Belgrade Insight, No. 6

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Friday • June 13 • 2008

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Issue / Friday,October June 13, 3, 2008 Issue No.No. 6 /1Friday, 2008

Serbia FearsAlliance EU Pressure Kosovo Lure of Tadic SplitsOnSocialists EU reluctance to import another Cyprus-style ‘frozen conflict’ means pressure will grow on Belgrade to resolve outstanding issues with Pristina.

While younger Socialists support joining a new, pro-EU government, old Milosevic loyalists threaten revolt over the prospect.

Tadic vows to explore all options including partition Socialist leader Ivica Dacic remains the Serbian kingmaker Serbian concerns about its path

By Julijana Mojsilovic in Belgrade

By Rade Maroevic in Belgrade and Gjeraqina Tuhina in Brussels

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to Europe have been additionally strengthened bypresident, the failure of the to Serbia’s late Slobodan EU to activate important interim Milosevic, andan reformists who want agreement Brussels. the party towith become a modern EuroBelgrade has meanwhile reiterpean social democrat organisation. ated that it will not yield to outside After to eight years of stagnation, pressure recognise Kosovo’s inthe Socialists returned to centre dependence, whatever impactstage this afteronwinning 20 of the 250 seats in has its EU prospects.

IgnoringinWestern adparliament the Maydiplomats’ 11 elections. vice, thethe government hasand persisted With pro-European nationinalist seeking backing the UN blocs the almost evenlyof matched, General Assembly for a resolution the Socialists now have the final say asking the International Court of on the fate of theitscountry.

Justice to give opinion on KosNikolic believes the Socialists, led ovo’s independence. byInIvica Dacic,move will come overthe to another that has potential to irritate West, BelTadic, if only out of the a pragmatic degrade alsotheir revived an survival. old idea sire tohas ensure political about thegroup partition of Kosovo, with “The of younger Socialists

ense negotiations on a new government have divided the ranks hen authorities in Prisof the Socialist whichKosovo holds tina Party, declared the balanceindependent of power between the in Februmain and has yet to announce ary, blocs Western diplomats assured Serbiaside that itswill future EU memwhich they support. bership would be made will con“It looks as if not the Socialists ditional on acceptance of the move towards a government led uniby lateral move. the Democrats,” political analyst MiSeven months on, diplomats still lan Nikolic,the of two the independent Cenmaintain processes are betre of Policy Studies, said.

“But ing kept separate. However, tosuch Belagrade’s move might provoke dividismay, they deeper have started hinting onethe in party.” the EU wants sions andthat evennosplit toSimultaneous import “another Cyprus” - aheld fronegotiations zen conflict. with the pro-European and nationalgathered around Dacic seems to be ist blocs have drawn attention to a in the majority”, Nikolic said, adding deep rift inside the Socialists. POLITICS that these reformists believe the party This divides “old-timers” loyal Serbia and NATO have signed a ‘security agreement’ allowing Belgrade to become a member of the alliance’s Partnership for Peace programme.

THIS ISSUE OF Business Insight

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Costs Mounting

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conomists are warning that pro-

NEIGHBOURHOOD longed uncertainty over Serbia’s Inflammatory rhetoric ahead of forthcoming local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina has replaced debate on any substantive issues, deepening the sense of crisis in the country. Miroslav Lajcik, the Slovak head of the Office of High Representative, says the situation reminds him of the last years of Czechoslovkia. Page 7

future could scare off investors, lead to higher inflation and jeopardise prosperity for years to come.

“This year has been lost, from the standpoint of economic policy,” says Stojan Stamenkovic of the Economics Institute in Belgrade. page 5

party over which way to turn.

“The situation in the party seems extremely complicated, as we try to convince the few remaining laggards that we need to move out of Milosevic’s shadow,” one Socialist Party official complained.

“Dacic will eventually side with Tadic in a bid to guide his party into the European mainstream, but much of the membership and many officials may oppose that move.”

Nikolic agreed: “The question is will the party split or will the ‘oldtimers’ back down,” he noted.

Fearing they might not cross the 5-per-cent threshold to enter parliament, the Socialists teamed up with the Association of Pensioners and the United Serbia Party, led by businessman Dragan Markovic “Palma”.

Pensioners leader, Jovan Krkobabic, Palma and Dacic are all pushing Photo by FoNet for a deal with the Democrats. price is the “These post of President Boris Tadic saying he joinThe thereported EU,” he added. deputywill PM, have with atobrief charge of will consider it “if all other alterna- things be indealt with tives” appear exhausted. before accession.” security for the Socialist leader. faces extinction unless it changes.

The divisive move current is likelyalso to Lagendjik added: “Anyway, In addition, the Socialists are barHowever, a strong win Serbia few friendsdirection, in Brussels, is not a thing for gaining accession for other ministries, includflows in the opposite led Serbia’s where talk of Cyprus-style parti- tomorrow, neither for the day after ing capital investments, Kosovo and by party veterans enraged by the tions remains anathema. tomorrow, it will take years.” education, reported. prospect of a deal with Tadic.

Some EU officials say Serbia’s AnotherBelgrade Brusselsmedia official made Tadic has denied talk horseMihajlo Markovic, a founder of entry into the EU will now inevi- a similar point. “Germany,ofFrance, trading with the maintainthe party, recently warned of alinked crisis and tably become more closely Denmark areSocialists, already mentiontoif the issue thetherecognition of ing [of recognition] ing this that condition ministries would go only to Dacic optsoffor pro-European Kosovo’s independence. the ‘couloirs’,” officialfor said. committed totheworking the bloc, abandoning the Socialists’ “nat- inthose “All the “strategic EU member “I hope the EU has learned its government’s goal”. states ural” ideological partners. recognised Kosovo’s lessons from the Cyprus issue, thatAt have the same time, Dacic seems reMarkovic, a prominent supporter which is that it shouldn’t import independence will - eventually luctant tothat callSerbia off negotiations with of MilosevicJoost duringLagendijk, the 1990s, is follows suit, problems,” a demand the nationalists. seen as representative of the “oldDutch member of the European Par- when it [Serbia] is ready to join the “Ifthe weofficial don’t reach timers” and in the party whofor want to stay EU,” added.an agreement liament rapporteur Kosovo, Thethe same said the told Insightregime’s in Brussels. with DSSdiplomat and Radicals, theonly partrueBalkan to the former policies, why thewill EU decide was notonenunci“The Serbia-and-Kosovo issue ty leadership future even though these almost ruined the reason has to be for dealt with before either 3 steps”, Dacic announced,Page following Socialists good. the first session of country’s new parSome younger Socialist officials liament on Wednesday. have voiced frustration over the conECONOMICS tinuing impasse within their own Source: Balkan Insight (www.balkaninsight.com) Russia’s energy giant Gazprom cut its price for the purchase of Serbia’s NIS oil monopoly in order to bear a Neighbourhood Matters greater portion of the cost for the Serbian stretch of the South Stream gas pipeline.

Football Rebellion Page 4

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hile the football world watchBELGRADE es events unfold at the European Championships in Austria and The largest skatepark in SoutheastSwitzerland, Bosnia opened is experiencing ern Europe formally in Bela soccer rebellion, led byan fans, playgrade last weekend with internaers andcompetition. former stars who enraged tional Theare€350,000 skatepark, financed the New Belby what they see asbycorrupt leaders grade will association be free to of themunicipality, country’s football skaters, rollerbladers and bikers and leaders. will draw fans of the extreme sport 10 from across the region. page Page 6

BUSINESS EDITOR’S WORD Serbia and Fiat agree on €950 mil-

Political Predictability

lion investment in Kragujevac.

By Mark R. Pullen

Pages 4-5

BOOK REVIEW Ivan Mestrovic’s daughter reveals the hidden side of her late father in Many of us who have experiher new memoir. enced numerous Serbian elections rate ourselves as pundits when it comes to predicting election results and post-election moves.

We feel in-the-know because our experience of elections in Serbia has shown us that (a.) no single party or coalition will ever gain9 the Page majority required to form a government, and (b.)&political OUT ABOUTnegotiations will never be quickly concluded.

Jelena Mickic takes a cruise down Even when the Democrats the Danube and discovers its many achieved their surprising result at splendours. last month’s general election, it quickly became clear that the result was actually more-or-less the same as every other election result in Serbia, i.e. inconclusive.

This is likely to continue as long as Serbia’s politiciansPage form10new political parties every time they disagree WHAT’S with theirON current party leader (there are currently 342 regThis week’s guide to the cultural hapisteredin political parties in Serbia). penings the city.

Drawn-out negotiations are also the norm. One Belgrade-based Ambassador recently told me he was also alarmed by the distinct lack of urgency among Serbian politicians. “The country is at a standstill and I don’t understand their logic. If they are so eager to Page 13enprogress towards the EU and courage investors, how come they go home at SPORT 5pm sharp and don’t 2016 Championship to grow workEuropean weekends?” from Surely 16 to 24the teams. situation is urgent enough to warrant a little overtime.

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Friday, October 3, 2008

Police Arrest Serbian Mayor in Graft Probe Belgrade _ The mayor of a town in northern Serbia has been arrested in connection with a police operation against what was dubbed “the construction mafia,” local media report.

The mayor of Zrenjanin, Goran Knezevic was arrested along with ten other local officials and businessmen, said Ivica Dacic, the Interior Minister.

The mayor will be held for up to 48 hours, and on Friday morning he will be brought before the Special Organised Crime Prosecutor.

The group is,charged with illegally fixing constrution contracts.

“We have been working on this for a long time,” Dacic said.

“The police do nothing overnight, and, of course, nothing is ever done without the consultation of the courts, so that we can avoid arresting those against whom we do not have enough evidence.”

The mayor’s lawyer, Vicentije Darijevic, stated that Knezevic denies all the allegations against him.

Earlier this year, Serbia’s President Boris Tadic announced that the government and his party would launch operations to fight corruption across the country.

Zrenjanin is located in northern Serbia, in the autonomous province of Vojvodina.

Knezevic is currently serving his second term as mayor, although last

Knezevic denies all the charges

Tadic Does Not Rule Out Kosovo Partition

Serbia’s President Boris Tadic Belgrade _ Kosovo’s partition along ethnic lines will be considered by Belgrade if all other options regarding the former province’s status have been exhausted, Serbia’s President claims.

In the first such official comment, Boris Tadic told Serbian state television late on Monday that the partition of Kosovo, which declared independence in February, “is not on the agenda” right now, and Belgrade insists on “the broadest possible autonomy for Kosovo within Serbia.”

“I’m ready to think about that option (partition) as well if we exhaust all other numerous alternatives. There are a lot of possibilities to find a so-

lution within substantial autonomy,” Tadic said. “But”, he added “if we use up all options, we can then take up that alternative (partition).”

Although Tadic did not specify where the line of partition would run, it is most likely to include the municipalities of Zvecan, Leposavic and Zubin Potok as well as the northern half of the flashpoint town of Kosovska Mitrovica.

Northern Kosovo is overwhelmingly ethnic Serb and Pristina’s influence holds little weight here.

Approximately half of the 100,000 Serbs living in Kosovo actually live in northern areas while the rest are in isolated enclaves that dot the former province.

The international community and Pristina authorities have consistently warned that Kosovo’s partition is not acceptable and last week a United Nations official pledged that “Mitrovica will be united in the same way it was done with divided Berlin.”

