LOCAL PRESS 

Brnabic: Quality of life in Kosovo and Metohija depends on dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina (TV Happy/Tanjug/RTV) 

The quality of life of all citizens in Kosovo and Metohija depends on the dialogue with Belgrade, and that is why I was surprised by the statement of the leader of Self-Determination Albin Kurti, who said that the dialogue is only in sixth or seventh place, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic told TV Happy. She pointed out that every pragmatic politician thinks first about the quality of life of the citizens, adding that the quality of life of the citizens of Kosovo and Metohija primarily depends on the dialogue with Belgrade. “There is no perspective, neither European nor economic, without an agreement with Belgrade,” Brnabic said. She stated that it depends on that dialogue whether someone will invest in Kosovo and Metohija and create new jobs, and added that no one will invest where there is instability and an uncertain future. “Because of all that, Kurti’s statement is not clear to me, but maybe I am too pragmatic,” said Brnabic and added that it would be priority number one for her and a precondition to improve the situation in Kosovo and Metohija. She also noticed that there is not much interest in Pristina for tests, drugs and vaccines against coronavirus, and added that Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and other citizens of Serbia will always have all tests, drugs and vaccines available to them.

Petkovic: Kurti abused attack on Nenad Rasic’s son for political purposes (RTS) 

Synchronized and directed attempts from Pristina to present the attack in which Nikola Rasic was injured as a kind of alleged political confrontation with his father Nenad Rasic, are the most common spin and abuse of children for political purposes, the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic said in a statement. Petkovic’s statement emphasizes that an especially shameless lie is that the leader of Self-Determination Albin Kurti is trying to propagate is that Nikola Rasic was beaten as “a victim of the policy of his father, who did not bow down or submit to Belgrade”.  “Such unfounded, dangerous and, above all, false accusations are a direct attempt to hide the truth that all of Kosovo and Metohija is buzzing about today, and that is that the boy was unfortunately injured in a previously scheduled school fight, as evidenced by the recordings that appeared in all Albanian media,” notes Petkovic. According to him, the culmination of the hypocrisy and rudeness of Albin Kurti is that one such situation is used to attack Serbia and the Serb List, and to abuse Nikola Rasic for political games in the post-election period in Kosovo and Metohija. The truth cannot be hidden, as well as the low-level motives of Albanian and certain Serb politicians, who cooperate with them, to try to criminalize the Serb List with false accusations, all because of the convincing support of the people and success at the elections, which they are not forgiven, concluded Petkovic in the statement.

Brnabic attends dialogue with National Convent on EU (Tanjug/FoNet) 

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic talked on Monday with members of the National Convent on the European Union about the Media Strategy of the Republic of Serbia, constitutional changes and the fight against corruption. During online dialogue with members of this convention, where Chapters 23 and 24 were discussed, Brnabic pointed out that the rule of law is one of the three basic priorities of the new mandate of the Serbian government. According to her, the new government is paying as much attention to the rule of law as it did to digitalization and education during its first mandate. Speaking about the Media Strategy, she stated that two working groups have been formed - to monitor the implementation of that strategy and for the protection and safety of journalists, saying that the goal is to make Serbia a safe working environment for journalists. Brnabic also said that the public debate on the constitutional changes, which lasted 18 months, raised the standards when it comes to the judiciary, pointing out that so far the constitutional amendments have been sent twice to the Venice Commission for consultation. The work with civil society organizations that do not agree with the proposed amendments have been continued and the goal is to reach a consensus, she said, adding that the process is now in parliament, which should organize public hearings. However, Brnabic also noted that it is necessary to solve the problem of the efficiency of the judiciary, which burdens both the citizens and the economy. The plan is to continue working on the changes to the Law on Civil Procedure, to employ more people in the courts, as well as to see what the government can do to encourage citizens to go into the mediation process, Brnabic explained. She recalled that the government is working with the EU on a single information system for the judiciary, for which a tender has been announced which will be open until 9 April, and which will give us a more transparent and efficient judiciary in the next three years. She underlined that the state continues a serious fight against crime and corruption, to which the detention of the president of the Misdemeanor Court in Kraljevo testifies, whose judicial immunity will be revoked.

