SERBIA DAILY No16

W Daily e-newspaper

• N° 16 • Belgrade, May 18, 2016

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WESTERN BALKANS e-MEDIA GROUP

Russia Believes EU Tacitly Supports Pristina

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Russia's representative at the recent UN Security Council meeting also voiced the hope that the special court for war crimes of the Kosovo Liberation Army would start working as soon as possible

ussia's representative at the recent UN Security Council meeting has said that Pristina is disregarding and trying to unilaterally change the agreement reached with Belgrade concerning the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO), with the EU's tacit approval.

Pristina has to implement the agreement on the Community of Serb Municipalities straight away and this will be a litmus test of its readiness to meet the obligations. Otherwise, we will see a

Daniel Serwer, U.S. Balkans analyst: Of course I will not be deciding whether the RS will become independent. That has has already been decided and the decision will not be annulled. Dodik uses the idea of an independent RS to make his political career

deterioration of the situation in Kosovo and around it, the Russian representative said.

UNSC Resolution 1244 has been and will be the only platform for resolving the situation in Kosovo, he underlined.

The statements that the mission should be downsized and its budget reduced have no grounds in the report of the UN secretary general who has said that much is yet to be done, the Russian representative said.

Marko Djuric, Office for Kosovo: There will never be a state border between Serbia and Kosovo, as it does not exist under our Constitution. That is an administrative line, and this will be the case as long as this Constitution and people exist

He voiced the hope that the special court for war crimes of the Kosovo Liberation Army would start working as soon as possible, and would not repeat a failure of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Kosovo has become a shelter and transit center for radical Islamists who use the territory for recruitment and training, he said, noting that, relative to its size, Kosovo has the highest number of fighters for Islamic State.

Bosko Obradovic, Dveri leader: Sexual orientation is not a human right and it is undignified to reduce a person's personality to their sexuality. We are not ready to change our political position under the influence of powerful lobbies

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S e r b i a D a i l y, M a y 1 8 , 2 0 1 6

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Serbia, Algeria Sign Protocols of Cooperation Representatives of delegations of Serbia and Algeria signed several bilateral agreements in the presence of Serbian Preident Tomislav Nikolic, who is on a three-day official visit to Algiers, and Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal The documents signed include a program on cooperation in the field of culture between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria for 2016, 2017 and 2018, a protocol of cooperation between the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the Institute of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a protocol of cooperation between the National Library of Serbia and the National Library of Algeria.

Also signed was a memorandum of understanding in the field of information technology, between Algeria's National Agency for the Promotion and Development of Technology Parks and Science Technology Park Belgrade.

Nikolic also met with Speaker of the People's National Assembly Mohamed

Larbi Ould Khelifa. During the meeting with Nikolic,Ould Khelifa said that, like Serbia, which was trying to maintain stability in the Balkans, Algeria sought to restore stability in its own region.

Ould Khelifa said that stability and respect for international law were prerequisites for development. Observance of this principle is the basis for Algeria's position not to recognize independence of the so-called "Kosovo," he said.

Nikolic said that when it came to Kosovo-Metohija, support from friends all over the world was very important to Serbia and it was thankful to Algeria for keeping its principled stance.

He pointed to good bilateral cooperation and expressed the hope that the two countries would take advantage of all the potentials that were there and improve economic cooperation, the Serbian president's press office said in a release.

Daily

Markers

BY EMIR SALIHOVIC EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Rainbow Over Belgrade

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ew Pride Parade of LGBT community was officially announced yesterday to take place this September 18.

There had been a lot of discussion in public about Pride Parades, most often from very rigid and antagonistic positions, but rarely there was attempt to understand the issue objectively and not to use it for personal promotional or political agenda.

On one hand, right wing nationalists, close to Church, advocating certain rigid patriarchal views about life and society, use Parades as convenient events to stage their own agenda, and try to mobilize especially radical youth, recruiting them into their own fold. Personally, I do not think they hate homosexuals that much, as much as they want to use opportunity to get out on the streets and have opportunity to voice their radical world views.

In fact, it was funny news when it was recently discovered that one of the former members of anti-gay lobby, close to rightwingers, underwent sex change operation!

On the other hand, many NGOs and activists who on the other days of the year do not care much about LGBT community either, use that opportunity to join the Parade, wave flags and voice their own support for the similar reason: to be seen and heard, and promote their own projects or agendas.

The only one who should, actually, be heard on that day are the very members of LGBT community itself, and their claims of discrimination and constant fear of attacks.

Parades may not change it, but may help in the process.

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PINION

Living in a Men's World Unfortunately, women are the ones whose rights are most often violated.

Therefore, when they are excluded from political life, they become more vulnerable and susceptible to various types of exploitation, discrimination, violence What we have learned over the past centuries is that if women are educated and healthy, that's the most important thing for their families, who can then make progress.

