LOCAL PRESS

 

Petkovic: Banjska resort raid part of plan to ethnically cleanse Serbs (Tanjug/RTV/Politika)

 

The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Petar Petkovic said on Tuesday Pristina's raid of the Rajska Banja resort at Banjska near Zvecan earlier in the day was a part of a plan aimed at ethnically cleansing Serbs from the province. "That way, too, Pristina confirmed its intent to comprehensively occupy the north of Kosovo and Metohija and sent a message that Serbia has no right to help its people in any way, the Rajska Banja tourism and recreational complex being one of Belgrade's strategic investments in the north of Kosovo and Metohija," Petkovic said in a written statement. Besides attacking the collective rights of Serbs, this display of force also violates the right to inviolability of property, which is sacrosanct in today's world, "because the extremists from Pristina are violating and taking away the property of municipalities, the Serbian Orthodox Church and individuals in the north of the province on a daily basis now, without holding back in any way and without any need to provide justification for that," Petkovic noted. "The political extremists in Pristina take pleasure in abusing Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, and they especially like to do that on our great national and religious holidays. So, today, on St Nicholas's Day, Kurti's police raided the Rajska Banja complex in the Zvecan municipality, and drove out maintenance staff of the hotel and the restaurant of the same name completely unlawfully and under threat of force. That way, Pristina once again sent a message to Serbs that they have no right to development of their local communities and no right to jobs and social security," Petkovic said. Petkovic noted that the "brazenness and arrogance of Kurti and his thugs evidently know no boundaries". "Of course, we will inform of all this the international community, including the facilitators of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue," Petkovic said. The so-called Kosovo Police said the raid had been due to the fact the complex had no adequate operating permit. Funded by the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, the Rajska Banja complex was opened in 2019.

 

Serb List condemns police incursion into Rajska Banja complex (Tanjug)

 

The Serb List has strongly condemned Tuesday's incursion by the Pristina police into the Rajska Banja complex in Banjska, near Zvecan, in northern Kosovo and Metohija, and requested an immediate intervention from the international community. "The Serb List condemns in the strongest terms the seizure of the Rajska Banja complex in Banjska, directed by the anti-Serb regime of Albin Kurti, who is seizing this extremely valuable and significant spa complex from the Serb people in front of the eyes of the international community," a statement said. They recall that the Rajska Banja complex was built exclusively with the money from the government of Serbia, invested through the Office for Kosovo and Metohija. "This complex was opened in 2019 and Kosovo institutions have not invested a single penny in it, so they have no legal basis to be in it or pretend to be the owners of this complex," the statement stresses. Dozens of Serb families earn their living working in the spa complex, which has been blocked for almost four months, while thousands of citizens with various health issues have been finding a cure for their illnesses in that spa for years, until the complex was closed using brutal force in September, and then usurped yesterday. The Serb list indicates that the seizure of land from the Serb owners in Leposavic and Zubin Potok, which happened without an adequate reaction from international representatives, "gave Kurti's regime space to continue with such activities" so on Tuesday it was Rajska Banja's turn to be seized along with land belonging to Serbs in the village of Banov Do.

"What is born crooked time will not make right, and that is true of the character of this anti-Serb regime, which each day clearly shows its occupying and tyrannical character, using any means to terrorize the Serb people. We demand an immediate reaction from the international community, the countries of the Quint (Italy, US, UK, Germany, France) and mediators in the dialogue. The land grab and banditry of Kurti's regime must stop and international forces must react to this flagrant violation of the Serb people's elementary rights, the right to property, the right to medical treatment and the right to work," the statement said.

 

Second citizens’ protest starts in front of electoral commission in Belgrade (Beta)

 

A second protest in front of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) in Belgrade began late yesterday. The protest was called by the Serbia Against Violence coalition, the runner up in the elections, due to what it called violations of the electoral will of citizens. Numerous journalist crews are in front of the building, where a first protest was held late on 18 December, and traffic has been blocked in Kralja Milana Street. Representatives of students are blowing whistles and shouting "Thieves!" and "Prison! in protest of the Commission's and authorities' actions and are accusing the authorities of vote buying. Protesters of all ages are carrying banners reading "Against Election Fraud," "The Electorate Has Been Raped" and "Belgrade Waterfront, Serbia on an Iceberg!" etc. The protesters have asked to be addressed by someone from the Commission while the ProGlas initiative, which urged people to vote in the election on 17 December, is supposed to join in. The protesters' number one demand is that elections be repeated in Belgrade. Freedom and Justice Party vice-president Marinika Tepic has been in the RIK building since 18 December, along with People's Movement of Serbia president Miroslav Aleksic, and they have begun a hunger strike.

