LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic: Disagreement in RS should be resolved peacefully (RTS)

At an extraordinary press conference in the Serbian government, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has stated that, referring to data from intelligence circles, unrests are possible on Saturday during the political rallies in Banja Luka and called all politicians in Republika Srpska for peace. Vucic says he is concerned over the information on possible unrests, noting that he had talked with the RS officials, and asked them to avoid clashes. “I am asking on this occasion all representatives of the political life in RS to look at the future of RS with full responsibility and to understand that the survival of RS would be brought into question with unrests and that Serbia would be brought into a very difficult situation,” said the Prime Minister. He says that disagreements must be resolved in a peaceful manner.

Vucic says he will start talks to form a new government as soon as he finishes the plan and program of his future cabinet, for which he needs around 10 more days, but noted that the government may have one minister less. “I believe we will have the same number of ministries, possibly one minister less. We are working on the law on the government and ministries, but before that we must make the plan and program,” Vucic told reporters, after being asked about the make-up of the new government and whether it would include the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV) and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He announced possible changes to portfolios of two ministries, and new names in the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).

 

Kocijancic: EU for full implementation of Belgrade-Pristina agreements; dialogue after formation of government (Beta/Tanjug)

The EU consistently requires that the agreements between Belgrade and Pristina be fully applied, spokesperson for EU High Representative Maja Kocijancic told Beta. She said that any suggestion that the Belgrade-Pristina agreement is being rearranged is out of touch with reality and a fabricated piece of misinformation. Kocijancic made the statement when asked by Beta for the EU stance on an announcement by the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric that Serbia considered it completely unacceptable to change the agreement between Belgrade and Pristina unilaterally. The EU is working at its headquarters in Brussels to ensure holding a new round of dialogue at the highest political level between Belgrade and Pristina, but this will happen only after a new government is set up in Belgrade, Tanjug was told in Brussels Tuesday. The High Representative, Federica Mogherini, is in contact with both sides to ensure steps are made that would lead to progress in the implementation of what has been agreed, Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for the European Commission (EC), told Tanjug.

As Tanjug learned from diplomatic sources in Brussels, the EU continues to insist on full implementation of what has been agreed in the dialogue, which, they say, is not the case right now. The sources also said that High Representative Mogherini would not convene a new round of dialogue until the appointment of a new prime minister in Serbia. In the meanwhile, Belgrade and Pristina will be holding technical level talks in Brussels.

 

Kosovo Chamber of Commerce becomes member of the European Chamber of Commerce; Cadez congratulates his Kosovo colleague (New Serbian Political Thought)

The Kosovo Chamber of Commerce became yesterday member of the European Chamber of Commerce, which is a union of the chambers of commerce of all European countries. As never before, Serbia and Belgrade institutions didn’t oppose Kosovo’s admission. As it can be seen on a recording published by Interaktiv, the President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Marko Cadez congratulated the President of the Kosovo Chamber of Commerce Safet Gerhaliu. Kosovo received 43 votes for admission, while three countries abstained, including Serbia.

 

Pristina wishes an army following admission in UEFA (Politika)

