LOCAL PRESS

 

Serbia hands in protest note over Slovenian President’s statement on Kosovo (Beta)

The Serbian Foreign Ministry on June 8 handed a protest note to the Slovenian ambassador because of a statement by Slovenian President Borut Pahor, who called for the recognition of Kosovo's independence and supported its participation in international organizations and integrations. The Serbian Foreign Ministry has stated that the Slovenian side had been urged to refrain from such statements in the future, which directly damage the relations and mutual trust between Serbia and Slovenia. “The Serbian Foreign Ministry recollects that this is not the first time that Slovenian officials have called for the recognition of the unilaterally proclaimed independence of so-called Kosovo, which undermines the highest interests of Serbia,” the statement reads. The Foreign Ministry has said that the statements by Slovenian officials regarding the unilaterally proclaimed independence of Kosovo undermined the efforts which Serbia and the European Union were investing in the status-neutral dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, which is the only legitimate framework for the accomplishing of stability in Kosovo. Because of Pahor’s statement during the visit by Kosovo President Hashim Thaci to Ljubljana, Slovenian Ambassador Vladimir Gasparic was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, where the assistant foreign minister, Goran Aleksic, handed him the protest note.

 

Obradovic: Serbia remains committed to cooperation with ICTY (Tanjug)

Serbia remains committed to cooperation with the ICTY and, despite criticism over the decision not to extradite three Serbian Radical Party officials, its judiciary is continuing the fight against impunity of war crimes committed during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Serbia’s special representative at the ICTY Sasa Obradovic said in New York on Wednesday. Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, Obradovic explained a ruling by the High Court in Belgrade under which the legal requirements for the arrests and extradition of Petar Jojic, Vjerica Radeta and Jovo Ostojic - charged with contempt of court in the Vojislav Seselj trial - have not been met. The arrest warrant was issued two months following Seselj’s provisional release (in January 2015) and, due to risks to national security, the Serbian government decided that action on the ICTY warrant should be postponed, Obradovic said. The Serbian government proposed that the three be tried before Serbian courts, but the ICTY rejected the proposal, he said. The High Court of Belgrade made the decision pursuant to the Serbian law on cooperation with the ICTY, under which Serbia is obliged to extradite only persons charged with the gravest war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity - not individuals charged with contempt of court, he said. ICTY President Carmel Agius expressed disappointment with the decision of the Belgrade court, noting that Serbia is obliged to cooperate fully with the ICTY. Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said that the Office of the Prosecutor regrets that Serbia has deviated from the path of full cooperation.

 

Kocijancic: Full cooperation with ICTY obligation for Serbia (Tanjug)

Trials of war crimes and full cooperation with the ICTY are significant requirements in Serbia’s EU accession process and are also crucial for regional cooperation and reconciliation, European Commission spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said. In light of this, we expect Serbia to quickly take all the necessary steps to ensure full cooperation with the ICTY, Kocijancic noted at a press conference in Brussels. Kocijancic said this in response to a question whether a negative ICTY report to the UN Security Council on the cooperation with Serbia will affect the opening of negotiation Chapters 23 and 24 in Serbia’s EU accession talks, slated for June. The preparations for the opening of Chapters 23 and 24, which are also related to other matters, are currently under way and I do not want to speculate on that now, but I stress that full cooperation with the ICTY remains an obligation for Serbia, Kocijancic said.

 

Vucic: Talks with minority parties on new government (Beta)

Serbian prime minister-designate Aleksandar Vucic said that he had discussed Serbia’s treatment of minorities, the cabinet’s platform and the future of the country with representatives of minority parties. He said the government’s goals fully coincided with the goals of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (LSV) and that there was certain to be national and provincial cooperation with that party, as well as local, wherever possible.

 

Next round of Belgrade-Pristina negotiations in the fall (Danas)

A new meeting of the Belgrade and Pristina delegations at the high political level could occur in the fall, diplomatic circles unofficially told Danas. The sources explain that Brussels will first officially approve a visa-free regime to Kosovo, after which a new meeting of the two delegations will be organized. It is speculated that the final decision on the visa-free regime will be made following the summer break in the EU institutions, in September at the earliest, when the EU Ministerial Council and the European Parliament convene again.