 

Tepic: We won’t give up until the Belgrade elections are annulled as well as the parliamentary elections in Belgrade (RTS)

 

RTS gave opposition leader Marinika Tepic live air time on its main evening news on Tuesday. Serbia Against Violence official Tepic and her fellow hunger striker Miroslav Aleksic demanded air time on the RTS earlier in the day. She said that the protesters in front of the central election commission (RIK) headquarters want the Belgrade city elections annulled because of election fraud. “Aleksandar Vucic and the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) organized the import of voters from another country to decide the elections in Belgrade… He does not like how the people here vote and decided to replace the people by importing foreign nationals to secure the vote for himself at republic level and in Belgrade where they don’t live,” she said. Tepic said that was why she and Aleksic started a hunger strike a day earlier. “We are here in the RIK and you see people gathering here to defend every vote and we are with them and won’t give up until the Belgrade elections are annulled as well as the parliamentary elections in Belgrade,” she said.

 

Stefanovic: Over 40,000 voters without any legal basis to vote bussed into Belgrade to vote (N1)

 

Deputy president of the Freedom and Justice Party Borko Stefanovic said yesterday that "thousands of people, over 40,000 voters, were illegally brought to Belgrade to vote without any legal basis". Stefanovic told TV N1 that the Serbia Against Violence coalition, of which the Freedom and Justice Party is part, possessed "very documented, confirmed evidence" to prove their allegations and that the opposition had already handed this evidence over to the City Electoral Commission. "We are seeking a repeat of the elections in Belgrade and calling a new vote as urgently as possible," Stefanovic said. Stefanovic said that if the authorities were allowed to steal the electoral will of citizens, which is "the last thing that they have not stolen from us," Serbia "will no longer be a state but a gang of bandits". He stressed that there had been electoral fraud all across Serbia.

 

Nestorovic: We won't form coalition with "Serbia against violence" (Novosti)

 

Holder of the list "Mi glas iz naroda" Branimir Nestorovic stated his list will certainly not be in any coalition and agreement with "Serbia against violence". "You see what they are doing now after the election, as if they are creating the atmosphere of the Majdan," said Nestorovic, whose political movement is the tip of the scales for establishing the government in Belgrade.

"We will wait for the final results, we wouldn't go into a coalition with anyone, because that's what we agreed on at the beginning," Nestorovic told Novosti. He added that the founders of the movement, 11 of them, "will meet and vote these days, so we will see if we can be the minority support of SNS and SPS for some specific proposals". "We are opposition, but we are not the opposition to everything. If there were good proposals in the city assembly, or if the parliament voted for the Resolution on Kosovo, which is in the interest of the state, of course we would support it," said Nestorovic.

 

Kamberi: Political struggle of Albanians from Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja will continue (bujanovacke.rs/Beta)

 

Party for Democratic Action leader Shaip Kamberi has said that he will continue his political struggle and confront the Belgrade authorities with the discrimination being perpetrated against Albanians in Serbia. Kamberi won a seat in the Serbian parliament in the 17 December elections, according to the preliminary results of the vote. Kamberi told the bujanovacke.rs website that "the political battle will not stop until our final victory". He thanked everyone who had supported him in the elections, especially the Kosovo authorities, Albanian government, president and members of the Macedonian cabinet. "The trust, respect and commitment of each of them will continue to be my and our guiding light on the path of my political and national engagement in the service of the Albanian citizens of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja," he said. The Political Struggle of the Albanians Continues - the Shaip Kamberi ticket has met the minority threshold for parliament, according to the preliminary results of elections.