Encouraged with diplomatic successes such as the UEFA admission and the Brussels announcement of a visa-free regime, official Pristina announced a new step towards completing Kosovo’s statehood – the formation of an army. Even though it is not the first time that the transformation of the Kosovo Security Forces (BSK) into the Kosovo Armed Forces (OSK) is being mentioned, Kosovo Premier Isa Mustafa told Zeri that this will happen “very soon” even though, as Tanjug reports, he didn’t mention that this had been discussed with the Kosovo Serb MPs. Without them there is no legal possibility to achieve this: according to the Kosovo Constitution, this decision needs to be approved by two-thirds of minority representatives in the Kosovo Assembly, which is 14 of a total of 20 MPs, including ten Serb. “For the time being, nobody has officially contacted us,” the Minister in the Kosovo government Dalibor Jevtic tells Politika. Even though there are formal constitutional-legal obstacles for the formation of an army, Goran Bogdanovic, former minister for Kosovo and Metohija in the government of Mirko Cvetkovic, warns that “everything that Pristina had been mentioning turned out to be true”, while SNS MP and the outgoing Chairperson of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun says that the Kosovo government could avoid the legal procedure and create an army by transforming the security forces. Drecun tells Politika that official Belgrade presented the stand that the formation of a Kosovo army would represent a destabilizing act for the Serb community, which is in violation of UNSCR 1244 and the Brussels process of normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. “Thus, Serbia can react diplomatically through Brussels, Washington and the United Nations, but on the other side the Albanians will not receive support from the Serb MPs in the Kosovo Assembly. If they try to do this in a different way, then it will be up to their mentors to estimate what they are doing,” says Drecun. For the time being, he says, they are looking for a legal model since “they have NATO support for this”. “Yet, the problem here is how legal will this be over the opposition of the Serb side. It is very hard to say whether Serbia can prevent that. Serbia raised its capacity through the Brussels agreement to be able to openly oppose such intentions by Pristina. But, if their Western mentors accept Serbia’s arguments and estimate that the formation of an army will bring more harm to the West than benefit to Pristina, then it will be prevented, and if not – it will allow its formation,” says Drecun. Goran Bogdanovic doesn’t exclude the support of Kosovo Serb MPs for the formation of an army, because, as he says, “it would have been hard to believe that they would support Thaci as the president through quorum, even though he has been constantly labeled by the Kosovo Serbs and the Belgrade authorities as a war criminal and trader in organs”. “The Serb List is obviously doing everything under Belgrade’s influence. It is hard to say what would be Serbian government’s interest for Kosovo to get an army, but it was also hard to say what its interest for Thaci to become president was. The consequence of that situation is that a good part of the Kosovo Serbs believes more what Edita Tahiri will say than anyone else,” notes Bogdanovic, who is presently the deputy of Boris Tadic’s Social-Democrat Party (SDS).

 

Nikolic to call parties for consultations after all (Danas)

The President’s cabinet stated that Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic did not say that there would not be consultations, but rather only posed the question of the justification of consultations for the appointment of the Prime Minister designate of the new government, at the moment when the representative of the election majority presents to him the evidence that he can form government. Nikolic’s media advisor Stanislava Pak Stankovic told Danas that the President would address the representatives of the election lists, acquaint them with the fact that the majority for forming government was formed, so that they could declare their decision of whether they wished to attend consultations on the grounds of article 112 of the Constitution.

 

Vucic to invite Socialists to government (Danas)

SPS party leader Ivica Dacic has told Danas that he has not been offered the post of Serbian parliament speaker. Danas quotes sources close to SNS that SNS leader Aleksandar Vucic will after all invite the Socialists (SPS) to talks on the formation of a future government. The reason is the assessment that a coalition with the Socialists is needed in order to form authorities in Vojvodina, in big cities, or in municipalities the SNS considers important... in case the Socialists do not join the government, they could withhold their support to the SNS at other important levels of government, possibly in Belgrade too, which would jeopardize the Belgrade Waterfront project, that is very important for the SNS rule in the capital. According to the daily, SPS officials Dijana Vukomanovic and Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic are currently mentioned as possible new ministers of education and health. However, it is almost certain that Dacic will not remain the foreign minister, writes Danas.

 

MP’s from 12 lists to be awarded mandates tomorrow (Novosti)

Candidates for the MP’s from the 12 lists that crossed census will receive the mandates tomorrow, Novosti reports. This will be the first step towards the constituting of the new Serbian parliament and the introduction into the selection of the prime minister and the ministers. The next step is the scheduling of the constitutive session of Parliament, no later than 4 June. At that session, the mandates should be confirmed and when they are verified by two-thirds of the seats, the parliament is considered to be constituted.

 

Serb home set on fire in Kosovo village (Tanjug)

A Serb home under construction in the village of Tomance, Istok municipality, was set on fire last night, the Kosovo Ministry for Returns and Communities has told Tanjug. The house was damaged in the fire, which was spotted by the contractor. The house is being built for Serb returnee Ljubomir Radojevic and his family as part of an EU-funded project of the ministry. Kosovo Minister of Communities and Returns Dalibor Jevtic said that the incident is a bad message that puts returns under great threat. Such cases are a direct message to returnees that they are not welcome in their places of return, and is also a threat to returns, which are not at a satisfactory level, anyway, Jevtic said.

 

Serwer: Vucic is unacceptable for Russia (Danas)

Official Moscow sees Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic as unreliable and unacceptable, Danas was told by Professor at the Johns Hopkins University Daniel Serwer who was on a visit to Belgrade. Serwer says that Vucic is not balancing between Russia and the EU, but sending clear signals of commitment to EU integration, whereby he explains the claims that the Serbian Prime Minister is an unacceptable leader in the eyes of Russian officials. “Serbia’s future is in Europe. Moscow will try to prevent Europe from enlargement in places where it considers being its sphere of influence, including parts of the Balkans, such as Serbia. However, I am certain that the leadership in Belgrade understands very well that Russia doesn’t represent prosperity and freedom that Brussels represents.”

