LOCAL PRESS

 

All As One - 1 Out of 5 Million send three demands to the government officials (Insajder)

 

Organizers of the protest "One in five million", which was held today under the slogan "All as one", have sent three demands to the government officials. Those demands are: Forming a joint commission of government and opposition for defining fair electoral conditions, choosing a new Regulatory body for electronic media (REM) structure that would be proposed on equal terms by parliamentary groups of government and opposition and the selection of technical management and editorial collegium of Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and Radio Television Vojvodina (RTV) news program in which the Members would also be proposed by the government and the opposition. The protest organizers said that they are ready to launch a dialogue and an agreement on fulfilling the requests, and added that in the coming days the opposition will propose members of all three working groups in which aside from the representatives of the opposition and NGOs, the representatives of the professional associations will also be present. Requests were read at the end of the two-hour long program.

 

Addressing of the opposition leaders (RTS/N1)

 

Addressing the participants of the Protest "All As One - 1 Out of 5 Million" deputy Ljupka Mihajlovska greeted the participants and said that there are 600,000 people with disabilities in Serbia and that is the official data. "Unofficially, all citizens are in the state of handicap, we are limited in all ways, all rights have been trampled. Who is bathed by the free and thinking citizens, aren't they the strength of the country, and not the enemies," Mihajlovska said. "We will not argue with our fellow citizens, we will not hate, we want fair and honest elections and free media, so that we face each other there," added Mihajlovska. Chairman of the Alliance for Serbia Bosko Obradovic thanked the gathered citizens "for a brave heart to be in Belgrade today and show their teeth to the regime". "You are the leaders of the protest," Obradovic said. Obradovic said that today's protest has several messages. "The United Opposition, all as one against the treacherous authorities and thieves. Secondly, in all the regime media they talked about violence, fascism, but you showed the descent, non-violent, decent face of Serbia. You are normal Serbia, they are abnormal Serbia," pointed out Obradovic. People's Party leader Vuk Jeremic said that April 13 "will be remembered as the day when Serbia's lights light up, when Serbia started to wake up from the nightmare in to which it was pushed by the worst of its springs." "The eyes and ears of the world are with us today in Belgrade, watching carefully and listening to whether that is it," said Jeremic. “The victory day is close,” Vuk Jeremic told the crowd. The leader of the Democratic Party (DS) Zoran Lutovac said “this regime is based on fear and lies,” adding the leftists and rightists were together “because our house is burning and we all are putting the fire down.”  Serbia’s former prime minister Zoran Zivkovic estimated that 35,000 people gathered in Belgrade, "the largest anti-government rally in the capital after October 5, 2000, when hundreds of thousands of protesters turned out, and the protest resulted in dethroning the regime of Slobodan Milosevic.  Milosevic was accused of war crimes but died before the end of trial before the Hague Tribunal for war crimes in former Yugoslavia.  “What we missed was October 6 (the lack of lustration of the previous regime), and I bear a part responsibility,” Zivkovic said and asked the crowd for a round of applause for the late Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic who was assassinated on March 12, 2003, outside his office, and people responded.  Serbia’s former president Boris Tadic, receiving a massive boo, told the crowd that “a big and dangerous fight is ahead of us because we have a dangerous enemy and it’s important that we are together.” Many in Serbia blame him for allegedly supporting the creation of SNS when the ultra-nationalist Radical Party split in 2008 during his presidential mandate. He asked those who booed him to stop for a moment and listen to him, after what the crowd gradually calmed down.  Tadic described Vucic as “a trader of human souls,” and asked the crowd not to be angry with people who were blackmailed into coming to support Vucic.

 

Stefanovic: Vucic had the intention of addressing the rally but gave up when he heard a small number of people turned out (TV Prva)

 

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said that the police was inside the building of the Serbian Parliament to protect the parliament. "We had the opportunity to see the intrusion into the institutions, chainsaws, breaking of the state property. Journalists were wondering where is the police, and when you have this type of behavior, there is a danger that they might enter the Parliament again, set fires and steal paintings," he explained in the statement for TV Prva. Stefanovic underlined that the police was there in sufficient numbers to defend the Parliament from the attempt of a takeover and that it was there with the consent of the competent assembly organs. Stefanovic denied allegations of opposition that buses were prevented from coming to Belgrade. "Today, not one bus that was traveling to Belgrade has been stopped. All the buses and trains arrived to Belgrade. We did not have any problems," he said. Stefanovic says that the obvious problem was the turnout, that is, the turnout was smaller than the organizers wanted, so they are now blaming others, both the drivers and the Belgrade citizens, because they did not come out to the streets. "They cannot bring the impressive number of participants. Why did they lied to us that in the previous period, they had 50,000 participants, when at today's protest they had 7,500. It shows that they did not speak the truth," said Stefanovic. He stressed that the number of participants was decreasing on today's protest, and that there are currently between 4,000 and 5,000 people in the protest walk. He went on to say that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had the intention of addressing the rally in Belgrade but gave up when he heard a small number of people turned out. Stefanovic said that there were between 7,200 7,500 people at the pick of the protest. "During the speech of certain people, the number of participants decreased. First few dozen, and following the speech by Serge Trifunovic hundreds of people left," he said.