 

Formation of special court, Brussels on the move (RTS)

The Kosovo authorities have performed their part of the job regarding the formation of the special court for war crimes. Brussels needs to do its part of the job, i.e. the Dutch authorities need to find a way how to adopt the law on the special court with headquarters in The Hague.

 

Kosovo war was beginning of new world order (Deutsche Welle/B92)

Kosovo and the bombing of Yugoslavia was a turning point for NATO; since then, Western military interventions around the world are no longer even questioned. This is what Austrian historian Kurt Gritsch told Deutsche Welle in an interview that the Serbian language service of Germany's state broadcaster ran under the headline, “NATO mutated after Yugoslavia”. Gritsch, who is promoting his book, “The War for Kosovo”, said - referring to the western military alliance’s 1999 war against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SRJ), made up of Serbia and Montenegro - that it represented the beginning of a new world order. “Kosovo was at the beginning, as a war in which NATO authorized itself to act outside the borders of the members of the Alliance. Kosovo is at the beginning of new wars, followed by other interventions abroad, Macedonia, the war in Afghanistan, Iraq - in which not all NATO members participated, then 2011, Libya, and in the meantime the eastern enlargement of NATO, which has been developing since the 1990s to the present day and has led to a rival relationship with Russia. Some say that this revived the Cold War. But at the beginning of everything was the Kosovo war,” said Gritsch.

In the book, he writes that the 1999 intervention turned NATO from a defense to an interventionist alliance. “Very concretely, in the fact that the attack on Yugoslavia began without a (UN) Security Council resolution, and so de jure it was a war of aggression, prohibited by international law. This is also evident from the fact NATO in April 1999, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, expanded its own contract. In the decisive parts, it switched from defensive to offensive tasks, from defending to intervention,” added Gritsch. He is convinced that it was too late when negotiations in Rambouillet occurred (in 1998) and that there were plans for the attack, and a firm decision to go ahead with them. He also pointed out that the terms put before Serbia could not have been accepted by Slobodan Milosevic, but that he accepted many things after 78 days of bombing - except one. “He did not accept that NATO troops occupy Serbia and Kosovo. In the Rambouillet agreement, in Article 8 of a document known as Annex B, it is stipulated that NATO can freely move in the whole of Yugoslavia, even that Yugoslavia, that is, Serbia, must pay for the accommodation and stay of NATO troops, and these troops, of course - as is the case worldwide - would not fall under the jurisdiction of the country in which they are located, but only under their own rules. In the end, that paragraph Milosevic could not accept,” Gritsch told Deutsche Welle.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

PIC striking example of foreign factor interference in B&H’s affairs (Srna)

The Peace Implementation Council (PIC) in B&H is a striking example of the foreign factors’ interference in the country’s affairs, President of Republika Srpska (RS) Milorad Dodik stated in Istocno Sarajevo on Wednesday. “Making decisions about B&H without the most important factors in it is a fantasy. B&H cannot succeed if it does not become the ownership of its people, without foreigners meddling in that,” believes Dodik. In his opinion, PIC members distort the whole thing by having meetings with members of the B&H Presidency, because they should know that that is not B&H, that it is only a by-product of B&H, not its essence. Dodik told reporters it was clear that B&H could not function having a foreign administration, one of the results of that foreign administration definitely being occasional PIC meetings. “The PIC has never criticized the work of the international administration in B&H which made astonishing mistakes and made decisions that were not in compliance with the B&H Constitution and Dayton Peace Agreement,” recalled Dodik. The RS President believes that the PIC sessions have become inconsequential, endless meetings, which are welcome for some people, like the High Representative, so that they can have some kind of structure to cover up their inaction. “The PIC is there to cover up that inaction, to cover for the High Representative who serves no one, to live out their policies which are in reality meaningless. I haven’t kept an eye on what they’ve been doing or reporting for a long time,” said Dodik.