Olli Rehn to Address Serbian Parliament Belgrade _The European Union’s Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn will urge Serbia’s Parliament to adopt crucial reforms when he addresses lawmakers next week.

Some of these reforms have been blocked by members of parliament from the hardline opposition Serbian Radical Party amid a dispute within the party’s ranks.

The Serbian parliament called an extraordinary session to pass, among other things, the legislation necessary for the country to establish a visafree regime with the Schengen states of the European Union but progress has been hampered by the row.

The party’s former deputy leader Tomislav Nikolic effectively split the Radicals last month following a disagreement with their incarcerated leader, Vojislav Seselj, over whether

to back a key pre-membership deal with the EU. Seselj is currently facing war crimes charges before the Hague tribunal.

The Radical Party deputies have been obstructing parliament’s work, demanding that supporters of Nikolic’s Serb Progressive Party should be removed from parliament and their seats returned to Seselj loyalists.

EU Commissioner Olli Rehn

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year he was removed from his post as the president of the Vojvodina Democrats.

Just last year, Knezevic was voted as a “Mayor with a Vision”, an award

sponsored by Serbian business journalists and industry.

The city’s economic growth over the past few years has spurred a flurry of construction contracts.

Photo courtesy of www.goranknezevic.org

Serbian Muslims Urged to Boycott State TV Novi Pazar _ A leader of Serbia’s Islamic Community has called on followers to boycott Serbia’s state television network branding it ‘anti-Muslim’ after it broadcast a rival cleric at Eid prayers.

Muamer Zukorlic, the main mufti of the Islamic community in Serbia, made the comments during a special reception organised for the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Fitr, known locally as Bajram, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Zukorlic called on Muslims in Serbia to boycott the Radio Television Serbia public service and not pay their subscriptions, because the “television is anti-Muslim.”

He announced a campaign for the boycott of Radio Television Serbia after the network’s second television channel broadcast the Eid Morning Prayer (Bajram namaz) from Belgrade’s Bajrakli Mosque, which was attended by a rival Islamic cleric,

the reis of the Islamic Community of Serbia, Adem Zilkic.

Zukorlic made a series of accusations against the Education, Religion and Interior ministries, arguing that there was an attempt to topple his Islamic Community in Serbia a year ago and once again called on the “state to respect and implement the Constitution and law.”

Meanwhile Zilkic was attending a rival reception hosted by Sulejman Ugljanin, a Serbian minister without portfolio and president of the Bosniak National Council.

In contrast to Zukorlic’s comments, Ugljanin said there was a high level of democracy in Serbia and the country’s Muslims are treated equally along with all other ethnic groups.

Zukorlic has traditionally maintained close links with the Islamic community in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Zilkic looks to Belgrade.

Serbia & NATO Sign ‘Security Agreement’ Brussels _ Serbia and NATO have signed a ‘security agreement’ allowing Belgrade to become a member of the alliance’s Partnership for Peace programme.

Serbia’s Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac signed the agreement on behalf of his country while Jaap de Hoop Scheffer signed in the name of the alliance.

Sutanovac said that the agreement goes into effect immediately, while he promised that Serbia would be an active member of the Partnership for Peace programme by next year.

The deal regulates how classified information between the two is protected and distributed but the contract does not oblige the signatories to actually trade the data.

The agreement will provide Serbia with access to all NATO resourc-

es within the programme and envisages the opening of a relevant office in Brussels.

The programme aims to oversee advances in the education of officers from Serbia’s army, police and security services as well as in cooperation in military-technical spheres.

Serbia was accepted as a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme in the November 2006 Riga summit, along with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

The agreement was to be signed last year but was put on hold due to tensions between the military alliance and the government led by conservative Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to halt Belgrade’s oppression of ethnic Albanians in its then southern province of Kosovo.

Serbia Fears EU Pressure On Kosovo ating this publicly was because the member states were not yet united on the issue.

Spain, Portugal, Slovakia, Romania, Greece and Cyprus, mostly countries with separatist issues of their own, or with strong ties to Serbia, have so far withheld recognition of the new state.

“Recognition is not yet a condition, but one condition without doubt is constructive behaviour in the Kosovo case,” the diplomat continued.

A Serbian diplomat told Balkan Insight that Belgrade was well aware that recognition of Kosovo was likely to become a condition of EU membership, at some stage.

“The EU will eventually demand our recognition of Kosovo,” the diplomat said. But he explained that Belgrade could not simply “quietly accept” Kosovo’s secession. This was the background to Serbia’s UN initiative.

Dusan Janjic, head of Serbia’s Forum for Ethnic Relations, said recognition of Kosovo was implied by the rules of EU membership.

One stipulation is that every applicant state must control the whole of its territory “with Cyprus being the exception”.

He said talk of Kosovo’s partition was being revived as a reserve option, in case Belgrade fails to win a majority for its resolution in the UN General Assembly.

However, Janjic described the partition idea as senseless. “Border changes can only be discussed between two recognised states. This would mean Serbian recognition of Kosovo would have to precede any such talks,” he said.

Some Serbian experts maintain that Belgrade will not be forced to choose between EU membership and Kosovo, because, they argue, the current “de facto” partition of Kosovo into Serb and Albanian zones will have done its work.

“That won’t be a condition,” Goran Svilanovic, a former foreign minister, currently UN representative to the Regional Council for Cooperation predicted, referring to Kosovo’s independence.

“Kosovo will be partitioned [by then] and Serbia will recognise the Albanian part [before joining the EU],” he added.

Svilanovic argued that it will not be impossible for Kosovo Albanians to accept partition, eventually, as the price of international acceptance.

“Kosovo will get Serbia’s recognition, and in turn, membership of the UN and other international institutions - a real state, so to speak,” he said.

Other Serbian officials and diplomats are less optimistic, fearing Serbia’s attitude to Kosovo may create trouble in the long run, leading to the postponement of its European integration.

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business

Friday, October 3, 2008

Serbia, Fiat Sign €950 Million Deal

taly’s Fiat and Serbia’s sole car manufacturer Zastava have signed a deal on a €950 million joint venture, the largest ever in the country’s automotive industry.

The deal envisages Fiat’s purchase of a 67 per cent stake in the state-run Zastava. The Serbian government will keep a 33 per cent stake, while both partners pledged investments of €700 million and €250 million, respectively.

The new join venture will become a part of the Fiat Group and will take over the assets of Zastava’s production facilities in Kragujevac, 100 kilometres southwest of Belgrade. The deal will bring 2,400 new jobs in the Kragujevac area.

“This agreement is extremely favourable for Serbia,” the country’s Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said after the ceremony attended by Serbia’s President Boris Tadic, Italy’s Foreign Minster Franco Frattini, Fiat’s Chief Executive Sergio Mar-

chione and other top officials.

The deal was signed by Serbia’s Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne.

Fiat also said it will pay longoverdue salaries, benefits and severance packages for Zastava’s 3,700 employees.

According to the agreement, Turin-based Fiat plans to produce as many as 200,000 cars annually in Zastava’s plant until 2010, with an additional 100,000 thereafter. Zastava will discontinue production of its own Yugo and Florida subcompacts by the end of 2010.

“This gives Serbia an opportunity to make itself a significant player in the automotive industry, something already done by Slovakia some years ago. It will also give a significant boost to our exports,” Serbia’s Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic said.

In the document, the Serbian government pledged it will reduce or abolish some taxes and fees, al-

Marchione, Frattini and Tadic at the signing ceremony lot free land and infrastructure for new production facilities and grant the city of Kragujevac the status of a duty-free zone.

Officials from the Serbian government and Italy’s companies

Iveco and Magneti Marelli - both members of the Fiat Group, also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the €240 million future development of production facilities that will specialise in the pro-

JAT Airways Privatisation to be Abandoned

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he government will abandon plans to privatise JAT Airways after the company failed to attract a single buyer amid a growing financial slowdown, a high-ranking Economy Ministry official said on Wednesday.

“There is no point in selling it now. We will instead restructure it,” the source told Balkan Insight on condition of anonymity.

He said Serbia’s Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic and Economy Minister Mladjan Dikic will now have a series of meetings with JAT Airways leadership to decide “on the model of restructuring.”

So far JAT Airways has accumulated €209 million in debt, while its

assets have been estimated at €150 million. It recently teamed-up with other carriers to maintain flights to its 40 destinations in Europe and Middle East and laid-off some of its staff to cut costs.

On Tuesday a JAT official said that “no one has purchased the bidding documentation so far, although some companies expressed interest,” in JAT. On August 30 Serbia’s Privatisation Agency said it wants to sell between a 51 and 70 per cent stake in the company, setting the starting price for the 51 per cent of stake at €51 million.

Local media previously reported that Russia’s Aeroflot, a potential buyer, was no longer interested. Re-

ports also said that Air Iceland and Air Berlin were interested.

JAT Airways currently operates a fleet of 10 Boeing 737-300 airliners, one Boeing 737-400 and five ATR 72-200 aircraft.

Russia ‘Cut NIS price to Fund Serbian Pipeline’

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Photo by FoNet duction of trucks, utility vehicles and car parts.

If this does materialise, both additional deals together with the joint venture with Fiat would create as many as 4,750 jobs in central Serbia.

Serbia Seeking New Investors, Says President

erbia wants to lure further major investments before it applies for EU membership early in 2009 with an ambition to join the bloc by 2014 or 2015, Serbia’s President says.

Boris Tadic, a pro-Western politician, said he hoped that Serbia would come out of the current global financial turbulence unscathed and that it would continue to be attractive for new foreign investments.

After signing a €950 million agreement for a joint venture between Italy’s Fiat Group and local carmaker Zastava, Tadic said Serbia “has a new beginning now.”

“This process is irreversible now.

Our path towards a stable society is

safe,” he was reported as saying.

Tadic also said that the government in Belgrade had already held six months of talks over new investment with Germany’s Volkswagen AG. He did not say whether Volkswagen would embark on a similar deal to Fiat as “this is up to Volkswagen’s management.”

He did not elaborate further but said that he was not “talking about only Volkswagen.”

“We are working on that with other companies,” he said.

Earlier, Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said Serbia was hoping for a major investment from Germany’s Daimler Benz.

Global Financial Slump ‘Affecting Serbia’

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NIS oil refinery in Pancevo

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ussia’s energy giant Gazprom cut its price for the purchase of Serbia’s NIS oil monopoly in order to bear a greater portion of the cost for the Serbian stretch of the South Stream gas pipeline, Velimir Ilic, the former Infrastructure Minister says.

“When we were negotiating the sale of NIS and the development of the pipeline, we realised we simply could not finance our share of the costs of South Stream. The Russians then said they would fund a larger part of the pipeline costs but in exchange they would reduce the price for NIS,” Ilic told local media.

In January Ilic, the then Infra-

Source: www.petrol.nis.yu structure Minister in the cabinet of Vojislav Kostunica inked the oil and gas deal with Russia.

Under the provisions of the deal, Gazprom pledged to pay €400 million for a 51 per cent stake in NIS and invest an additional €500 million in the company’s overhaul. Gazprom also agreed to develop a leg of its South Stream gas pipeline through Serbia.

“The only gas in Europe is owned by the Russians. It was ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ and our experts have calculated that transit fees for that gas will bring us €200 million annually,” he said.

In July the new Serbian government of Mirko Cvetkovic said the

price for NIS was too low and said it would renegotiate the deal. Meanwhile, Deloitte & Touche, an auditing company hired by the Serbian government, said that the total value of NIS was €2.2 billion.