When women do not suffer violence, their families thrive.

If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society and the community, their families thrive. And when families prosper, society and the state prosper too. Therefore it is important for women to engage, be active and included in society.

We live in a man's world where women are in every way discouraged during ascent in the social and business hierarchy, but the extent of their success depends primarily on themselves, their persistence and willingness to destroy prejudice.

Changes "in the masculine world" should go from us women, but we need the support of the state. The first thing that a woman must learn in "men's work, among men colleagues and clients" is not to fall into the trap that she "needs to change herself and her feminine side."

Women make up more than half the world's population and the same is in Serbia. There is more than 51 percent of women in the total population in our country, which clearly shows the data of the last census in 2011. Women are now almost at all points of the planet legally equal to men. And in our country, of course. Inequality, however, persists.

In Serbia, about 30 percent of the registered real estates are owned by women, but some researches show that in Serbia three-quarters of their time they dedicate to their husbands and family.

Current data indicate that women are the most vulnerable group in the labor market, although they account for half of the working age population. As an important step of the Government towards improving the economic status of women is expected to adopt a new law on gender equality and the national strategy for gender equality.

BY SUZANA PAUNOVIC POLITIKA

The adopted measuring of Index of gender equality will help to further government measures on improving the economic status of women, and to start the process of gender budgeting, after which they will know how to allocate resources according to gender in public finance. At the moment, women in Serbia are giving birth, raise children, cook meals, wash clothes, prepare the house, and sit on the production line, working in the company or on the land. Some other die from diseases that should have been prevented or treated, or lay in a hospital bed. Some at this moment suffer violence in their homes. We who actively participate in political life, we have responsibility to speak on their behalf too.

Salaries of women were once the same as men's wages, but in the last two decades are smaller. Data from November 2015 show that Serbian women earn, on average, 11 percent less than men and that they had to work extra 40 days a year to earn as much as men with the same qualifications in the labor market.

Women make up majority of workforce in low-wage occupations - health, education, social work, textile industry, catering, and the so-called helping professions. And when it comes to low-paid professions, men are at the positions of bosses.

In restaurant industry man, as a rule, is a boss and woman - a waitress. Every woman deserves the chance to achieve her full potential. Yet, we are aware and we have to face the truth that women cannot achieve a decent life if their human rights are not respected and are not being protected.

Unfortunately, women are the ones whose rights are most often violated. Therefore, when they are excluded from political life, they become more vulnerable and susceptible to various types of exploitation, discrimination, violence. This all went on for too long, and continues as the history of women is the history of silence. Even today there are those who do not give us the opportunity to speak up!

It is time to say loud and clear that it is no longer acceptable, and that women's rights are not separate from human rights. If I have to send a message let it be as follows: Human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights - and may remain so!

Publisher: WESTERN BALKANS e-MEDIA GROUP z POENTA d.o.o. Sarajevo, Augusta Brauna 3 z Editor - in - Chief: Emir Salihovic z Editors: VLASTIMIR MIJOVIC, AMRA ZIMIC, RASID KRUPALIJA, DANIJELA MRKIC, SANJA LJUBICIC z Director: Amra Zimic z Office Assistant: VERICA GRAOVAC, MUSTAFA BAHTANOVIC, DTP: Bekir Tvrtkovic z Marketing: KAROLINA MIHAJLOVIC z GSM: 00 381 61 2768568, 00 381 11 4086 992, serbiadaily@sbb.rs

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Report Laments Failings in Serbian Judiciary A member of Serbia's Anti-Corruption Council, Jelisaveta Vasilic, told at a presentation of a report on the judiciary in Serbia that the country's courts are still in a poor state "Despite the small positive steps that have been made in the judiciary, the government continues to violate the presumption of innocence, citizens have no equel access to justice and the lack of transparency is omnipresent," Vasilic said, reports BIRN. The Anti-Corruption Council to which she belongs is an advisory body to the government of Serbia which contains six experts from the fields of law and finance and which submits annual reports on the state of judiciary.

According to Vasilic, the government had not replied to this, or to many other previous, reports.

"We have a mild optimism because unlike the last report, when nothing was done concerning our recommendations, some things have been done. For example, old cases have been solved... and all courts now have presidents, which was not the case in the past," Vasilic said.

According to her, Serbia has the highest number of courts and judges per capita in Europe, but courts are still slow to solve cases.

Jelisaveta Vasilic

She noted that, according to a report of the Council of Europe, judges in Europe process twice as many cases as their counterparts in Serbia.

"One of the many reasons for the poor state of the judiciary is copying the laws of the European Union," she added.

"More than 80 per cent of bills are also adopted by urgent procedure without

public debate, which is extremely bad practice.