 

US calls for investigation into election fraud claims (N1)

 

State Department spokesman Matt Miller said that the irregularities reported at elections in Serbia should be investigated and urged official Belgrade to work with the OSCE. “Claims of irregularities reported both by OSCE and other election observation teams should be investigated, and violence directed at election authorities, journalists, accredited observers, of which we have seen reports, is unacceptable. And so we will continue to make that clear to Serbia and urge them to work with the OSCE to address these concerns that have been raised,” he told a news briefing. Miller said that Washington noted that the OSCE election observation mission said the elections offered voters a choice of political alternatives, but found that the elections were marred by numerous procedural deficiencies, pressure on public employees, and misuse of public resources creating unjust conditions. “We will urge Serbia to work with the OSCE to address these concerns,” he said. Asked if the elections would affect Washington’s relationship with Belgrade, Miller said the US will continue urging the Serbian authorities “to de-escalate tensions and return to the EU-facilitated dialogue as it relates to the relations with their neighbors”.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Schmidt sends last warning to B&H authorities to swiftly change Election Law (Hayat)

 

The High Representative to B&H Christian Schmidt stated at a press conference held on Tuesday that if the B&H parliament does not pass changes to the Election Law regarding the strengthening the integrity of the election process and the introduction of new technologies by the end of 2023, there is one man who will do it. Schmidt was alluding to the absolute irresponsibility of domestic politicians who were negotiating changes to the Election Law in the Neum processes, commented the presenter. The Neum negotiations brought only one positive change, and that is the integrity of the election process, which has not been implemented to date, added the presenter. Schmidt was quoted as saying: “I will appeal to all political parties to strengthen the integrity of the election process. I would like the domestic bodies (of authority) to find a solution, but it has to happen now, not in the next month or year. In the next two, three weeks, we would all like to see the result. If it does not happen, then we cannot depend on some promises ‘next week, next week’. No. This week it must (be done), and if it is not done, everyone knows that there is one person in a city who has that ability and authority to pass that. I am talking about integrity here and I know there are a lot of other issues as well. Let me mention the election of members of the B&H Presidency. I am not talking about that today, because I do not want to connect those things. Now it is about the integrity of the elections. The legal basis for new technologies must be prepared”.

 

Troika: Schmidt’s announcement is final warning (Avaz)

 

Parties of the Troika bloc reacted to the announcement of High Representative Christian Schmidt who said that he will impose changes to B&H Election Law in order to improve transparency of the election process unless B&H political leaders manage to reach an agreement pass the changes. The parties issued a joint statement emphasizing that they full support adoption of changes to the Election Law which will secure transparent and fair election process, and reminded that they have been advocating similar solutions for many years. “A transparent and fair electoral system in which vote theft is minimized or completely prevented is the vital interest of all citizens of B&H. In earlier electoral processes, we could clearly detect the weaknesses of the electoral process in B&H and at which stages it is possible to change the electoral will of the citizens of B&H. The introduction of new technologies would not only increase transparency, but would also have a positive effect on the citizens themselves and their confidence in the electoral process and the importance of each vote”, the Troika stated. Unfortunately, the Troika noted, all previous attempts to improve the electoral system have failed. The Troika urged local political actors to initiate adoption of solutions which will secure a fairer system, and expressed hope that other parties will also support solutions for improvement of the electoral process which is the key element of any democracy. The Troika noted that the existing system is inefficient and outdated. The Troika underlined that Schmidt’s announcement that he will impose changes unless a fast agreement on the matter is reached represents the final warning to political parties in B&H. “Technical changes to the Election Law in terms of strengthening the integrity and electoral process are a topic that the High Representative keeps coming back to, again and again. It would be extremely important for the B&H parliament to adopt a package that will implement new technologies and ensure a fair election process. In this sense, any support and insistence of the international community can be a significant incentive to ultimately deliver solutions to citizens that have been announced for years. At the same time, we clearly indicate that there must be an end to unreasonable blockades and blackmail by some political parties that have previously blocked the adoption of these laws”, the Troika stated.

