SERBIA DAILY No7

W Daily e-newspaper

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WESTERN BALKANS e-MEDIA GROUP

• N° 7 • Belgrade, May 5, 2016

DSS-Dveri Win Seats in New Parliament?

Although the Election Commission was silent until wee hours of the night, the main political contestants celebrated victory. Who is a real winner remains to be seen

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ven more than four hours since the closing of polling stations at the repeated elections in Serbia, at 15 polling stations, the Electoral Commission was - eerily silent.

However, the main contestants already celebrated at their party homes, and the only news about the repeated elections came from their headquarters.

DSS-Dveri coalition announced that they received more than a thousand votes over the necessary number and will be represented in parliament. Dveri Movement leader Bosko Obradovic told reporters at the DSS headquarters that the coalition received a total of 1,998 votes in repeated elections - 25 percent of the ballots cast yesterday.

At the same time Aleksandar Vucic, leader of SNS, announced that at 13 polling stations his party won more votes than on April 24.

"So much about stealing the votes. I want to thank all the citizens of Serbia, as they acknowledged our honor and honesty", Vucic said.

He also remarked that some electoral lists were pushed into Parliament "by force."

He was referring to DSS-Dveri coalition,

Bajram G ecaj, Kosovo Deputy Minister: Ivica Dacic's reaction to Kosovo's acceptance to UEFA was completely unrestrained. All I can say to this statement is that Dacic must expect more "bad news" from FIFA, EU and UN

Vojislav Seselj and Bosko Obradovic

and said that they, now, have about 5,01 percent of votes, which is necessary to pass the election threshold.

Enough is Enough (DJB) leader Sasa Radulovic, who was at the DSS premises in Belgrade, explained that Wednesday's voting results suggested

Jadranka Joksimovic, Minister for European Integration: We're going in a circle. Serbia has behaved and is behaving constructively. Just as I said earlier, this is a matter of the memberstates and the European Commission reaching an agreement

the Radicals (SRS) and the Progressives (SNS) made a deal, and that Radical supporters voted for the Progressives.

The final arbitrage is to be heard by the Election Commission, and there are expectations they will announce the results sometime today.

Dragan Djuricin, Belgrade University: In 2015, Serbia emerged from recession and posted an economic growth of 0.8 percent. Hence, the European Commission's upgrade to two percent is in line with the government's projection and makes it credible

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Dutch Want Chapter 23 Opened, Croatia Gets in the Way

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Croatia still wants Serbia to annul its law that claims regional jurisdiction in the prosecution of war crimes

he Netherlands, EU presidency holder for the first half of 2016, tried to have the EU member states reach a consensus regarding opening Chapter 23 in negotiations between Serbia and the EU, following a break of several weeks in discussing this matter, but Croatia headed these efforts off once again.

As Tanjug learned from diplomatic sources in Brusels, the Dutch EU presidency had placed the topic on the agenda of the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union (COREPER) meeting in Brussels, even though it was clear from earlier talks with Croatia on the issue that its stance against opening Chapter 23 with Serbia would remain unchanged.

The meeting of ambassadorial level representatives was closed to the public and diplomatic sources from the Council of the EU say that Croatia still wants Serbia to annul its law that claims regional jurisdiction in the prosecution

of war crimes and to provide guarantees that the Croatian minority would be represented in the Serbian parliament in bigger numbers.

The Netherlands insists that Chapters 23 and 24 in negotiations with Serbia should be fully opened during their presidency, which expires in June.

It is one of the reasons why the issue was raised from the level of Council Working Group on Enlargement (COELA) to the level of permanent representatives of EU member states.

SNS Takes Half of Vojvodina Assembly The Provincial Electoral Commission (PIK) has announced the final results from the election for the Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.

In the April 24 ballot, the SNS list won 44.48 percent of the vote (63 of the assembly's 120 seats.)

The coalition gathered around the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) won 8.86 percent of votes and 12 seats, according to the final data from the provincial elections held on April 24, published officially on PIK's website.

The Serbian Radical Party (SRS), which won 7.66 percent of votes, and the coalition headed by the Democratic Party (DS), with 7.24 percent of votes,

secured themselves 10 seats each.

The League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV), which won 6.43 percent of votes, will have nine seats, and the 'Enough is Enough' list, which received support from 5.54 percent of the electorate, has seven seats in the AP Vojvodina Assembly.

The Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM), who won 4.88 percent of the vote in the election, will have six seats in the provincial assembly, the Hungarian Autonomy Movement list won 1.71 percent of the vote and got two seats, while the Green Party, which won 1.14 percent of the vote, secured one seat in the assembly for them.

Support of China to Projects in Serbia Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic received Chinese Ambassador Li Manchang, who congratulated Vucic on victory in the recent elections, and conveyed Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's regards.

During the meeting, Vucic and Li discussed the ongoing infrastructure, ener-

gy projects such as the upgrade of thermal power plant Kostolac 2 and the motorway building.

The officials placed a special emphasis on the steel mill Zelezara Smederevo and the Chinese government's support for implementing the project of high strategic importance for Serbia.