"We as a Council make suggestions or objections to laws that have some sort of flaw but we never get any feedback from the government", Vasilic continued, recalling the problems over the botched reform of the judiciary in 2009.

During that reform, hundreds of judges and prosecutors were deselected and only returned to their jobs after a decision of the Constitutional Court of Serbia in 2012.

Lack of funds is one reason for the failings of the justice system in Serbia, according to the State Council member, Miroslava Milenovic and there is a need to establish an independent budget for the system.

"We have come into a situation where the accounts of the courts and prosecutors are blocked and we do not know what happened. Was there abuse of spreading money or there was of lack of funds? We do not know," Milenovic said, adding that when the judiciary system is threatened, the state is also endangered.

Obradovic: Croatia's Blocking Legally Unfounded Croatia's blockade of opening Chapter 23 in accession negotiations between Serbia and the EU is legally unfounded, say Serbian lawyers who believe that the Croatian request for Serbia to waive its jurisdiction over war crimes committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia is completely unfounded.

The authority Serbia has is based on the international law principle of universal jurisdiction, applied in Croatia as well as in the majority of European Union member-states.

Sasa Obradovic, legal representative

of the Serbian government in The Hague, believes that there are no grounds for Serbia to change its law and waive the universal jurisdiction, pointing out that it is Serbia's international obligation to prosecute those who commit war crimes, regardless of their national or ethnic affiliation, and the same applies to Croatia.

Obradovic said that the provisions of Serbia's Law on Organization and Competence of Government Authorities in War Crimes Proceedings (2003) vest jurisdiction in Serbia's special court to

conduct proceedings for criminal offences committed on the territory of the former Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, regardless of the citizenship of the perpetrator or victim.

Universal jurisdiction, he said, was considered as playing a vital role in the effective enforcement of International Humanitarian Law and the International Committee of the Red Cross believed that all states should exercise universal jurisdiction over war crimes committed during international and non-international armed conflicts.

Dacic: 900 Kosovo Residents Fight Alongside ISIS The real number of Kosovo citizens who have joined the Islamic State terror group is likely to reach 900 people, which is three times more than what official records state, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic told the UN Security Council.

In his address, Dacic cited information provided by foreign security services.

According to Dacic, the unstable situation in Kosovo is additionally worsened by the spread of extremism and radical

ideologies, TASS news agency reported.

Serbia's top diplomat said that data issued in January this year showed that 300 men and 36 women from Kosovo have joined the Islamic State structures in Syria, however, according to the security services, their number in reality is significantly higher.

Dacic stressed that Kosovo has the highest percentage of citizens who partake in the Islamic State battles in relation to

the total number of the population than any other European country.

Kosovo's ambassador to the US, Vlora Citaku, who also attended the UN Security Council session dedicated to the future of her country, said the authorities in Pristina are putting extra efforts in halting the recruitment of volunteers for the Islamic State, and that this year, not one Kosovo citizen has joined the terrorist organization.

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Rainbow Flag Hung Out on Ombudsman Building A rainbow flag was hung out on the building of Serbia's protector of citizens as part of International Day Against Homophobia A rainbow flag was hung out on the building of Serbia's protector of citizens as part of International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia celebrations, a sign of support for people of different sexual orientation and gender identity and the fight for their rights.

The flag hanging ceremony was attended by Deputy Protector of Citizens Gordana Stevanovic, a representative of the technical service of the protector of citizens and members of the Ombudsman's Gender Equality Council.

Although some progress has been made in improving the legislative framework and practice when it comes to the protection of the rights of LGBTI people over the past few years, these people and those advocating their rights have been exposed to violence, including physical attacks and abuse, the Ombudsman's office said in a release.

It is therefore essential that the public authorities and society as a whole devote more attention to creating measures to

LGBT flag on Ombudsman's building

help protect the physical and pychological integrity of LGBT people and prevent discrimination and hate speech.

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia is marked on

Pride Parade on September 18 A pride parade will take place in Belgrade on September 18, Boban Stojanovic from the Pride Parade Organizing Committee announced.

At a conference on homophobia in Serbia held on the occasion of International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, he described as important the fact that the gay pride march would go through downtown streets.

"I believe the Pride will not be brought into question this year either," Stojanovic said.

Things are changing slowly - 2015 was a historically important year for the LGBT movement as the second pride parade was held in a row, which has not been seen in 15 years, he noted.

At the same time, leader of the Dveri Movement Bosko Obradovic was invited to take part in the parade, and to defend the rights to assembly and the human rights of LGBT persons.

Stojanovic also pointed out to the changed political circumstances in Serbia, considering that right-wing parties have won seats in parliament, "which can lead to additional problems with the holding of Pride." Anita Mitic from the Youth Initiative for Human

Rights agreed with this observation.