 

Main hearing in case against Dodik and Lukic for disobeying Schmidt’s decisions to be held before Court of B&H on Wednesday (RTRS)

 

RTRS reports that the main hearing in the case against RS President Milorad Dodik and Acting Director of the RS Official Gazette Milos Lukic for disobeying the decisions of (High Representative) Christian Schmidt will be held before the Court of B&H on Wednesday. Representatives of the RS pointed out that this is an accelerated staged process. Dodik’s lawyer Goran Bubic said that the court is not dealing with the case at the time when it should be dealt with according to the law. “Rather, substantial things are being delayed, and we see that the trial is speeding up incredibly,” Bubic said. RTRS stressed that there is the question of who is in such a hurry and why. Lawyer Goran Petronijevic said that the rush is present because the Court of B&H is obviously under tremendous pressure from US Ambassador to B&H Michael Murphy, “who abandoned the whole framework of diplomatic behavior provided by the Vienna Convention long time ago.” “Even in The Hague, things like this would not pass. This is pressure they want to use to kick Dodik out of the political scene. They are not interested in any punishment, but in the measure in case he is convicted, and the measure is to ban his political activity. They see him as an obstacle to the decisions they should make, primarily regarding the seizure of the property of the RS,” Petronijevic said.

 

Montenegrin parliament session – highlights (CdM)

 

At today’s session of the Montenegrin parliament, the head of the DPS caucus, Andrija Nikolic, said that parliament speaker Andrija Mandic was obliged to explain to the citizens of Montenegro what he had done in the SNS election headquarters. Mandic said that the state of Montenegro was represented by the state President Jakov Milatovic. He added he had neither an identity card nor a passport of Serbia, and that he had been there to celebrate the victory with his friends. “With that act, you humiliated the state of Montenegro and caused the odium of a certain number of citizens of Serbia. All the media reported that you were there as the parliament speaker of Montenegro. You are a citizen of Serbia, you admitted, and that after 2007 you became the owner of Serbian citizenship, which means that you are illegally a citizen of Montenegro”, said Nikolic. Mandic said that the state of Montenegro was represented by the President of Montenegro. “I am parliament speaker of Montenegro based on the agreement of the parliamentary majority. Just as Spajic would not be prime minister if it was not the agreement of the parliamentary majority, and neither would Milatovic be president of the state if he was not supported by the parliamentary majority”, Mandic said.

 

Irena Radovic officially took over as the new governor of CBM (CdM)

 

Irena Radovic has officially taken over as the Governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBM), this institution has stated. She took over from her predecessor Radoje Zugic earlier today at the premises of the CBM, stating that she “promises a lot of work in line with law and in the public interest”. Radovic also promised “equal and nonselective treatment of all market actors”. She’s the first woman governor of the Central Bank of Montenegro. At its session held on 15 December 2023, the parliament of Montenegro backed the proposal of the President of Montenegro Jakov Milatovic that Irena Radovic should be the new governor of the CBM.

 

Annual parliament address of President Stevo Pendarovski (MIA)

 

Full text of the annual parliament address of President Stevo Pendarovski

Respected citizens, distinguished President of the Assembly,

Honorable Prime Minister, Honorable Members of Parliament,

Respected ministers, esteemed guests,

Your excellences, representatives of the media,

Let me say that it is a special honor for me today to be in the home of legislature for the fifth time to address the Macedonian public for the last time in this term as Head of State. This building bears witness to the entire history of the modern Macedonian state, to all its sublime, but also tragic moments, from its beginnings as Democratic Federal Macedonia after the war, until today. All the events that have happened here, whether pleasant or not and bloody like April 27, 2017, are part of our common history from which, I hope, we have all learned valuable historical lessons together, so that we know, as Misirkov said, “what should we do in advance?”. However, the most relevant period, in a historical perspective, happened, in this place, at the outset of our independence, when the foundations of the state were laid, which was the main motive for awarding all the deputies in the first parliamentary composition with the order of September 8.

