LOCAL PRESS 

US Embassy: Biden said in the congratulation letter the same Trump said in 2019 (Beta) 

In his congratulatory letter on the occasion of the Serbian Statehood Day, US President Joseph Biden said that “mutual recognition of Kosovo and Serbia should be a central element of permanent normalization of relations”, just as the then US President Donald Trump did in 2019.

This was announced on Twitter on letter by the US Embassy in Serbia, thus denying the claims that Biden’s congratulatory message for Statehood Day “sent a message for the first time emphasizing the future solution of the Kosovo problem by mutual recognition of Serbia and Kosovo”, to which top Serbian officials reacted.

 

Drecun: Anyone counting on some kind of pressure has the wrong calculation (RTS) 

Five days remain until the early parliamentary elections slated by Pristina. The Serb List is campaigning to win all ten seats in the Kosovo Assembly envisaged for the Serb community. The Chair of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun underlines in the press review for Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that it is necessary for the Serbs to give trust to the Serb List in order to maintain political unity and permanent communication and coordination with Belgrade. He says that without this there is neither survival nor future of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. According to him, any scattering of votes or Pristina’s attempt to gain over individuals leads to the weakening of political influence of the Serbs. “Only through the Serb List can Belgrade help and it should not be permitted in any way to cause schism through individual Serbs,” he says. He says that the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue will continue, that everyone wants his continuation, but that our goals are not the same. “When the Albanians speak of resuming these talks they want to impose the thesis on mutual recognition, we, of course, have nothing to talk about here,” he says.

Lajcak should be asked why isn’t he reacting 

Drecun says that the congratulation letter of US President Joseph Biden, sent to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on the occasion of the Statehood Day, was inappropriate in the part related to the recognition of Kosovo. “They sent us a nice congratulation and when someone sends you a congratulation letter for Statehood Day and demands that you recognize a part of your territory, it is certainly a kind of provocation and inappropriate,” notes Drecun. Anyone counting on some kind of pressure has the wrong calculation, says Drecun. “Lajcak should be asked why isn’t he reacting to this story. One cannot work like this. Where there is a solution there is a compromise. Serbia is asked to strike itself and it needs to react harsher,” says Drecun. He says that part of the congratulation letter is very strong pressure. “We still don’t know for what kind of pressure is Biden prepared and this is why we need to try to build good relations with the US with intensive diplomacy,” said Drecun.

Gratitude for Slovakia’s principled support on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija (RTV/Tanjug) 

Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic stated on Monday evening, after meeting with Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok that Serbia’s full membership in the EU is our strategic commitment and priority. At the press conference, Selakovic said that he also expressed his gratitude to Korcok for Slovakia’s principled support on the issue of preserving our sovereignty and territorial integrity, i.e., on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija. We are grateful and appreciate your support, he repeated and reminded that Slovakia has never blocked Serbia on the EU path and added that we have always had the Slovak support. He expressed satisfaction that Slovakia holds high the topic of EU enlargement and advocates enlargement during the Portuguese EU presidency.

Joksimovic: Serbia does not sit and wait for EU's new enlargement methodology to start off (Beta/EurActiv) 

Serbia is about to complete organizational and administrative preparations for a shift to the EU new enlargement methodology, working on reforms in all the clusters of negotiating chapters, as provided by the new scheme, Serbian Minister for EU Integration Jadranka Joksimovic said. Joksimovic said for EurActiv Serbia and Beta that she believed the new and innovative system of accession talks would suit Serbia and accelerate the process, adding that the details of the new methodology should be unveiled by the beginning of March. After that an EU-Serbia intergovernmental conference should take place by the end of June, under Portugal's presidency of the Council of the EU, to fine-tune the implementation of the new system, the minister explained. "It is important to note that Serbia is not sitting and waiting for the European Commission to reveal the plan, but has engaged in dynamic communication with EU member states instead, working in a partnership with the Commission and offering suggestions as to the implementation of the new cluster methodology," Joksimovic said, adding that the new model required new adjustments not only within her ministry, but to the negotiating structure as well.