Faktor Plus: SNS, SPS would pass five-percent threshold (Tanjug/Blic) 

If parliamentary elections were held on Sunday, the list gathered around the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) would win about 60 percent of the votes, and only the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) would pass the ‘old’ threshold of 5 percent (needed to win seats in parliament), shows a survey commissioned by the Blic newspaper and carried out by the Faktor Plus agency. The rating of the SPS is dropping slightly, and that party would have won 8.3 percent of votes if the election was held on Sunday. What’s interesting is that the third strongest is another ruling party, the Serbian Patriotic Alliance (SPAS) with 4.3 percent, and also the last party, not counting the ones representing national minorities, which entered the parliament in the June elections. At this moment, the strongest opposition party is Dosta je Bilo (DjB) with 3.8 percent support. The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and POKS in an alliance have about the same as the simple sum of their election results, not counting the boycott. As many as a quarter of respondents stated having no option they would choose as the reason why they would not vote, 22 percent say they never vote, 19 percent are waiting for someone they trust to run, while 12 percent feel “disgust towards politics and politicians”.

REGIONAL PRESS 

 

Grujicic wins elections in Srebrenica, says that results almost similar to results from November are evidence that decision of B&H CEC to repeat elections was illegal (Nova BH)

According to the preliminary results of repeated elections in Srebrenica, SNSD's candidate for the post of the Head of Srebrenica Municipality Mladen Grujicic won 67.62 percent of the votes, while candidate of the Initiative 'My Address: Srebrenica' Alija Tabakovic won 31.7 percent of the votes. SNSD won 29.74 percent of the votes in the repeated elections for Srebrenica Municipal Assembly, the Initiative 'My Address: Srebrenica' won 26.39 percent of the votes. Representatives of the Coalition 'Pod Lupom' stated that the repeated elections in Doboj and Srebrenica passed peacefully and without major problems. Grujicic said that they will celebrate when the final confirmation of the results is published. Grujicic believes that the boycott of pro-Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) parties was not successful since around 200 Bosniaks have voted on Sunday. The coalition pf pro-B&H parties stated that less than 5% of Bosniaks voted and they consider the boycott a success. In a statement for RTRS, Grujicic said that he does not expect complications in formation of new local authorities in Srebrenica, adding that he believes it is time to focus no development of this Municipality. He added that the fact that results of the repeated elections are almost completely the same as the results of regular elections held in November 2020 is the evidence that the decision of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of B&H to annul results of elections in this local community was illegal.

Bosniaks announce they will not accept mandates they won in repeated elections in Srebrenica (Nova BH)

Nova BH stressed that although the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections 'Pod Lupom' assessed that the election day at most polling stations in Doboj and Srebrenica passed peacefully and without major problems, it is clear that there will be post-election problems, especially in Srebrenica. Namely, after the boycott of repeated elections in Srebrenica which the pro-Bosnian parties initiated, it was announced on Monday that Bosniaks will not accept the mandates they won in the repeated elections in Srebrenica, claiming that they have the support of voters for that given that out of about 3,000 Bosniak voters, only 166 of them went to the polls on Sunday.

Federation of B&H (FB&H) Minister of Displaced Persons and Refugees Edin Ramic (SDA), commenting on the issues with the repeated elections in Srebrenica said that Srebrenica as “a symbol of injustice” will be governed by those who deny genocide. Ramic expressed support to the boycott of Bosniak parties and most of its electorate of the repeated elections, which took place. Ramic stated: “The thing is that the institutions did not enable fair and democratic elections in Srebrenica. Due to that reason, the decision-making on Srebrenica was left to those who spend most of the time in Serbia, or who moved away from Srebrenica a long time ago. ‘My Address: Srebrenica’ has been pointing to all that. It tried to warn about that even before the elections that took place on 15 November, and then hoped that it would prevent the issues with their appeal against the election results. Unfortunately, that did not happen, and boycott was the only possible outcome.” Asked about his opinion regarding the idea for Bosniak representatives to decline the mandates in the Srebrenica Municipal Assembly in order to protest against depriving the Diaspora of their right to vote, Ramic replied that it is justified, because of “an illogical situation” where the Central Election Commission (CEC) of B&H sent the voting material to the voters residing abroad too late and then refused to take the votes into account, as they were delayed. When it comes to the motion that ‘My Address: Srebrenica’ filed to the B&H Constitutional Court (CC) requesting a decision on the Srebrenica elections, Ramic stressed that the CEC did not manage to pass a decision upon that motion before the elections were repeated, but he still expects its decision to meet the interests of the citizens. “There is no bigger result of the genocide then to allow a man, who denies genocide, to be the Head of Srebrenica Municipality,” the FB&H Minister added.