Mitic then invited Bosko Obradovic to publicly, in the National Assembly, defend LGBT population's right to free assembly.

She noted that after the April election, the Dveri-DSS coalition's entry into parliament was brought into question and that she was "among the first to come out to the streets to defend democracy and their votes," adding that this was another reason she was now publicly calling on Obradovic to defend LGBT rights to free assembly.

Mitic and Stojanovic pointed out that many deputies in the new assembly will come from right-wing parliamentarians parties, "and it will therefore be necessary to closely monitor their activities in terms of human rights."

Stojanovic added that all members of the Assembly of Serbia will be invited to Pride Parade this year, "so that nobody feels left out."

Sasa Gajin from the Center for Advanced Legal Studies pointed out that "appropriate legislation" is necessary in order to advance the position of LGBT and transgender persons in Serbia, including legalizing same sex marriage.

May 17, commemorating the date when the decision to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization was made in 1990.

Discrimination Must not be Tolerated On the occasion of May 17, International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality Brankica Jankovic has noted that any discrimination, including the one over sexual orientation and gender identity, is punishable under the law and must not be tolerated.

"Besides the fact that two gay pride parades and a trans pride have been held without any incident, that the issues related to the rights of the LGBT community are more present in the public and that there is certain progress in improving the position of the population, homophobia and transphobia are still present in our society," she said in a statement.

Jankovic called on the media to report on transgender and all people of different sexual orientation without sensationalism and a discriminatory slant, protect their dignity and privacy and not to use humiliating and insulting phrases.

This is another opportunity to draw attention to the responsibility that the media have in shaping the public opinion, she underlined.

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Signing On for Kindergartens Started

If parents want to send their child to private kindergarten and to get subvention for it, the proper procedure is to go to public one first and be rejected there

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igning on for kindergartens in Belgrade started one week ago. If parents want to send their child to private kindergarten, and there are 82 in Belgrade, and to get subvention for it, the proper procedure is first to go to public one and to be denied there.

Parents need to have the denial form from the kindergarten they were not accepted to. Then they need to sign the contract with private one, to submit IDs, citizenship evidence and birth certificate, and then demand to gain right for subvention.

"When parents submit their documentation, the Secretariat sends us lists of children's attendance, and we send it back to them

then", President of the Union of Private Kindergarten, Slavijana Filipovic, explains.

The data about attendance is important to decide the amount of money refunded to parents.

"If child comes to kindergarten every day, then the sum which Secretariat gives back to parents is approximately 22.000 dinars.

In case when the child was absent for several days, each of those days is refunded for 50 percents", Filipovic says.

The City gives 21.709 dinars, and the rest is paid by parents. Some more affordable kindergartens cost only 5000 to 6000 dinars of difference in full price, but more expensive go even more than 20.000.

There will probably be more private

kindergartens, officials say.

"Private ones are demanding accreditation daily", Snezana Djuric, Secretary of Belgrade Secretariat for education and child care said.

"In suburbs, and if child stays for half a day, the price is about 180 Euros, and full day costs about 200. Monthly prices in the downtown are about 400 Euros, and there are even more expensive ones. There are nurseries which will include English, music and other courses from 250 to 300 Euros", Slavijana Filipovic stated.

Parents pay their monthly fees regularly and the cooperation with the Secretariat is very good, last week they started refunding for April.

Sabic: No Illegal Break into Medical Database Commissioner for Information of Public Importance Rodoljub Sabic stated that there was no illegal break into the health database of the people of Obrenovac, reads Vecernje Novosti newspaper.

In his information Sabic stated that he completed the procedure of supervision over implementation of Personal Data Protection Law in the municipality of Obrenovac, which was put in motion after the statement of the President of Obrenovac municipality Miroslav Cuckovic that 55.000 of health histories of the people of Obrenovac have been given for insight to Chinese company "Mei Ta".

Cuckovic said for "Insider" that this potential investor was given this sensitive infor-

mation in a form of data analysis. His explicit statement "and then they analyzed all 55.000 health records" stirred a justifiable upset in public, Commissioner Sabic said, and then added that during the supervision it was found that this statement was done arbitrary, i.e. unaccountably, and that actually no people's rights were transgressed.

As stated, Commissioner oversaw all the relevant facts on possible access into medical records, whether paper or digital ones.

He found out that in last three months there was no photo copying of data, neither on demand of the patient or any other person, and that only the doctor on duty and nurses can access

them in digital form via official login and password, which procedure is always logged for security.

Obrenovac Public Medical Center had contact with the "Mei Ta" company twice. They have given the company data on the capacity of emergency services, number and type of vehicles, working hours, and distance from the factory plant, but no personal data at all. All 18 requests from the people working in the company were dealt with in conformity with the law.