 

Russian Federation disagreed with the section of the PIC’s communiqué concerning the B&H path to NATO membership (Srna/Nezavisne)

High Representative Valentin Inzko stated Wednesday following a two-day session of the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board (PIC SB) Political Directors that the Russian Federation disagreed with the section of the PIC’s communiqué concerning the B&H path to NATO membership and the status of the NATO Membership Action Plan. The PIC SB emphasized the importance of the official publication of the results of the census conducted in 2013 in B&H in accordance with the procedures and timeframe defined by law and international standards. The PIC SB noted the announcement by the Central Election Commission on the holding of local elections in B&H on Sunday, 2 October. The PIC SB urged the authorities in B&H to provide full support to the Central Election Commission and recalled the important role played by civil society in monitoring the integrity of the election process. It urged all political parties and political leaders to focus their campaigns on local issues in a forward-looking, constructive, and responsible manner. The PIC SB encouraged the citizens of B&H to exercise their democratic right to participate in elections and influence the future of the country. The PIC SB deplored the utter failure of the political parties over the past five-and-a-half years to meet their obligations to implement the ruling of the B&H Constitutional Court on the electoral system for Mostar, a Dayton requirement. The PIC SB called upon all parties, in particular SDA and HDZ B&H, to reach a compromise by the beginning of July to allow voters in Mostar to exercise their basic right to vote for the first time in eight years. It reaffirmed the core principle that Mostar must remain a single, coherent, multi-ethnic unit of local self-government, with some level of local authority/administration below that of the city. The PIC SB called upon political leaders to resolve the Mostar election issue independent of other issues, in order to fulfill their commitment to meeting international standards for democracy, human rights and the rule of law. The NATO members of the PIC SB and Japan noted limited progress since the previous PIC SB meeting on the process of the registration of prospective defense property under the ownership of the B&H State. They expressed their full support to all competent authorities in the registration process, and urged them to intensify their efforts, with the aim to activate the NATO Membership Action Plan, in line with the 2009 formal request by the B&H Presidency and the 2006 Law on Defense. It called on the RS authorities to enable the registration of prospective defense property located on the territory of the RS. The NATO members of the PIC SB and Japan strongly urged the B&H Presidency to reach a decision on the Defense Review as a framework for strengthening and modernizing B&H’s armed forces. The Russian Federation disagrees with this paragraph and will make a separate statement in this regard.

 

Dodik: Government and opposition reached consensus regarding population census (Srna)

RS President Milorad Dodik stated Wednesday in Istocno Sarajevo he was glad that all political factors, both the government and the opposition in B&H, had reached a consensus regarding the population census, which proved that vital interests of the Serbs in the country could not be jeopardized. The director of the RS Statistics Office, Radmila Cickovic, claims that it is not true that the disputed program for the population census data processing, which was brought by the director of the B&H Statistics Agency, Velimir Jukic, cannot be removed by any legal means. Head of the SNSD Caucus in the RS Assembly, Radovan Viskovic, stated that this political party will require a special session to be held on June 21 to discuss decision on a single program for B&H census data processing if the B&H Council of Ministers fails to resolve this issue.

 

Withdrawal of the decision on the publishing of census results? (Klix)