However in later talks in Belgrade, Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s Minister for Emergencies, said the price offered for NIS will not be changed and Serbian officials apparently bowed to that.

On September 15, Energy Minister Petar Skundric said Serbia will demand an increased gas flow through the South Stream pipeline of more than 10 billion cubic meters in exchange for a lower price for NIS.

he slump in major international financial markets is already affecting Serbia, and could jeopardise its efforts to overhaul the limping economy, Radovan Jelasic, the Governor of Serbia’s National Bank says.

At a panel discussion in Belgrade, Jelasic warned that “benchmark rates and profit margins are going up and the volume of loans is slowly but surely going down, while borrowing from abroad is virtually impossible.”

“The global crisis has arrived in Serbia” and it is “delaying privatisations and financial achievements,” he said.

In a move to stave off the immediate effects of the crisis, the National Bank on Wednesday decided to maintain its two-week referent benchmark rate at the current 15.75 per cent.

Serbia’s core inflation used for setting monetary policies dropped this month 0.1 per cent to 10.2 per cent and the central bank remained optimistic it will fall below 8.7 per cent by the end of 2008.

Jelasic said the country’s macroeconomics “must be even more restrictive” as “the country will end 2008 with a high current account deficit, dependency on foreign direct investments, an expansive fiscal policy and an inability to complete major privatisation deals or be forced to postpone them.”

Governor Radovan Jelasic Serbia’s 2008 budget experienced another shortfall in August after a slight rise of funds in the state coffers a month before.

Earlier this week, both Finance Minister Diana Dragutinovic and Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic announced the country will reshuffle its budget to compensate for the shortfall.

“Taking the proposed rebalance of the budget into consideration we are expecting even more expansive fiscal policies with an annual deficit of 2 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product,” Jelasic said.

Serbia’s economy also reacted to the global crisis with “a slowdown of credit activity of commercial banks, and a drop in the acceleration of wage rises, which in turn is reducing demand on the domestic market,” the governor said.

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Friday, October 3, 2008

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Balkan Banks Bullish Despite Credit Crunch Financial Institutions in Southeast Europe experience steady growth despite the global financial crisis.

By Besar Likmeta in Tirana

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he Balkan banking sector has registered strong growth rates over the past year, a Raiffeissen Bank report, CEE Banking 2008, published on September 28, says, despite the financial crisis that has hit Wall Street, EU and Asian markets.

“Total banking assets in the region grew by more than 30 per cent in 2007, seemingly defying the impact of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, on the availability and pricing of external funding,” states the report.

“Although the expansion of the crisis to other parts of the financial markets and the global economy and its extended duration have left their marks on the banking sector development in the first half of 2008, growth dynamics for the region remained strong,” it adds.

Although the size of the ripple effects from the US sub-prime lending crisis in international markets remains unclear, they seem thus far not to have affected the Balkans to any great degree.

The low level of exposure in lending to international financial institutions, weak levels of integration with international markets and the strong capitalisation of international banks operating in the region, are some of the factors named for its apparent immunity.

“At this point we judge that there are risks, which have a strong chance of materialising and which could inflict immediate and heavy damage to our financial system,” said Ardian Fullani, Albania’s Central Bank governor.

“However, the time has come to pay greater attention to the liquidity indexes, because the credit crunch in international markets has lowered the credit supply,” he added.

Although bankers are confident that the international financial groups operating in the Balkans have sound liquidity margins, the shockwaves of panic in the global financial market could hurt the region as investors pull out of banking stocks.

Italy’s top bank UniCredit and its nearest rival Intesa Sanpaolo, both with operations in Southeast Europe, saw trading in their shares suspended on the Milan stock exchange on Wednesday, despite assurances that there were no liquidity problems.

“We are already seeing some effects of the crisis with the Unicredit drop,” said Jakov Sikimic, a Raiffessen analyst based in Vienna and one of the authors of the report.

The region remains heterogeneous both economically and in terms of EU integration. Romania and Bulgaria became EU members in 2007; Croatia is short listed as next to join the club and commenced negotiations in 2006. Meanwhile Albania, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have already signed Stabilisation and Association Agreements, the first formal step toward EU membership.

Bank restructuring and privatisation has made huge strides in the Balkans during the previous years and continues apace.

“The privatisation process of state-owned assets coupled with the increase in market share of foreignowned banks has improved banking services and boosted competition,” the report reads.

“Despite the very high growth rates in some of the countries, although from very low starting points, the degree of financial intermediation remains low, with the notable exception of Croatia and Bulgaria,” it adds.

Further legal and institutional reforms that are necessary in the EU integration process should also have a lasting positive effect on the development of the region’s economies and the banking sector.

Total loans recorded a record growth of 42 per cent in 2007, against a background of booming domestic economies, reaching almost 4 per cent of GDP in 2007.

Economists including the International Monetary Fund expect GDP growth of at least five per cent this year for the area.

“Whereas in previous year the focus was on how to maintain business profitability and diversify the sources of revenue, now its how to fund lending growth,” said Rushan Khvesyuk,

Serbian Steel Mill Boosts Production

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erbia’s Metalfer Steel Mill, the country’s single largest producer of structural steel for concrete construction, has this year boosted its annual production to 250,000 tonnes to completely fulfil domestic demand, a company official says.

“Production will likely soon turn to exports,” the company’s chief executive Branko Zecevic was quoted as saying by local media.

The Metalfer Steel Mill based in the northern city of Sremska Mitrovica has so far seen investement of some €20 million in its production facilities and hired a workforce of 220.

Zecevic said that within a year the company will complete development of an integrated scrap iron foundry for production of iron girders with an additional annual output of 500,000 tonnes and employing a workforce of 200.

Banks in the Balkans have largely avoided fallout from the global credit crunch head of Alpha Bank, in a recent forum held by Euromoney Magazine.

Because of the credit crunch in international markets corporate borrowers are increasingly turning to local banks for loans.

“In a nutshell, there is less competition for clients in the lending side, while competition on liabilities has increased dramatically,” Khvesyuk added.

However analysts warn that the credit crunch could reduce profitability, as it makes it harder and more expensive for banks in the region to raise funds.

“Banks will be forced to fund lending through the retail side, which means higher interests rates for de-

positors and smaller profitability margins,” said Sikimic.

In an increasing number of countries in the region mortgage loans have also become one of the most important and most dynamic products in the retail segment over the last few years.

Some of the legal and judicial requirements for EU entry, such as a reliable land register, proper legislation and efficient court procedures, have also provided the necessary framework for banks to be able to grant mortgage loans on a larger scale.

Financial institutions have sustained strong growth in deposits over recent years as confidence in the banking sector has continued to improve.

Photo by FoNet

“Most of the countries in the Balkan area remain under-banked, compared to other regions like the EU or Central Europe” said Sikimic.

“There is certainly room for growth on the retail side of the business,” he added.

“Many western bankers have learnt a surprising lesson,” said Andrea Treichl Board chairman of Erste Bank in the Euromoney forum.

“The view has always been that banking in the west is safe and eastern markets are risky, however banks have had a very responsible attitude to doing business in this part of the world,” he added.

Source: www.BalkanInsight.com

Serbia’s Records 6.2% GDP Growth Serbia’s economic growth in the second quarter of 2008 was 6.2 per cent, a two per centage point drop from the first quarter, the Statistics Office said.

Serbia’s gross domestic product in the past three months increased on transportation, financial brokerage and construction by 17.6, 16 and 7.9 per cent respectively.

The growth in Gross Domestic Product in the previous quarter was 8.2 per cent, the statement said.

“The drop is seasonal and usual in the summer months,” Miroslav Zdravkovic of the Economics Institute told Balkan Insight.

In the second quarter, the country’s annual economic growth was 7.3 per cent and economists said its quarterly rise will likely increase by the end of 2008.

“The quarterly GDP should rise even more in the third quarter, up to 7 per cent, because of the seasonal rise

in agricultural production,” Zdravkovic said.

Meanwhile, Serbia’s August industrial production dropped by 4.4 per cent on the year, or 4.6 per cent less compared to the 2007 average, the Statistics Office said. Production between January and August rose by

3.1 per cent on the year.

Manufacturing of consumer goods in August dropped by 6.2 per cent, followed by a 2.1 per cent drop in stone and ore extraction, while production and distribution of electrical power, natural gas and water rose by 2 per cent, the statement said.

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belgrade chronicle

Friday, October 3, 2008

Belgrade Lifts to Receive Electronic Monitoring

art of Belgrade’s charm includes its old lifts. Given that 90 per cent of Belgrade’s 6,000 lifts are more than 25 years old, in most cases the ride is pretty squeaky and creaky, but they get you where you want to go…most of the time.

But, as Belgrade’s public utility company Gradsko-Spambeno or GS said recently, lifts break five times a day, on average, and far more during power outages.

When a lift fails to get to its destination, the unfortunate person trapped inside must call for help.

Until now, this was done in the old fashioned way: breathe in deeply, then shout as loudly as possible: “HEELP!” To ensure that help arrives even more quickly, however, it is advisable to make the plea in Serbian: “UPOMOCH!” Hopefully, someone in the building will take notice of your plight and then notify the emergency service of the GS, which is responsible for lift maintenance.

According to officials, after GS is notified, the average waiting time for

a person trapped in a lift is only 15 minutes.

Now however GS is conducting a 5-month trial of a new system of electronic monitoring, including video surveillance, of 22 lifts. The surveillance feeds into a central computer system.

Once a new monitoring system is implemented in all 6,000 lifts in Belgrade, people will be able to contact GS in seconds.

“Over the next few years, we will extend this electronic monitoring to include all lifts in Belgrade”, Boris Micanovic, head of the public relations department of the public company Gradsko-Stambeno, told Belgrade Insight.

“Each lift will be equipped with an alarm button, and also a battery so it has an independent power source during frequent power outages.

When a lift gets stuck, the people inside will be able to communicate with a central dispatcher, who will not only help keep trapped people calm, may even help free them within seconds by instructing them on what to do.”

Consumer Watch More consumer hell from Chris Farmer

Rescue crew in a lift In addition to helping rescue trapped people, however, the programme also tracks other parameters in lifts, such as electricity usage, tension in the suspension wires, and

Source: www.japaninc.com others factors, “all of which will help keep the old lifts in the best possible condition and will help in the rational scheduling of lift maintenance,” said Mr. Micanovic.

Largest Skate-park in the Balkans opens in Belgrade

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A contestant “sliding” the rail

A

Photo by FoNet

he first serious skate-park in Serbia opened last weekend in Belgrade’s Usce park, located by the long walkway along the Sava and Danube Rivers in New Belgrade, already popular among bikers, rollerbladers, joggers and strollers.

The skate park includes many ramps and other features, enabling Serbia to join the ranks of countries that can host international Extreme Sport events. The formal opening on Monday was accompanied by the park’s first competition, which brought skaters from Slovenija, Croatia, Bosnia and Macedonia.

Interestingly, the top three competitors in the over-18 category on Monday were all from Croatia, as was the winner in the under-18 category.

The municipality of New Belgrade spent 27 million dinars, (€350,000), to construct the park, which is now the largest in the region and will contribute to “skate tourism”. The Usce skate park was preceded by another park at Ada Ciganlija, but that parkwas a poor relation to the magnificient new facilities at Usce.