Do you agree with the assessments that Aleksandar Vucic is sitting on two chairs in the foreign policy just because of the mood of citizens, which is pro-Russian oriented, and is this pandering cowardly or wise?

“It seems to me that the Prime Minister was quite clear in public in view of the fact that he is not balancing between the EU and Russia. Of course, there are pro-Russian elements in Serbia, as far as I understand, which will be in the new government. However, Putin’s Russia has placed itself in a very difficult position: it is militarily exhausted in the Ukraine and Syria, it needs high prices of oil in order to be able to balance the budget, it hasn’t managed to develop domestic industry, and presently it is enduring international sanctions and isolated itself from the rest of Europe. Nobody objective would want to approach this decaying regional force that is losing power by the day.”

Would the inclusion of people with a clear pro-European orientation into the government be some sort of signal for you? We also had ministers with that reputation in the previous convocation.

“Signals to which I will pay attention will be derived from what this government will be doing, not what it says or who is part of it.”

Is Vucic a politician who will take Serbia to NATO?

“Vucic has certainly demonstrated readiness to develop strong ties with NATO. He also recognizes the importance of the role that NATO has played in the protection of Serbs in Kosovo. However, the decision on NATO membership still seems to me quite far. In the end, this will be Serbia’s decision, not of foreigners, which will be passed much later in regard to the one passed by Montenegro, and possibly even later in regard to Kosovo and Macedonia.”

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Davutoglu’s insulting speech (Srna)

B&H Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak said Tuesday in Banja Luka that the speech by Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu, whose resignation was soon to take effect, at the opening ceremony of Ferhat Pasha Mosque in Banjaluka, was insulting. “I advocate the development of good relations between Turkey and the Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, but must make it clear that this country will no longer be present in B&H as it used to be during the Ottoman Empire,” Crnadak told the reporters. He claims that Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik knew what Davutoglu would speak about in Banja Luka. “Instead of warning us all, we now deal with hindsight. I have not received his letter. The B&H Presidency will hardly reach an agreement on sending a letter of protest to Turkey over Davutoglu’s speech,” Crnadak added.

 

Zvizdic and Hahn regarding B&H’s EU integration (Srna/Bap.ba)

B&H Council of Ministers Chairman Denis Zvizdic pointed out during talks with the EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, that governments at all levels in B&H will invest additional efforts in the continuation of reforms and meeting the most important requirements so that the EU Council can consider the country’s membership application with a positive outcome. During the meeting, Zvizdic and Hahn also talked about the population census. Commissioner Hahn said that it is necessary to publish results as soon as possible, in accordance with the law and recommendation from EUROSTAT. Chairman Zvizdic informed the commissioner Hahn about the status of key conditions for continuation of European integration- he expressed belief that all political actors in B&H will show a dose of responsibility towards the historical opportunity which is ahead of us, so that all the remaining EU conditions would be met. This would eventually result in the delivery of a Questionnaire to B&H. Zvizdic met also with the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini, who commended B&H’s progress on the European path and emphasized that it was now the right time to comply with the agreements regarding the adaptation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement and coordination mechanism. European Commission services do not believe that all conditions have been met to hold a ministerial meeting in the scope of the Structured Dialogue on Justice on Wednesday as a consolidated version of the draft law on B&H courts has not been submitted, the EU Delegation confirmed to Srna. Meanwhile the French Ambassador to B&H Claire Bodonyi told B&H Presidency Chairman Bakir Izetbegovic that EU diplomats in B&H expect the remaining requirements for accepting B&H’s EU membership application to be fulfilled.

 

Karacic: Postponing the publication of census results is unacceptable (Fena)

A member of the B&H Central Census Bureau and the Secretary of the Federation of B&H Statistics Institute Galiba Karacic said at the presentation of the recommendations of the International Monitoring Mission (IMO) for the population census relating to the establishment of the single program to process the results of the Census in B&H from 2013 that the Federation of B&H Statistics Institute finds unacceptable postponement of the publication of the census results without prior determining a unique methodology. Karacic, says that members of the Central Census Bureau from the Office support the idea of processing as many enumeration forms as possible instead of excluding them from the final results of the population census that was conducted in 2013.