Despite the insistence of certain political officials from the RS, the Agency for Statistics of B&H does not have an intention to withdraw the decision on the publishing of population census results in B&H, confirmed the Deputy Director of the Agency for Statistics of B&H Fadil Fatic. Fatic reiterated that the Agency for Statistics of B&H is operating entirely in accordance with the valid laws and international recommendations and that the decision reached by the Director of the Agency for Statistics of B&H Velimir Jukic was fully supported by representatives of all pertinent institutions of the European Union and other international organizations that are in charge of this issue. “It is not on us to comment the statements of domestic officials, but I must point out that the Agency will never operate contrary to the law and international standards, regardless of the pressure. Nothing will affect our independency and professionalism,” Fatic said. “The Agency for Statistics will not withdraw the decision. There is no legal possibility for the Agency to withdraw the decision. If we had reached any other decision, exactly the opposite would have happened: we would face a number of charges within B&H and out of B&H because that would be a violation of international regulations. I am convinced that such action would even be recorded in the Strasbourg Court,” Fatic said. When asked for a comment on the announcements of Dodik that the Institute for Statistics of the RS might break cooperation with the Agency for Statistics of B&H, Fatic answered that the entity institute has clearly defined obligations in the Law on the Population Census in B&H, in the entity Law on Statistics, and the Law on Organization of Census in RS. “They have their obligations in those laws and entities are obliged to respect those laws. If the opposite happens, then it is logical and clear what that means. Laws must be respected and laws are above everyone,” Fatic concluded.

 

Iceland and Slovenia ratified the Accession Protocol for Montenegro to NATO (RTCG)

Iceland is the first country to ratify the NATO Accession Protocol for Montenegro. National Coordinator Vesko Garcevic said he expected it would be ratified by the countries from nearby and other regions. From the Communication Team of the Council for membership in NATO has been said that the Parliament of Iceland ratified the Protocol today, exactly ten years after Island was also the first to officially recognize Montenegro on 8 June 2006. “Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established shortly thereafter, and Iceland and Montenegro have from the very beginning built strong bonds of friendship, through bilateral visits and multilateral forums, most important of which is the cooperation of small European states. The ratification of the Accession Protocol is another confirmation of a solid friendship of Iceland and Montenegro. “Our country will be ready to respond such a sincere friendship, deepening and strengthening good relations based on common values and genuine solidarity of small, but significant and historic European countries,” the statement concludes.

 

Krivokapic: SDP will not form a coalition with this DPS (RTCG)

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) will not form coalition with this Democratic party of Socialists (DPS), SDP leader Ranko Krivokapic said. However, he said that there were members with untarnished reputation in DPS, thus leaving a possibility for a coalition. According to SDP, URA and Demos, the opposition deputy Prime Minister Milorad Vujovic should be acting minister of agriculture. The “troika” discussed a potential candidate at the meeting, Krivokapic said appearing on the RTCG TV show Akcenti. “I know there is an untarnished part of DPS. The part that has nothing to do with organized crime, the part that has not taken tens of millions of euro, the part that has believed in DPS’s program, which was common to ours when it comes to NATO and EU integration. DPS will experience a catharsis and get rid of those members who need to go to court, but not before the elections”, said Krivokapic. He did not reveal the name of the new agriculture minister. Asked whether the “troika” has a candidate for the ministerial post, Krivokapic said that the three parties held regular consultations. “As you know, when electing the interim government, I announced that there would be consultations within the top of the “troika” twice a week. We have consultations on Mondays and Wednesdays. Today we will discuss the issue in order to try to come up with a quick solution. But the deputy prime minister Vujovic can perform those duties for a few days or a week without any problems”, said Krivokapic.

 

Protests and blockades: "Protestiram" in several cities in Macedonia (Telegraf.mk)

Groups of citizens from the civil initiative “Protestiram” on Wednesday staged protests and blocked roads and streets in several cities in Macedonia. On Wednesday afternoon they blocked the main road at the entrance of the road to Strumica from Radovish. Protesters gathered in the little park where they headed to the roundabout where they placed the roadblocks that lasted an hour. They are requesting two conditions to be met - the Constitutional Court to declare the constitutionality of SPO and a release of the detained protesters. Under the slogan “There will be justice, there will be peace” yesterday in Tetovo were held protests that began in front of the court building in the city from where they headed toward the boulevards “Ilindenska” and “Marshal Tito” as well as the street “Jane Sandanski” for later to come in front of the municipal building. Protest of the “Colorful Revolution” in Tetovo was peaceful and without incident, and the police secured the buildings of the Basic Court and the municipal building as well as the route of the protesters through the streets of Tetovo. Protests of the “Colorful Revolution” on Wednesday also took place in Struga, Stip, Delcevo ... Today members of the “Protestiram” blocked several intersections in Skopje. Hour-long blockade occurred at three intersections in the city, at the Main Cathedral, Red Cross and Court Palace. According to “Protestiram” this action is a symbol that the state institutions are blocked for years. The “Protestiram” initiative, which for almost two months, expressed indignation before the state institutions, decided to stop the protests in Skopje that each evening began in front of the Special Public Prosecutor's Office. Hence they announced that they will continue with guerrilla actions through which, as they said, they will require the fulfillment of the main conditions, the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of SPO and the detained protesters to be released.