 

Press Statement of the Serbian parliament Secretary General (Serbian parliament)

 

“Pursuant to Article 71, paragraph 2 of the Law on the National Assembly, services of internal security and order keeping in the building and on the premises of the parliament shall be provided by the members of the security services of the Ministry of Interior with the assent of the Secretary General. As Secretary General I gave assent for the representatives of the Ministry of the Interior to enter the building because we are obliged by law to protect the people and edifice from potential violent entry,” said Secretary General Srdjan Smiljanic.

 

Dacic: Hungary is our greatest friend in EU (Tanjug/B92)

 

Relations between Serbia and Hungary have never been better in recent history, and in the EU, Serbia has no greater friend than Hungary, says Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said this in Subotica, where a joint session of the two governments is being held, and where he met with Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto. “In the EU we do not have a greater friend than Hungary, and my colleague Peter Szijjarto is the loudest advocate of European integration of Serbia. At the meetings of European ministers of diplomacy, he speaks the most resolutely about the EU integration of Serbia,” said Dacic. He added that the friendship between the two countries is best seen by the warmth and personal ties between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Dacic announced that Serbia will continue to cooperate with Hungary in all fields, political as well as economic, and added that Hungary has in the meantime become one of Serbia's biggest economic partners. “Hungary is Serbia’s sixth biggest foreign trade partner, and the foreign trade of our two countries last year amounted to 1.7 billion Euros,” Dacic said. He particularly stressed that excellent relations with the Hungarian national minority in Serbia contributed to this. "A great contribution to all of this is the harmonious relationship with Istvan Pasztor, President of the (Vojvodina Provincial) Assembly. We in Serbia have ethnic minorities as bridges of cooperation, and not as obstacles, and we will continue to develop such relations," concluded Dacic.

 

SNS Presidency and Executive Board to convene on 16 April (Informer/Novosti/Tanjug)

 

Sessions of the SNS Presidency, expanded composition of the Executive Board and the SNS City Assembly will convene on Tuesday, 16 April. The sessions will be held in all conference halls of the Sava Center, where more than 7,000 people will participate, Informer and Novosti report. The sessions will be completely public and will be aired in the halls of the Sava Center via video, while the main topics are a response to the latest pressure of the opposition, and a decision on early parliamentary elections. Informer reports that the decision will be announced by midnight on Tuesday.

 

Dodik: If “we” want stable Balkans, then it is necessary to redefine it (Vecernje novosti)

 

Chairman of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Presidency Milorad Dodik asked to comment the idea about drawing borders with Albanians, said that Republika Srpska (RS) follows Serbia’s stances on this issue and it will accept everything that Serbia chooses. Dodik further said that if “we” want stable Balkans, then it is necessary to redefine it in a way to merge the areas with majority dominant peoples. “However, we here, are an experiment, which did not allow the people to draw borders in a historic way, to build their states and then try to cooperate and build friendship, but we remain in the smoldering conflict about many issues. As long as you have the issue of borders and snatched territory, you cannot secure permanent peace,” said Dodik.

Asked if he stands by his statement that the RS will declare independence if Kosovo gets a seat in the UN, Dodik said that he does and there is nothing disputable in this. “We are already separated, only this was not declared. B&H is completely divided society. The state is not functioning, but there is certain imagination of it. Dayton Agreement ‘put together’ this country, which has nothing in common and now we are supposed to try to create some joint politics. This cannot be done,” said Dodik. Asked about his recent statement that Serbia and the RS are looking at decades of uniting and whether this can be speeded up, Dodik said that he will speed it up as much as he can, but he is not an adventurist and will not lead the people into the suffering or refugee. “I deem that in a geopolitical and regional movement the moment will be created when the merger will be possible. I have no dilemma that this will happen, I only fear that I, or someone else, do not miss this momentum,” said Dodik. Asked to comment his recent drawing of maps, which now include part of Montenegro, Dodik said that this is a hypothetical story and he has right to think about things. “The most stable thing would be if Serbs would be united in a prosperous state of Serbia. We never attacked anyone in history and we will not do that now. This space belongs to us. How can someone from Sarajevo say that Banja Luka is theirs? It is not theirs, but ours, Serb. It feels that it belongs to Serbia. Everyone think that and 99% of Serbs deem that this is Serbia and other can fight against it as much as they want but in vain,” said Dodik. Asked about protests in Serbia and whether this is interest of western powers, Dodik said that primary interest of the West is to have unstable countries in order to be able to intervene and nobody wants strong leaders in the region. He stressed that as soon as someone becomes a strong leader they destabilize him, because this bothers them. As for Serbia, Dodik said that now Serbia is solving the issue of Kosovo and needs strong negotiating position, but if it is destabilized from within it is not as strong. “Those who are walking are not even aware of the use or abuse in this regard,” said Dodik. He said that he does not care if some criticized him for supporting Aleksandar Vucic, adding that he supports what Vucic is doing: “If it was not democratic the authority would take the police and army and break down the protests,” said Dodik, adding that Serbian economy made progress under Vucic’s rule in time when economies in the region are stagnating. Asked about paralysis of authorities in B&H, Dodik said that authority in B&H is always paralyzed, because “B&H is an impossible construction and paralysis is its concept”. He noted that this affects the RS, “we are thrown into this monster”. “However, the RS stabilized its economy and its budget, thanks to Vucic’s assistance. Political institutions are also stable. The RS demonstrated ability to exist under impossible conditions. If there were no foreigners, B&H would not last for two days. Leave us alone and we will be a state,” said Dodik. He did not answer author’s question whether Serbs will leave institutions if blockade continues, saying that Serbs will strategically do as best as they can: “I kind of like it to irritate them a little”.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