The Commissioner noted that the municipality President should address the people and offer an apology to them and to the people working at the medical center of Obrenovac.

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Serbia Bans Import of Cattle from Macedonia Serbia has prohibited the import and transport of cattle, beef meat and suspicious animal packages coming from Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, Telegraf.mk has learnt

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he reason for this decision is the lumpy skin disease which has appeared with the cattle in the aforementioned countries, as Belgrade fears it could spread on Serbian territory as well.

According to the Belgrade-based Veterinary Agency, the ban was passed on April 14 this year. Serbia also took measures then to stop the spreading of the lumpy skin disease, but also measures regarding its early prevention.

"Strengthened measures to control the health condition of the animals that arrive in the border areas in Serbia have been imposed. An order has also been introduced to inform the animals owners to notify the veterinaries at the nearby facilities as soon as they notice any symptoms of the disease. The veterinary services are on high alert because of the growing risk of infectious disease's spread," the Serbian Veterinary Agency said in a press release.

More than 7,000 heads of cattle were put to death in Bulgaria and Greece.

According to latest data published by the Macedonian Food and Veterinary Agency, 34 hotspots in 14 municipalities, mainly in the country's eastern parts, were

registered as affected by the lumpy skin disease. More than 520 heads of cattle were in contact with the infected animals, due to what they were killed. The vaccines are expected to arrive by the end of this month with which 225,000 heads of cattle will be immunized.

Good Results on Economic Growth, Budget Revenues Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic met with representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) James Roaf and Daehaeng Kim to discuss preparations for the fourth and fifth reviews under the precautionary standby arrangement between the IMF and Serbia, which are planned for the second half of June.

The IMF delegation welcomed the positive results achieved by the Serbian government in the first four months of this year, in ensuring macroeconomic stability, and in particular in keeping the fiscal deficit below the level planned, the Serbian government's media relations office said in a release.

The meeting focused on the future government's economic program, and touched on the reform of state administration, public enterprises and resolving the privatization of 11 companies in restructuring that are designated as entities of strategic importance, with special emphasis on RTB Bor, PEU Resavica and Petrohemija.

They also discussed the difficult reforms that were ahead for the new Serbian government and obligations in the rationalization of the public sector not yet fulfilled.

Serbia has achieved good results on economic growth and budget revenues, but is lagging behind in down-sizing the public sector and reforming public enterprises, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said.

"Big and difficult tasks lie ahead, concerning structural reforms which are crucial. Fiscal results are good, revenues are rising owing to economic growth and I believe the IMF's next assessment will be 2.3. We have discussed the cases of (copper smelter) RTB Bor, coal miner Resavica, on which he hold quite different views," Vucic told the public service broadcaster RTS. The prime minister said the IMF would change Serbia's 2016 economic growth forecast from 1.8 to 2.3 percent, with the expectation for 2017 at around four percent, the highest figure in Europe.

The outbreak of the lumpy skin disease in Macedonia occurred on April 18 this year.

The illness quickly spread as it is transmitted by mosquitoes and other tiny insects.

Cattle breeders are waiting to be indemnified over the killing of their cattle heads.

Dinar Steady Against Euro The Serbian dinar remained still against the euro, with the official middle exchange rate standing at RSD 122.6468 for one euro, the National Bank of Serbia (NBS) said in a release.

The national currency strengthened against the common eurozone 0.2 percent since a month ago, and weakened 1.9 percent y-o-y.

The indicative dinar-versus-dollar exchange rate grew 0.3 percent to RSD 108.1255 for one dollar.

The dinar firmed 0.9 percent against the US currency since last month, and weakened 2.4 percent y-o-y.

Since the beginning of the year, the NBS has sold EUR 725 million and purchased EUR 20 million in the interbank foreign exchange market to ease excessive daily volatility of the dinar.

This year, the dinar was the strongest against the euro on January 4, when it stood at RSD 121.5141, and the lowest on February 25, when it stood at RSD 123.5329 per euro.

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State News Agency Works Despite Shutdown State news agency Tanjug is still producing news and receiving money from the budget even though the government closed it down in October 2015 after failing to find a private buyer

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anjug has continued to work despite being deleted from the national media registry and having no permit to operate after being officially shut down following a failed privatisation effort, raising suspicions about who is now behind it.

According to the Serbian State Treasury Administration, from the shutdown on October 31 last year until March 16 this year, Tanjug received 335,000 euros from the budget, and the agency's website has continued producing news.

Tanjug's management claims that this is residual money which the state still owes the agency from last year.

It insists the news agency has not received any other payments from the state since October 2015.

"We are not going to defend ourselves over the fact that we have not closed after the state stopped financing us," Tanjug's management statement on Saturday.

But it did not disclose why it is still open and whether it has a new owner or not.