 

Schulz: European perspective remains in order to stabilize Macedonia from within (Telegraf.mk)

The European perspective remains necessary promise for stabilizing Macedonia from the inside, European Parliament President Martin Schulz at a joint press conference with Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev, said at the question of whether European perspective for the Western Balkans is jeopardized. “The European perspective is necessary for the Balkan countries. That is why the European Parliament has always underlined that these perspectives should be preserved and not be suspended,” Schulz said. According to him, there are many problems in the region. “However, to separate these countries from the prospect to join this area of ​​security, stability and economic development would be a serious mistake. Even in your country, European perspective remains necessary promise to stabilize the country from the inside even if you have serious and significant problems, that our colleagues from the European Parliament who was committed with a great ambition and failed to help address the problems,” he added. It is necessary, he highlights, to save the cooperation between the EU and the Western Balkans. Schulz, unlike Plevneliev did not name the Republic of Macedonia under the name or acronym to avoid reactions of the Greek representatives in the European Parliament.

 

Frei: Aim is Macedonia to hold elections in near future (Telegraf.mk)

One of the best connoisseurs of Macedonia and the Western Balkans in the Bundestag, the MP Thornsten Frei believes the implementation of the Przino agreement is necessary and he assessed the withdrawal of the abolition by the Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov as a positive step. He added that the goal of all efforts is to hold elections in the near future. Now, according to the influential member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Bundestag, it comes down to filtering the Electoral roll and media independence. It requires vigilance of the political actors in Macedonia and convergence of views between VMRO - DPMNE and SDSM. “Sometimes I feel that some things are retained by the opposition just because the election polls do not promise anything good,” Frei said. MP Frei believes that Macedonia should get motivation and encouragement, as well as real European prospects. The responsibility for the fact that Macedonia for years has no clear European perspectives he sees in Greece due to its national interests has plunged the continent in the name dispute.

 

Haindl: Parties should first agree on date and meet criteria on fair elections (Telegraf.mk)

To overcome the crisis the Przino Agreement needs to be reaffirmed and revitalized as a government and binding framework for the reformatory process ahead and not to postpone its implementation. This was said by the German special envoy to Macedonia, Johannes Haindl, following his series of meetings held with the political leaders who signed the Przino Agreement, but also with the state top and the representatives of the international community. “The good news is that there is an exit from the crisis and that’s the Przino Agreement, whose principles and propositions set the road to democracy, stability and Euro-Atlantic integration. The bad news is that this process is being postponed, the crisis continues to harm the country, and honestly, time is passing. That is why my message was that the Przino Agreement needs to be reaffirmed and revitalized as a government and binding framework for the reformatory process ahead,” Haindl told the media gathered in front of the German Embassy in Skopje. In this sense, he welcomed the decision of President Gjorge Ivanov to fully revoke the abolition against all the politicians and their associates. He says the President’s latest move enables to put the Przino Agreement implementation in focus, as well as those issues that are key for the future of the country. He also pointed to the next moves that need to be taken. “First, the parties should reach an accord on the elections date and to do what is necessary to meet all the terms for free and fair elections. Second, the special prosecutor has to be able to fulfill its term without any obstructions and freely. And third, parties should agree to implement the urgent priority reforms without any ado as soon as possible and to address the shortcomings underlined in the Priebe report. This is achievable and doable. The positive momentum should be used. Still, what is necessary is all political leaders to put the country's interests first and to do what is necessary for the country to move forward and to effectuate the reforms,” Haindl said.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Serb Central Bank Holds Rates as Cost of Defending Dinar Weighs (Bloomberg, by Gordana Filipovic, 9 June 2016)