SNSD to propose amendments to 27 laws at state level in attempt to return competences to level of entity (EuroBlic)

 

Head of SNSD Caucus in the House of Representatives of the B&H parliament Stasa Kosarac confirmed that SNSD is planning proposals to amend 27 laws which have led to transfer of RS competences to the state level, but he noted it is too soon to reveal which competences are going to be included in this process. However, noted the daily, following the last week’s meeting of SNSD, SDA and HDZ B&H delegations, it has been revealed that the amendments to the Law on Defense of B&H are going to be proposed, as the law reads all the levels of authority are obliged to meet their obligations in the process of NATO integration; considering the fact that the RS has changed its foreign policy and adopted the Resolution on Military Neutrality, SNSD is expected to request removal of the said article of the law. Former NDP representative in the Parliament of B&H Momcilo Novakovic told the daily that there are 73 laws used to transfer the entity competences to the state level in the past decades. “They include the Law on Court of B&H, the Law on the Prosecutor’s Office of B&H, the Law on the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of B&H and many others. They are mostly competences transferred through decisions of the high representative, while a small number of them was transferred through decisions of the Parliament. Nearly all the laws, except for the Law on Personal ID Card, have been ratified by SNSD in the Parliament of B&H,” said Novakovic and noted that he welcomes their plans, but does not think their Bosniak partners are going to accept the initiative. Member of SDA Presidency Edin Ramic stated that they are willing to discuss everything, but they do not want to see political scene burdened by the demands that will never be fulfilled.

 

Dodik, Cvijanovic say SNSD not to accept SDA’s request for formation of new ministries in B&H CoM (TV1/Glas Srpske)

 

B&H Presidency Chair and SNSD leader Milorad Dodik announced on Friday that representatives of SNSD will hold just one more meeting with SDA representatives, next week, and that they will no longer waste their time on meetings that yield no results with regard to formation of authorities at B&H level. Dodik commented on criticism of the international officials in B&H related to the proposed draft Law on Public Order and Peace in the RS. In this regard, Dodik assessed such criticism as inappropriate and a direct interference in internal matters. Dodik also stated that he would not accept SDA’s request for establishment of new ministries in B&H Council of Ministers (CoM). RS President Zeljka Cvijanovic said on Friday she does not consider SDA’s demands for formation of new ministries in B&H CoM to be serious because the party is making them even though they already know they will be rejected. Cvijanovic said that the RS will not support the request for the formation of new ministries at the state level. “It is a matter of political manipulation. There are too many institutions and agencies as well as ministries at the B&H level, but not that many had been envisaged by the Constitution,” she told the press. Cvijanovic also assessed that SDA is demonstrating serious usurping intentions by preventing the RS to secure participation in authorities to those political parties which won support of citizens, as in line with election results, in democratic spirit and in line with rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Cvijanovic said that SDA is blocking the formation of authorities, thus blocking the European path as well because it was clearly stated that there can be no positive opinion of the European Commission without formation of authorities. Leader of HDZ B&H Dragan Covic confirmed that he will meet leaders of SNSD and SDA, Milorad Dodik and Bakir Izetbegovic, in Sarajevo on 17 April after which delegations of the three parties will hold a meeting as well in order to try to reach an agreement on formation of B&H Council of Ministers (CoM). Covic said that the problem lies in the fact some of politicians intended to “create somewhat different calculations” and added that some were surprised with the fact SNSD convincingly won the elections in the RS, just like HDZ B&H did among the Croat people. “Then, some tried to find solutions in order to go around the election will. However, it is quite certain this is impossible,” Covic added. Commenting on the request of SDA related to formation of new ministries at the level of B&H, Covic said that this is not the first time such initiative was presented in past seven or eight years. “This is not the right time to carry out such discussion,” Covic said and added that B&H CoM should be formed in line with the existing model, which means that the sides should get three ministries each. “Of course, in rotation each of the peoples will have their own B&H CoM Chair, which belongs to Serbs this time. It is questionable whether we will be able to agree on many other changes to B&H Constitution or even the structure of B&H CoM. At this moment, I think there is no chance of reaching an agreement on SDA’s initiative,” Covic said. He also said that HDZ B&H will insist on getting the Ministry of Treasury and Finance of B&H, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of B&H and Ministry of Security of B&H.