BIRN contacted both Tanjug and the Ministry of Culture and Information, but received no responses.

Rade Veljanovski, a media expert at the Political Science Faculty at Belgrade University, told BIRN that he believed Tanjug was still working as a "phantom agency" for the government.

"This is absolutely illegal behaviour by the state. Privatisation has failed, which means Tanjug's existence does not have any legal basis," Veljanovski said.

"Now Tanjug is again the regime's unofficial news agency," he added.

A Tanjug journalist speaking on condition of anonymity told BIRN that "it is not permitted to speak about the situation" at the news agency.

Last August, the government led by the

Serbian Progressive Party adopted a Law on Information and the Media that provided for the withdrawal of the state from media ownership by a deadline of July 1, 2015.

According to the law, every media outlet

ernment agency", he claimed.

Tanjug was once a world-famous news agency in the former Yugoslavia with numerous correspondents all over the world.

Formed by the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1943, it was initially set up to propagandise Partisan victories during World War II.

that did not find a buyer by October 31 would be shut and its shares distributed free to its current and former employees.

In a second privatisation round, Tanjug's starting price was 380,467 euros, 50 per cent of the estimated value of its capital. Despite the low price, there were no interested buyers.

Vukasin Obradovic, president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, NUNS, told BIRN that the Tanjug case was symbolic of the whole media privatization process.

"Media privatisation was aimed at removing the state's influence from the media, but as we see very precisely in the example of Tanjug, everything is the same or even worse," Obradovic said.

Tanjug has become a "phantom gov-

Although effectively a mouthpiece of Yugoslavia's ruling party, the agency went on to gain a much higher reputation than equivalent news agencies in the Communist bloc.

It found a role model in the Soviet news agency TASS, but, after Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Soviet bloc in 1948, it started working more independently.

Originally an all-Yugoslav agency, it shrank into becoming a purely Serbian agency after Yugoslavia fell apart in the 1990s, as the other republics developed their own news sources.

In the privatisation process that finished on October 31 last year, 36 of the 73 state-owned media outlets were sold.

The remaining 37 will be transferred to their employees or closed.

By Sasa Dragojlo BIRN

"Serb nationalists" Hired to Spark "Insurrection" in Ghana?

Former presidential candidate in Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa AkufoAddo has been accused of attempting to overthrow the country's authorities.

And he is doing this with the help of several Serbians, local media are reporting the accusations against the country's former foreign minister.

Akufo-Addo is "the flag bearer" for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the 2016 election. A prominent role in his alleged

attempt to threaten the state and national security is reportedly played by a group of unnamed citizens of Serbia.

"We have read and heard of a report concerning some Serbian nationalists who were brought into the country by the head of Nana Akufo-Addo's security to train selected people across the country in the act of civil insurrection," said Baah Acheamfuor, the leader of a group known as Save NPP Now, described as "a

known critic of Akufo-Addo".

According to reports, "four Serbian citizens in charge of combat training" had arrived in Ghana.

The center-right New Patriotic Party lost its parliamentary majority in 2012, as the National Democratic Congress, that leans toward social-democratic ideas, won 148 out of 275 seats.

Parliamentary elections in Ghana will be held on November 7.

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9

New Kosovo War Court Awaits Dutch Approval

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The new court in The Hague which will try former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters is still waiting for the Dutch parliament's ratification and for the EU to supply its budget

he Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor's Office, as the new Kosovo war crimes court will be called, is still awaiting final approval from MPs in the Netherlands, where it will be based, and for its funding from the EU to arrive before it can start work, BIRN has learned.

The Kosovo and Netherlands governments signed an agreement in January which enabled the court's chambers and prosecutor's office to be located in The Hague.

But before it starts work, the court needs to be ratified by Dutch MPs and it is still not clear when the issue will be on the Dutch parliament's agenda, although the EU expects it to be approved by the end of 2016. The Dutch parliament did not respond to requests for clarification.

The court will try Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA fighters for crimes allegedly committed from 1998 to 2000.

Sources close to the court told BIRN that the first indictments can be expected at the end of 2016 or the beginning of 2017.

Intensive Preparations The court will be staffed by international judges and prosecutors, although it will operate under Kosovo's laws.

It will be based in the former Europol building in The Hague, which according to BIRN's sources is currently being mod-

By Marija Ristic BIRN

ified so that it can hold court hearings.

The EU office in Kosovo told BIRN that "intensive preparations are ongoing" for the adoption of a budget for the court.

"It is expected that this will be completed in the first half of 2016," the EU office said.

The budget is to be funded by the EU and countries including the US, but the overall amount has not been confirmed so far.

Many believe that top Kosovo politicians will end up in the dock, including President Hashim Thaci, the former political chief of the KLA. A 2011 report from the Council of Europe levelled serious allegations of criminality against Thaci, which he strongly denied.