Daily

Markers

BY EMIR SALIHOVIC EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Evocation of Better Past

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everal thousands of people from all over of former Yugoslavia came to Belgrade yesterday to visit Josip Broz Tito's grave in "House of Flowers" mausoleum in posh Dedinje district of Belgrade, and pay respect to former communist leader on 36th anniversary of his death.

However, it still remains an issue how much of a "true communist" he was, compared to his colleagues from Russia or Eastern Europe. Following the turmoil after the Second World War, which was inevitable for any country at that time, he managed to rebuild the Kingdom of Yugoslavia into a prosperous socialist country which defied Moscow and established very good relations with the West.

Tito was (literally) dancing waltz with Queen Elisabeth, drunk whiskey with Churchill or US president Carter, was Kennedy's guest of honor, and was hanging at seaside with Richard Burton and Elisabeth Taylor, while at the same time he was hugging with Castro, and during the cold war era together with Egyptian Naser and Indian Nehru established a neutral Non-Alignment Movement of countries that kept themselves aside from US-Russian quarrels.

People in former Yugoslavia who lived their adult life during late 60s and 70s do remember that time as era of huge economic progress and freedoms that were not an everyday situation for other "comrades" behind the Iron Curtain. It was the time when citizens of Yugoslavia could travel freely with their "red" passports, without imposed visa requirements, so common after "democratic" changes of 90s.

Regardless of political analyses of his era, Tito remains a powerful symbol of times of peace and prosperity, when education and health care were free, and nobody cared about housing as it was provided by country to everyone. People felt safe.

It was a feeling that remains just a dear memory for many in former Yugoslavia, since 1990s up to today.

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PINION

On Serbian and American Heroes The story of Zoltan Dani is one of the saddest and most shameful Serbian stories. The country for which he fought sent him to bake cookies

BY ALEKSANDAR APOSTOLOVSKI POLITIKA

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f Colonel Zoltan Dani was an American - he would be a candidate for a walking monument or he would sit in a chair of Chief of Staff of the Army of the United States. But Dani is a retired Serbian officer, and therefore is a candidate for - walking croissant. In fact, he did open a bakery.

US General David Goldfein had a different fate. He was a fighter pilot of F-16 which was shot down over Srem in 1999 by units under command of Colonel Dani. Goldfein tried to manage the damaged "phantom" and escape from the Serbian sky, but failed. He catapulted himself somewhere above Sabac.

It was May 2, 1999. Fate has brought together Serbian and American officers, and then, after a shootout, separated them forever.

Dani was sent into retirement by our army because the authorities, under pressure from Washington, were not even hiding that this hero in the clash against NATO was geopolitically unfit: he dared to take down not only the F-16 but an "invisible" bomber F-117 too.

Therefore, the story of Zoltan Dani is one of the saddest and most shameful Serbian stories. The country for which he fought sent him to bake cookies. During that time, the American pilot Goldfein got four general stars on his shoulders, which is the highest rank in the US Army.

Recently it was announced that he was nominated for the Chief of Staff of the US Air Force.

The downed pilot had ascended into heav-

ens of supreme power in America, while the winning Serbian commander was demoted into a bakery! Despite the fact that he was betrayed by the Belgrade politicians, Colonel Dani did not want to leave the country and become a military adviser to two world powers, which offered him a fortune and protection. On the contrary, he said he remains a faithful soldier of Serbia, although Serbia had betrayed him.

Americans take their heroes differently and therefore this is a story about them and us. US soldiers are the heroes even for those politicians and intellectuals who criticize the interventionism of Washington elite.

So, if Bill Clinton, because of Monica Lewinsky, and without UN Security Council approval, bombed Yugoslavia, the pilots would not be blamed. On the contrary, they all became heroes, regardless of that they bombed their targets from a safe distance, like in video games.

Dani never met his opponent Goldfein, but he did meet the pilot of 'invisible' airplane, Dale Zelko. A documentary was filmed about that meeting. And, why two of them would not socialize, when the countries they fought for become friends in the meantime?

America molded Goldfein into a Hollywoodlike star, and made itself a great nation.

Serbia got no politicians who will promote the colonel, who was downing American pilots that were bombing us, into a living monument.

If things were different, Dani would be smoking cigar at the post of the head of General Staff, remembering how he landed the American four-star general once upon a time.

Since it is not so, excuse us!

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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UEFA's Kosovo Vote "Evidently Political"

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Kosovo's admission to European football's governing body UEFA is evidently a political decision and a result of major political pressure, says Ivica Dacic

acic also reiterated that Serbia "will never recognize Kosovo" - its southern province where ethnic Albanians in 2008 unilaterally declared independence.

"Kosovo's admission to UEFA is just another warning that we live in a world of interests and politics, rather than one of law and rules, that Serbia must treat this fact in a realistic and rational way, and that, in the case of Kosovo, even the UEFA Statute may be violated just to fulfil the promises of the sponsors of Kosovo's independence," Dacic said, Tanjug reported.