 

Osmanovic: If SNSD wants three ministerial posts and Chairman position, they must agree on formation of two new ministries (Oslobodjenje)

 

The last week’s meeting with SDA delegation, SNSD representatives once again insisted on the post of the Chairman of the B&H Council of Ministers and three ministerial posts for the Serb people; during the meeting, SDA proposed formation of two new ministries – Ministry of European Affairs and Ministry of Agriculture. SDA Deputy President Adil Osmanovic said that we could discuss their three ministerial posts if we expanded B&H CoM. Since one third of ministers comes from the RS, said Osmanovic, this way there would be 11 ministries plus the post of the Council of Ministers of B&H, and then their request would be acceptable. He pointed out that the formation of new ministries would not mean violation of the Constitution of B&H. “You cannot get everything you are asking for. If you want to have four members of the Council of Ministers, then you must compromise. Accordingly, we said we accept the demands, and the compromise is formation of the two additional ministries. Everything is on the table and we will see how the talks are going to continue at the next meeting,” said Osmanovic. SNSD leader Milorad Dodik stated recently that SNSD is not going to accept SDA’s proposal, underlining that the constitutional rights of Serbs are being violated in the process of authority formation.

DF Vice-president Dzenan Djonlagic said that DF did not condition SDA with formation of new ministries, but they believe that a request for the Ministry of European Integration is a legitimate request.

 

Dodik: If obstruction of the formation of the B&H CoM continues, other B&H bodies will not function as well (RTRS)

 

A meeting of the Party Coordination of SNSD was held in Banja Luka on Sunday. The meeting was attended by SNSD leader Milorad Dodik, Vice Presidents of SNSD and members of SNSD Main Board. The main topic of the meeting were relations in B&H ahead of the final meeting of SNSD with HDZ B&H and SDA on possible formation of the B&H Council of Ministers (CoM) which will be held. Following the meeting, Dodik said that SNSD is going to the meeting with known stances, i.e. that the post of the B&H CoM Chairman and three ministerial posts belong to SNSD. "As far as I am personally concerned, I do not believe in good intentions of Bosniaks that they want to complete the story regarding the formation of the B&H CoM and today (Sunday) we discussed what to do in conditions if that does not happen as soon as possible. It should be stated that the EU asked for formation of the authorities in B&H, not only at the B&H level, but also at the level of the Federation of B&H, as a condition to provide an opinion to B&H on the candidate status," Dodik said. He added that there is evident obstruction of the formation of the B&H CoM. Dodik stressed that if obstruction of the formation of the B&H CoM continues, other B&H bodies will not function as well, explaining that the B&H House of Representatives (HoR) and the B&H House of Peoples (HoP) will not function in that case. "If you let the B&H HoR and the B&H HoP work, then you are legalizing the composition of the B&H CoM. That is not something that is election will of people from the RS, people who voted in the RS, nor the election will of the people who voted in B&H in general," Dodik underlined.

 

International scientific conference ‘Srebrenica – Reality and Manipulations’ ends with conclusion there was no genocide (RTRS)

 

The international scientific conference ‘Srebrenica – Reality and Manipulations’ ended in Banja Luka on Saturday. Papers of a number of authors from Serbia, Russia, Austria, the Netherlands and the US were presented on this occasion. According to conclusions of the conference, the crime that was committed in Srebrenica cannot be considered as genocide, in line with the definition in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide from 1948. Participants of the conference assessed that the notion of genocide was developed and promoted with the help of western propaganda agencies, with the ultimate goal to fight against the Serb people. Publicist Ljiljana Bulatovic Medic from Belgrade explained that back in January 1993, radio amateurs located in Srebrenica, who were financed by Soros, told the whole world that genocide was committed against Muslims. “That was the time when there were no more Serbs in Srebrenica. They had been persecuted,” Bulatovic Medic said. Ibran Mustafic, author of ‘The Planned Chaos in Srebrenica’, argued that the Srebrenica scenario was actually planned in Sarajevo and it was realized by foreign operatives. “It is evident that the serious war crime in the protected and demilitarized zone of Srebrenica was well-planned and realized by foreign operatives, with financial and media support from powerful military and political figures from the western countries. The aim was to get an alibi to bomb the positions of the RS Army and to weaken the position of the RS at the upcoming peace conference in Dayton,” Mustafic said. He added that the number of killed Bosniaks was drastically exaggerated, given the fact that the list includes many people who got killed even before the operation in Srebrenica in July 1995. Austrian historian and publicist Hannes Hofbauer, who has been studying the Balkans from historical and economical points of view for two decades now, stressed the importance of such conferences as the rest of the world is not quite familiar with what happened in Srebrenica. “If you say that only one side is demonized, like the Serb side, I think this is not the right attitude to speak about. If you even make the denial of genocide punishable, you stop any discussion and I do not think it is good to stop discussions. You have to fight for the truth,” Hofbauer stressed.