Jerinic and SNSD win elections in Doboj; Opposition claims that result of elections is evidence of frauds in November elections (RTRS)

SNSD’s candidate for the Mayor of Doboj Boris Jerinic won most votes in repeated local elections in Doboj held on Sunday. Also, SNSD won most votes in the race for the City Assembly. Nine political parties, three more than after regular elections held in November, won seats in a new Doboj Assembly. Jerinic thanked to citizens for winning some 20,000 votes. He stressed that the offensive on Doboj announced by some opposition parties faced failure.

Leader of SNSD Milorad Dodik underlined that this is the victory of projects Doboj and the Republika Srpska (RS) authorities have been jointly implementing. Jerinic’s counter candidate in the race for the Mayor of Doboj Cvijan Filipovic (SDS) won 4,815 votes, while candidate of SP RS Srdjan Todorovic won 4,787 votes. SDS’ Milan Radovic said that the number of votes won by their candidate in repeated elections is by some 12 percent higher than the number he won in November elections. Reporter noted that SDS failed to reach election threshold in Doboj. SNSD’s Sanja Vulic said that SNSD won some 16 seats in Doboj Assembly, adding that along with its political partners, this party will have absolute majority. Turnout in elections in Doboj was around 55 percent. President of the City Election Commission Nenad Paleksic said that observers that were recruited in all parts of B&H were exerting huge pressure on polling station committees, adding that supervisors helped in suppressing of this pressure.

SNSD: Someone needs to be held responsible for expenses and damages caused to Doboj and Srebrenica by annulment of elections (ATV)

SNSD stated on Monday that the repeated elections in Doboj and Srebrenica showed two things about the B&H CEC. One is that the members of the B&H CEC need to file resignations and that the opposition is not up to the challenge of the times they are in. Representatives of SNSD stressed that someone will have to be held responsible for the damage that was caused in these two local communities after the results of local elections on November 15 were annulled. President of SNSD Milorad Dodik said that those who insisted on the annulment of elections in Doboj and Srebrenica did not have the best interests of these communities in mind. He added that the influence of SDS and PDP on these processes is obvious. Dodik said that the proof that SDS and PDP urged for the annulment of elections in Doboj is that they did not visit Srebrenica once since the annulment, but they were very present in Doboj. Mayor of Doboj Boris Jerinic said that the goal of the opposition was to create an atmosphere of fear in Doboj. He stressed that they did not succeed in this. Jerinic announced lawsuits, saying that Doboj lost one investor during the legal vacuum that was caused by the annulment of elections, which caused the loss of 50 jobs.

Komsic: System of status of constituent peoples is outdated (Oslobodjenje/Fena)

After a five-day virtual visit to B&H, Director of Human Rights in the Council of Europe (CoE) Christophe Poriel stated that B&H needs to understand that it is in B&H’s best interest to implement the verdict in Sejdic-Finci case. Poriel pointed out in an interview for Fena, that it is time for B&H to move to a different system in which there is no discrimination and one which is not based on constituent peoples. Member of B&H Presidency Zeljko Komsic assessed on Monday that the messages conveyed by Director of Human Rights of the Council of Europe Christophe Poirel concerning the rejection of the system grounded on the so-called constituent peoples, are of historic importance. “I fully agree with Poirel’s message that it is time for B&H to cross to a different modern system, where there is no discrimination and which is not based on constituent peoples” said Komsic. He further added: “In this regard, I share the stances of European officials that the system, which is designed on the constituent peoples, is the main obstacle connected to constitutional framework in implementation of rulings of the European Court of Human Rights, which is something that rulings of this court explicitly refer to”. Komsic stressed that such messages are especially important in regards to discussion regarding the changes to Election Law of B&H and that the modern system, which is not based on so-called principle of constituent status of peoples, is a system of civic state.