Serbia’s central bank left borrowing costs unchanged for a fourth consecutive month, refraining from easing after selling almost a 10th of its foreign currency reserves this year from its foreign reserves. The National Bank of Serbia left its one-week repurchase rate unchanged at 4.25 percent, according to a statement published on its website on Thursday. Eighteen of 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted the decision, while 8 expected a cut to 4 percent.

“Under current circumstances, the existing level of monetary policy expansiveness ensures that inflation will return and stabilize within target bands at the start of next year,” the bank said in the statement. Rate setters were “guided by uncertainties in global commodity and financial markets as well the expected weakening of disinflationary pressures,” it said. The central bank refrained from a rate cut as an International Monetary Fund mission arrived in the capital, Belgrade, for a two-week visit to inspect the results of fiscal consolidation measures. It will discuss ways for the government to accelerate steps aimed at halting a further increase in public debt. The monetary authority last lowered its main rate in February, wrapping up a series of 16 cuts since 2013 from 11.75 percent to help spur inflation and growth. It has held fire while Premier Aleksandar Vucic, whose Progressive Party won a majority in April 24 snap elections, prepares to create a new government. He’s pledged to pursue IMF-endorsed measures designed to narrow the fiscal gap and sell off money-losing state-owned companies that drain more than $1 billion a year from state coffers. The yield on Serbia’s dollar bonds maturing in 2021 fell 1 basis point to a record-low 4.065 percent at 12:18 p.m. in Belgrade. The dinar was little changed at 123.475 per against the euro. The IMF will in part focus on a need to ease restrictions on dinar volatility and bolster confidence in the currency amid low inflation, a shift from a focus of quashing painful past memories of hyper-inflation and currency depreciation. The central bank has repeatedly said it won’t weaken the dinar to bolster inflation and has spent 800 million euros ($910 million) of its reserves in the market to smooth volatility in the currency. Inflation has remained below the central bank’s target range of 2.5 percent and 5.5 percent since Feb. 2014, mainly due to low crude oil prices and weak demand at home after Vucic cut public wages and pensions and increased taxes to improve the fiscal balance. Inflation is expected to have bottomed out in April and will return to the target band by early next year, governor Jorgovanka Tabakovic said on May 24. “With the dinar under pressure recently and FX reserves falling to their lowest level in three and a half years, the central bank is likely to remain cautious, despite inflation running well below the 4 percent target,” Dan Bucsa, an analyst at UniCredit in London, said in June 6 e-mail.

 

No agreement on Bosnia's coordination mechanism (Balkan Insight, by Rodolfo Toe, 8 June 2016)

Bosnian authorities failed to reach an agreement on a coordinated management system for the government, a discord that could cost the country a chance at EU candidacy

Bosnian Prime Minister Denis Zvizdic, and the Prime Ministers of the country’s two political entities, Republika Srpska’s [RS] Zeljka Cvijanovic and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s [FBiH] Fadil Novalic, still couldn't agree on the adoption of a coordination mechanism between Bosnian institutions. The agreement is a central component of the country’s efforts to become an EU ascension candidate. "This is a complex question and it requires a lot of agreements,” Zvizdic said after the meeting, adding that the negotiations "have now entered their final phase”. He also announced that a new meeting will be organised for next Monday.