Over the past two decades, the expression “Skateboarding is not a Crime” came into popular usage among skaters to describe their per-

ennial struggles with law enforcement officers as they discovered new places to skate.

The kind of places where skateboarders like to do their magic are often in the grounds of government buildings or private corporations.

Long stairways with raised handrails, often found in such places, have become a favourite haunt of the skating community all over the world.

The ever-present threat of injury to the skaters and passers-by, not to mention the damage skaters can cause to handrails, benches and other street furniture, often puts them at odds with the law.

Part of skating folklore, then, has become hiding from police and donning t-shirts reading “Skateboarding is not a Crime”.

With the opening of the Usce skate park, skaters in Serbia now have no need to play the cat and mouse game with property administrators and police, and more importantly, have a new sport facility that is the largest of its kind in the region. Even more attractive and somewhat unprecedented is the fact that entrance to the park is free for skaters, bicyclists and roller bladers. Children under 10 years old are not allowed to skate in the park.

Locals Resist Green-Field Development

conflict - years in the making - between property developers in the Peti Park neighbourhood of Zvezdara and local residents who oppose the development project planned to occur on park land, continued this week when residents once again prevented the construction project from beginning by preventing security personnel from erecting a fence around the site.

A few dozen security personnel arrived early in the morning, but locals quickly organised themselves and blocked the work. The arrival of the police may have prevented a more serious incident.

Dragan Djurasinovic, a representative from the neighbourhood citizens’ group, Initiative for the Protection of Peti Park, said he could not understand why the workers had come to erect a fence when talks are ongoing between the developers and the city administration regarding the distribution of an alternative parcel of land.

“We are waiting for a report from the Planning Office which will evaluate the legality of the developer’s proposal,” said Djurasinovic.

Representatives from the company, Green Engineering, employed by the developers, the construction

Eye Contact

firm Crnotravac, hired to complete the project, say that they have all the necessary permits. Their legal representative Dusan Bacovic said that a compromise on finding an alternative location was out of the question.

“We brought security personnel because we knew that there would be a problem and that residents would try to stop us from working, even they have no right to do that”, Backovic said.

Representatives from the Zvezdara municipality, who support the residents’ demands, claim that the developers cannot begen construction work until they have obtaned all the necessary documentation.

Her name, they said, was Borka…

As a foreigner, shopping in Belgrade has never been a walk in the park. I began six years ago with sign language, learned a few words here and there, and now I can usually walk out with what I came in for. But this is also because I have not given up the sign language.

In my neighborhood, there was a C-market. It must have been the most advanced shop in the Balkans when it opened in the 1960s, but in the meantime, not much (including Borka) has changed.

Borka was one metre forty tall, steel grey hair, “Drug Tito’s” glasses, and she wielded the levers of power at this local C-Market (now a Delta clone, more of that another week). When I first saw her hovering around the fresh produce section, I could see that we would one day come to words.

One Saturday morning, my wife and I came in with a huge list and no time and rapidly darted across the once-white linoleum only to arrive at the cash register to see HER. Unaccustomed as she was to the modern technology (i.e., barcode reader) she typed numbers in one at a time, peering over her glasses and shouting questions at her colleagues.

Impatient I seethed but said nothing. Then she took a box of cookies and passed it twice over the strange and foreign bar-code reader. I bristled and told her – in Serbian no less – that she had made a mistake. She looked at me and then it came – the straw that broke the camel’s back: “Did he talk to me,” Borka asked my wife.

“I am RIGHT HERE!” I said.

“And you made a mistake.”

“Where is he from?” she asked my wife again. No eye contact with the foreigner.

I waved my hand in front of her face. I said “LOOK AT ME! I AM TALKING TO YOU!” Nothing.

My wife explained the problem, Borka checked and corrected. Not once did she look at me or say one word to me…

Anyone will tell you that I speak Serbian like a Spanish cow lost in the Ukraine, but I make an effort now and then. And I am told that I expressed myself clearly to Borka.

She just ignored me.

I screamed that I would NEVER come back there again and moved to leave. Over my shoulder I am sure I heard Borka saying, “When did foreigners start coming here?”

neighbourhood

Friday, October 3, 2008

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Local Polls Deepen Sense of Crisis in Bosnia As parties turn away from bread-and-butter issues and indulge in inflammatory rhetoric, ethnic tensions look set to worsen.

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By Srecko Latal in Gorazde

n the half-deserted, cold and wet streets of Gorazde, a Bosniak-dominated town in eastern Bosnia, there are few signs of the forthcoming local elections.

Occasional tattered posters with election promises go unnoticed by the few passers-by. Most seem to have decided what parties to vote for in advance.

“The strength and quality of the candidates does not matter,” sighs Slavko Klisura, local head of the Centre for Promotion of Civil Society, an NGO battling to introduce relevant local issues into the shallow public debates. “On election day, people will still cast their vote along the ethnic lines.”

Meanwhile, the real action takes place elsewhere, in the centres of political and economic power in Banja Luka, Mostar and especially Sarajevo. There, the streets are packed with huge posters, while newspapers, radio and TV stations put out heated statements from politicians competing to see who will take a tougher position and deliver a harder punch and more effective insult to the opposition.

In most countries, elections heat up the political scene but in Bosnia, this heat is widely seen as out of control. Plagued by political tensions since the last general elections in 2006, the country appears to be on the verge of collapse.

Bosnia’s top international envoy, Miroslav Lajcak, the Slovak head of the Office of High Representative, has said the atmosphere reminds him of the last years of the former Czechoslovakia, which split in 1993.

Such dire warnings overshadow the October 5 poll at which voters will elect candidates to local councils and which is widely seen as a popularity contest for the parties ahead of the presidential and parliamentary elections in 2010.

The main contest pits Bosnian

Muslims, or Bosniaks, against Bosnian Serbs. While Bosniak leaders openly call for the abolition of the Bosnian Serb entity, Republika Srpska, Bosnian Serbs have retaliated by blocking the work of key state institutions. The infighting has worsened, slowing and even reversing the passage of crucial reforms.

It has also virtually halted Bosnia’s EU accession process.

“Democracy doesn’t live here,” muses Demir Imamovic, adding that one consequence will be an increase in the number of Bosnians who don’t vote.

The last local elections in 2004 saw one of the lowest turnout levels in Bosnia, of 45.52 per cent and analysts expect no better in October.

In Republika Srpska, and in most Serb-populated areas in the other entity, the BiH Federation, the Party of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, will win comfortably, according to Banja Luka-based journalist Gordana Katana.

Under the strong stewardship of its leader, Milorad Dodik, and boosted by his tough confrontations with local and international counterparts, the SNSD won in more than 30 per cent of Serb-populated municipalities in 2004. In the 2006 general elections SNSD won over 40 per cent of Bosnian Serb votes and became the single strongest party in the country.

Since then, Dodik and the SNSD have consolidated power, influencing, if not directly controlling, much of the media in the Republika Srpska and presiding over several lucrative privatization deals.

As the smallest of the three main ethnic groups, the Bosnian Croats feel marginalized. Increasingly they see themselves outvoted on local, regional and state levels.

Whether the HDZ, the leading Croat party, remains politically ascendant in these elections remains to be seen, however. Thus far, its smaller, more moderate, rivals, such as the Croatian Peasants Party, the People’s Party, the New Croatian Initiative,

Croatia Airlines Saftey Fears Zagreb _ America’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has found that Croatia’s national airline company, Croatia Airlines, does not meet safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Accordingly, Croatia Airlines is unable to establish direct connections with the United States or secure landing rights.

The FAA decision places Croatia Airlines in the company of the National airlines of, amongst others, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and Bangladesh ruling that the company does not have the necessary legislation and procedures for transatlantic flights compatible with international standards and that its civil aviation sector lacks qualified staff in areas such as technical safety, education, data retention and inspection procedures.

The ruling also states that the national aviation authority does not license and monitor its airline companies according to international standards. .The FAA’s report comes one year after Croatia Airlines signed a “code

share” agreement with America’s United Airlines, which enables passengers from Croatia to travel to the US via seven European cities with only one stop.

A Ministry of Transportation spokesperson said that this report “does not mean that flying with Croatia Airlines is not safe, but that the company does not meet all the requirements necessary for the establishment of an airline in the United States”.

She added that “the problem will be solved as soon as the ministry forms a civil aviation agency”.

Bosnia’s top international envoy, Miroslav Lajcak and others, have had little success.

The HDZ and its break-away fraction still look likely to win in the Croat western part of the southern city of Mostar. But most other municipalities could see a tight race among the two HDZs and the other opposition parties.

The biggest unknown in the coming vote is among Bosniak voters, as the main Bosniak parties are widely seen as having lost their way in recent years.

Wasting energy on internecine struggles, these parties have seriously weakened the Bosniak community’s overall negotiating position, allowing Dodik to become the strongest political force in the country, says Sead Numanovic, editor of the leading Sarajevo daily, Dnevni Avaz.

This infighting has blocked key economic and social reforms as well as important privatization deals in the BiH Federation, allowing salaries and industrial production in the Repubika Srpska for the first time to

surpass levels in the Federation.

The biggest clash within the Bosniak camp is between the ruling Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and the Party for BiH, SzBH. The Social Democrats, a declaredly multiethnic party, nevertheless rely mostly on Bosniak votes.

Mirroring the SDA’s manouvres, the Social Democrats have approached the local elections with an aggressive and expensive campaign, concentrating on general countrywide issues and problems, though with little local relevance.

Even the influential Islamic Community and its leader Mustafa Ceric – whose direct or indirect support in the past has helped to decide election winners – seem baffled by the rift in the Bosniak camp, and have so far failed to take anybody’s side.

Most local and international commentators feel that the current Bosniak parties have ceased to be relevant to the electorate.

Some moderate Bosnians of all

Bosnia Leader Angry at ‘Most Corrupt’ Title Sarajevo _ Premier Nedzad Brankovic of the Bosnian Federation has rejected the claim by a top international corruption watchdog that Bosnia is Europe’s “most corrupt country.”

“Bosnia and Herzegovina, like all countries in transition, faces the problem of corruption. Almost every day we read about large corruption scandals even in the most developed countries of the world, which shows that corruption is not exclusive to transition societies, nor it is exclusive to our society, ” premier, Nedzad Brankovic said.

His remarks were a reaction to the annual Corruption Perceptions Index, published by a leading international anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International.

This report showed Bosnia to be at the bottom of the list of European countries in the perception of corruption with the score of 3.2.

Bosnia was placed 93rd out of 180 countries in the survey.

“We couldn’t have expected any other result from the research, since

state institutions are eroding and the existing anti-corruption strategy has not been implemented,” said Emir Djikic, the newly appointed Chair of the Board of Directors of Transparency International’s Bosnian branch office.

Transparency International presented the results of two other surveys, “Corruption Perception Survey - Elections 2008” and “Financing of Political Parties,” related to citizens’ attitudes towards political parties ahead of the upcoming October 5 elections.

Brankovic on Thursday rebuffed these findings saying the surveys are unreliable, adding that those who conduct surveys can get the results they want and use them for their own ends.

Transparency International recently claimed Brankovic was violating the law on conflict of interest, by being a stakeholder in an investment fund, which owns and manages some public companies. Bosnia’s court and election commission rejected this case, but Brankovic has nevertheless sold his disputed shares.

Source: www.ohr.int nationalities hope that an alternative could be Nasa Stranka, “Our Party”, the party established a year ago by Bosnia’s Oscar-winning film director, Danis Tanovic.