Sattler: Current extent of presence of international community in B&H not compatible with EU integration (N1)

The 11th meeting of the Parliamentary Forum for B&H’s European Integration was held in Banja Luka on Monday in premises of the Republika Srpska (RS) parliament. It was hosted by the Committee for European Integration and Regional Cooperation of the RS parliament. Among other things, participants talked about necessity of continuation of the EU path of B&H, fulfilment of recommendations from the European Commission’s (EC) Opinion on B&H’s application for the EU membership and work on reforms. Representative of the Committee for European Integration and Regional Cooperation of the RS parliament Igor Crnadak (PDP) emphasized that it is necessary to unblock the EU integration process of B&H. Crnadak went on to saying that they need to convey message that B&H wants and has to fulfill conditions, to solve 14 recommendations and to resume with the EU path. Crnadak stressed that allowing B&H to enter the EU “on back door” would be disservice for B&H. Head of the EU Delegation (EUD) to B&H Johann Sattler attended the Forum and he said that it is necessary to strive to reduce international community’s presence in B&H, because it is not in correlation with aspirations concerning B&H’s membership in the EU. According to N1, Sattler stated that authorities in B&H need to engage more in regards to the EU path of B&H and to implement necessary reforms. Reporter reminded that Sattler had been saying earlier that in the process of joining the EU there will be no room for the Office of High Representative (OHR).  Talking about possible appointment of a new High Representative, the Head of the EUD to B&H stressed that the initiative of Germany is positive signal and indicator of stronger engagement of Germany as the strongest member of the EU. He went on to saying that in the medium and long term, this extent of the international community’s presence in B&H is incompatible with the EU membership. Sattler also said that the OHR is entering its last phase in B&H and it is important to be the right one from the beginning. The unanimous message of all parties in the RS is that the application of the Bonn Powers in B&H nowadays is unacceptable. MP of SNSD in the B&H Parliament Snjezana Novakovic-Bursac said that it is completely unacceptable for anyone to impose legal decisions which cannot be questioned by a court. She assessed the presence of the international community and OHR in B&H as damaging.

Cvijanovic, Viskovic meet Sattler to discuss political and economic situation (ATV)

RS President Zeljka Cvijanovic met Head of EU Delegation to B&H and EU Special Representative Johann Sattler in Banja Luka on Monday. They discussed the current economic and political situation in the RS. The officials also discussed the EU integration, with a special focus on the fulfillment of the key priorities of the European Commission. Cvijanovic said that the RS is dedicated to the European path and highlighted that this process needs to be implemented in accordance with the mechanism for coordination and the respect for constitutional competences of RS institutions. RS Prime Minister Radovan Viskovic and Sattler met on Monday as well. Viskovic thanked the EU for the support of the medical system of the RS and highlighted the measures undertaken by the RS Government to overcome the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was determined that B&H made certain progress in the fulfillment of the 14 priorities highlighted by the European Commission.

 

Croatian FM for keeping some space open for dialogue between EU and Russia (Hina)

Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic Radman on Monday suggested that some space for dialogue with Russia should remain open, speaking ahead of a EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting, with the latest developments concerning EU-Russia relations being one of the topics on the agenda. "In any case, dialogue is very important, it is one of our instruments, and we must provide some space for dialogue on the issues pertaining to our interests," Grlic Radman said in Brussels ahead of the start of the council's meeting. The meeting is expected to pave the way towards imposing sanctions on Russia over the detainment of the chief Opposition activist Alexei Navalny. EU High Representative Josep Borrell was quoted by foreign media as threatening Russia with sanctions again over the jailing of Navalny. Measures are expected to be discussed at today's meeting of EU ministers of foreign affairs. The European Union's member states are not unanimous in their position on this matter. Eastern and Baltic countries demand very tough action against Moscow. However, Italy, Greece and Cyprus seem very lenient towards Russia, while the remaining members are in the middle between those two groups.