 

Djukanovic: In a variety of ridiculous Balkan inventions, we have opposition within the government (CDM)

In a variety of “ridiculous Balkan inventions” in the past three years, there has been a new term in Montenegro – the opposition within the government, Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said during the business lunch of the American Chamber of Commerce in Montenegro (AmCham). According to Djukanovic, by inviting the opposition to enter the government until the elections, the government of Montenegro made “an unusual move for the European political practice”, because of two reasons. “The first one – in this way we are acting therapeutically against the problem of a lack of trust between the opposition and the government and the opposition’s lack of trust in the electoral system and the institutions,” Djukanovic said. He also said that there was the opposition outside the government. Not only that the opposition acts against the government, but it also acts against the state interests. “When the opposition within the government is added to it, then there is slightly more opposition than it is necessary and the government is slightly less founded in the voters’ will and the majority in the parliament,” Djukanovic said. Commenting on the Euro-Atlantic integration, he said he expected Montenegro to meet all the formal conditions for membership in NATO by the end of spring 2017. He repeated that receiving NATO invitation in December 2015 represented an important strategic step forward in terms of the integration. Djukanovic also said that he expected Montenegro to sign the Protocol of Accession with the other NATO member states on 19 May. He also said that the ratification procedure that follows would take about a year. Commenting on the EU integration, he said that Montenegro had accomplished a lot and opened 22 negotiating chapters, as well as that it was ready to open additional eight chapters. Djukanovic said he believed most of them, if not all, would be opened this year. “Some of them will be opened by the end of the Dutch presidency, i.e. until the end of June”, he said, adding that the chapters include those related to the agriculture sector. He explained that chapters related to the environment and agriculture were the most challenging ones. Djukanovic said that it was very important not to rush to meet deadlines. “The negotiation process is not only a way to go towards the membership, but also a very important chance to learn all the things in order for Montenegro to be able function as a full EU member,” Djukanovic said. He said that Montenegro provided a momentum of foreign direct investments as a growth factor because of its perception as a stable destination and that this had to be the ultimate challenge for all political entities, particularly for the government.

 

Kurti joins protests in Skopje (Telegraf.mk)

Several hundred Albanians from Kosovo have arrived in Skopje on Monday to take part in the protest staged in front of the Macedonian government building, held on the occasion of the first anniversary of the Kumanovo armed incident. They arrived in Skopje by bus, and their main organizer is Albin Kurti, the leader of the radical political Self-Determination Movement in Kosovo. Kurti announced via social networks that he will attend the protest, whose participants demand halting the legal proceedings against the terrorist group believed to have carried out the attacks in Kumanovo on May 9-10 last year, and which infiltrated on Macedonian territory from Kosovo. Eight Macedonian police officers were killed in the fatal clashes. The demonstrators also demanded the end of the terror exerted against the Albanians in Macedonia, as well as, according to them, the staged court proceedings led against the cases known in the public as “Monster” and “Diva Naselba”. The usual decor of the Tuesday protests involved thousands of Albanian and Kosovar flags, as well as EU and US flags, complemented by shouts such as “UCK” - the Albanian abbreviation of the Kosovo Liberation Army, and “Greater Albania”. But truth be told, the protest was not marked by one single incident or demolition of buildings, as it is the case with the protests carried out by the followers of the “I Protest” civil initiative. Kurti is one of the most radical political figures in Kosovo. He served as a former Kosovo Liberation Army commander and now heads the Self-Determination Movement. He is a fierce adversary of the current Kosovo government and is particularly hostile against current President Hashim Thaci. Last year, Kurti spent one month in jail after the police have stormed the party’s headquarters. His arrest was preceded by a protest organized by the Self-Determination Movement. He was revolted by the implementation of the Brussels agreement on the establishment of community of Serbian municipalities. His rhetoric always calls for unification of Kosovo and Albania and suspending all relations with Serbian politicians.