With a limited budget and little local infrastructure, Nasa Stranka has forgone expensive poster advertising TV slots, instead sending supporters on tours round the country and talking to ordinary people.

The question is whether many ordinary people are ready to put aside their ethnic differences and vote for such a new and untried political outfit.

Slavko Klisura from Gorazde cautions against thinking that widespread disillusion with existing polititians and political parties will prompt Bosnians to vote for an entirely new political option.

Despite all their hardships and disappointment, most voters will either abstain from voting altogether, or vote for their old nationalist parties, he says. “We are all prisoners of our own ignorance,” he adds. “For many, the biggest fear is fear of freedom.

Foreign Investment in Macedonia Falls Skopje _ Macedonia ended 2007 with a total of $320 million (€218 million) in direct foreign investment, less than the figure for 2006, a UN report says.

According to a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development presented in Geneva on Wednesday, the country is ranked in the group of countries with Foreign Direct Investment inflow ranging from $100 -$900 million (€68.2-€614 million), together with Montenegro, Albania, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Moldova.

The total FDI in 2006 was $424 million (€289.4 million), but this figure was achieved largely from the sale of the state’s power distribution company to Austria’s EVN. The report also marks a drop in the number of greenfield investments in 2007, from 29 in 2006 to 9 in 2007.

However, the influx of foreign capital in Skopje’s Stock Exchange Market has increased significantly, the report says.

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neighbourhood

Friday, October 3, 2008

EU Considers Withdrawing Peacekeepers Sarajevo _ European Union governments are considering winding down the peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, scene of the bloodiest carnage in the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

French Defence Minister Herve Morin said the EU force, cut back to 2,200 troops last year from 7,000, has completed its mission and can be replaced by a rapid-reaction force based outside Bosnia.

EU peacekeepers took over from NATO troops in 2004, in the biggest of the bloc’s five military crisismanagement operations to date. A withdrawal would come as European armies are stretched to the limit and face American demands for more troops to be sent to Afghanistan.

It would be useful “for European governments to give the signal to their citizens that we began a mission and we are capable of finishing it,’’

Morin told reporters before a meeting of EU defence ministers in Deauville, France.

Bosnias 4 million people, are divided along ethnic lines into Serbdominated, Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) and Croat-dominated entities.

Bosnia took its first step toward eventual EU membership in June when it signed a trade pact with the bloc.

In addition to a possible rapidreaction force, the EU will consider replacing the peacekeepers with military trainers or civilian experts.

Serbia, Montenegro in Dual Citizenship Talks Belgrade _ Serbia’s Interior Minister Ivica Dacic and his Montenegrin counterpart, Jusuf Kalamperovic, have held talks on kick-starting a dual citizenship deal ahead of an October 19 deadline.

Speaking to Belgrade’s daily Blic, Dacic said that he was optomistic that the talks will go smoothly because Montenegrin citizenship was recently granted to a Serbian citizen, Dragan Dzajic, one of Serbia’s best known football players.

“It’s a great sign that someone has already received Montenegrin citizenship without restrictions to give up their Serbian citizenship, and the example is Dragan Dzajic,” said Dacic.

“It’s a good sign but this right to citizenship without renouncing the citizenship of a second country be extended to citizens of Montenegro as well.”

Montenegro separated from Serbia in 2006.

The problem of dual citizenship arose because Montenegrin law does not allow for dual citizenship.

According to Montenegro’s constitutional law, Montenegrin nationals who took up citizenship of another country after June 3, 2006, have to de-

cide which citizenship to keep, unless a bilateral agreement with the country in question is signed.

Citizens who hold both Serbian and Montenegrin citizenship may have to renounce one of these by October 22 if a deal is not found.

Interior Ministers Kalamperovic and Dacic

Iggy Pop Cancels Bosnia Concert Amid Fears

Ageing Rock icon, Iggy Pop, cancels Sarajevo concert

Source: www.boudist.com

Companies Bid for Albanian Power Distributor

Tirana _ The Italian giant Enel and the Czech energy company CEZ have filed bids for a 76 percent stake in Albania’s electricity distributor, OSSH. Austria’s EVN and Energie Steirmark earlier withdrew their expressed interest to acquire the controlling stake.

The privatisation is being structured with expert assistance provided by the International Finance Corporation, a branch of the World Bank, and the United States Agency for International Development, USAID. Albania’s centre-right government launched a big round of privatisation in 2008, which are spelling the

end of public ownership of the last major assets currently controlled by the state.

Aas well as OSSH, the only oilrefinery in the country, ARMO was sold in September for €129 million and the state-owned insurer, INSIG will all be sold off later this year.

The Albanian government also detailed plans to conclude concessionary contracts with private enterprise for the construction of new hydro-electric generating plants.

Over the past two years, Albania has been hit by an acute energy crisis, with regular power cuts throughout the country, including the capital Tirana.

Sarajevo _ Security concerns following last week’s clashes at a Bosnian gay festival have prompted American rock and punk icon, Iggy Pop, to cancel his concert in Sarajevo.

“The fact is that an ugly picture about our city went around the world,” the local organisers, Art Zone said in a press statement.

The organisers said that poor tickets sales required switching the location of the concert to a smaller venue but that location did not meet additional security provisions and the organisers could not guarantee security levels demanded by the performer and his team. They apologised and pledged to refund fans who were anticipating the concert.

As a part of the “Weirdness tour 2008” Iggy Pop and his band “The Stooges” were scheduled to perform in Sarajevo’s Zetra sports hall on October 1, the second day

Bulgaria Spies ‘Tapping the Media’ Sofia _ Most of Bulgaria’s media have been spied on by the State Security Agency in an effort by the government to establish full control of them, an opposition party claims.

The ruling powers in Bulgaria want to control the media before the next elections and that is a task for the State Security Agency, DANS, lawmaker Atanas Atanasov from the Democrats for a Stronger Bulgaria told reporters.

The work of the State Security Agency affected almost all media in the country, alleged fellow party member Eliana Maseva, who participated in the review on the work of the Agency.

There is a demand that the director of the “Bulgarian FBI” Petko Sertov, resigns.

It comes as Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev on Sunday denied claims that the recently established National Security Agency has been tapping the personal phones of several lawmakers.

Stanishev downplayed the accusations as “intentional” efforts to undermine the agency’s authority.

The scandal erupted last week when lawmakers told parliament that the agency had tapped their phones, as well as those of certain businessmen, for political purposes. .

of Muslim Bajram (Eid-ul-Fitr) holiday. He would have been one of the most famous music stars to perform in Sarajevo.

Last week followers of radical Islamic Wahhabi movement attacked organisers and participants at Bosnia’s first ever gay festival.

The festival was scheduled to include a range of art and sculpture exhibitions the screening of as many as 8 documentary films plays and round table discussions from both local and internnational groups.

Some 15 people were injured – including two journalists and a policeman – and three persons were detained after the violence and the organisers had to postpone the cultural event.

It has since emerged the violence appeared to be well planned and executed in different locations across Sarajevo. Attackers

video-recorded those who were attending the opening ceremony in Sarajevo’s Art Academy and followed them afterwards. In two separate incidents, participants were forced out of their taxis and assaulted. Several attacks were carried out at gun point, although no shots were fired.

Organisers appeared to be followed and monitored in the subsequent days. Over the weekend, Muslim radicals published a prank video on YouTube, which showed a knife cutting off the head from a picture of Svetlana Djurkovic, director of the local gay association “Q.” The clashes have triggered major public debate and raised questions about the state of tolerance in the country, responsibility of the government and police, as well as about the role of the influential Islamic Community whose response to the events was muted.

Investigation into ‘Extravagant’ Croat Diplomats

Croatian President Mesic Zagreb _ Croatia’s President Stjepan Mesic has asked for an official investigation into the huge expenses run up by diplomats living abroad.

His demand came after the daily Slobodna Dalmacija reported that in the first six months of this year, the diplomats had spent almost €1 million on so-called representation.

Representation includes expenses such as food and drink at receptions and accommodation and presents for guests.

According to the daily, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Zagreb has

in the same period spent more than €100,000 for the same purposes. Last year, officials employed at Croatian embassies and foreign missions spent €1.7 million, while the Ministry spent an additional €450,000.

According to the daily’s calculation, Croatian diplomats in the country and abroad have in the past ten years spent almost €15 million on wining and dining.

Neven Jurica in Washington DC, notched up more than €200,000 last year.

In comparison, the permanent Croatian mission in Brussels spent “only” €100,000 while the one in the United Nations was even more modest with some €90,000.

According to the Ministry, Jurica’s huge expenses can be justified by his “extensive diplomatic activities,” particularly in the context of Croatia’s upcoming entry into NATO and the visit of the US President George W. Bush to Croatia last spring.

However, analysts also point that in the past two years Croatia has also moved considerably closer to European Union membership and become an elected member of the UN Security Council, which did not cost as much as Jurica’s diplomatic efforts.

art

Friday, October 3, 2008

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Ivan Mestrovic, The Making of a Master A new memoir of the surviving daughter of Ivan Mestrovic, the most famous sculpor in the former Yugoslavia, gives a view into the hidden life of the complex artist.

Review

By Marcus Tanner

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hen Maria Mestrovic was a little girl playing in the garden of her parent’s house in Zagreb, she was often aware of a dark-haired, sallow-skinned woman who stared intensely from the window of the house next door.

Who was this mysterious woman, half hidden from view on the other side of the tall ivy-covered wall? She didn’t ask. Idle chatter was not encouraged in the strict and patriarchal Mestrović household. Meals were taken in silence and children forbidden from disturbing their father in his studio.

It was years before Maria discovered that the woman was, in fact, Ruza Klein, her father’s first wife.

Such were the odd, fascinating details of life in the household of Yugoslavia’s most famous inter-war period sculptor as revealed by his surviving daughter in this most intimate of memoirs.

As Mestrovic’s daughter recalls, her father’s life had a quality to it that was of biblical proportion. A poor shepherd from Mount Svilaja, nears Drnis, his talent was discovered when he was still a child by a passing businessman. Thanks to his generosity, and that of others, the barefoot boy from the Dalmatian interior escaped the rural poverty that would have otherwise been his fate.

Reaching Vienna, the rest is history.

Fame and fortune followed with astonishing speed, and by the end of the First World War, Mestrovic was carving history as well as stone. He played a major role in the Yugoslav Committee that helped usher into existence the new state of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

Other books have followed these political developments in detail, but Maria Mestrovic’s memoir is a first in that it allows readers to see the private side of Mestrovic as well, an emotional but sometimes harsh father, a wayward husband to his first wife and a distracted one to his second.

Maria Mestrovic was a loving daughter, and Mestrovic adored the girl he called “his little bird”. But her deep and abiding loyalty to her father’s memory does not blind her to the catastrophic quality of some of his other family relationships. She is clear-eyed about the terrible suffering endured by her elder sister, Marta, condemned in her father’s eyes by what now seem as rather trivial physical imperfections. Her death from cancer when she was still in her twenties makes for heartbreaking reading. Her elder brother Tvrtko’s life was equally tragic. Locked with his father in a relationship of mutual misunderstanding, Maria charts his disastrous descent into alcoholism, rebellion and mental breakdown, which culminated in his own very premature death.