 

Honorable Members of Parliament,

On May 12, 2019, in my first speech in this Assembly, as head of state I said that the energy and potential of society must be united around several strategic issues: the Euro-Atlantic aspirations for which there is rhetorical agreement between the relevant political subjects, although we differ drastically in the modalities for their attainment. Then, the balance in inter-ethnic relations, which has always been an axiom for internal stability and security, and, regarding the top priorities on which our future depends, I said that these are, first, achieving much higher rates of economic development than before, and second, zero tolerance for crime, corruption and nepotism. The question that logically arises is: where were we then, and where are we today, after five years? On March 20, 2020, I signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Accession Instrument, and a week later we became a full-fledged member of the largest military-political organization in the world. With that, we rounded off the commitments of several parliamentary assemblies and governments and materialized the support that the vast majority of Macedonian citizens is continuously providing. Membership in NATO is not a guarantee that we will no longer face security threats and challenges, as every country in the world faces them. However, membership is a guarantee that we no longer deal with the challenges alone as there are 30 countries with us, 30 democracies, 30 powerful armies, 30 of our friends, both in good and bad. Although it was a non-military threat, the COVID-19 pandemic which caused a collective trauma to the nation with close to 10,000 deaths confirmed the high performance of the Alliance which provided its members with protective medical equipment in the first month after its outbreak. However, the real test of Europe’s post-war security architecture, where NATO is the mainstay, came with the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine. We are among the top 5 member states of the Alliance according to the ratio of the gross domestic product and the military and material-technical assistance that we give to Ukraine during this critical period. Some quite legitimately ask the question: Why we implement such a policy. The formal answer would be: we do so because we are a member of NATO, where the principle of solidarity applies, and because we believe in the Charter of the United Nations, which does not allow military aggression by one of its member states against another. But the essential and real answer would be: because throughout history we have suffered from the larger nations around us, which in some historical periods implemented destructive strategies towards the Macedonian people, ranging from our identity disfigurement, up to our physical elimination. In this security context, let me briefly refer to the most current world conflict at the moment, between Israel and Hamas, which we, as a small country, certainly cannot influence, but can feel the negative effects of that bloody conflict. Our political position is clear and we demonstrate it in all the votes so far in the United Nations. The first element of that position is that Hamas is a terrorist organization, and I believe that the time has come for us as a state to confirm this with a formal decision. Second, according to all international acts, Israel has the right to self-defense, but, third, according to those same international documents, it must take care not of the terrorists of Hamas, but of the human rights of the Palestinians. In that sense, the Israeli army must employ a proportionate use of lethal force, and protect the lives of civilians, women and children. What is most important from the point of view of our national interests, careful and responsible behavior of all political subjects is needed so that this conflict does not deepen the divisions in our multiethnic, but also multi-religious society. Unfortunately, the initial effects of such hate speech are already perceptible on our social networks.