According to Chairman of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency Milorad Dodik, it is important to establish the truth about suffering based on the facts and not interpretations of events. He stressed that all events should be analyzed without denying the fact that Muslims were also the victims of crimes in Srebrenica. “However, it should be documented in a serious way, just like scientists all over the world deal with such topics. Once we establish the whole truth that will be based on the facts, there will be a moment for all of us to face the crime against both Bosniaks and Serbs in Srebrenica. Until then, Srebrenica will remain a topic of numerous manipulations that keep humiliating victims regardless of their ethnic affiliation,” Dodik concluded.

 

Dodik: Wire along border with Serbia not going to happen (ATV)

 

Estimations say that B&H will face with the highest migrant inflow ever. Chairman of B&H Council of Ministers (CoM) Denis Zvizdic recently mentioned the idea to set a wire along the border of B&H with Serbia. Speaking about Zvizdic’s idea, Chairman of B&H Presidency Milorad Dodik said a couple of days ago that this is not going to happen. Dodik said that he is against a request to send the B&H Armed Forces (AF) for additional protection of B&H border with Serbia. Dodik stated that a reserve police unit that will be established within the RS Ministry of Interior (MoI), will be in charge of providing security in the RS. Dodik explained that the RS will control the situation in parts for which this entity is responsible, adding that the RS is against migrant camps at the territory of the RS. Dodik added: “We understand that the migrants are only in transition and that they are going to the nearest destination, in this case Bihac, from where they will be able to enter the EU”.

 

Plenkovic rejects allegations on espionage affair between B&H and Croatia (HRT)

 

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic rejected the accusations of President of Coordination of Jewish Municipalities Ognjen Kraus, which accused the Croatian authorities during a gathering in Jasenovac of failure to react to revision of history and strengthening of the extreme right-wing parties. In an interview of the week for the HRT, Plenkovic also commented the alleged espionage affairs between Croatia and B&H, and Croatia and Slovenia, which involved activities of the Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA) of Croatia. He emphasized that these affairs are “absolute nonsense” and “silly imputations” which have no connection with reality. “Those are all lies,” Plenkovic concluded.

 

Croatian President lays flowers for WWII death camp victims (Hina)

 

President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic visited the Jasenovac Memorial Site on Saturday and laid white roses at the Stone Flower monument to the victims of the WWII concentration camp, continuing her custom of doing so a day before the official commemoration. "In our homeland, World War Two still brings out painful memories of the numerous victims. By laying a wreath in memory of the victims of the Jasenovac camp and staying in silence by this stone flower, I pay my deepest respect for all the victims who were killed in the camp," the President wrote in the memorial book. "Let this always be only a place of respect, but also a place which will warn us how important it is to raise young generations for peace, unity and solidarity among people and nations. We can't change the past, but we can build the future in a better way for a more beautiful and more humane life of all the people in Croatia and around the world." Instead of the president, her chief of staff Anamarija Kirinic attended Sunday's commemoration with representatives of the government and parliament. A commemoration was also held on Friday, in memory of the breakout of the Jasenovac inmates, organized by ethnic minority associations and anti-fascists who, for the fourth year in a row, honored the victims of the Ustasha regime separately from state officials.

 

Jasenovac victims commemorated at state-sponsored memorial (Hina/HRT)

 

Croatian officials commemorated the victims of the WWII Jasenovac concentration camp on Sunday. The event was a state-sponsored memorial, attended by the speaker of parliament, the Prime Minister and his cabinet, other officials and members of the diplomatic corps. The Jewish, Serb, and Roma communities and anti-fascist groups held their own memorials earlier this week. For four years running, they have refused to attend the official commemoration, accusing the government of being too soft on hard-right nationalists and pro-fascists. Wreaths and flowers were paced at the foot of the Stone Flower monument by victims' families, government representatives and diplomats. Parliament speaker Gordan Jandrokovic, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, Zagreb mayor Milan Bandic, were joined by Roma MP Veljko Kajtazi, who also attended a commemoration on Friday, organized by the Jewish, Serb, and Roma communities and anti-fascist groups. Officials gave no speeches at this year's official commemoration. Instead, actors read testimonies of Jasenovac inmates Helena Pachl Mandic and Erwin Miller.

