The blockade of more than thousand textbooks in the Albanian language, sent by the Kosovo Education Ministry for elementary and high school students in Bujanovac and Presevo, has been going on for more than six months. “We are not giving up from the request to unblock the textbooks, since elementary rights of Albanians to education in their language are being thus violated,” the President of the Albanian National Council Jonuz Musliu says. Asked why classes have not been suspended, Musliu says that “a certain number of textbooks in the Albanian exist, but that he doesn’t understand why those donated by Pristina are disputable”. Musliu thinks it is “principally important to achieve the same rights in education that Serbia has in Kosovo”. “Nobody in Pristina has banned textbooks in the Serbian language, but those in the Albanian language are banned here and this is not good. We still think that this needs to be part of the Brussels dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina and we will insist on this,” said Musliu.

 

Stefanovic: We will behave just as Austria and Germany behave (Tanjug)

Serbia received a note from Slovenia informing Belgrade that official Ljubljana will accept only migrants who seek asylum in Austria or Germany. “Slovenia has informed us, and Austria had informed Slovenia that it will accept only migrants who are ready to seek asylum in Austria or Germany. This is what the note says,” Stefanovic told the press in Belgrade. “Not wishing to play games, it is pointless for someone to expect Serbia to accept migrants for whom we are receiving clear signals from Austria, Slovenia and Croatia that they will not admit them,” Stefanovic said in regard to the criticism from Greece on Macedonia’s and Serbia’s treatment of refugees.

 

Austria still without decision on refugees from Afghanistan (Beta)

Austria had scheduled a meeting titled “Joint migrant crisis management” for 24 February in Vienna, to discuss the migrant crisis, but it has made no decision related to taking in migrants from Afghanistan, Beta was told at the Austrian Embassy in Belgrade.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

SDA-SBB meeting: Unreserved support for the continuation of the coalition agreement (Oslobodjenje)

Members of leaderships of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Alliance for a Better Future (SBB) of B&H agreed at a meeting in Sarajevo on unreserved commitment to the continued operation of the inter-party coalition agreement at all levels, from the cantonal, federal, to state level. According to SDA Deputy President Adil Osmanovic, the coalition of these two parties has so far showed the ability to stabilize the political situation in B&H, to accelerate B&H path towards Euro-Atlantic integration and the implementation of the Reform Agenda. “The coalition, which is pro-Bosnian oriented, is working,” said Osmanovic. SDA supports SBB’s proposals for filling vacant positions in the Council of Ministers, said Osmanovic. Mirsad Djonlagic, a member of the SBB leadership, estimated the meetingas one in the continuous operation of working meetings where is talked about where else should intensify activities in order for the implementation of the coalition agreement to get on quality.

 

Covic: Coalition partners in revision phase (Srna)

The leader of the HDZ B&H Dragan Covic characterized in Bugojno the current developments between the coalition partners in the FB&H, SDA and SBB particularly, as the revision phase, expressing the hope there would be enough wisdom for a stable coalition. “I talked with the SDA and SBB leaders and I am certain that I will meet on 24 February with Radoncic and Izetbegovic, with whom I had scheduled several meetings. Our wish is to make an atmosphere where we will not be repeating constantly: we have a coalition, we don’t have a coalition. We must not implement the mandate by doing this,” said Covic.

 

FB&H Constitutional Court: The new Labor Law enacted contrary to FB&H Constitution (Fena)

The Constitutional Court of the Federation of B&H (FB&H) rendered a ruling today in which it is stated that the newly adopted Labor Law is contrary to the FB&H Constitution and Rules of Procedure of the House of Peoples of the FB&H parliament. Therefore, it is being returned to the phase of the proposing of this law in the House of Peoples, whereby “all regulations on the legislative process prescribed by the Rules of Procedure of the House of Peoples of the FB&H parliament must be respected”.