But Kosovo's law which enabled the establishment of the new court makes it clear that no official is out of bounds for prosecution.

"The official position of any accused person, including the head of state or government or a responsible government official, shall not relieve such person of criminal responsibility nor mitigate punishment," it says.

The court was established after the EU's Special Investigative Task Force conducted a three-year investigation into the allegations in the Council of Europe report that KLA members committed a series of crimes between 1998 and 2000.

The former Europol headquarters will host the new court in The Hague (Photo: Europol)

The report by Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty claimed that these crimes included kidnapping, torture and organ-harvesting.

As a result of the investigation, the EU task force said it was in a position to indict high-level perpetrators as soon as the new court starts operating.

Since then the EU and the US have been pushing the Kosovo government to adopt the necessary constitutional amendments and laws.

They believe the court is needed because the Kosovo judiciary would be unable or unwilling to properly prosecute high-ranking former KLA figures, and the EU's rule-of-law mission, EULEX, does not have the capacity to do so.

Two Institutions However the new court is widely seen in Kosovo as an insult to the Kosovo Liberation Army and its war for freedom from Serbian rule.

The court will address allegations that KLA fighters were involved in the killings, abductions, illegal detentions and persecution of Serbs, Roma and Kosovo Albanians believed to be collaborators with the Serbian regime or political opponents of the KLA leadership during and after the 1998-99 conflict.

It will consist of the two main institutions - the chamber and the registry. The chamber will include a basic court chamber, court of appeals chamber, supreme court chamber and constitutional court chamber. All judging panels at all court levels will be composed of three international judges.

The registry will include a defence office, victims' participation office to represent victims' interests, a witness protection and support office, a detention management unit and an ombudsman's office. The official languages of the court will be Albanian, Serbian and English.

The specialist prosecution office will be independent and it is expected that the lead prosecutor of the EU's Special Investigative Task Force, David Schwendiman, will take over once it is established.

The prosecution will also have its own police officers with the authority to exercise any of the powers that Kosovo's police have.

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10

Serbia's pro-E EU Transformation Not Yet Guaranteed

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There are tricky negotiations for both the EU negotiators and the Vucic government, but it is vital that they find a formula that satisfies the EU accession requirements

here will have been quiet relief in Brussels that a solidly pro-EU parliament has just been re-elected in Serbia, and that the nation appears strongly committed to the reforms needed for entry. But, as ever, the devil is in the detail. In this case, the detail relates to the number 35.

There will now be 35 new Serbian MPs who are strongly opposed to Belgrade's EU accession. In a 250-seat parliament, where nearly all others are broadly in favour of what Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic calls the European Path, this might not seem like a major problem.

But these dissident ultra-right-wingers are street fighters well accustomed to mustering crowds of sympathisers and attracting public attention. They were unrepresented in the previous parliament as they failed to meet the 5 percent voter support threshold needed for parliamentary representation in the last election in 2014.

Odd Things But odd things happened this time. First, in mid-election, war crimes charges in The Hague against the leader of the ultra-right-wing Serbian Radical Party were dismissed, giving him and his supporters a burst of local publicity. They wound up with just over 8 percent of the vote nationally.

Another right-wing grouping, a coalition of two anti-EU parties, Dveri and the conservative Democratic Party of Serbia, came up short of the required 5 percent. Short, remarkably, by a single vote. There were protests of course, and ultimately election authorities agreed to annul the votes in 15 polling stations and organise a rerun.

By Douglas Henderson EUobserver

Then another odd thing happened.

Bojan Pajtic, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, and a number of figures from the political left who were formerly highly supportive of EU accession, campaigned on behalf of Dveri-DSS. They urged their left-leaning and liberal supporters to cast their votes for a grouping that supports nationalist and pro-Russian views and is anti-gay.

These were centre-left and liberal leaders often praised in EU circles for their enlightened views on European integration.

Many of their own supporters were shocked. But enough voted for DveriDSS in this mini rerun to push its vote above 5% and give the group 13 parliamentary seats creating, with the Radical Party, an anti-EU bloc of 35 MPs. The second area where the figure 35 appears is in the 35th chapter in the memorandum relating to Serbia's accession to the EU. This chapter requires resolution before the accession process can be completed.

Chapters 1- 34 cover formal issues related to an EU accession including free movement of goods (chapter 1) through the judiciary and fundamental rights (chapter 23) to institutional reform (chapter 34).

Chapter 35 is then blandly titled "other issues". The "other" issue in Serbia's case relates to its relationship with Kosovo, which declared its independence in 2008.

Serbian accession to the EU is almost certain to depend on a satisfactory resolution to the de facto recognition of Kosovo - even if it is extremely difficult to obtain a de jure resolution.