"The message is quite clear. We should remember. We should not forgive and we should not forget. We must learn from history so that it never happens again," said Israel's Ambassador to Croatia Ilan Mor. Plenkovic told reporters, "We came to pay our respects to the victims of the Ustasha-run camp Jasenovac, to all the inmates, to those who, 74 years ago in April, made a prison break, and when, unfortunately, many were died." "We are here once again to condemn the crime and the regime under which such camps existed, and to say that today we must work on inclusion in society, on reducing divisions, on tolerance and dialogue, on nurturing the culture of remembrance and on the education of young people about important moments in Croatian history, notably from World War Two," Plenkovic said. He also said he regretted that the commemoration was not a joint one. "I'm not glad there are two commemorations, but we are talking and I believe these talks will bear fruit next year," Plenkovic said. Regarding the government's policy, he said "our common wish is to commemorate these events appropriately, with much respect for the victims and with the wish to work, only through dialogue, talks and the culture of remembrance, on preventing something like this from happening again."

 

Canak: Djukanovic can improve the situation in the Western Balkans (Vikend novine)

 

Upon the initiative of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, the leaders of the Western Balkans are going to meet in Berlin on 29 April, and one of the main topics will be relations between Serbia and Kosovo, as well as the stability of the region. President of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic will have a very significant role at the meeting. According to the leader of the League Social Democrats of Vojvodina Nenad Canak, Djukanovic is a politician who has power to significantly contribute to the dialogue on the Western Balkans: “President Djukanovic is definitely a man of greatest political knowledge of political circumstances in the region. On the other hand, he’s a man who proved he was able to make right decisions in times when many things depended on those same decisions, including his own life.” He believes our region is a very bad situation as Europe is neglecting it, just as he himself and Djukanovic used to indicate several times before. “I firmly believe that the policy Djukanovic has been implementing over the past decades is the one that could turn the Balkans into something completely different – a stable and democratic society, and not a place of constant conflicts,” noted Canak.

 

Montenegro still exposed to strong Russian and Serbian influence (Dnevne novine)

 

People in power in Montenegro are one of the most experienced creators of foreign policies in the Balkans, therefore, there won’t be any kind of instability in Montenegro despite outside influence and internal protests, Davor Gjenero, a renowned Croatian political observer, told in an interview with Dnevne novine. He also noted that Brexit has nothing to do with the position of the Western Balkans in the EU. “Problems on the road to EU would exist even if it weren’t for a Brexit, just as they existed before the British exit.” In addition, he said the EU has serious internal issues with Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, and any enlargement would make them worse. Gjenero emphasized that Montenegro closed negotiations on chapter related to foreign and security policy and managed to completely align its foreign policy with the one of the EU.

“The problem is that the EU doesn’t pay much attention to such great achievements. Montenegro made an extremely important progress that the EU seems to forget – it resolved all its border issues with neighbors, except Croatia, but that border dispute does not harm relations between the two countries in any way.” Commenting on the speculations that Montenegro could potentially join the EU club by 2025, he said that from the very beginning it was clear that there couldn’t be any enlargement during this mandate of the European Commission. “It’s very optimistic to expect Montenegro to join the EU by 2025. That would mean that the country has to complete the negotiations by 2023. After that, another 6 months are needed to prepare the accession agreement and at least a year and a half to ratify the agreement in the member states. In order to achieve all these tasks, you need to be speedy in closing the negotiation chapters,” reckons Gjenero. According to him, Montenegro has been exposed to pressure of the two states: “So we have Serbia who is manipulating over the Serbian and anti-Montenegrin forces in Montenegro, and that same Serbian project is connected with the Russian one.”

 

Byrnes: Full implementation of the Prespa Agreement is crucial to the region (Meta)

 

North Macedonia is on its chosen path to NATO and the European Union. Through the Prespa Agreement, the political leaders of North Macedonia and Greece overcame difficult historical issues by focusing on a future of progress. The United States supported the leaders on both sides who drove this process – said Kate Byrnes, who is nominated to be U.S. Ambassador to North Macedonia, while speaking at the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. She will succeed Jess Baily, whose term ended in February. Full implementation of the agreement is crucial to the region, she noted. “External actors with malign intent are working against this progress in an effort to undermine the country and the confidence the people of North Macedonia have in their future,” Byrnes said. Elaborating her activities as ambassador if confirmed, she pledged to focus the work of the Embassy on three priorities, including stability through strong institutions, security through partnership and prosperity through positive influence. North Macedonia, the diplomat said, has made significant progress on updating its laws to advance reforms, including in the areas of judicial independence, rule of law, and accountability. “Its political leaders need to ensure these laws are thoroughly implemented, making real change to meet the standards of membership in both NATO and the EU, as well as the expectations of its citizens.” “As a future NATO ally, North Macedonia must meet its commitments. North Macedonia will prosper by advancing human rights, diversity, inclusion, free media, and open markets,” Byrnes said, adding the United States will partner in building new opportunities for future generations through Peace Corps, USAID and other assistance programs, and through robust public diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges. She said there were prospects for U.S. firms to partner with companies in North Macedonia. “Expanding ties between the United States and North Macedonia will foster a positive vision of a more prosperous and secure future and is our strongest weapon against global competitors,” Byrnes concluded. Byrnes’ career as diplomat spans over 26 years. Previously, she served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Athens and Permanent Representative of the US Mission to OSCE in Vienna.

