SERBIA DAILY No5

W Daily e-newspaper

• N° 5 • Belgrade, April 29, 2016

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WESTERN BALKANS e-MEDIA GROUP

RIK Recounts Votes From 99 Polling Stations Serbia's central electoral commission (RIK) begun a recount of votes from 99 polling stations

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he commission established that "grave errors" occurred there during the April 24 elections.

"The recount is under way, at 99 polling stations," RIK president Dejan Djurdjevic told Tanjug.

At a session that lasted until 2:00am last night, the RIK members agreed that bags containing ballots from all polling stations affected by "grave errors" be inspected, and commissions were established for this purpose.

After the recount, the RIK session will be continued in order to make a decision on the fate of the votes from the polling stations concerned.

The deadline for the commission to announce the final results expired at midnight yesterday, however, voting will be repeated at 15 polling stations, most likely next week, so this deadline will move as well.

That means elections will most likely be repeated on Wednesday, May 4, with another 96-hour deadline after that to announce the results.

According to the currently accessible results and projections - based on 98.04

Zoran Djordjevic, Serbian Defence Minister: Serbia will try to solve the problem of illegal migration together with the European Union, and it will support the common European position on the matter, Serbian government is watching developments closely

percent of the voting material processed by the state commission SNS, SPS, SRS, DS, and Enough is Enough will have deputies in the next National Assembly, while DSS-Dveri, and SDS-LDPLSV are very close to the five-percent threshold - so far, above it. Four electoral lists representing minorities will also have seats.

The final result of the two coalitions can be affected by the 18,000 votes yet to be cast. At the same time, the result

Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Luxembourg: I am confident that the friendship between the Republic of Serbia and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg will be strengthened in the coming years. I look forward to seeing you soon

from the polling stations that experienced "logistical-administrative errors", i.e., about two percent of the original ballots cast, remains unknown.

We congratulate Easter holidays to all Orthodox Christians in Serbia. Happy Easter!

The next issue of Serbia Daily is due on May 4

Luca Zaia, President of Italian region Veneto: I am confident that this great success can even more politically strengthen the Serbian government and help meet the objectives of international and internal policies to make Serbia stronger and more prosperous

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124 Houses Repaired in Obrenovac

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Three international NGOs carried out the repairing of damaged houses in Obrenovac, with the help of an EU assistance program

he repair of 124 private houses, which were damaged in the devastating floods in May 2014, has been completed.

As part of the EU assistance program for the flood-affected areas in Serbia, the house repair scheme launched in Obrenovac in January, with 837 homes to be repaired over the course of 2016, said Arbeiter Samariter Bund, which implements the project with two other NGOs. Obrenovac will also get 25 prefab facilities, equipped with proper appliances.

Considerable funds have also been earmarked for 358 small and mediumsized enterprises and agricultural holdings to help them revitalize their floodaffected businesses.

The repair of private houses in Obrenovac is carried out by three

Obrenovac under water in 2014

NGOs: Arbeiter Samariter Bund, the Danish Refugee Council and Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe (HELP), through whose projects the municipality of Obrenovac received EUR 4.5 million in total.

The EU assistance program for the flood-affected areas in Serbia, worth EUR 78 million, is financed from preaccession funds.

structive relations with neighbouring countries have ensured significant progress in regional cooperation, as well as closer ties with the EU, he said.

Serbia can now focus on implementing economic reforms, strengthening the rule of law, reforming the public administration and guaranteeing freedom of the media, McAllister said.

To help Serbia continue on the European path, I am confident that fundamental chapters 23 and 24 - on the judiciary and fundamental rights, and justice, freedom and security should be opened as soon as possible, he concluded.

Indonesia Hoping for Serbia's Speedy EU Accession Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, who has been on a three-day visit to Indonesia since Tuesday, met in Jakarta with Indonesian House of Representatives Speaker Ade Komarudin, who said that he is hoping for Serbia's speedy EU accession.

The foundations of the friendship between the two countries, laid in the era of the Non-Aligned Movement, should be the basis of close and intensive cooperation, Komarudin said.

I hope for your speedy accession to the EU, and that Indonesia can in that way gain another ally it can count on, Komarudin said.

Markers

BY EMIR SALIHOVIC EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Midnight Shift Demolishers

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McAllister Urges Opening of Chapters 23, 24 To back Serbia's further progress on the European path, chapters 23 and 24 in its EU accession talks should be opened as soon as possible, the European Parliament (EP) rapporteur for Serbia, David McAllister, said in Brussels.

Speaking at an EP plenary sitting, he briefed MEPs on last Sunday's visit to Serbia for the country's parliamentary elections.

It is an important signal that a clear majority of Serbian citizens voted for the country's pro-European course, McAllister said.

Belgrade's reform agenda and con-

Daily

Serbia meets the conditions for full EU membership, but the EU itself is faced by major problems such as the enlargement and the migrant crises, Nikolic said.