Mestrovic’s private life clearly had a more than the occasional twist of agony, especially after World War Two when he felt constrained to go into exile far from his beloved Dalmatia. There, as both Marta and Tvrtko’s lives spiralled downwards in their different ways, he learned of the

Taking liberties

There’s an old saying along the lines of “It is more difficult to receive gracefully than it is to give…”

By David Dowse

A

couple of weeks ago, my smart new mobile phone died. I had let the battery go completely flat over the weekend, and when I tried to charge it, the thing was completely dead. Not a sign of life. After considering a warranty claim for all of several seconds, I realised that sending my useless mobile phone to Taiwan for several weeks was probably not going to be a realistic option. No, it seemed clear there were only two choices – a new battery, or maybe, a completely new phone.

It will be clear to Serbian readers that at this point I had completely forgotten where I am living. One of the most impressive things about Serbia is that, after so many years of isolation and sanctions, its people have devel-

oped a unique level of creativity when it comes to keeping things working, usually with little or no resources.

So, I guess I should not have been surprised when, explaining my problem to my local phone shop, the young guy did not immediately try to sell me either a new phone or an outrageously expensive replacement battery. This of course, would have been the standard response in the UK. Instead, he took the dead phone into the back room and invited me to take a seat for a couple of minutes.

He returned, smiling, with my phone shining with new life. “How did you do that?”, I asked, in English. He proceeded to explain, also in English, how sometimes the battery loses its formatting if it is allowed to completely go flat, but it can be re-formatted with a small, sharp electric shock that is a few volts higher than the normal charger delivers. Simply genius.

His little technical trick had probably saved me a couple of hundred euros, and certainly a whole load of hassle. Do you, dear reader, keep a back up of the contacts in your mobile phone? I know I don’t.

So, naturally, I was completely delighted. I made my feelings clear, and reached for my wallet. “Koliko…?”

The young guy waved away my

death of his brother, Marko. Griefstricken, he wrote to a friend: “It was despair that killed him. He drank so that he would not know, would not hear, would not see. He endured the war and I hoped he could survive it all. Most of my desire to see the barren slopes of Mount Svilaja again died with him.”

Yet, as his daughter makes clear, Mestrovic was uncomplaining as he drank his cup of sorrow, remaining serene to the last days of a long and busy life. He was always buoyed by his faith, his love of art and his all-consuming delight in the creative process. As a result, long after his fame had faded and his commissions had declined in value, he was working happily in his studio in his last home in South Bend, Indiana.

For that reason, this book – in which I have an interest (I helped Maria to edit it) – is ultimately an uplifting and inspiring tale.

Mestrovic was in many ways the last of the line. Intimate with King Alexander of Yugoslavia, he was the last of Europe’s great “court” artists.

At the same time, he was one of the last great Catholic artists as well, for he saw his vocation in religious terms. He was also the last of the peasant artists, because the village world from which he sprang and which shaped him no longer exists.

Maria Mestrovic is to be congratulated for the skill with which she has woven the varied strands of her father’s life, – artistic, religious, private and political – into a concise and very colourful narrative. She is to be thanked, too, for providing this last glimpse of a world that has vanished.

Published: Stacey International, £27.50 See www.stacey-international.co.uk

Mestrovic’s memoirs of her father reveal his private side.

the belgrader

wallet. “It’s nothing….” It certainly wasn’t nothing to me. Now, my Englishness came into play. It was important that I thank him.

“Please, I insisted, have a drink on me.” I handed him a note. But as I did, I

could see from his face that I had made a serious mistake.

By forcing my money on him, I had stolen his generosity. Instead of giving him something, I had actually taken something away – something

David Dowse encounters “old-style” service in downtown Belgrade

beyond money. Independent stores and ingenious people are two of Belgrade’s hidden treasures. It would be nice to think that both of them can survive the inevitable march of the western high street chains. I wonder.

Source: www.sxc.hu

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out & about

Friday, October 3, 2008

Blissfully Down The Danube Roman ruins, medieval fortresses and as much nature as you can handle - Jelena Mickic cruises down the Danube.

By Jelena Mickic

F

or lovers of nature, the adventurous and those who are merely curious a journey along the beautiful banks of the Danube is bliss; an escape from the hustle and bustle of city life.

We set off at 8 am, leaving a fast awakening Belgrade behind us at the port. As we looked back at the wake being left behind by our boat, the silhouette of Belgrade with the fortress in all its glory formed a perfect morning postcard. The morning breeze invigorated us, ruffling our hats and hair. With music inspired by the mighty Danube, we sailed off to the unknown.

After leaving Belgrade, we passed several inlets in which small boats were hiding, bobbing in the shade of overhanging trees. From the boat we also caught a glimpse of Vinca, one of the largest and most significant prehistoric Neolithic settlements in Eastern Europe. On our left, meanwhile, was the farmland of Banat in the Vojvodina region.

Out first stop was Smederevo, home to an historically important fortress that dates back to the first half of the 15th century. Only its ruins survive, as the complex was heavily damaged during the Second World War. From the high fortress walls there is a commanding view up and down the river. So many eggs were used to bind the building materials together, it is said, when it was constructed that, for years, the locals were left with no eggs to eat!

In the town centre is a museum and a square housing the 19th-century St. George’s church. A good place to stroll is St. Djurdja Street, which is closed to motorised traffic and full of cafés. And the prices are lower than in Belgrade...

After Smederevo, we re-embarked and continued our boat journey down river. It was a delightful experience, slowly cruising the green waters of the river, absorbing the beauty of surrounding nature. As we cruised downstream, one moment closer to the Romanian side of the river, and the next moment closer to the Serbian bank, our mobile phone operators regularly updated us on our movements to and fro!

As the day drew to a close, we spent time watching the undulating landscape, woods, the houses scattered on hills and the small sandy-river beaches. Then, as the last rays of sunlight sank below the horizon, our boat entered the port of Golubac. The Danube is very wide at Golubac, creating the impression of being on a lake rather than on a river. We spent the night at the hotel Golubacki Grad. Recently refurbished, this establishment offers clean accommodation and decent food.

After a good night’s sleep, we were ready to cruise once again.

Just after Golubac is the wellknown Golubac Fortress, which is best seen from the water, although a road passes near the Fortress.

This small but interesting structure was built in the late 13th century to protect the local Christian population from attack by the Ottomans.

According to one story, the fortress got its name from the flocks of doves and pigeons – the word for pigeon in Serbian is golub – that nested here. Golubac itself is familiar to boat lovers across Serbia, as an annual regatta, the Golubac Cup, takes place here in August.

We now entered the Djerdap Gorge, or Iron Gates of the Danube. Parallel with the gorge is the Djerdap National Park, which is 100 kilometres long and covers 65,000 hectares. Just before entering the Iron Gates, the Danube is six kilometres wide. In fact, the river is wider only at its delta in the Black Sea. The National Park is rich in various species of flora and fauna, as well as boasting caves and archeological sites that date back to early settlements in the area, as far back, in fact, as the prehistoric period and the Roman Empire. In the central part of the Djerdap Gorge, where the micro-climate has an almost Mediterranean quality, lies the famous archeological site Lepenski Vir, which dates back to 6,000 BC. Having passed Lepenski Vir, we continued our journey to Donji Milanovac, where we stopped for the second time. This town was the birthplace of Kapetan Misa Anastasijevic, the great 19th-century Serbian philanthropist.

After drinks and a brief snack in Milanovac, we continued on our way down river, entering Kazan, the most attractive part of the Djerdap Gorge. Nature here is breathtaking, the high limestone cliffs close in around you and the river picks up speed and races down the gorge which in places it is no more than 150 metres wide.

Not long after, we reached the Tabula Trajana. This is the only surviving section of a Roman road that once ran along the banks of the Danube leading to Djerdap and which was built by Roman legionaries for the Emperor Trajan in AD104, and which enabled Trajan’s troops to begin their conquest of Dacia, now Romania. When the hydro-electric power plant at Djerdap was built in the 1960s, the road was moved above the newly risen level of the Danube.

After taking a good look at this slice of Europe’s ancient history, our boat turned round and headed to Donji Milanovac, where we borded a coach and set off on the return journey to Belgrade. Our two hour return journey took us through the countryside and the many small picturesque villages around Pozarevac and Smederevo and we arrived back at dusk.

We travelled with the helpful crew of the Danuvije. - www.danuvije. com for more information. There is a bar onboard selling refreshments. You can bring fruits and light snacks. Individual and group reservations possible. Tips: Bring a wide-brimmed hat, sun lotion and a camera.

The Golubacki grad guards the entrance to the gorge

Photo by Jelena Mickic

The cliffs rise high above the Danube

Photo by Jelena Mickic

the belgrader

Friday, October 3, 2008

Going out

Funky Buda Despite the promise I made to myself after last week’s review, I had to scratch the plan of going to the worst club in Belgrade this week.

By Richard Wordsworth

B

elieve it or not it’s difficult to convince friends to spend money on what you guarantee will be the worst night out in the city.

Cantankerous little mites that they are, they were quite firm that they would prefer to go to somewhere nice than to whatever plague-infested pit that I’d put so much effort into finding for them, and that was that.

The ungrateful wretches.

So, our planned spot for the evening was a splav that I’d never heard of before called Kolos. I don’t know why I hadn’t heard of it, maybe it’s new. I couldn’t find out whether or not it was new because the bouncers wouldn’t let us in. I don’t like to bleat on about the injustice of being turned away by bouncers, but there is nothing more guaranteed to ruin an evening than being forced to grovel at the foot of a black-clad gorilla wearing the expression of someone

who enjoys bludgeoning animals to death. Even the Jedi mind trick I learned during a spell in Moscow of speaking loud fast English at them while casually waving something that could be a press pass didn’t wash. So instead of Kolos (which I have to say did look nice) we went next door to Funky Buda.

Buda’s easy enough to spot, due to the towering golden statue of the Buddha levitating over the entrance, but it doesn’t seem that conducive to meditation. The dancing all goes on upstairs and the dancefloor itself centres around a raised podium to better show off the supple and bendy dancing girls. Who are very supple and very bendy indeed. So supple and so bendy in fact that I and the other gentleman in our group completely forgot about our two female friends and had to later scour the dancefloor for them, a process made infinitely more difficult by the foam machine, which was filling the whole splav with bubbles.

I love foam machines; there’s something about clouds of bubbles that makes everyone five years old again.

Eventually we decided that we’d had enough foam and were going to slip below decks for a completely

platonic look around. We found a small staircase hidden at the back of the boat and stealthily made our descent. I’d expected to find something akin to a ship’s galley, or even better a Shanghai opium den, but actually what we stumbled into was a fully furnished, very ornate, Chinese restaurant. Which was a surprise to us, but nothing compared to the surprise of the very angry looking manager whose private meeting we’d apparently interrupted.

As he advanced upon us, I shakily trotted out one of my stock lines about

being a British journalist here to review his club. The scary manager was transformed. He became almost amiable, drawing our attention to the underfloor lighting and the rather average toilets (which worked, but of which he was really disproportionately proud).

He enthusiastically explained that the restaurant was currently available for private hire but next year would open to the public, making Funky Buda an attractive proposition for a whole evening, especially given the lack of options for really good Chinese food in Belgrade.

Funky Buda - Dim Sum and disco

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More out of courtesy than necessity we made use of the toilets before escaping up another staircase and rejoining our friends at the bar. We stayed on a bit longer to enjoy the house music and the dancing girls, and only realised that it was time to go home when the dancefloor started emptying around 3am. We had a lot of fun, and it’s a great and friendly place to spend an evening. But I don’t recommend that venture downstairs just yet.