 

SIPA undertakes necessary measures in regard to threats by Amir Selimovic against Bosniaks and Rais (Fena)

Under the supervision of the B&H Prosecutor’s Office, the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) shall take the necessary measures and actions to document the illegal activities and the determination of all the necessary facts regarding the threat against Bosniaks and the Raisu-l-ulema Husein ef. Kavazovic, a member of ISIL, by Amir Selimovic from Zivinice in a video on YouTube.

 

VMRO-DPMNE: No valid arguments for postponing the elections, SDSM wants to prolong the crisis (MIA)

“VMRO-DPMNE considers that it’s not true that there are no conditions for holding fair and democratic elections. But it’s true that SDSM is not ready to go to the elections, because it is aware that it will lose because it does not have the support of the people. It’s also true that because of that fear SDSM wants to prolong the crisis and SDSM would go to any lengths to do that,” VMRO-DPMNE said in a press release. According to the party, the representatives of the US and the EU hasn’t presented any serious and credible argument in favor of the thesis that Macedonia is not ready for elections which, as the party says, makes it clear that this is an assessment based on a political decision, and not facts.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Austria rejects Balkans migrants conference criticism (Agence France Presse, 23 February 2016)

VIENNA: Austria Tuesday rejected criticism from Greece that Athens has not been invited to a conference in Vienna Wednesday among countries along the west Balkans route for migrants towards northern Europe. "These meetings (of western Balkan states) take place within a format and with fixed participants," interior ministry spokesman Karl-Heinz Grundboeck told AFP.

"A summary of the meeting will be provided at talks between (EU) interior and justice ministers Thursday in Brussels," he said. The "Managing Migration Together" meeting in Vienna involves the foreign and interior ministers of Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Greece's foreign ministry said its that being left out meant that the conference was "an attempt to take decisions in Greece's absence that directly affect Greece and Greek borders." Greece has also accused Austria of undermining efforts to reach a joint European response to the migration crisis by siding with hardline EU members who refuse to take any refugees. Vienna has moved closer to the Visegrad Four group -- Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic -- in their call for tighter EU controls inside the passport-free Schengen zone. "One must recognize that Austria has already taken 100,000 refugees... but I think it is making a very big mistake by placing itself alongside these countries," junior interior minister for migration Yiannis Mouzalas told Vima radio Monday. Vienna last week also introduced a cap of 80 asylum-seekers per day and said it would only let 3,200 migrants pass through each day, sparking fears of a domino effect along the Balkan migrant trail. The limits have also seen Austria come under fire from the EU commissioner for migration and Germany's interior minister.

 

Montenegro will have to close borders if neighbours do: PM (Reuters, 22 February 2016)

Montenegro will have to close its borders to refugees and migrants to avoid being overwhelmed if other nearby countries do so, the country's prime minister told Reuters on Monday.

Europe is suffering its biggest migrant crisis since World War Two. More than a million migrants entered the European Union last year via the Balkan route, crossing through Greece, Macedonia and Serbia towards wealthier western Europe. Montenegro, a tiny ex-Yugoslav republic sandwiched between Serbia, Albania and the Adriatic Sea, is not on the main Balkan route, but fears that Macedonia may shut its border with Greece, possibly diverting many migrants into Albania and Montenegro. "If the European countries dealing with the consequences of the migrant crisis opt to close their borders, what else is there for a country like Montenegro to do," said Djukanovic, in London for a conference of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. "Of course" Montenegro would have to shut its borders, he said, if Macedonia shut its frontier with Greece and further north countries such as Hungary and Austria tightened their own border restrictions. On Monday thousands of migrants were stranded in northern Greece after Macedonia demanded additional identification from people seeking to cross the border and head to western Europe, witnesses said. Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia are all official candidates for European Union membership, though they are unlikely to join the bloc for many years. Austria has invited the Balkan states to talks on migration in Vienna on Wednesday following its own move to limit asylum applicants to 80 per day. EU justice and home affairs ministers will also discuss the migrant crisis again in Brussels on Thursday ahead of a summit of the bloc's heads of state and government on March 17-18.

(Reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by Gareth Jones)