For its part, Serbia is conducting reforms very efficiently and stabilising its finances, garnering much praise from European institutions, the IMF and the World Bank, Nikolic said.

We are dedicated to renewing old friendships and the friendship with Indonesia is very significant to us - we will continue to support you bilaterally and internationally, Nikolic underscored.

elgrade Waterfront was invoking controversies from the very beginning it started.

Although it was announced as a project of renewal of an old and partly devastated part of Belgrade, which is only about five minutes of walking distance from the main square, with an idea to build residential and office buildings, the largest shopping mall in the Balkans, a hotel, an opera house and a skyscraper there, there had been a large group of opponents who objected that the project was not transparent enough, that the citizens were not consulted and that there was no comprehensive urban planning involved.

Civic demonstrations were staged in the area, and many critiques to the project were published on internet and some of the media.

In that atmosphere it would be expected that the authorities would do everything they can to reassure the citizens into validity of that huge investment which will, without doubt, change the face of Serbia's capital.

It includes taking measures that no incidents happen which would spoil the already fragile image of Belgrade Waterfront.

If 30 people, armed with baseball bats and fully masked, under cover of the night, along with two bulldozers, could go into the area and demolish buildings, without (apparently) knowledge of city authorities, there is obviously something weird and suspicious going on.

Citizens cannot feel safe and comfortable if unknown, masked perpetrators are allowed to storm city at night and demolish houses.

However, Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic and the officials from the State's Prosecutor's Office pledged to clear up this more than mysterious affair.

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PINION

Individual and Collective Guilt John Kerry compared the attempts to collectively blame Muslims in the United States for the actions of individuals with attempts to attribute crimes of individual Christians in the Balkans to their entire nation

BY AMRA ZIMIC SERBIA DAILY EDITOR

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lie repeated a hundred times becomes the truth that is the old maxim Goebbels perfected in his propaganda for Hitler's regime. But, the real truth is that a lie can never become the truth; it can become a kind of a landmark for behavior though. The things that were stuffed in the heads of the Germans a thousand times they accepted as a form of his

behavior under pressure.

On the other hand, the fate of humane messages is similar - but with completely opposite effect. Nobody will dismiss the statement, for example, of Secretary of State John Kerry, quoted yesterday around the world. He said, referring to speeches of the Republican candidate Donald Trump, that the statements which advocate a ban of entry for Muslims in the United States are impermissible.

Kerry characterized the Muslims as "part of the social fabric that defines and unifies our country."

What is important for us in this part of the world, in the former Yugoslavia, is the part of his statement in which he says: "Attempts to collectively blame Muslims for the actions of individuals are inadmissible. That is like blaming all Christians for the crimes committed against Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo in the '90s of the last century!"

Kerry is well informed about our region and knows that the principle of converting individual guilt, for which many were jailed for decades by the Court in The Hague, in a kind of guilt the national collective to which they belong is very present here. That revives the already conflicting relations and unhealed wounds, and the already present mistrust and intolerance among nations increases. Not only of Bosniaks and Albanians towards Serbs, for example, but the other way around as well - of Serbs towards the aforementioned nations.

All those nasty "habits" from the wars of the nineties are only once again underlined. In the Western Balkans, it is part of centuries-old narratives, according to which indi-

vidual ethnicities were always enemies to each other. Of course, with the propaganda argument that the "others" are always the bad guys, criminals and those who disrupt good relations. It didn't matter if it was the truth. The "truth" was produced and fed to the compatriots with the propaganda means, for political purposes.

This principle of transferring individual guilt to entire collectives was detected in the former Yugoslavia long before Kerry. In every nation, there are public figures and intellectuals, but the least the most important ones the politicians, who criticize that way of thinking. Mostly in vain. At least for now.

That is the one "similarity" with Goebbels' principle of a lie repeated a hundred times that supposedly eventually becomes the truth. Because, everybody publicly agrees here, the known and the unknown, that whole nations can not be ashamed for dishonorable actions and crimes of some members of their people. Whenever that is said, everybody on the public stage applaud. But, in their head, hypocritically, they stick to the old attitudes, ugly and dangerous stereotypes. They see whole nations, with whom they live in the same country or in the neighborhood, as "eternal enemies", hopeless haters of their people. Therefore, it could be said that a hundred times proven truths are essentially treated here as - lies!

People do not adhere to what they publicly applaud.

Everything can be cured, even that. But, it will take a lot of time in the Balkans. 200 years after its liberation from the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Serbia still didn't draw a clear line between that empire and its religious twins in today's Serbia (Sandzak) and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Hatred towards the former occupier is transferred to those who inherit the same religion.

It had been said how bad that is thousands of times, by very reputable people. But some human flaws, which include the tendency to generalize guilt and demonize of entire peoples, will probably take a million repetitions.