REGIONAL PRESS 

 

Inzko annuls first round of voting for election of Mostar Mayor, instructs City Council to cast secret vote (O kanal)

The High Representative (HR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Valentin Inzko annulled the first round of voting for election of the Mostar Mayor because the voting process was held publicly, with the support of majority of city councilors, but in accordance with the Statute of the City of Mostar, this process must be completed in secret. In his written statement Inzko said that “as the final authority in the country regarding the interpretation of the Agreement on the implementation of the civilian part of the Peace Agreement, I invite you to take the necessary steps to remedy this situation by repeating the current procedural steps governing the election of the Mayor of Mostar, including the first round of voting”. The Mostar City Council on Friday held a public voting procedure for election of the new Mayor and HDZ B&H’s Mario Kordic and SDA’s Zlatko Guzin advanced to the second round of voting. The third candidate for the post was Irma Baralija, but she received the least number of votes. Inzko stated that he was forced to intervene in order to remind city councilors that the elections for the mayor of Mostar must be conducted in accordance with the Statute of the City of Mostar, and especially in accordance with Paragraph 1 of Article 36 of the Statute, which requires that elections in the City Council are secret if it has not been determined otherwise by this Statute. Inzko reminded that the international community wanted for the representatives in the Mostar City Council to decide for themselves by complying with the Mostar Statute, but they decided differently. Inzko stated that there is an imperative that the newly-formed city council returns trust of citizens. He said: “In this regard, it is of vital importance to respect the rule of the law and ensure that key bodies and officials like per example a mayor of Mostar City are elected in line with the Mostar City Statute, ensuring not just democratic legitimacy but also legality of his function in order to prevent future legal disputes before courts.”

Reactions of political parties at the Mostar City Council (O kanal)

The OHR’s stance caused reactions of political parties at the Mostar City Council. ‘Coalition for Mostar’ said that the OHR and the international community (IC) have once again taken HDZ B&H’s side, and that they are doing everything in their power to make sure the City Mayor is again chosen from the ranks of Croats and from HDZ B&H. They added that more than two-thirds of councilors voted in support of the public voting procedure for election of the new Mayor. The Coalition members asked the OHR why it did not react for past eight years and protect the imposed Statute of the City of Mostar and now it reacts to a conclusion that was adopted almost unanimously. The Coalition is ready to complete the procedure for election of the Mayor at continuation of the City Council session on Wednesday, emphasizing that the OHR will carry further responsibility for Mostar if it decides to annul the results of voting.

According to SDA, the secret vote goes in favor of HDZ B&H. SDA reminded that the secret vote on the Mostar Mayor 12 years ago resulted in non-transparent manipulations and the election of HDZ B&H’s candidate, despite the pro-Bosnian majority. SDA stressed that therefore this party will not agree with the repeated scenario in which the secret vote would take place, concluding that the OHR should respect the will of the Mostar City Council and stay out of the election of the Mostar Mayor this time. HDZ B&H stated that the decision to hold public voting procedure for the election of the new Mostar Mayor was adopted almost unanimously and that “new political vacuums were created unnecessarily”. HDZ B&H points that those political vacuums could affect the process of formation of authorities in Mostar. HDZ B&H concluded that the councilors will consider the letter of the OHR during continuation of the City Council session on Wednesday, after which a decision on continuation of the process for election of the Mostar Mayor will be adopted. The HDZ B&H City Board in Mostar stated: “The decision on public election of the Mayor is the decision of the absolute majority of City Council's councilors and we are unnecessarily entering a confusing situation that could disrupt all the dynamics in the formation of executive authority at the level of the City of Mostar.”

Inzko: I will submit report with UN Security Council at beginning of May, but not with RS parliament (BHT1)

Information regarding the request for the HR Valentin Inzko to submit a report on civil implementation of the peace agreement in B&H for the past 11 years will be on the agenda of the RS parliament session on Tuesday. This item was not planned initially but it was included in the agenda at the request of the SNSD Caucus in the RS parliament, following Inzko’s letter sent to the RS parliament leadership requesting the annulment of charters presented to war crime convicts within three months. The information proposes three conclusions of which the first one requests that the HR submits the report on civil implementation of the peace agreement in B&H for the period 2009-2020. Commenting on the issue, Inzko told BHT1 on Monday evening that he will submit the report with the UN Security Council at the beginning of May, but not with the RS parliament. According to SNSD, the party expects Inzko or a new HR to submit the report on previous work because “they have an obligation according to the Annex 10 of the Dayton Peace Accords (DPA)”. Head of the SNSD Caucus in the RS parliament Igor Zunic said that it is still uncertain if Inzko’s request will be on the agenda. He stressed that Inzko’s letter has collectively disqualified the Serb people as those who committed war crimes and by this move Inzko has actually offended the Serb people and the RS parliament itself.