The meeting of the EU's foreign ministers will include a wide-ranging video conference with new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The talks with Blinken will refer to three issues: the diversification of energy sources, including the Three Seas Initiative, the integration of Western Balkans into European and transatlantic processes, and addressing the challenges in the Middle East, according to Grlic Radman.

Grlic Radman: It is important for EU and the US to continue working together on challenges that include Euro-Atlantic integration of Western Balkans (Hina)

Croatia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Gordan Grlic Radman thinks it is important for EU and the US to continue working together on challenges that include Euro-Atlantic integration of Western Balkans. “The most pressing issue is Bosnia and Herzegovina and its political stability and functionality,” stated Grlic Radman.

 

Saving PM’s credibility (CdM)

The Bishop of Budimlje and Niksic Joanikije has openly supported Montenegrin Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic and speaker of parliament Aleksa Becic in Niksic. In this, one should read the clear support for the coalition that these two leaders achieved at the local level. Although he did not openly support the Ne Damo Niksic (We Won’t Give Niksic Up) list, it is clear to everyone that Krivokapic is personally behind this movement. However, as there is a disagreement with the Democratic Front (DF), and Miodrag Daka Davidovic as well, PM Krivokapic has risked a serious defeat because the list led by his advisor had very little chance of passing the census. Imagine how much respect and political authority a PM of a country who can’t win the census in his city would have. The Democrats, who saved in the same way Miodrag Lekic who had a similar leadership path as Krivokapic, came to his aid. It’s just that Krivokapic‘s journey from DF to Democrats happened much faster. In this way, Krivokapic will temporarily hide his defeat and prolong his political life, but the result of the URA Civic Movement in the elections will also be very important for assessing the legitimacy of this government. Although many believe that the biggest fight between the former and the new state government is taking place in Niksic, the fight between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic’s Montenegrin Serbs gathered around DF and those who still oppose it, although weaker, is much more interesting and uncertain. With the election of Porfirije as Patriarch, Bishop Joanikije loses power within the church and is aware that with the strengthening of DF, his authority in Montenegro would be even weaker. That is why he decided on such a political move. It only remains to bless URA, because as things stand in Niksic, it seems that DF has caught a good start. It remains to be seen if anyone will trip it up before the jump. With the problems relating to the Prosecutor’s Office and the police director, DF is just about to ask for a Government reshuffle, and a favorable result in the Niksic elections could be the trigger for that.

Picula: Public administration reform should be based on expertise and without political revenge (CdM)

“Public administration reform should be continued and based on expertise, but also post-election staffing where political revanchism should be avoided,” says the European Parliament’s rapporteur for Montenegro Tonino Picula. It is especially important that parliament functions as a central place of democratic political action, Picula believes, but EU membership must not be an alibi for political blockades or political manipulation. Montenegro already has the mechanisms needed to ensure both judicial and prosecutorial independence, but they need to be implemented and upgraded, he points out. He emphasizes in particular the area of freedom and independence of the media, which is of concern and which has been assessed without any progress in the last five EC’s reports. The local elections in Niksic once again underline a highly polarized political scene and cause additional instability, Picula stresses.

 

Arrest warrant issued for Saso Mijalkov, as the police are unable to locate him (Republika/Alsat-M TV)