American Secretary of State took care of one of them.

He did not do it for us, although we were noted as an example. In his country as well, where black and white and Christians and Muslims live, this kind of thinking is very present in people's minds. It is dangerous overseas as much as it is dangerous here, and we know that well.

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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Djordjevic: Serbia Reliable and Desirable Partner Today more than ever, there is a need to improve the international security system and coordinate activities at global level, Zoran Djordjevic has said "It is Serbia's priority to improve bilateral military cooperation through joint exercises and trainings with all our foreign partners, strengthen regional cooperation and step up participation in multinational operations under the auspices of the UN and EU," the Serbian defense minister said in Moscow at the 5th Moscow Conference on International Security.

In his speech titled "Global Security and Military Cooperation", he concluded that "the unchanged foreign policy position and consistent adherence to the fundamental principles in international cooperation make the Republic of Serbia a reliable and desirable partner in the field of military cooperation".

On the sidelines of the conference, Djordjevic also met with the Belarus and Armenian defense ministers.

The Moscow security conference, which ended on Thursday, has brought together 52 military delegations with around 700 participants from 80 countries, including 19 defense ministers.

Serbia will try to solve the problem of illegal migration together with the European Union, and it will support the common European position on the matter, Djordjevic said.

The threat posed by illegal migration is real for all European countries, Djordjevic told TASS in an interview.

"This problem is acute for Europe in gen-

Minister Djordjevic visits RS troops

eral and for Serbia in particular," the minister said.

One of the migration routes went through the territory of Serbia - the socalled Balkan route, he said.

"After this route was closed, another problem arose - movement across the country and the EU of illegal migrants that had

already entered the territory," Djordjevic noted, adding that 650 illegal migrants have already requested asylum in Serbia.

The Serbian government is watching developments closely - we will resolve this issue together with our EU partners and support the common EU position on this, Djordjevic said.

Tadics Accuses SNS for "Appropriating" Votes Boris Tadic, former Serbian president, has accused the Progressives (SNS) of wanting to change the electoral will of citizens, and "appropriate" the votes received by opposition parties.

The former Serbian president who now heads the SDS party spoke on Thursday after a meeting of opposition parties.

He told reporters they have suspicions related to the work of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) considering that the commission managed to count 98 percent of votes within 12 hours, but has been unable to count the remaining two percent in the subsequent four days.

"There is no logical explanation as to why this is happening," said Tadic.

He pointed out that "many discrepancies and irregularities" have been discovered when the parties reviewed the election material, and gave the example of the polling station number 9 in

Leposavic, where SDS official Goran Bogdanovic cast his ballot.

"They told us we have zero votes there, and we counted 60. This is an obvious example of the violations of the will of citizens and it is obvious that votes have not been counted properly in Kosovo and Metohija," he said.

Tadic also claimed that many such cases occurred throughout Serbia and that, in his opinion, the electoral process and democracy in Serbia have been brought into question.

He also pointed out to "the political syner-

gy between the SNS and the SRS, which are attempting to deny the will of citizens."

Tadic announced that representatives of the opposition, on whose behalf he spoke, will hold a press press conference at 18:00 CET at the RIK premises, and stressed that his list's assembly seats have not been brought into question, but that he was "defending the principle and fighting for the DSS and Dveri" whom he described as political opponents, adding, "however, we fight together in order for the will of citizens to be recognized."

Dacic Meets Chepurin Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic received Russian Ambassador Alexander Chepurin in Belgrade yesterday.

The minister and the ambassador discussed further steps in terms of the

bilateral political cooperation and implementation of the existing economic arrangements between the Republic of Serbia and the Russian Federation, the foreign ministry said in a release.

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Serbian Rightists Threaten With Protests

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The right-wing coalition uniting Dveri and the Democratic Party of Serbia has warned of street protests if the Election Commission declares they did not meet the 5-per-cent threshold needed to enter parliament

he right-wing Dveri-DSS coalition has accused Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and his ruling Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, of pressuring the Election Commission, RIK, to declare that the coalition did not meet the threshold needed to enter parliament - and has warned of street protests.

Bosko Obradovic, the president of Dveri, told BIRN that Vucic will try to use RIK's decision to hold repeat votes in 164 polling stations to manipulate votes and leave DSS-Dveri out of parliament.

"If that happens, we will definitely organize street protests," Obradovic told BIRN. According to the RIK, seven lists crossed the threshold needed to enter the parliament after Sunday's elections.

Based on 97.46 per cent of the votes counted, the "Aleksandar Vucic - Serbia wins" coalition won 48 per cent of the votes.

The Serbian Socialist Party, SPS, came second with 11 per cent of the votes, the Serbian Radical Party, SRS, came third with 8 per cent, the Democratic Party, DS, came fourth with 6 per cent, and the centrist movement "Enough is enough" came fifth with 5.9 per cent.