 

Greece and Croatia support North Macedonia’s EU integration (Nezavisen vesnik)

 

Croatian PM Andrej Plenkovic and Greek PM Alexis Tsipras, voiced support Friday for North Macedonia’s EU integration bid to start accession negotiations with the EU in June and wrap-up the process on becoming a full-fledged NATO member. Plenkovic and Tsipras met with PM Zaev on the sidelines of the 8th Summit between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) within the Process 16+1, in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The three PMs focused on their future efforts to further strengthen economic relations and ties among North Macedonia, Croatia, and Greece, and promote international trade and connectivity in infrastructure to boost domestic economies and benefit all citizens, said the government.

 

Siljanovska leads among the Macedonians (Republika/TV Sitel)

 

According to a poll of the TV Sitel, VMRO-DPMNE’s presidential candidate Gordana Siljanovska Davkova overwhelmingly leads among Macedonians. According to the respondents in the poll, as many as 54.7 percent of the Macedonians who participated in the poll said that they had a positive opinion about Gordana Siljanovska Davkova, while 46.1 percent of the respondents said they had a positive opinion of SDSM and DUI candidate Stevo Pendarovski, but the greater is the percentage of Macedonian citizens who have a negative opinion about Pendarovski. The poll shows that Siljanovska leads with over eight percent among the Macedonians, which means that in the coming period it is possible to increase the support.

 

Third biggest opposition's rally ends after four hours (ADN)

 

Opposition in Albania ended on Saturday the third biggest protest called against Prime Minister Edi Rama and his government. After four long hours of clashes between protesters and police officers, accompanied by smoke bombs, tear gas and violent actions, demonstrators were called by the Democratic Party leader to close it at DP Headquarters.  "Rama's resignation is an unnegotiable condition. We will accept only early elections realized by a transitory government," said opposition leader Lulzim Basha at the end of protest. Albanian President Ilir Meta urged for a peaceful protest as it escalates this Saturday in front of the Prime Ministry.  "Protest must continue to be peaceful and confrontation must be avoided confrontations" appealed the head of state. Rama has reacted on Saturday evening on the opposition's protest that turned violent in front of Parliament. He expressed his solidarity with every police officer in a day like this, that were forces to face the violence of what he called desperate politics. "Solidarity with every police officer who in a day like this has to face the physical exaggeration of a desperate, headless, unmanaged politics without a future. Regret for police officers injured by the blows of the two dazzling parties marching into the road of self-destruction," said Rama. One day after the third biggest protest of the opposition, Basha has another message to the government. Basha stated that there will be no compromise with the corrupt government, while stressing that this is the end of the 'gang-government', as he calls it. "This is the end of the government caught in stealing the votes of the citizens with the criminals, which the number 1 threat to democracy, security and well-being. There is no compromise with our dream. We want Albania to be like the rest of Europe, with European standards for free elections, justice and free market economy!" says Basha.

 

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

 

Washington has backed away from the Balkans. An E.U. commissioner says it’s not a problem. (The Washington Post, by Emily Tamkin, 14 April 2019)

 

Johannes Hahn, the European Union’s commissioner for neighborhood policy and enlargement negotiations, finds Washington “interesting.” Hahn was in town last week in part to discuss the Middle East, Ukraine and the western Balkans with his U.S. counterparts. The latter has recently featured that rarest of things: a resolution to a decades-old diplomatic dispute. “I think we were both very successful, and the U.S. was very supportive on what we call today North Macedonia,” Hahn told The Washington Post, referring to the resolution of Greece’s dispute with that country over its name (North Macedonia previously went by Macedonia, a name that Greece said belonged to its northern region, the former stronghold of Alexander the Great). The western Balkans stand out in another way, too. In the wars of the 1990s and their aftermath, Washington was in the driver’s seat in the region, not Brussels. Today, Hahn said, the reverse is true. The United States is very supportive of the European Union on and in the region, he said, adding, “I think that they are quite happy that we are nowadays in the lead in the region.” Some who work on the region have expressed concern that what they see as Washington’s ambivalence toward it is a destabilizing force. Last year, for example, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovar President Hashim Thaci reportedly supported resolving the dispute between Serbia and Kosovo, which unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia in 2008, with a land swap or border adjustment. Previous U.S. administrations openly opposed the idea, rendering it a non-starter. Changes of borders in the Balkans have traditionally been associated with violence and bloodshed. The Trump administration said it would support what the parties involved wanted (the parties were internally split on the matter; in Kosovo, for example, the president tentatively backed the idea, while the prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, warned against it). Hahn’s hope is that the resolution of the Macedonia name dispute will serve as a precursor to the resolutions of other conflicts, including the “standstill” in the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, which he said was caused by trade tariffs imposed by Kosovo on Serbian imports late last year. Resolving the trade issue is now a precondition for restarting dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia. On the possible border adjustment, Hahn stressed that a legally binding agreement between the two would cover areas beyond the border issue and that “one fundamental element in a future agreement must be the respect of minority rights,” an element of E.U. accession. “At this moment, nobody could predict what would be a final . . . outcome,” he said. “A possible land swap might be in any case, if you like, a final parcel in a bigger picture. “The only precondition we have raised was that any kind of bilateral agreement has to contribute to more peace and stability in the region.” A political agreement that comes at the cost of others, Hahn said, would be unacceptable to the European Union. As for the idea expressed by some who live in and work on the region — that the United States’ retreat from leadership in the western Balkans is destabilizing — Hahn, whose stint as commissioner for E.U. enlargement ends later this year, offered a different take. “It’s a kind of silent return to normality,” he said, noting that 75 percent of trade from and to the region comes from E.U. member states. “What is now — so to say — daily routine, that we are taking care about the situation, in a way is simply a reaction to the situation on the ground,” he said, explaining that the United States has “hardly any” business interests in the region. The United States was in the lead earlier because of NATO intervention, he said. “The situation has changed. . . . If I look across a longer time frame, there is progress in the region. As an example, today, if there are on the ground, for instance, between Serbia and Kosovo, some clashes, in the past, this could have led easily to some violence. Today the leaders pick up the phone and call each other.”