Tuesday's meeting was seen as potentially decisive, as all three representatives told Bosnian media that the agreement is near. Jamila Milovic Halilovic, spokesperson of the EU mission to Bosnia, explained to BIRN that after the entry in full force of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement [SAA] in 2015, large amounts of legislation and standards in Bosnia need to be brought in line with those of the European Union. “A well-functioning coordination on EU matters is a practical necessity for Sarajevo's European integration process … to ensure domestic legislation harmonisation with the EU acquis [the whole body of law], effective implementation of the Instrument for Pre-Accession [IPA] and facilitate the implementation of all other EU related matters,” Milovic Halilovic stressed, adding that “the efficiency and political viability of any model will be tested when it is implemented.” “The EU will closely follow this, since it is otherwise not possible to arrive at many of the common positions required to work with the EU,” said Milovic Halilovic. Bosnian Council of Ministers had already adopted a law about the coordination mechanism at the end of January, without publicly announcing it, a move that stunned Bosnian public opinion and angered the RS government, which resented being excluded from the negotiations. “The first version approved back in January was just a move played by Dragan Covic [Chairman of the Bosnian Presidency at the time] in order to have some cosmetic changes to support the Bosnian application to the EU, which was given a couple of weeks later,” Ivana Maric, a political analyst based in Sarajevo, told BIRN. In the last several months, government heads at both the state and entity level have been trying to create a consensus on the functioning of the coordination mechanism. During a press conference on Monday, Denis Zvizdic reiterated that the most important principle under which the mechanism will function is that whoever presides over it will only be allowed to present to the EU "material which has been previously approved by everybody” to reassure "those who fear being outvoted." Approving the coordination mechanism is one of many conditions EU has required in order to consider Bosnia's application credible, together with the update of the SAA and the publication of the results of 2013 census. "If we succeed in updating the SAA and adopting a coordination mechanism, than we can expect that the EU to accept our application at next meeting of the Council of the European Union to held on July 13,” Dragan Covic told Bosnian media on Monday.

 

European Court Rules Bosnian Constitution Discriminatory (BIRN, by Rodolfo Toe, 9 June 2016)

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Bosnia discriminated against Ilijaz Pilav for not allowing him to stand for the presidency because he was a Bosniak living in the country's Serb-dominated entity.

The European Court of Human Rights, ECHR ruled on Thursday that the Bosnian authorities had discriminated against Pilav by refusing his candidacy for the Bosnian presidency because he was a Bosniak living in a municipality that is part of Republika Srpska, Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity. Pilav tried twice to become a candidate to be the Bosniak member of the tripartite presidency, in 2006 and 2010 but was rejected both times by the Central Electoral Commission in accordance with the Bosnian constitution, Bosnian media reported. According to the constitution, the Bosnian Presidency “shall consist of three members: one Bosniak and one Croat, each directly elected from the territory of the Federation [entity], and one Serb directly elected from the territory of [Republika Srpska]”. The Strasbourg court ordered Bosnia to pay Pilav compensation of 6,607 euros in the next three months, regional TV station N1 reported. “After this verdict, my mission is accomplished,” Pilav, Pilav, a doctor who lives in Srebrenica, told Sarajevo-based website Klix. He said he would not try to stand for the presidency again, however. “This was not a battle for my candidacy, it was a battle for all those who had their right to be candidate violated,” he explained. This is not the first time that the ECHR has ruled that the Bosnian constitution, which is based on the equality of the three ‘constitutive peoples’ (Serbs, Bosniaks and Croats), is discriminatory. The same judgment has been handed down on two previous occasions, in the case of Dervo Sejdic and Jakob Finci in 2009, and in the case of Azra Zornic in 2014. Sejdic and Finci, two Bosnian citizens of Roma and Jewish origins, appealed to the ECHR because they were not allowed to stand for the Bosnian presidency and the Bosnian parliament’s Chamber of Peoples, as places in both institutions are exclusively reserved for members of the three ‘constitutive peoples’. Zornic won a similar case in 2014, when she appealed to the ECHR because she was not allowed to stand for the presidency and the Chamber of Peoples after she refused to declare herself a member of the three constitutive peoples, but only as “a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. Although the Bosnian constitution has repeatedly been found to be discriminatory, any attempt to reform it has so far failed. In recent years, the European Union tried to find an agreement to change the Bosnian constitution, but temporarily put aside the issue after Germany and Britain launched a new initiative to foster Bosnia’s integration based on economic and social reforms rather than political changes.