A centrist coalition grouped around former Serbian president Boris Tadic also won five per cent of the votes, as did the right-wing coalition Dveri-DSS. However, the RIK's contradictory results on election night and reports of numerous irregularities at polling stations caused consternation among several opposition parties.

Some supporters came to the RIK building on the night between Sunday and Monday to make sure there was no

Bosko Obradovic, Dveri

manipulation with the votes and a day later they formed a joint legal team to scrutinize all the election material, claiming that the elections had been marred by numerous irregularities.

Prime Minister Vucic said on Tuesday that his ruling Progressive Party will also want insight into all the election materials from the RIK. Vucic said that it was the opposition that was putting pressure on the RIK because they wanted to hide their poor results in elections in Vojvodina, Serbia's northern province.

Things became more heated when the right-wing Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj, formerly Vucic's ally, claimed that "the Americans are help-

ing DSS-Dveri" to enter the parliament.

The fact that the president of the RIK, Dejan Djurdjevic, is a member of the Progressives has also provoked doubts.

Vladimir Milutinovic, a Belgrade-based political analyst, told BIRN that Vucic fears having so many opposition parties in parliament.

"In a way, Vucic lost these elections since he won 37 fewer seats than in 2012," Milutinovic observed.

"He is aware that the opposition and his critics in the parliament will be much stronger now," Milutinovic added.

The RIK annulled elections at seven polling stations on Wednesday and estimates that complaints of irregularities are still ongoing.

Pope Francis Stopped Canonization of Stepinac Pope Francis personally stopped the canonization of Croatian Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac after a letter sent to him by Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irinej.

This has been stated by former Croatian Ambassador to the Vatican Filip Vucak.

According to him, a joint committee of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches will begin discussing the issue "before the summer" - but he said he could not predict when a decision might be made.

Vucak told the Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti that Patriarch Irinej in

his letter clearly said he believed Stepinac was a high priest who supported the NDH - the WW2-era Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia - who forcibly converted Orthodox believers (into Catholicism), and supported "racial" laws.

This is the second such case in the Catholic Church, said Vucak, adding that Pope Francis would "certainly not make decisions about Stepinac until the commission finishes its work."

Describing the events unfolding in April 2014, Vucak said they were "extremely

dramatic" and that "some cardinals were sure Stepinac would be canonized" but that Patrijarch Irinej's letter was "a distress signal" for Pope Francis, who wanted the information coming from Belgrade checked.

The Croatian diplomat added, "then came Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic's letter addressed to the Vatican, and then another from Patriarch Irinej."

"The pope decided to propose the establishment of a mixed commission that will examine in detail the life and work of Cardinal Stepinac," said Vucak.

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Indian, Serbian Institutes Agree on Cooperation

The institutes are interested in conducting joint research programmes and exchanging their publications, and to promote and intensify the friendship and the mutual understanding between the people of India and Serbia in general

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he Association of Indian Diplomats (AID) and Belgrade-based Institute of International Politics and Economics (IIPE) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the basis of which they would cooperate with each other in different fields, like diplomacy, economy and trade, and international relations.

The Indian Embassy reported in a press release that the MoU was signed under the aegis of Indian Council for World Affairs (ICWA). Indian Ambassador to Serbia Narinder Chauhan, Head (Asia, Australia and the Pacific Department) of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Aleksandar Jankovic and Director of IIPE Professor Branislav Djordjevic were present at the ceremony of signing.

Mutual Understanding The Indian Embassy also said that main objective of the MOU is to enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the IIPE and AID through the promotion of friendly, co-operative and collaborative institutional relations. It expressed hope that the MoU would help experts of the two friendly nations exchange and interact on diplomatic, economic and other important regional and global issues of mutual interest.

A senior official of the Indian Embassy said that both AID and IIPE are interested in conducting joint research programmes and exchanging their publi-

cations. According to the official, the MOU will certainly provide further impetus to promote and intensify the friendship and the mutual understanding between the people of India and Serbia in general.

Traditionally, India and Serbia share friendly ties. India considered former Yugoslavia as a friendly nation. After former Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito's visit to New Delhi in 1955, Tito, first Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and second Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser created history by founding the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Belgrade in 1961. As of 2012, the movement has 120 members. Since the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991, India has maintained close ties with Serbia and other Balkan states, like Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, India did not recognize Kosovo's 'Unilateral Declaration of Independence' from Serbia on February 17, 2008, saying in a statement: "It has been India's consistent position that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be fully respected by all states. We have believed that the Kosovo issue should have been resolved through peaceful means and through consultation and dialogue between the concerned parties. We have taken note of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence

by Kosovo. There are several legal issues involved in this Declaration. We are studying the evolving situation."