Funky Buda 11070, Ušće BB7

Photo by: Aleksandar Andjic

Dining out

Casa Nova

You can forgive an old friend many little indiscretions; forgetting an appointment and leaving you standing in the rain, dressing down instead of dressing up, having Dick Van Dyke instead of Paul Van Dyk on their iPod, and so it is with Casa Nova.

By “Trencherman”

W

hen my family and I first arrived in Belgrade, we stayed in temporary accommodation just down the road from the restaurant and, the kitchen in the apartment being tiny and none of us having much inclination to cook, we regularly ventured out, dipping our toes in the restaurant scene. And whilst we travelled across town from Dorde to Dorian Grey, from Langouste to Zodiac we kept coming back to Casa Nova. Dependable, friendly, familiar, somehow you just knew where you stood and what to expect.

And then we moved away, and like old friends sometimes do, we drifted apart. It had been almost a year when we were drawn back, early on a Monday evening but it was as familiar and comforting as slumping into a favourite armchair; the same warm welcome, the same well-ordered dining-room, starched tablecloths, muted lighting and understated music.

It’s refreshing indeed to find a restaurant in Belgrade which doesn’t feel the need to bleed their diners dry for having the temerity to order wine but the selection here, although short,

is in the main modestly priced, with Serbian, Montenegrin and Croatian wines from 690 dinars, and a larger selection of Italian staples alongside.

The one or two Argentinian and Chilean malbec, shiraz and chardonnays thrown in for good measure, represent less good value for money. The easy-drinking Varijantna Oplenac, a honey-nosed rosé, was fair value at 1460 dinars.

The huge menu which covers everything from pasta to steak via risotto and gnocci has always been a bit of a concern of mine. Stretching as it does, to almost 100 items, across three courses, the question I always find myself asking is “what would ‘Chef Ramsay’ say,” and I hear him answering “keep it &^%$£ing simple, use *&%$^$ing fresh ingredients and execute %^$&*&ing well.”

So it is perhaps the ambitious scale of the menu that leads to the one or two little disappointments that creep into the repertoire.

Hence, whilst the Carpaccio Filetto was an excellent simple, mix of thinly sliced, lightly-spiced beef, fresh peppery rocket and parmesan and the fresh mix of lollo rosso, lollo biondi , crunchy croutons, tomatoes, pine nuts and warm grilled chicken breast fillets in the Insalata Arco-

Casa Nova - comforting Italian dining baleno was complemented nicely with the balsamic honey mustard dressing, the side order of garlic bread was not worthy of Pizza Hut. Greasy part-toasted, sliced white bread with barely melted cheese and a scattering of chopped parsley.

The mains held similar but less stark contradictions. The fresh pomodoro sauce was bursting with tomato flavour, well seasoned and complemented by the pungent warming, slightly spicy flavour from the fresh basil but I couldn’t help thinking, every time I saw my daughter push more skin to the side of the plate as she scooped up another gnocci, that it would have been more enjoyable if the tomatoes had been peeled.

I’d not expected the onion in the Filetto con Cipolla to be layered, thick sliced on the top of my steak but it was nicely flavoured with white wine and the jus from the steak which was perfectly blue – sealed, but still raw and meltingly tender in the middle – fantastic. So, why after all that hard work, was it served with deep-fried potato wedges courtesy of Mr. McCain or some other denizen of the deep-freeze?

I don’t normally choose deserts but a restaurant review is incomplete without venturing into the final third of the menu so we chose a frankly pedestrian and unremarkable tiramisu and a really rather splendid, richly thick milk chocolate mousse.

Photo by Sophie Cottrell Another thing about old friends, you see, is that you can often be more critical of them than you could ever be of a first-time acquaintance so I’m sure we’ll be back for the ambiance, the great service, and the often impeccable food. But because we know each other so well now, I feel it’s my duty to occasionally try and prod them back onto the culinary straight and narrow.

Price guide: approximately 2000 2,500 dinars per head for 3 courses with a modest wine.

Casa Nova Gospodar Jovanova 42a.

Tel: 0113036867

12

life

Friday, October 3, 2008

Dervishes Keep Whirling in Western Kosovo Many people think ‘whirling dervishes’ have all but disappeared from the Balkans, but in Kosovo’s western towns these peaceful mystics are going strong.

The Dervish community keep their traditions alive in Prizren

By Refki Alija in Prizren

A

zbija Ceska enters the Saracan Sufi Muslim shrine Saracan in Prizren in southern Kosovo with her 12-year-old son and another woman from neighbouring Orahovac. She has had a bad dream, she explains, “which is why I have come to pray”.

Ceska, her son and her friend are dervishes. In Kosovo, there are as many as 12 orders of this Sufi sect, all of which trace their origins back to various saints and teachers and who unite viewing Ali, nephew of the Prophet Muhammad, as their founder.

At the shrine, or “tetcheh”, Ceska makes her way towards the eight headstones of dervish clerics, known as shehs, which are covered with green velvet. A young man in a white skullcap gives the two women blue coats and headscarves, because according to Muslim tradition, women may not go inside uncovered. He shows the women in which order to kiss the graves, and how often.

Ceska is one of thousands of dervishes in Kosovo. The exact number is unknown because, according to Mumin Llama, a local sheh, “each tariqah, or order of dervishes, takes account only of its own members”.

Adrihusein Shehu, a sheh from the order of Rifa’iyyah, believes that before the wars of the 1990s about 50,000 dervishes of all orders were spread across the former Yugoslavia, mainly in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia.

Most dervishes in Kosovo are Albanian, though some are Bosniaks, Turks and Roma. “Since the wars, the number of dervishes in Kosovo has remained roughly the same,” Shehu says.

Ismail Hasani, a Kosovo expert in religious studies, says most dervishes

in Kosovo live in Prizren, Djakovica, and Orahovac, with smaller numbers in other towns.

As he explains, the first dervishes were travelling ascetics who lived off the charity of the pious on their travels. The word dervish derived from Dari, meaning “door”. A dervish, or darvish, was one “who goes from door to door”.

Dervishes have been around in Kosovo for centuries. Sufi ideas reached the Albanians soon after the Ottoman Turks first conquered parts of the Balkans in the 1300s.

The first dervishes came into the Balkans and then to Kosovo from modern-day Turkey, Syria and other Ottoman Muslim domains.

The movement put down roots and in the 19th century, the Albanian philosophers, brothers and Bektashi dervishes, Naim, Sami and Abdyl Frasheri, attempted to add a bit of local feel to the traditional doctrines and practices.

Adrihusein Shehu inherited his title as “sheh” from his recently deceased father, Xhemail. Under dervish tradition, the calling is hereditary and some titles have passed from father to son over the passage of centuries. Dervishes see nothing strange in that. “Is there anything more natural than a son taking over from his father and then passing his knowledge onto his son?” Shehu asks.

Shehu describes dervishes as devout believers and as “devoted Muslims, soldiers of faith.” But he points out that dervishes are also mystics and their tradition is essentially non-violent.

Sheh Mumin Lama agrees. Dervishes disapprove of the trend towards Islamist radicalism, he says.

“Islam means peace and tolerance amongst people. Those who support radicalism do not belong to Islam.

We respect all God’s prophets and holy books.”

Islam’s holy book, the Koran, indeed recognizes 25 prophets, including some of the principal figures of Judaism and Christianity, including Abraham, Solomon, David, Moses and Jesus.

Source: www.richard-seaman.com The difference between the various dervish orders is defined by the way in which they conduct their services of prayer, called the zikr. Some practice quiet meditation and others dance and whirl. Each fraternity has its own garb and initiation rites, some of which can be rigorous.

On the special holy day of the Rifa’iyyah order, March 22, the believers gather in one of the Prizren tetcheh’s and stab themselves as they dance themselves into a religious trance.

Shehu says that the “whirling dervishes”, as the world knows them, are not performing an ordinary dance. “It is something we call majdhb, an ability to reach a certain state of mind.

It is a secret which is passed on for generations,” he says.

Because of the pacifism of Sufis, they took little part in Kosovo’s armed conflicts, most of the tekke in Kosovo survived the devastation of the late 1990s, Shehu says.

The Serbs left them largely alone in Prizren. “A part of Prizren was set on fire but we believe the downtown was preserved because of our tetch-

eh, and none of the local dervishes was murdered,” he notes.

That was not the case everywhere.

“What hurts is that our library containing 1,500 books was set on fire,” Mumin Llama says.”The losses included 39 scrolls dating from the early part of the 18th century, which are irreplaceable.”

Kosovo dervishes are a part of the Islamic Community, though they take no part in the decision-making process within the body.

“Dervishes have their own place in the Islamic Community of Kosovo, and acting on the proposal of the various orders, the mufti appoints individual shehs,” Resul Rexhepi, secretary of the Islamic Community of Kosovo said.

“The Islamic Community of Kosovo regards them as Muslim believers who have a normal place within the Islamic Community,” he adds.

But among ordinary believers, differences are obvious. Zeqir Shehu, 80, a dervish from Prizren, says the Sunni majority “often see us as something weird at the very least, though we’ve got used to it”.

The Dervish dance to reach a state of religious ecstasy

At the Saracan shrine, around 70 believers have gathered in the tekke by 10pm for the weekly zikr. After exchanging small talk and pleasantries, the sheh and believers taking part dress up in colourful garb, bow, and begin the zikr.

Led by the sheh, they start singing in rhythmic unison, with the theme changing every 10 minutes.

After around half an hour, they begin standing up and whirling themselves into a trance.

Later, the dervishes take up their defs, shallow drums, which produce a high-pitched sound, stepping up the pace of the dance. The prayer reaches its climax.

Then it’s all over, as the sheh ends the service and the worshippers depart.

As they leave the courtyard of the tekke, they recite a last prayer over the graves of ancient shehs and kiss the wooden fence three times. Shehu is delighted. “It was a good zikr,” he says, beaming.

Source: www.BalkanInsight.com

www.omcenterdaily.com

the belgrader

Friday, October 3, 2008

13

What’s On CINEMAS Roda Cineplex Požeška 83A , tel: 011 2545-260 You Don’t Mess with the Zohan 22:15 Wall - E 16:00 Mirrors 20:30 & 22:30 Journey to the Center of the Earth 16:30 & 18:30

ANNUAL EVENTS

Tuckwood Cineplex Kneza Miloša 7, tel: 011 3236-517 Star Wars: The Clone Wars 15:30, 17:45, 22:00 & 22:15 Mirrors 16:30, 18:50, 21:15 & 23:30 Tropic Thunder 18:00 & 22:30 Milos Brankovic 21:00 & 23:15 Ljubav i drugi zlocini (Love and Other Crimes) 18:10 & 20:30

Left Lane Cruiser Cool American blues musicians on their European tour.

Student Cultural Centre (SKC) Kralja Milana 48 October 6, 21:00 Tickets available at SKC ticket office You Don’t Mess with the Zohan 15:45 & 20:15 Wall - E 15:30 The Dark Knight 22:45

33rd Joy of Europe festival Children from across European countries come to Belgrade to dance, sing, and promote their culture.

OPERA

Dom sindikata Trg Nikole Pašića 5, tel. 011 3234-849 Journey to the Center of the Earth 17:00 & 19:00

CONCERTS

Vlatko Stefanovski The legendary Macedonian guitar player promotes his new album Thunder.