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

The latest decisions of the European Council, unfortunately, confirmed the pessimistic scenario for the Western Balkans, which some diplomatic circles have been announcing since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. It is indisputable that we did not do our homework in terms of the undertaken obligations, but it is difficult to find logic in the latest decisions of Brussels, which practically completely bypassed the region, which will certainly further contribute to the decline of the attractiveness of the project called United Europe. The statement that it will be a geopolitical disaster if Ukraine and Moldova get priority in relation to the Balkans is not mine, nor of any Macedonian politician, but of the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, which contains all our frustrations and betrayed hope. However, the country must remain on the European integration path, regardless of which executive power will be in charge after the elections in May 2024 and what will be the movements after the elections for the European Parliament and the presidential elections in the United States. The possible slowing down, even more so, the complete halting of European integrations will not reflect well on any sphere of social life, starting from the economy, ending with inter-ethnic relations. Enthusiasm among citizens for membership in the Union is dropping dramatically; we are at a critical point and this is the last chance to preserve the majority support for negotiations which always have a neutralizing effect against the structures that want to undermine democracy. Regarding the constitutional changes, the future parliamentary composition will have to continue the debate on real grounds and with a far more virtuous attitude towards the Macedonian public. It is crystal clear that the European framework cannot be changed for the better, nor can the bilateral agreement with Bulgaria, regardless of who is in power in Brussels or Sofia. Allow me, for a moment, to be deeply personal about this issue and recall the now distant 2008, when at the NATO Summit in Bucharest, as a member of the Macedonian delegation, I directly witnessed the missed historic opportunity, due to national disunity and petty party calculations. 10 years later, we accepted a much worse proposal, and, in total, we lost 12 years out of the Alliance. I do not believe that history repeats itself in identical cycles, however, there are similarities in the domestic political environment, with some thinking, as then, that Europe and the world will be waiting for us. Of course, it is politically quite legitimate to be against the European negotiating framework, but politically it is also virtuous to admit that there is a huge difference between what the Bulgarians demanded of us at the beginning, and what of those demands remained in the document. hough we have debated this issue many times before, I will use this opportunity to repeat it once again, mostly because of the fears of the Macedonian people who are bombed with political propaganda every day. I am deeply convinced that none of today’s generation of politicians will ever negotiate identity issues, because our red lines were not determined by us, they were determined long ago by those who created this country in 1944 with the state-founding acts of the First Session of ASNOM. Did the governments of Bulgaria in recent years, completely unnecessarily, make a series of bad moves towards the Macedonian people – yes, they made, is the trust of the Macedonians towards the eastern neighbor largely shaken and will it take years, maybe even generations to restore it – yes, that is indisputable, but it is certainly not in our strategic interest to make an enemy out of Bulgaria, because it is in our interest to have a stable environment and productive cooperation with all our neighbors, instead of wasting energy on them, arguing about history. By postponing the constitutional changes, we will miss another opportunity that may leave us at least another decade outside of integrations, which will mean less economic progress, worse standards for citizens and greater emigration. In that decade, we will certainly not return the young people from Canada, Australia and New Zealand, nor from the new destinations of emigrant Macedonia - Emirates, Malta, Croatia or Slovenia. The divisions in the Macedonian national tissue on this issue are counterproductive to the vitality of our cause. In that sense, the renewed foreign propaganda has been doing its job “excellently”, practically without interruption, for more than a century, so there is no need for us to dig further to deepen the gap between us.

Moreover, it is extremely irresponsible to play with the feelings of Macedonians and score petty political points on the topic of fear of the alleged loss of identity attributes. I have said this many times before, but I have to repeat it: if the theft of identity of the Macedonian is the path we have to take to reach the Union, I know no one who is ready to walk that path. In the public space, on social networks, real wars have been fought in recent years about who is a greater patriot or traitor. It is high time to redefine patriotism, which, in a modern form, individually and collectively, should be based on the integrity of the person and the loyalty to the state. Patriotism is when you do not abuse the office for personal enrichment, when qualified persons are there to lead the institutions. Patriotism is when you leave room for your political opponents to express their opinion freely, when you show a chivalrous attitude towards those you disagree with, patriots are those who work for better public services, better education and health, patriots do not pollute the environment.

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

For years, we have been facing resistance from several sides during every attempt at substantial reforms in the justice system. The reason for that is the connection between parts of the political and business community with some of the judges and prosecutors, which in the past decades created an atmosphere in which we have developed endemic corruption that threatens the vitality of the state. In the medium and long term, the quality of human potential, of candidates for judges and prosecutors, is crucial. No law can change the reality if the only criterion for selection is negative selection based on party clientelism and ties to the oligarchy. When I say responsibility for the committed acts, I do not mean the statistics of convicted “pickpockets” that serve to mislead the public, but the number and quality of final verdicts in the sphere of high corruption and organized crime. Only in this way will it be confirmed that the laws apply to everyone, even the most powerful and the richest. Unfortunately, one gets the impression that the US and the European Union are more zealous fighters against corruption in our country than our institutions. However, foreign sanctions are not enough, not least because they are not followed by domestic sanctions. Namely, we are facing a much deeper problem, because corruption, in the meantime, has become a way of life for many, or as a foreign ambassador recently described it, it is a question of people’s mentality that must be changed. At the same time, two aspects of the problem further emphasize its proportions. First, if initiated at all, the processes of high corruption are extremely slow and uncertain, which reinforces the perception among citizens that justice is slow, and yet unattainable. Second, even the few successfully completed court trials are limited to a specific period of time, and there is almost always a lack of continuity in the state’s actions, especially after changes in government at the central or local level. Such vacuum periods practically nullify the effects of the rare successful cases of corruption against public office holders. Here, my message for the next parliament composition is what I have already publicly proposed several times: immediately after the elections, a purge of both judges and prosecutors is necessary, but, first of all, of us - the politicians. And for anyone, for whom there is no logical explanation as to how he became a millionaire with a state salary, not only resignation, but criminal proceedings should immediately follow.