Old Friend Serbia, too, considers India as its "old friend". During his meeting with Indian Ambassador Chauhan in 2015, First Deputy PM and Foreign Affairs Minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic said that relation between the two countries is based upon the principles enshrined in the UN Charter and the NAM. In the last couple of years, New Delhi and Belgrade have taken a number of steps to boost their ties. Earlier this month, Suzuki Motor Corporation - the mother concern of Maruti Suzuki India - announced that "made-in-India" Suzuki Baleno would be launched in Serbia in May. For the first time, the Serbian people will get an opportunity to drive two models of 'Baleno' car.

One model will have a 1.2-litre Dualjet four-cylinder petrol engine and another 1.0-litre Boosterjet turbocharged petrol engine. The 1.2-litre variant model will also have Smart Hybrid Vehicle System (SHVS) technology. The Serbia-bound Baleno measures 3,995mm in length, 1,745mm in width and has a wheelbase of 2,520mm.

Maruti Suzuki also plans to export Baleno to France, Denmark, the Netherlands, Chile, Paraguay and Colombia in the coming months.

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IMF to Revise Serbia's 2016 Growth Forecast Serbia's economy is burdened with debt which stands at 75 percent of GDP and high unemployment rate of 18 percent

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he International Monetary Fund is preparing to revise upwards its forecast of Serbia's economic growth in 2016 to 2 percent from 1.75 percent, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said.

Vucic, whose party won 48 percent of the votes in a general election on Sunday, said the new forecast would be announced soon.

"I would like to inform you that the IMF will raise the growth forecast to 2 percent within the next 10 days," Vucic told reporters.

"I am convinced that it (growth) is going to be even more than 2 percent this year," he said.

The Serbian government's official growth forecast for this year is 1.8 percent.

Vucic had said previously that a planned production increase at Serbia's Zelezara Smederevo steel plant following its sale to China's Hebei Iron & Steel for 46 million euros (USD 52 million) would push up gross domestic product

International Monetary Fund board

growth in coming years.

Serbia's economy is burdened with debt which stands at 75 percent of GDP and high unemployment rate of 18 percent.

To curb debt, the country agreed to a 1.2 billion euro loan deal with the IMF and committed to implementing spending cuts to cut the deficit and curb debt.

An IMF mission is due to visit Serbia in June to assess if the Balkan country is complying with targets set in the loan deal.

Latest Public Debt Figure Down to 72% of GDP Serbia's public debt stood at EUR 24.44 billion at the end of March, the Ministry of Finance reported.

The state's total direct liabilities in March stood at 22.15 billion, and indirect at 2.29 billion.

The public debt figure amounted to 72 percent of GDP in March. In February, public debt was EUR 24.86 billion (73.6 percent of GDP).

At the end of last year these figures were 24.8 billion (76 percent of GDP), while in 2000 they stood at 14.17 billion (201.2 percent of GDP), the Beta agency reported.

The country's public debt was the lowest in recent years in 2008, when it equaled 28.3 percent of GDP. The Law on the Budget System limits the share of the debt in the GDP to 45 percent, the agency noted in its report.

Former SFRY Diplomatic Offices Put Up for Sale Former Yugoslav diplomatic and consular offices in New York, Bonn, Bern and Tokyo, worth USD 70-80 million, are to be put up for sale, with Serbia to receive around USD 35 million of the total.

The process of distributing the property of the former Yugoslavia was unblocked at a meeting in Skopje this month, when an agreement was reached to sell the property, Belgrade's Vecernje novosti daily reported.

Under a succession agreement, Serbia should get 39.5 percent of the resulting profits.

That way, Serbia will also be relieved of the large burden of maintaining and securing the buildings, says Veljko

BUSINESS HIGHLIGHTS

Odalovic, Serbia's representative in a joint committee on property succession.

"A flat on New York's Fifth Avenue, which has been locked and falling into a state of disrepair since 1992, cost us USD 14,000 a month, or a total of USD 2.7 million to date," Odalovic told the paper.

A New York building that is the headquarters of Serbia's mission to the UN and embassy buildings in Tokyo and Bern, currently also used by Serbia, will be put up for sale as well, as will an unused Bonn building that is maintained

by Serbia, Odalovic said.

Seventy-two real estate properties have been distributed in the succession process to date, with 51 remaining, he said.

Serbia's retail sales increased by a real 12.7% on the year in March, accelerating from an 11.8% growth a month earlier. Month-onmonth, retail sales rose 12.3% at constant prices, following a 0.4% growth in February, the data indicated. At current prices, March retail sales rose 10.3% on the year and 12.4% on the month. For the first quarter, retail sales climbed by a real 10.2% year-on-year.