Sava Center, Great Hall Milentija Popivica 9 October 6, 20:30 Tickets available at SC ticket office and Bilet Service, Republic Square 5.

National Theatre Trg Republike 1a Premiere of Werther, an opera by Jules Massenet

Belgrade Drama Theatre (BDP) Milesevska 64 a Disco Pigs This play by Irish playwright Enda Walsh explores the unhealthy friendship between teenagers as they approach adulthood.

October 5, 20:30 Tickets available at BDP ticket office

EXHIBITIONS The Museum of Theatre Arts Gospodar Jevremova 19 Monday 09:00 - 21:00 Tue.-Fri. 09:00 - 15:00 Sunday 09:00 - 14:00 October 2008 Yugoslav Drama Theatre Visual Identity 1948 - 2008

October 9, 19:30 Tickets available at National Theatre ticket office

THEATRES National Theatre Trg Republike 1a Intimate self-portrait of Frida Kahlo Drama by Slavenka Molovanovic Pregelj performed by the Slovene National Theatre

Ster City Cinema Delta City, Jurija Gagarina 16 (Blok 67), tel: 011 2203-400 Kung Fu Panda 11:00, 13:10 & 15:20 Wall - E 12:30, 15:00 & 17:00 Tropic Thunder 11:40, 13:50, 16:00, 18:10, 20:40 & 22:50 Journey to the Center of the Earth 17:30, 19:40 & 21:40 Milos Brankovic 12:50, 14:50, 16:40, 18:30, 20:20 & 22:30 Ljubav & drugi zlocini (Love and Other Crimes) 12:00, 14:10, 16:20, 18:50, 21:00 & 23:10 You Don’t Mess with the Zohan 19:00, 21:20 & 23:40 Mamma Mia! 11:20, 13:30, 15:40, 17:50, 20:0 & 22:10

Sava Center, Great Hall Milentija Popovica 9 October 3, 20:00 Tickets available at SC ticket office

Belgrade Arena Arsenija Carnojevica 58 October 5, 18:00

Mamma Mia! 17:15 & 20:00 Star Wars: The Clone Wars 16:30 & 18:30 Ljubav i drugi zlocini (Love and Other Crimes) 18:00, 20:15 & 22:30

Star Wars: The Clone Wars 16:00, 18:00, 20:00 & 22:00 Mirrors 16:15, 18:15, 20:15 & 22:15 Ljubav i drugi zlocini (Love and Other Crimes) 16:15, 18:15, 20:15 & 22:15 Topic Thunder 22:30 Mamma Mia! 16:30, 18:30 & 20:30 Wall - E 16:30

40th Belgrade Music Festival/BEMUS Belgrade Music Festival is an annual international festival of classical music.

Opening of BEMUS 2008 Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Marc Gorenstein Johannes Moser, violoncello Zoran Erić (commissioned piece) Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No.1 Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5

October 6, 19:30 Tickets available at National Theatre ticket office Thin Lizzy 70’s Irish rock band, on tour to prove there’s still whiskey in the jar Dom Sindikata Decanska 14 October 4, 20:00 Tickets available at Dom sindikata ticket office

American Music Club 80’s underground band singing songs from their new album The Golden Age. Student Cultural Centre (SKC) Kralja Milana 48 October 7, 22:00 Tickets available at SKC ticket office

Zvezdara Theatre Milana Rakica 38 The Master and Margarita The premiere of a stage adaptation of the famous Russian novel by Mikhail Bulgakov October 9, 21:00 Tickets available at Zvezdara Theatre ticket office

Residence of Prince Milos in Topcider Rakovicki put bb Thu.- Sun. 10:00 - 17:00 Permanent Exhibition Second Serbian Uprising Museum of African Art Andre Nikolica 14 Mon.- Sat. 10:00 - 18:00 Sunday 10:00 - 16:00

Oct. Salon Begins in Belgrade The 49th October Salon, the fifth international event of its kind in Belgrade, brings together dozens of artists from across the world to exhibit in Belgrade

T

By Alex Todorovic

he 49th October Salon began in late September and will run through to November 9th. The October Salon, now in its fifth year as an international festival of arts, is a festival of visual and video arts that brings together artists from across the world. The festival, sponsored by the City of Belgrade, uses numerous spaces across the city to feature local and international works of art. This year’s theme, t“Citizen Artist”, is devoted to the idea of “art in context”,

the idea that artists not only react to context, but in fact create it through their works. The director of this year’s October Salon is Dr. Bojana Pejic, who now lives in Berlin.

The spaces for this year’s October Salon include: numerous works of art displayed in public spaces, such as billboards (look for them around town); 25 May Museum (Dedinje) is exhibiting some 40 works of art; Cultural Centre of Belgrade (Knez Mihailova 6) is exhibiting 3 works; Artget Gallery (Trg Republike 5/1) is exhibiting 6 works; Kuca Legata (Knez Mihailova 46) is exhibiting 17 works; 13 works are on displey at the old Public Baths (Cara Dusana 45); Kontekst Galery (Kaptean Misina 6a) is exhibiting 2 works; The Graphic Collective Gallery (Obilicev Venac) is exhibiting many works.

Wooden sculpture from a previous Salon

Photo courtesy of: www.oktobarskisalon.org.yu

14

sport

Friday, October 3, 2008

UEFA Endorses EURO Expansion It remains to be seen whether allowing an additional eight teams to take part in the world’s best soccer tournament can further improve its quality.

By Zoran Milosavljevic

I

ntermediate soccer nations in Europe have plenty to look forward to after UEFA, the continent’s soccer governing body, last week gave the go-ahead to expand the European Championship finals to 24 teams as of 2016, meaning that EURO 2012 in Poland will be the last Championship to be played in the current format.

When Germany’s former World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer announced the decision, passed unanimously by UEFA’s 13-man executive committee, the Serbian delegation must have also let out a huge sigh of relief, along with counterparts who have likewise found it rather difficult to qualify for the 16-team event.

“The historic decision gives middle-ranked countries a much greater chance to qualify for the final tournament,” UEFA said in a statement and added that the traditional qualifying format of groups, including five or six teams, would remain in place.

In the finals, 24 teams will be divided into six groups of four with the top two from each group assured of advancing into the last 16. Another four berths will be available to the four best third-placed teams.

In other words, the European Championship finals, 30 odd years ago confined to just four teams in the

ultimate stage of the competition, has evolved into its most sizeable shape and form yet. It is identical to the one that was in place for World Cup finals from 1982 to 1994 and then abandoned after FIFA decided to expand the global event to 32 teams.

EURO finals will from now on feature 51 games instead of 31 over a period of at least four weeks, much to the delight of fans across Europe.

While most soccer experts believe the expansion is set to add an extra dimension to what has largely been acclaimed as the world’s most competitive soccer tournament, a few believe it may actually dilute its quality if too many teams with no chance of winning just show up to make up the right number of teams.

This is highly unlikely, though, as Europe is blessed with many talented and enthusiastic soccer nations that have a history of narrowly missing out on major tournaments because there are too many giants of the sport standing in their way.

Serbia is one of them.

Having failed to reach the EURO 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland last summer, Serbia again faces the uphill task of qualifying for the World Cup finals in South Africa 2010 after an indifferent start in Group Seven. A lacklustre 2-0 win over the part-timers from the Faroe Island was followed by a 2-1 defeat in France, and Serbia’s next two matches, at home to Lithuania in Belgrade on October 11 and the visit to Austria four days later, may well turn out to be crucial.

Either way, Serbia is one of the teams expected to have a much better chance of going through when thirdplaced teams from the qualifying

The Euro 2012 tournament will be increased to 32 nations groups become eligible for a berth among Europe’s top contenders. The latter might, in turn, find it that much more difficult to win a European Championship with additional underdogs and dark horses vying to upset them and that’s principally the reason the UEFA-endorsed expansion is more likely to add glamour to the competition than to dilute its quality.

After all, very few people expected Turkey and Russia to reach the Euro 2008 semi-finals and they did so by playing some wonderfully entertaining football and not the cagey, defensive game that many of those who opposed the expansion fear might spoil the tournament in its 24-team format.

More fans from less heralded yet

Photo by FoNet

soccer-mad nations will only add colour to the month-long party as revenues from selling the tournament’s official merchandise will go up.

One of the few drawbacks, as senior Serbian coach Dragoslav Stepanovic duly noted, is the imminent congestion in an already crowded fixture list and less time for top players to recover from a gruelling season.

“That could be a concern as many players and clubs are complaining the season is too long and internationals are thus becoming an optional extra for some players we would like to see in major tournaments,” Stepanovic told Belgrade Insight.

“That’s not the case with Serbia because our clubs make perennial

early exits from European competition but the trouble is that virtually all our national team players are based abroad,” said Stepanovic, who came close to winning the German Bundesliga title with Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1980s.

“Going through to a European Championship as the third-placed team from a qualifying group has all the hallmarks of charity and I would prefer if Serbia earned its place among the best teams with a top-two finish,” he said.

That may turn out to be easier said than done, as it so often is in Serbian soccer, hence the national team might gratefully embrace the opportunity laid out by UEFA.

national isolation and economic hardship biting hard into its potential.

The Serbian team’s first task is to rekindle some of its past success in January at the world championships in Croatia, where the host nation will be a strong favourite for a podium finish.

The Croatians, former Olympic and world champions who will be looking for their first European medal in Belgrade 2012, have an ageing generation of stars eager to go out with a roar in front of their home fans in 2009 and make way for an equally promising young outfit.

Serbia’s goal, on the other hand,

is to make the most of both competitions to build a respectable team for the 2012 Olympics. The European Championships in Belgrade, scheduled for January the same year, will be a test of Serbia’s ability to launch a fresh challenge for Olympic honours, as will the women’s volleyball championship in 2011.

Should both Serbian teams do well prior to the Olympics, the ray of light provided by Europe’s sports governing organizations when they chose Serbia as hosts could trace the path to a successful Olympic campaign in London.

Ray Of Light From Europe

Serbia stands to benefit in several ways from hosting two major international events in 2011 and 2012

By Zoran Milosavljevic

F

our years can sometimes be an eternity in Serbia, and two major continental competitions the country will host can’t come soon enough for its sports fans and business enterprises, which are looking at a revenue of eight million euros from just one of them: the men’s Eu-

Serbia hosts the women in 2011...

ropean Handball Championship in 2012, which along with the women’s European Volleyball Championship in 2011, should provide additional excitement and generate a party atmosphere across the country with Novi Sad, Nis and Vrsac selected as the venues of the 2012 tournament alongside Belgrade.

“We expect 40,000 tourists in several cities and that will be a huge bonus in every sense,” said Velimir Marjanovic, Serbian Handball Federation president. “This is bigger than Eurovision, which we hosted recently, hence we are proud to have

Source: www.thevolleyballblog.com

been selected hosts ahead of France and Germany,” he added.

Having endured a lean year following a successful two-year spell in which they won a world championship bronze medal and a European silver, the women’s volleyball team has a great chance of bouncing back into medal contention in front of a home crowd yearning for more success.

The men’s handball team, a force to be reckoned with in the former Yugoslavia, might find the task somewhat more difficult after the sport hit the doldrums in the 1990s, with inter-

... and the men in 2012.

Source: www.sxc.hu

directory

Friday, October 3, 2008

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