The police are looking for Saso Mijalkov, former head of the UBK security service, after the court ordered him into house arrest. The powerful former official and businessman, who held his office during Nikola Gruevski’s terms as Prime Minister, was charged by the PM Zoran Zaev regime in numerous criminal cases and faces sentencing later this week over allegations of wiretapping. Mindful of the danger of him fleeing the country, the court ordered him into house arrest, but yesterday evening it was reported that the police could not find him in either of the two locations listed as his residence. Police reportedly also searched the Marriott hotel in downtown Skopje, which serves as Mijalkov’s base of operations. Alsat-M TV is reporting that an arrest warrant was issued for Mijalkov covering all border crossings. Gruevski famously left the country in early 2019, before he was ordered to begin serving a prison sentence and received political asylum in Hungary. Zaev’s SDSM party and its affiliated NGO groups and media outlets turned Mijalkov into a hate figure second only to Gruevski while he was in power, and especially during the 2015 Colored Revolution accused him of a long lists of crimes and murders (some of the typical portrayals of Mijalkov in the SDSM press – as a wiretapping crime boss). Many of the most egregious cases were later debunked as false, as the claims Zaev raised during the protests were proven as fake one by one. In some of the most significant cases, Mijalkov faced money laundering charges for his involvement in a string of businesses with Jordan Orce Kamcev. The so-called Empire case, initiated like many others by Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, turned into an attempt by Janeva to extort money from Kamcev, and her eventual arrest and prosecution, leading to the implosion of the Special Prosecutor’s Office.

The case in which Mijalkov faces sentencing this week is the original wiretapping case. In it, Zoran Zaev and one of Mijalkov’s predecessors as head of the UBK service Zoran Verusevski were charged with illegal wiretapping of thousands of phones and using the recordings to blackmail politicians (primarily Gruevski) and to try to grab power. Even after an UBK technician admitted he was working in coordination with Verusevski, Janeva turned the case on its head, dropped the charges against Zaev and Verusevski, and blamed Mijalkov for it. Prosecutor Lence Ristovska, one of the top figures of Janeva’s team who remains in office and continues to lead the wiretapping case, asked to court to order the maximum, 13 years sentence for Mijalkov last week. After the numerous cases launched against him, Mijalkov forged a political (and reportedly, business) alliance with Zaev. He supported the name change and worked with a group of former VMRO-DPMNE members of Parliament who were also being persecuted by Zaev, or received various perks and businesses, and eventually voted in favor of the name change – even after the 2018 name change referendum failed miserably due to low turnout and popular boycott. Shortly after Mijalkov was expelled from the party, but continued to work with a group of former party officials – mostly mayors who were accused of approving massive construction in Skopje in favor of major developers – to try and create a faction in VMRO. Just this weekend this faction, known as the “Marriott coalition”, held what they declared as a separate party congress and demanded that Hristijan Mickoski is removed as party leader. The low attendance at the event (several dozen former party officials) was dwarfed by the nearly 50,000 signatures the party collected across the country in opposition to the census law that Zaev is pushing. It was widely reported that Mijalkov is desperately pushing the “congress” and trying to cleave VMRO in an attempt to curry favor with Zaev and avoid going to prison.

A recent audio leak, from a conversation in 2016, showed that Zaev and Mijalkov were conducting secret negotiations while the Colored Revolution was still on-going. The tape shed new light on Mijalkov’s subsequent actions – during the name change vote in Parliament and his attempts to bring down Mickoski and create a faction in VMRO, but was also the latest betrayal of the stated principles of the “revolution”, which as one of its main purposes had the removal of Mijalkov from power and an investigation into the numerous business deals and other crimes that SDSM attributed to him.

Zaev: We’ve had another escape (Republika)

We’ve had another escape, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said after it was revealed that the police can’t locate former state security chief Saso Mijalkov and order him to remain into house arrest. Zaev ignored media questions whether he intends to resign, or ask Government officials to resign, after the second most highest profile target of his persecution, after Nikola Gruevski, went missing. Still, Zaev insisted that the police will eventually find Mijalkov, who was reportedly in Skopje as recently as Sunday early afternoon. As all of our people, I am also disappointed that he hasn’t been detained yet. I demand that the institutions act immediately and find him. I expect detailed reports form the executive, namely the Interior Ministry. I expect details about the case from the court, the prosecutors and the Ministry. Our people will expect accountability if the court order in one of the biggest cases in the history of Macedonia is not implemented, Zaev said after leaving the hearing in one of the numerous cases his regime is keeping up against former VMRO-DPMNE officials like Mijalkov. Mijalkov is facing sentencing in the case in which he is accused of massive wiretapping – producing the tapes that Zaev used to grab power in 2017. Zaev was originally charged with the wiretapping, along with former security chief Zoran Verusevski who now serves as Zaev’s security adviser, but the Zaev linked prosecutors turned the case around and accused Mijalkov and other VMRO officials of conducting the wiretapping (of themselves). The prosecutor demanded 13 years in prison for Mijalkov.