The difficulty for Serbia is that its consti-

tution specifically forbids recognition of Kosovo. That is a provision which is supported by many of those who otherwise support EU accession and, as a consequence, creates a major difficulty for Serbian negotiators.

Normalisation Process There is some hope that these issues can be resolved and this is recognised in Chapter 35, which states that the negotiating process would expect "continuation of the normalisation process and its dialogue with Pristina".

That phrasing should, hopefully, help the Vucic government's position.

There are, however, concerns about the process and how the 35 new anti EU MPs will respond.

There are tricky negotiations for both the EU negotiators and the Vucic government. But it is vital that they find a formula that satisfies the EU accession requirements and at the same time carries a majority of support among the Serbian people.

There are historical examples of this process. Taiwan and China have dealt with the practicalities of their diplomatic relations over a long period of time and there is effective "normalisation".

Much hard work needs to be done by all of those who support Serbia's EU accession. I believe such an accession will make a major contribution to stability and peace in the Balkans and throughout the European continent.

But Brussels needs to avoid over-confidence. In Serbia's more complicated parliament, some of the people the EU has relied upon as stout advocates for integration may have party political reasons to make the process more difficult.

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11

How Important is Tourism in the Balkans?

Whereas the development of the tourism sector seems a priority in Montenegro, Croatia, and Albania, in Serbia, Macedonia, Romania and BiH, governments seem to focus less on the development of the local tourism sector

T

ourism in south-eastern Europe suffered hugely in the conflicts and upheaval of the 1990s, but has been on a recovery path since then.

Anyone who has visited the region knows that it is filled with beautiful and interesting sights and should therefore be a natural tourist destination.

But the lack of infrastructure and the (sometimes) low quality of service have prevented the region from achieving its full potential. This note uses some recently published data to answer some questions about the role the tourism sector currently plays in SEE. Here follows the analyses of tourism business in South-East Europe presented

by Balkans.com Business News.

Major Employment Source How important is tourism for the region's economies? The tourism sector is an important direct and indirect contributor to GDP, according to estimates from the World travel and Tourism Council. In direct terms, it accounts for more than 10 per cent of GDP in Croatia, and more than 5 per cent in Albania and Montenegro. When indirect linkages are added, tourism is responsible for more than one-quarter of GDP in Albania and Croatia, and more than 15 per cent in Montenegro. These figures exceed considerably those of 10 years previously. In addition, the sector is also a major source of employment - especially in Croatia where around 12 per cent of total employment is in tourism.

Where do the tourists come from? An interesting feature of tourism in the SEE

region is the large share of domestic or intra-regional tourism. Available statistics show that only the most advanced economies - Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania - have succeeded in substantially attracting Western European tourists (mostly from Germany) in 2010, whereas in the remaining region the majority of tourist originate from the former Yugoslav republics, or other geographically close countries. Russian tourists account for a substantial share of foreign tourists in Montenegro.

What was the impact of the crisis? Tourism was starting to boom in SEE before the crisis hit. In 2008, annual tourism revenues rose by more than 25 per cent in Montenegro, Romania and Serbia, with substantial increases also in Albania, Bulgaria and Croatia. In contrast, revenues dropped in 2009 in five out of eight countries - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia. A modest recovery appears to have taken place in 2010.

Is the region competitive in tourism? The short answer appears to be - not really.

Cross-country competitiveness in the tourism sector can be assessed by using the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Travel and Tourism (T&T) Competitiveness Index 2011, which assesses more than 70 indicators relevant for the tourism industry ranging from the T&T regulatory framework to T&T infrastructure and cultural, natural and human resources. The index covers 139 economies. In SEE, Croatia and Montenegro are amongst the top 40 economies (ranked in 34th and 36th position, respectively), but the remaining SEE region performs relatively

poorly, as indicated in chart 4. In 97th position, the tourism sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the least competitive in the region.

Similar Pattern Why does SEE lag behind other traditional tourist destinations? A more detailed analysis identifies a similar pattern of shortcomings across the region: Almost all SEE countries seem to suffer from a low quality of infrastructure and an underdeveloped air transport network. But there are also some major discrepancies. Whereas the development of the tourism sector seems a priority in Montenegro, Croatia, and Albania, in Serbia, Macedonia, Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, governments seem to focus less on the development of the local tourism sector, according to a recent WEF survey. Overall, the region however is well placed in WEF's ranking in terms of openness and affinity towards international tourism. In summary, tourism remains an area of great potential for SEE, and could be an important source of growth in the coming years. Governments have recognised the importance of the tourism industries in recent years and have began to implement several measures to support the sector, mostly in the form of promotion of the local tourism abroad. However, more efforts are made to address some of the competitiveness problems identified by the World Economic Forum report, such as investments in infrastructure, in order to tap the full potential of tourism in SEE.

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