 

Macedonia: Poll Shows VMRO-DPMNE continues to lead, outperforming SDSM (Telegraf.mk)

A poll conducted by the Conservative “Pavel Satev” Institute shows that the ruling VMRO­DPMNE party and its leader Nikola Gruevski continue to outperform opposition SDSM and its leader Zoran Zaev by wide margins. The poll, conducted on 1.070 citizens, excluding ethnic Albanians who traditionally don't vote for VMRO-­DPMNE or SDSM, shows that Gruevski leads Zaev nearly three to one (30.8 percent to 11.4 percent). Asked which party would win in the next elections, 49.6 percent of those polled said that it will be VMRO, while 20.2 percent opted for SDSM. Both results show a slight decline for Zaev and SDSM, compared to the earlier poll conducted in April, while Gruevski and VMRO have maintained their rating at a steady level.“Pavel Satev” also asked the public about their view of President Gjorge Ivanov, who has taken an unusually high political profile, with his decision to pardon dozens of politicians and their supporters from both VMRO and SDSM. The poll shows that 54.3 percent of the public have a positive view of President Ivanov, while 30.4 percent view him unfavorably. In April, the corresponding numbers stood at 52.6 and 27 percent.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Balkan Offshore Businesses Named in Panama Database (BIRN Team, 10 May 2016)

Scores of people from the Balkans including tycoons, an ex-ambassador, politicians, a banker and some convicted fraudsters appear in a newly-released database of users of offshore tax havens.

Scores of people and companies linked to Balkan countries appear in the searchable online database of more than 320,000 offshore companies and trusts leaked from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca which was made public by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, ICIJ on Monday. The database published by the ICIJ - which stresses the fact that the people included in the list are not accused of breaking any law - includes the names and addresses of a range of firms and individuals from across the Balkans that have in the past exploited secretive offshore tax havens.

Albania

Nineteen individuals, six companies and two offshore entities are linked to Albania in the database. However some of them are not Albanians, such as Sultan Bin Jassin Al-Thani, the head of the ruling family of Qatar, and Sheikh Hamed Bin Hamed Al Hamed from Abu Dhabi.

One well-known Albanian name however is Ismail Mulleti, a businessman who co-owns a company that has currently a much-criticised concessionary agreement with the Albanian government to put chemical markers in fuel as a measure to prevent fraudulent adulteration.

Bosnia

The database published by ICIJ revealed the identity of four Bosnian citizens. The most prominent figures are Nedim Uzunovic, the director of the Bosnian pharmaceutical company Bosnaljek, and Amel Kovacevic, a former Bosnian ambassador to China. Uzunovic, according to the documents, owned shares of in company Serreta Investing Inc., which was registered in Tel Aviv, Israel, while Kovacevic owned shares in Green Energy Group Ltd, registered in London.

Kovacevic also confirmed to Bosnian media on Monday night that he, together with Edin Smajic, another Bosnian citizen whose name is in the database - and whose identity still needs to be confirmed - registered a company in Hong Kong after the end of his mandate as Bosnian ambassador. "We did it because of the taxes, there are almost no taxes there," Kovacevic told Sarajevo-based website Klix, but he said that the company never did any bueiness and "didn't survive".

Croatia

According to the database published by the ICIJ, 38 people connected to Croatia, including businessmen, entrepreneurs and managers, have shares in offshore companies. These individuals, all mostly unknown to the public, are employed by or own companies specialising in export and trade, garbage disposal and recycling. Media are still checking the identity of some of those named, as one of them, Zlatko Garac, is believed to live in Romania, where he was shot and wounded in 2013. There are 20 offshore entities connected to Croatia, along with four intermediaries.

Macedonia

Roland Zlatku, Slobodan Spasovski and Aleksandar Panovski and John Jonovski are the four Macedonian nationals named in the Panama Papers database. Zlatku is registered as a shareholder in the company Eniston Development Corp., registered in the British Virgin Islands, while Spasovski is linked to the company Fission Dev Ltd, registered in the Seychelles.

Panovski has admitted owning Orient Oil & Gas Limited, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands. "I am the owner of the company Orient Oil & Gas Limited, and through it I trade oil, metals and other products,” Panovski told Telma TV. “I see nothing odd and problematic in owning a firm in the Virgin Islands. This is a practice applied by many people who work with these products. I have lived outside Macedonia for 20 years and I do not have a company registered there. Currently I live and work in Iran,” he added. According to the database, Jonovski, who lives in Britain, is linked to the company Phalanx Capital Inc, also registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Montenegro

Two companies from Montenegro and dozens of individuals are listed in the ICIJ database.

The database names the Montenegro Investment Corp and Montenegro Trade Company Inc, registered in the Seychelles and Panama but linked to other offshore companies in Switzerland and Hong Kong. Two Montenegrin nationals, Slobodan Perovic and Branko Vujosevic, are also named in the database, along with several foreigners who registered companies in Montenegro, although their identities have yet to be confirmed.