Pendarovski called on authorities to find Mijalkov (Republika)

Regarding the escape of ex-secret police chief Saso Mijalkov, President Stevo Pendarovski called on authorities on Monday to take all necessary measures to enforce the court’s decision and place him under house arrest. “Such developments are unacceptable for a country that expects to start EU accession negotiations and that is working hard to reform the judicial system and build trust in the rule of law. This discredits the efforts and hopes for tackling crime and high-level corruption,” Pendarovski said. There must be accountability! – Pendarovski tweeted, after Prime Minister Zoran Zaev rebuffed media questions whether he will resign or ask top Government officials like Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski to resign after the deeply humiliating development. “Such events are unacceptable in a country that expects to open EU accession talks and which is working hard to reform its judicial system and to build trust in the rule of law. This discredits all such efforts and any hopes that we will tackle the crime and high corruption” Pendarovski said. He also called on the state institutions to quickly investigate how was it possible that Mijalkov disappeared as he was awaiting sentencing in the major 2015 wiretapping scandal.

Zaev’s key coalition partner Kasami turns on him – puts pressure on the Interior Minister, won’t help SDSM during the municipal elections (Republika)

Bilal Kasami, leader of the BESA party which is crucial to Zoran Zaev’s majority in parliament, said that he calls for accountability from the Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski for the escape of former state security chief Saso Mijalkov. Spasovski, a top Zaev loyalist, avoided the public all day yesterday as the news that Mijalkov shaked off his police surveillance team and is missing, caused outrage in the country. Direct responsibility should be sought in the interior Minister. He was elected by the Parliament and he needs to explain things in the Parliament. We are asking where is Mijalkov, how did he flee and who helped him? This is what the Interior Minister needs to answer, Kasami said. BESA holds four crucial seats in the parliament which it won in a pre-election coalition with SDSM, and is crucial to the continued survival of the government. The statement comes as several other smaller parties – LDP, DOM and DS – are also more and more critical of Zaev, his attitude toward Bulgaria, high level corruption and now the Mijalkov scandal. If he can’t answer these questions, we will demand political responsibility. We can’t ask the prosecutors to be politically responsible, only the Interior Minister, Kasami added. He also announced that BESA won’t join SDSM in a coalition for the coming municipal elections. “We won’t go in it together. We will campaign alone in the municipal elections. We don’t need SDSM. We will entertain options with the other Albanian parties”. This is also a strong indication that Zaev’s ruling coalition is on shaky ground. Zaev’s SDSM party badly needs Albanian votes to compete in the capital Skopje and in Kumanovo – two key holds for the party.

As one of the concessions BESA demanded from SDSM, it required that future identity cards contain the ethnic identity of the holder – Albanian parties were eager to have documents that declare a citizen is an ethnic Albanian. Zaev is also eager to reprint the cards as Greece demands they carry the name “North Macedonia”. But Greece strongly objects to having documents declare ethnic Macedonians as – Macedonians. Zaev was forced to turn to international representatives such as EU Ambassador Geer, and to the small Levica party, to try to block the draft law that BESA initiated, and his failure to deliver on BESA’s demand is also pressing hard on the coalition.

State Department: Closely monitoring Mijalkov situation (Republika)

We are familiar with the reports and closely monitoring the situation, a State Department spokesperson said over the escape of former secret police chief Saso Mijalkov. An international arrest warrant was issued after Saso Mijalkov, has not been available to law enforcement officials and the police failed to find him and give the house arrest order, which was submitted to the Skopje Criminal Court by the prosecution. The court order for his house arrest came ahead of the verdict on the massive wiretapping scandal in which Mijalkov is the principal suspect and defendant. The verdict in the “Target-Fortress” case is expected on Friday.