Serbia's foreign trade deficit narrowed by 20.4% on the year to $987.2 million (869.9 million euro) in the first quarter. The country's exports rose 9.2% on the year to $3.4 billion in January-March, while imports edged up 0.7% to $4.4 billion, the statistics office said in a statement. In March alone, Serbia's exports rose by an annual 10.9% to $1.3 billion, and imports increased 2.6% to $1.7 billion.

Serbia's annual industrial output growth decelerated to 8.8% in March from 14% the month before.

In the first quarter, industrial production expanded by 10.5% on the year, the data indicated.

Serbia sold on Thursday 20.7 billion dinars ($191.9 million/168.9 million euro) in three-year Treasury bonds, well below its target of 78.4 billion dinars amid scarce demand, data from the finance ministry's treasury department showed. The yield on the securities, which mature on February 22, 2019, fell to 5.37% from 5.95% achieved at the previous similar auction held on February 18, the data indicated.

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SNS Consolidates as Serbia's Dominant Political Force

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The pro-European Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) led by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic won the parliamentary elections consolidating its position as Serbia's dominant political force, writes World Politics Journal

he SNS won the elections with 48.2 per cent of the vote, taking 131 seats in the 250-member legislature, an outright majority. Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Mr Vucic's coalition partner, came second with 11 per cent of the vote and 29 seats.

The elections mark the resurgence for the ultra-nationalist Serbian Radical Party (SRS) led by Vojislav Seselj, who was acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague last month on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over his role during the bloody 1990s breakup of Yugoslavia. The UN tribunal announced its verdict a week after Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, was convicted of genocide for the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb troops in the town of Srebrenica in July 1995, the worst atrocity in Europe since the end of the second world war. Mr Karadzic's top military commander, Ratko Mladic, is on trial in The Hague on the similar charges.

Division of Power The SRS took 8.1 per cent of the vote and 22 seats, making it the third-largest party in parliament after a four-year absence from the legislature. The Radicals oppose Serbian EU member-

ship and advocates instead closer ties with Russia, a fellow Orthodox Slavic country that is seeking to strengthen its presence in the Balkans.

The moderate Democratic Party (DS), which came to power after the fall of the Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, won 6.1 per cent of the vote and 19 seats. The new reformist "It's Enough" party took 6 per cent of the vote and 16 seats. The Social Democrats led by former President Boris Tadic secured 5 per cent of the vote and 13 seats. The conservative DSS-Dveri alliance took 5 per cent of the vote and 13 seats.

85 per cent of Serbian voters backed parties committed to EU membership, a sharp contrast to the wave of growing anti-EU sentiments and voter discontent with the established pro-European political parties across the European Union. In Austria, for example, Norbert Hofer, a candidate of the far-right Freedom Party (FPĂ–), won 35.3 per cent of the vote in the first round of the presidential elections held on April 25th. Mr Hofer campaigned on a platform of strict restriction on immigration inflows. Presidential candidates backed by the establishment parties, the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPO) and the centre-right People's Party (OVP) barely managed to take together a quarter of the vote. Mr Hofer will contest the run-off on May 22nd with

the Greens-backed Alexander Van der Bellen. Opinion polls show that the FPĂ– would win the parliamentary elections, if they were held today, with about 30 per cent of the vote.

Unpopular Reforms In 2015, the Vucic administration signed a programme with the IMF aimed at fiscal consolidation, enhancing financial sector resilience and boosting competitiveness and growth through reforms. Early this year, Mr Vucic called the parliamentary elections two years before the end of his term to capitalise on his and his party popularity in opinion polls. He said that he wanted a new mandate to implement unpopular reforms such as privatisation of state-owned companies, job cuts in the overstaffed public administration and state-controlled money-losing companies as well as cuts in public wages and pensions to keep Serbia on track for EU membership. The Serbian Prime Minister plans to complete EU accession negotiations by 2020. Although his European integration hopes may not translate into Serbian EU membership any time soon.

The Dutch referendum on the EU-Ukraine trade deal has showed that there is no public support for further EU enlargement.

Serbia has little chances to join Slovenia and Croatia, the fellow former Yugoslav republics, in the European Union by 2020.

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Belgrade Officials Deny Green-Lighting Nocturnal Demolition

Belgrade city authorities deny all knowledge about 30 masked men who demolished several buildings in the proposed Belgrade Waterfront area and allegedly mistreated locals

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elgrade police and Mayor Sinisa Mali have denied all knowledge of 30 masked men armed with baseball bats and equipped with diggers who tore down buildings on the city riverbank between Sunday night and Monday and allegedly beat up locals, reports BIRN. Following a demand for a response from the Commissioner for Public Information, Rodoljub Sabic, city authorities said they had no information on the incident.

Public Information chief Sabic told BIRN that the response from the authorities had been inadequate.

Office and both had pledged to clear up the mysterious affair.

Milos Djordjevic, one of those who was allegedly intercepted and detained by the masked men, told BIRN that at around 2am on Monday three men with masks had intercepted him, taken his phone and detained him in a shed in a parking lot.