 

Distinguished MPs,

When we finally found political will to count the population in 2021, I said the results would confront us with our worst fears. In doing so, I did not refer to fear of others, different from us, but fear of how few of us there actually are in our country. The results confirmed what I have been saying for years that the biggest threat to our national security and, in general, to the future of North Macedonia is demography. Namely, the reality is that all ethnic communities are fewer in absolute numbers and that no ethnic community “threatens” another, but that we are all threatened. That is why we urgently need a demographic strategy, supported by the government and the opposition, which will be based on the data from this census, but also on the projections for the demographic development until 2070, which were published by the State Statistics Office a few days ago. That strategy, in principle, should consist of 2 elements. The first element consists of active demographic policies that will stimulate birth-rate. The second is facing the real situation. This means that we should be aware that active demographic policies would give results after ten, or, more likely, after twenty years. Until then, we have to prepare for life with few students and employees, and many pensioners. This means preparing the pension system, optimizing health care, reorganizing the education system, starting an intensive digitization that would replace people where possible, and, last but not least, reorganizing the security system in conditions when the number of new soldiers and policemen starts to decrease.

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

After our elections next year, regardless of what the Macedonian citizens will decide, two things are crucial for the country: maintaining stable inter-ethnic relations and the western orientation in foreign policy, that is, continuation of the integration in the EU. Next year in Brussels and in Washington, our key strategic partners, election cycles will be held on the outcome of which many things will depend. The growth of populism in Europe is not new, but, as never before, populist forces are gaining political weight and influence in the processes that are affecting our country. All this is happening against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, the conflict in the Middle East and the geostrategic competition between the two key factors in international relations. Predictions are that these trends will not change significantly even in 2024. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has disrupted the world’s food and energy markets, but above all the security infrastructure in Europe created after the fall of communism. Although the Western Balkans is apparently far enough from that part of the world, it cannot be ruled out that in a certain context an increase in tensions is also possible in our region in which there are Ukrainian refugees, Russian citizens and companies formed by them, an increased intensity of cyber-attacks, and the old, fragile points in the region also have their potential: the north of the Republic of Kosovo and the Republika Srpska entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the international missions in which we participate have a key stabilizing role. Our priority should be through a constant political dialogue between the government and the opposition to increase the internal potential for reaching consensus on important national issues, and in that segment this year a kind of paradox happened: in March, the international community, believing in our capacities, entrusted us with the organization of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, and, at the same time, without the assistance of that same international community, through the Jean Monnet dialogue, we would not have managed to harmonize the new Rules of Procedure of the Assembly.

 

Dear Members of the Parliament,

The end of 2023 brought us the greatest sadness in the last decade. Through the personal tragedy of young Vanja and her family, we could see clearly the entire pathology of the Macedonian transition, the environment that all of us, more or less, created in the past 32 years. An environment in which, in the public space, we tolerated non-humans who propagated inter-ethnic hatred and intolerance, aggressive ideologies, hate speech, publicly made threats to lynch individuals and liquidate political opponents. Each of us, and especially the politicians, should speak much more often and louder against these phenomena, instead of believing in the power of our democratic system that it will be able to tolerate and absorb such extremes. Unfortunately, the entire social system also failed because, in the name of some misunderstood democratic pluralism, it did not prevent these individuals from further polluting the public space. The mechanisms of the legal state simply must in time sanction all those who use hate speech against political opponents, insult or threaten people of another faith or nation, political parties and non-governmental organizations that work contrary to what is declared in the founding documents and, in essence, abuse democracy as indisputable value of the modern world. In other words, the state must systematically and timely marginalize those who propagate anti-civilization values in order to prevent some future killers who, apart from our citizens, children, adults or the elderly, can kill our collective dirty conscience again.