Romania

A total of 109 people or businesses connected to Romania are mentioned in the database, including politicians, media moguls and energy companies, along with eight offshore companies and six intermediaries. Among the most prominent names is Sorin Ovidiu Vantu, a Romanian businessman and former media mogul who owned Realitatea Media, considered one of the richest men in Romania before 2010. In 2012, he was sentenced to one year in jail for having blackmailed the former manager of Realitatea Media and in 2014, he was sentenced to two years in jail for helping controversial businessman Nicolae Popa in the FNI bankruptcy case.

FNI (Fondul National de Investitii) was a pyramid scheme which went bust in 2000, causing thousands of people to lose their savings. The database includes a former state secretary in the finance ministry and the former vice president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Ionut Costea, who is a shareholder in several offshore companies. It also includes Corneliu Iacobov, a former Social Democrat politician and ex-owner of the Rafo Onesti refinery, who was sentenced to seven years in jail for fraud in 2012.

Serbia

Eighteen businessmen and managers from Serbia who have companies in tax havens are listed in the database, as well as nine offshore entities. Among them are businessmen Srdjan Saper, Zoran Drakulic, Miodrag Kostic and others. The documents say that businessman Drakulic acted as a proxy for a company that controlled a firm that is suspected of helping to take money out of Serbia. Vuk Hamovic, a well-known electricity trader, was also mentioned in the Panama Papers data as Drakulic’s business partner. All the men denied any wrongdoing.

Kosovo was not included in the Panama Papers database.

 

IMF begins talks with Bosnia on new loan deal (Reuters, 10 May 2016)

SARAJEVO: The International Monetary Fund began a two-week visit to Bosnia on Tuesday for talks on a new loan deal after authorities in the ethnically divided country fulfilled key conditions for the resumption of negotiations. "The main focus areas of the programme are in the fiscal and financial sector areas, as well as structural reforms," IMF Resident Representative in Bosnia Francisco Parodi, told Reuters. "The measures will aim to maintain macroeconomic stability, safeguard financial sector health, and foster growth," he said. Bosnia is seeking a deal worth about 1 billion Bosnian marka ($580 million). A previous, 33-month programme worth around $720 million expired last June after the IMF froze it because of delays to reforms.

The country's two autonomous regions, the Bosniak-Croat Federation and the Serb Republic, whose total budget deficit amounts to about 1 billion Bosnian marka, need IMF cash to secure their financing needs. The IMF has insisted that both regions must improve tax administration and collection, and oversight of banks and the business environment. They have passed new labour laws, as requested by the IMF. Last week, banking authorities in Bosnia's Serb Republic said they would liquidate a troubled state-controlled bank, fulfilling the IMF's main condition for resuming talks. Parodi said the mission was expected to conclude on May 24 with a meeting with Bosnia's Fiscal Council, which includes senior officials and political leaders. Final approval of the arrangement will come from the IMF Executive Board, he said. The measures sought by the IMF are part of a wider programme the European Union wants Bosnia to implement to further its bid to join the bloc, particularly on social welfare, pensions and health funding.

 

Council of Europe concerned over Macedonia treatment of migrants (AFP, 11 May 2016)

STRASBOURG, France: The Council of Europe on Wednesday offered its help in training Macedonian border police, after allegations that officers are maltreating migrants as they try to enter the country on their way north. Macedonia has used tear gas and stun grenades to push back migrants at the Greek border to the south and has been accused by NGOs of using rubber bullets, though the government denies this charge. The council’s special representative on migration and refugees said in a report published Wednesday he was concerned about “allegations of maltreatment by police stationed along the Macedonian border”, following a research mission to the area in March. Tomas Bocek suggested the council help Macedonian authorities train border guards to ensure that “the border with Greece be watched over in accordance with the country’s obligations as well as in relation to human rights.” Thousands of migrants fleeing war, persecution and poverty in the Middle East and Asia have found themselves stranded in squalid conditions in the Greek border point of Idomeni after Macedonia and other Balkan states denied them passage to northern Europe. In recent months tensions have come to a boil at the border, with several hundred migrants being hurt when they tried to cross over in April. In the same report, Bocek called for greater mobilization of resources to provide migrants and refugees with acceptable living conditions when arriving in Greece and Macedonia.