"Refusing to show me their legitimacy, their official ID, they pulled me out of the car, abused me behind the parking lot and kept me there for an hour-anda-half. They were telling me: 'Keep your mouth shut and face to the ground,'" Djordjevic recalled.

"After that, they detained me in a shed...

The project has caused controversy since beginning. The government has been accused of failing to respect legal procedures, of censorship of the project's opponents and of lack of transparency.

The government signed the contract for the project with Eagle Hills, a company based in the United Arab Emirates, on April 26 last year.

After five months, the government published the contract on September 20, 2015.

Documents published on the government website show that the parties in the project are the government’s “Belgrade waterfront” company and “Belgrade waterfront equity investments” as its strategic partner.

Al Mabar International Investments, from the UAE, is the guarantor.

The deadline for implementation is 30 years. After 20 years the first evaluation of progress will take place. The project will be evaluated positively if 50 per cent of the project is completed by then.

"The Mayor's response is unacceptable.

The city authorities cannot just say, 'We are not involved and do not know anything'. They have a responsibility to the public," Sabic said.

Sabic added that he had talked with Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic and the State's Prosecutor's

After a while, probably when they had demolished the buildings, they told me that I could go," Djordjevic said.

When he exited the shed, Djordjevic said he saw more than 20 people and three diggers, which were demolishing buildings in Hercegovacka St on the riverside in the Savamala area.

"Previously, they had tied up a night watchman and taken his cell phone and when someone called him, they told him to say he would call back later," Djordjevic said.

According to information that Commissioner Sabic received, city police refused pleas to come to the scene and directed locals to the communal police instead.

A number of buildings including the restaurant Sava Ekspres, the family house, the Iskra company and several other sites were demolished during the night-time action.

Doubts about the city authorities' ignorance of these events has been fuelled by the fact that the area affected forms part of the land that must be cleared for construction of the city's ambitious Belgrade Waterfront project.

On Wednesday, only yards from the same spot, city authorities tore down a refugee aid centre in the Savamala district to make way for the Belgrade Waterfront.

While Serbia's government sees the Waterfront as a major contribution to the city's economic future, critics claim the deal with Eagle Hills, a company based in the United Arab Emirates, is unconstitutional because it has involved suspension of Serbian laws on the Waterfront's territory.

Many people living along the Sava river quayside also say the development will be bad for society as a whole and will only serve the rich.

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10

Understanding Homophobia and Internalized Homophobia in Serbia

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New research by the Center for Queer Studies examines the demographics and background of homophobia in Serbia

erbia's record on lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) human rights have been less than stellar. Politicians have often said discriminatory things in the press, and there continues to be physical violence towards LGBTI people in the country.

Though a large-scale Belgrade Pride has been organized and took place the last two years, one still finds very strong anti-LGBTI attitudes in the majority of the population. According to research released by the National Democratic Institute, 66 percent of the general population in Serbia view homosexuality as an illness. Though various academic texts and NGO reports have tackled the topics surrounding homophobia in the country, the Center for Queer Studies in Belgrade recently released a new study that looked at homophobia from a qualitative perspective that rarely exists in the current literature, especially on the subject of internalized homophobia.

Here follows The Balkanist interview with the coordinator and editor of the research, Aleksandar Stojako v i ĂŚ , about the Center's findings.

Why did you begin the research on homophobia and internationalized homophobia?

I found a necessity for research-based information about homophobia and how the heterosexual majority perceives homosexual people in Serbia, which is a highly homophobic society.

We often tend to guess what homophobic individuals think of people who identify as homosexual and what they

don't like about them, without having facts about it, without having research about it. Also, this is the first research of its kind in Serbia. We had several quantitative researches about homophobia in Serbia, but never qualitative, which allows us to go deep into the causes of negative attitudes and behavior towards homosexual people.

What was the timeline and locations of the research?

The data-gathering process, the interviewing, started in June 2015. We finished by the end of September of that year. We conducted 44 interviews with 22 self-identified heterosexual and 22 self-identified homosexual respondents.

Half of them identified as female and the other half male. We had the interviews in 5 major cities in Serbia: Belgrade (16), Novi Sad (8), NiĹĄ (8), Subotica (6), and Kragujevac (6).

What were the most surprising findings of the research?

For me, the most surprising and unexpected finding was that there was no difference in responses among the respondents based on age, education, or living area (urban or rural). I expected that younger generations would be less homophobic than older people.

Also, I thought people who lived in the cities would be more "gay-friendly" than those from rural areas. The only difference in responses was actually between men and women and only in the intensity of their attitudes.

What was the most frustrating things that were said during the interviews?