 

Deal with Serbia possible this year, says Kosovan president (The Guardian, 15 April 2019)

 

But Hashim Thaçi has no plans to lift tariffs on Serbian goods that led to suspension of talks

An agreement to normalise relations between Serbia and Kosovo along the lines of the historic deal between Greece and North Macedonia is still possible in 2019, despite severe setbacks in recent months, the president of Kosovo has said. Serbia has refused to recognise Kosovo as an independent state since its former province broke away in 2008 after almost a decade of international administration in the aftermath of a bloody war in 1998-99. The war, triggered by a brutal crackdown by Serb forces against Kosovo’s separatist ethnic Albanians, left about 10,000 ethnic Albanians dead before a 78-day Nato bombing campaign ended the conflict. Hundreds of Serbs were killed in retaliatory attacks. “We have to sit down even with our arch enemies, but without any preconditions, and try to listen to each other,” Hashim Thaçi, the Kosovan president, told the Guardian in an interview ahead of a conference in Berlin on 29 April. Talks between the two countries have been suspended since November, when Kosovo imposed 100% tariffs on goods from Serbia. Thaçi said there was no plan to lift the tariffs, but stressed the need for quick progress. International hesitancy and mixed messages were “creating space for nationalists and populists on both sides of the border”, he said. “Too often it boils down to big egos and clashes of personalities, and we hear too rarely about principles, standards and values.” Thaçi said he had invested all the political capital he had built up over two decades in the success of the talks, and the price of continued failure would be damage to the whole region. “In current circumstances, with these tensions, I do not see why any foreign investors would come and invest in our region. Only a peace agreement will bring prosperity,” he said. Kosovo’s current halfway-house status, where it is recognised by some EU states and not others, means its citizens are the only Europeans west of Belarus who require a visa to travel to the Schengen area. These restrictions do not apply elsewhere in the Balkans. A third of Kosovo’s workforce are jobless. Thaçi, a former head of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which fought for independence, blamed some EU member states for complicating the process, a reference to the way in which Germany, unlike the US, has opposed aspects of Thaçi’s proposals, especially on what he has described as “border corrections”. Plans have been unofficially floated for the predominantly Serbian region in northern Kosovo surrounding Mitrovica to join Serbia, and the mostly ethnic Albanian Preševo valley to be transferred to Kosovo. In practice, the north Kosovo region operates a form of dual sovereignty, with influence from Kosovo and Serbia. Thaçi was an advocate of the territory swap, but it has been opposed by Germany, which fears it might fuel semi-dormant demands for other geographical borders in the Balkans, including in Serb-dominated parts of Bosnia, to be redrawn on ethnic lines. The US, with which Thaçi is close, is more open-minded about the plan.

Thaçi said “border demarcation” would be part of any comprehensive mutual recognition agreement. But he stressed “there can be no borders on ethnic lines. It’s impossible. Both Kosovo and Serbia will remain multi-ethnic states.” In late 2018, Kosovo imposed 100% tariffs on Serbian goods and said Serbia had insisted on their removal as a precondition for restarting talks. The imposition of the tariffs led to the resignation of four mayors in provinces in northern Kosovo. “Kosovan Serbs have withdrawn from political life in Kosovo, including the police and judiciary in the north of Kosovo,” Thaçi said. “Nobody has an answer how to move forward and the biggest victims are Kosovans, and in particular, Kosovan Serbs.”