SDS representative in the RS parliament Davor Sesic reminded that Inzko’s job is to take care of implementation of the DPA and now that he leaves B&H there is no need to make tensions between the RS and B&H citizens. RS President Zeljka Cvijanovic said on Monday that this is a rude and nervous move of Inzko who is faced with the fact that he was requested to act in line with the international law that in her opinion, he and his predecessors failed to do. Chairman of the B&H Presidency Milorad Dodik stated on Monday: “What is not in line with the Dayton Agreement functions here for already 24, 25 years in the form of such evildoers like Inzko and others who maltreated Serbs here and our Republic and the Serb people in general.” SNSD representative in the RS parliament Srdjan Mazalica stressed that he does not expect Inzko to appear at the RS parliament session. "I believe that his letter could perhaps be an answer to our request for him to come and submit a report. I believe that his letter is aimed at provoking a possible reaction of the new US administration given that the war crimes issue is an issue that occupies the US foreign policy and the entire value system that the policy of the US is based on. However, it is completely unfounded to request that the RS parliament, i.e. the commission, the body that gave the awards, withdraws those awards," Mazalica underlined. Head of SP Caucus in the RS parliament Srdjan Todorovic stated that it is completely unacceptable and inappropriate for the RS parliament, as the highest legislative body, to be blackmailed. "It is absolutely frivolous, immature for a diplomat like Valentin Inzko to have such behavior towards institutions in the RS and B&H. I do not see what those sanctions could contribute. I believe that this is a completely unnecessary adding fuel to the fire," Todorovic said.

 

Vucic negotiates on return of Montenegrin wines to Russia’s market (Pobjeda)

According to Pobjeda, the Serbian authorities, with the assistance of their President Aleksandar Vucic, are in the midst of negotiations over the re-export of Plantaze wines to the Russian market. Pobjeda has also found out that beside the afore mentioned, representatives of the Democratic Front, DF, have their role in the entire procedure as well. If they agree on the export, the sale of Plantaze wines will worth three million euro. The export of wine to the Russian market was banned four years ago, when Montenegro, along with EU countries, imposed sanctions against 177 individuals and 48 entities in Russia for threatening the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Russia responded with counter-sanctions, so their state body, Rospotrebnadzor, announced that Plantaze wines are harmful and defective and must be withdrawn from the Russian market. Last year, the EU extended these measures until March 6, 2021. On Friday, the Ambassador of Russia, Vladislav Maslenikov, visited Plantaze company and met with the company’s CEO, Miroslav Vukovic, and management. After that, Plantaze announced that they are ready to work on renewing the export of their products to the Russian market. It was stated that both sides expressed their readiness to contribute to defining the order of necessary steps by competent state bodies of both countries in order to overcome the current problem.

 

VMRO begins the process of nullifying the census law (Republika)

The VMRO-DPMNE group in parliament submitted the initiative to gather signatures from citizens needed to nullify the census law. “We appeal to the government to stop what it’s doing. All over Europe census procedures are postponed until 2022 due to the epidemic. We urge the government to postpone our census for 2022, and to improve on the law. Under the current law we will do nothing more than confirm the already existing list of citizens of the Republic of Macedonia,” said VMRO-DPMNE Secretary General Gjorgjija Sajkoski. Under pressure from its ethnic Albanian partners, the ruling SDSM party agreed to adopt a law count all emigrants as residents. This will produce a list of citizens, which the country already has, instead of the more needed list of actual residents that can be used to plan infrastructure development and public healthcare needs. “We submitted 40 amendments to the parliament meant to improve the text of the law, but they were all rejected,” Sajkoski added.

 

Russia expels Albanian diplomat in tit-for-tat move (ADN)

Russia said on Monday it was expelling an Albanian diplomat to retaliate in kind for the expulsion of a Russian diplomat from Albania last month. The Foreign Ministry said the Albanian diplomat had to leave Russia within 72 hours. A Russian diplomat was ordered to leave Albania in January for flouting rules to curb the coronavirus pandemic. Russia said this was a “contrived pretext.” This action came after Albania expelled a Russian diplomat on 21 January for allegedly violating lockdown rules aimed at stemming the spread of the coronavirus in the Adriatic country. The Albanian government declared Aleksei Krivosheev 'persona non grata' and required him to leave the country within 72 hours, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on 21 January, citing "repeated" violations of pandemic restrictions by the diplomat since April 2020. Same as Krivosheev, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expelled the Secretary of the Embassy of Albania in Russia and required him to leave the country within 72 hours.