There were lots of them, but, as an interviewer, I had to keep focused. Probably the most frustrating was when they insisted that people who identified as gay or lesbian have all the rights, and in some cases even more, as heterosexual people - that they are more protected, even though you confront them with facts that LGBT people don't have lots of the basic rights like straight people. But they would still insist that LGBT people are equal in the eyes of the institutions.

What do you like to see come out of this research?

Well, our goal was for the research to be useful for LGBT activists, that they could use it in their political agendas and their approach towards the public and LGBT people as well. We want activists to think about it and carefully study all the arguments around homophobia so they can deconstruct it in their effort to play the part in sensitizing the public attitudes toward LGBT people. Information could be a powerful tool; unfortunately, I am skeptical they will use it.

What were your conclusions?

This research helped me to further develop and construct my thesis about the central part that misogyny plays in homophobia, or that homophobia is just a derivative of patriarchal power relations. My thesis, which I explain in the introduction of the research publication, is that men are the carriers of homophobia, and women internalize it.

The full report, having English summary starting at page 158, can be downloaded from the address http://www.cks.org.rs/

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11

Easter Celebrated in Serbia This Sunday

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The central celebration of the season for Orthodox Serbs is on Easter Sunday, which is celebrated by the believers in Serbia this May 1

or the faithful however, preparations for the holiday start long before Easter itself. Most of them fast for 40 days beforehand, during Lent.

This is one of the most beloved church holidays among children in Serbia, as on the day, church floors are covered with flowers known as vrbica (purple loosestrife). Vrbica is a Serbian version of the palm fronds that children laid down on Jesus's path while he was entering the holy city.

The priest blesses the flowers and then shares them with the worshippers.

Many Serbs make wreaths out of vrbica and place them on their front doors for good luck, while children wear little bells around their necks as a symbol of Jesus's coming.

Preparation for Easter Day in Serbia starts on Good Friday, the day when Jesus was caught in the Garden of Gethsemane, tried and sentenced.

While churches across the country perform holy liturgies to mark all the impor-

tant events that led up to Jesus's death on the cross, in Serbian tradition it's a day for boiling and colouring Easter eggs.

Easter eggs in western Europe are often made of chocolate and sold in supermarkets, but this does not apply to Serbia. A real chicken egg, hardboiled and dyed or decorated, takes the central place in the Easter celebration.

Almost every household, regardless of how religious they are, will paint at least ten eggs on Good Friday. While eggs can be painted any colour using any technique that comes to mind, according to Serbian beliefs, the first set of eggs should be dyed red. It is not uncommon to see a red egg somewhere in a Serbian house long after Easter has passed, as Serbs believe that one of the red eggs is supposed to be kept until the next year. This egg is called a 'housekeeper' and, as its name suggests, is supposed to guard the home until the next Easter.

Easter Sunday starts with bells ringing in churches and many families attend morning mass. Serbs also have a special greeting on this day, used by all regardless of whether they are believers or not. One person greets another with the words "Hristos voskrese" ["Christ is risen"], while the other replies with "Vaistinu voskrese!" ["He has indeed risen!"].

Others meanwhile spend Easter visiting friends and family, and the obligatory gifts are Easter eggs, given both by hosts and guests.

The Easter celebration among Slavs is believed to have roots in pagan times.

The awakening of spring was considered a holy time of year.

While both communists and globalization have brought certain changes into Serbian celebration of Christmas, the Easter remains intact. Despite the fact that there are chocolate eggs in the shops, and Easter bunny is not unfamiliar figure, people in Serbia still celebrate Easter their own way.

Patriarch Irinej: Serbs Always Revived and Rose Again Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Irinej and bishops wished all believers a happy upcoming Easter with a message that during the sacred holiday, we should feel compassion for all displaced Serbs, especially for those from Kosovo.

Therefore, one who falters should be given a hand, instead of being pushed deeper in decay. The sick should be visited and nurtured, and a stray soul instructed to walk the right path, says the Patriarch, adding that with his resurrec-

tion, Christ unites heaven and earth and accepts the penitent thief in heaven before anyone else, giving us all hope that our living in repentance is not in vain.

"We may now live in difficult times, full of uncertainty and tragedy, but we must not, just as the ancient Christians didn't, stop rejoicing and loving by the love of Christ, not only our brother but our enemy as well, so nothing should distract us from the path of life He gave us," Patriarch Irinej said in his Easter mes-

sage, delivered to the media.

Patriarch Irinej said that the Serbian people had always been getting up and reviving itself, continuing to walk the path of Christ, and should hold alive the memory of our holy saints and martyrs and learn from our Kosovo and Metohija shrines as they hold the holy relics of many of them, said the Patriarch, calling on the faithful to greet each other on Easter Day with the words: 'Christ is risen'.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

“Thank you, Serbia�, reads a billboard that the SNS party presented in Belgrade to thank its voters. However, election nervousness will not end until re-election in 15 localities and final announcement of final results.

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