 

Dear MPs,

In my first speech in this Assembly, after swearing-in on May 12, 2019, I said that the basic criterion according to which I, myself, will value my own engagement as president, but, far more importantly, according to which I expect the citizens to value me is: will I be the president of all citizens or only of those who supported me. On the other hand, it is no less important, what will be my attitude towards the political opposition because I know that in democratic political systems, the strategic obligation of the president, proposed by the political majority, is to protect the status and rights of the political minority, from the possible arbitrariness of that majority. In democracy, there is no politician for without good and bad criticisms. During my tenure, I have been both supported and criticized for certain decisions I have made. Sometimes, for my publicly expressed views, I have been criticized by some of those who supported me during the election, for example, for the Racket affair, for vetoing the Law on Illegal Buildings or for raising officials’ salaries. But the interests of the citizens and of the state have always been in the forefront of my mind, before which I have always been transparent and I have never shirked responsibility. Could I have acted differently when making some decisions - for sure! Was I sinless - absolutely not. However, I have never had any bad intention towards anyone, I have never participated in dirty campaigns against political opponents during my mandate, although I was not spared thereof, neither I nor my family, I have never negotiated bids and commissions, I did not employ relatives, and I have never asked for special treatment for myself or my closest ones. Equal rules for all and for me, too. I tried not to be locked in office, to be available to every citizen, to hear their concerns and wherever I could help - I helped, sometimes informally, asking those who are formally competent to help people. I considered it my moral obligation to represent the views of the marginalized, damaged by injustice or invisible, those who face difficult life problems and injustices, whose voice does not reach the institutions. And from that aspect, my conscience is clear. In conclusion, allow me to congratulate all Macedonian citizens and you, respected MPs, on the upcoming holidays and wish you and your loved ones health and happiness.

 

Thank you!

 

No coalition with VMRO-DPMNE unless country heads down EU path, says Alliance for Albanians leader (Sloboden Pechat)

 

Alliance for Albanians leader and Gostivar Mayor Arben Taravari said Tuesday his party would not join a coalition with VMRO-DPMNE, unless the country moves forward on its European path. “Even if they offer us fifteen ministerial posts, if we aren’t headed down the European path, we have no business there. In that case, the leader of the Alliance can resign, and the party can move forward. However, the Alliance for Albanians cannot join any block that will stagnate the country in the next five to ten years,” Taravari told Sloboden Pechat in an interview. According to the leader of the Alliance for Albanians, if the party is part of a future government, it will have to be a government which will guarantee that the European path will be its priority at any cost. Regarding the upcoming presidential elections, Taravari stressed that the party is still discussing the issue internally and said several options were possible. He said the candidates are still not known, and provided a positive assessment of the country’s current President Stevo Pendarovski. “Pendarovski has honestly shown himself to be a relatively good president. Perhaps I would say among the better ones in the past 30 years in Macedonia. It could always be better, however, he didn’t have any conflicts, any issues. In some way he remained neutral. He was a little ambivalent, maybe he could’ve been more ambitions. But generally I think he leaves an impression of a positive person,” said Taravari.

 

Spiropali meets Ambassador King-Smith, strengthening the role of the Assembly (Radio Tirana)

 

Albanian Minister of State for Relations with the parliament Elisa Spiropali received the British Ambassador to Tirana Alastair King-Smith in a meeting. Spiropali praised, among other things, the organization of the National Forum "The role of the Assembly in democratic processes in Albania". "I expressed our commitment as a government and as a majority to strengthen the role of the Assembly as a guarantee for the consolidation of the rule of law and the exercise of the people's sovereignty," said Spiropali.

 

US State Secretary receives the Albanian Ambassador to the US (Radio Tirana)

 

US State Secretary Antoni Blinken received the Ambassador of Albania to the United States Ervin Bushati in a meeting. After the meeting Ambassador Bushati said that it was a very friendly reception. The partnership between the two countries is stronger than ever, Bushati said. "Proud of the message of the Secretary of State, according to whom "in a year with such great challenges, Albania's friendship has been a worthy support for the US! The role of the government and Prime Minister Rama in facing international challenges clearly speaks of the close partnership between our two countries," writes the Albanian Ambassador to the US. Bushati, on behalf of Prime Minister Rama, invited US State Secretary Blinken for a visit to Albania, which is expected to take place in 2024.