It is up to us to fight to have the best possible position in that world, gain new and old friends and have interests that match the interests of others - of course, all this includes fighting for a consistency of our policy, in which there will certainly be no compromise on one matter, Dacic said.

"We will not recognize Kosovo.

Everything else - as we have seen today - is possible," Dacic noted.

What remains for the Football Association of Serbia to do is use legal means to dispute this decision in court, "but it is evident that the decision is of a political nature and a result of major political pressure, which, however, has not been completely successful," Dacic said.

"Only 16 out of the 54 (UEFA) member states have not recognized Kosovo, and we got 24 votes, while as many as 10

member states that have recognized Kosovo did not vote in Kosovo's favor," he said after the Football Association of Kosovo was admitted to UEFA by 28 votes to 24 in a secret vote at the organization's congress in Budapest. Two member associations abstained in the vote.

In reaction to this, Serbian officials announced they will take UEFA to the Lausannebased Court of Arbitration for Sports.

Vulin: UNSC Must Say Whether Resolution 1244 is Still Valid It has once again become evident that some precedents apply to Serbia, Serbian government minister Aleksandar Vulin said after Kosovo was admitted to UEFA, adding that he expects the UN Security Council to say whether its Resolution 1244 on Kosovo is still valid.

The consequences of Kosovo joining European football's governing body will

be unforeseeable and it is only a matter of time before someone else invokes the precedent and UEFA's violation of its own statute, he told Tanjug.

"Serbia will continue to fight and it will not look on with its arms crossed," Vulin said.

"We will go to the Lausanne court (the Court of Arbitration for Sport), we will go everywhere where we can fight -

above all, to protect law and the international law," Vulin said.

"The Security Council must say whether Resolution 1244 still exists," he said.

"If it does exist, then this is not possible, and if it does not, it would be good if someone told us," Vulin said, reiterating that Serbia will fight to protect its sovereignty and integrity.

EC Proposes Lifting Visas for Kosovo The European Commission proposed that the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament lift visa requirements for Kosovo.

The Commission also presented a positive assessment "confirming that Kosovo has fulfilled the requirements of its visa liberalization roadmap," an EC statement said.

"This is the result of the hard work and successful efforts of the Kosovo authorities in achieving far-reaching and difficult reforms in the Justice and Home Affairs area and beyond, impacting areas such as the rule of law and justice reform," said European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos.

In a progress report, the Commission confirmed that that Kosovo "has met all the

requirements of its visa liberalization roadmap, on the understanding that by the day of adoption of this proposal by the European Parliament and Council, Kosovo will have ratified the border/boundary agreement with Montenegro and strengthened its track record in the fight against organised crime and corruption."

The EC also recommended to EU member-countries to lift visa requirements for Turkey by June, if the country fulfills all 72 criteria - among them those on issuing of biometric passports and respect of human rights, AFP reported.

The European Commission will on Wednsday recommend the EU Schengen visa regime "for citizens of Kosovo, Turkey, Ukraine and Georgia," Beta reported.

The agency said this would need to be

ratified first by the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.

"This was expected as the EC had confirmed that the authorities in Pristina, Ankara, Kiev and Tbilisi had met the main conditions for canceling the obligation of citizens asking for visas for stays of up to three months in countries in the Schengen space," Beta said, quoting its sources.

The reported added that "the entire procedure of introducing the EU's non-visa regime could be wrapped up in six months, and Kosovo, Turkey, Ukraine and Georgia will have to meet some of the other conditions."

The EC's December 2015 report said that Pristina was "slow to meet the main conditions breaking the reign of corruption, organized crime and illegal immigration."

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Kosovo, UEFA and Fight for Football Recognition More than eight years after its declaration of independence, Kosovo has earned full recognition by European football's governing body, reads The Balkanist "What message does it send to the international sports community to say that Kosovo can play in all sports, just not football?" Football Federation of Kosovo (FFK) Secretary General Eroll Salihu demanded from behind his desk at federation headquarters. "We are recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), by the United Nations; there is no logic. It has been a political decision to exclude Kosovo. It shouldn't have been, but it has."

That political situation is partly fuelled by the objections of Serbia, which still claims sovereignty over Kosovo eight years after the former autonomous province declared independence, but Serbia's obstinacy is softening. In 2013, an agreement was signed between the governments in Pristina and Belgrade that dictated that neither republic would attempt to block the other in their respective relationships with the EU. A copy of the signed document was included in Kosovo's formal application to UEFA, and Salihu's interpretation is that it constitutes a formal waver of Serbia's objections to Kosovo's place in the international arena.

In Harmony With Law At last count, 108 of the UN's 193 member states had acknowledged Kosovar independence, while the republic is also recognised by the International Court of Justice. In December 2014, a giant step forward was taken when the IOC moved to allow athletes to compete for the first time under the Kosovar flag. Football has been one of the last few institutions still lagging.

"The UN has decided that the Kosovar state conforms with and is in harmony with international law," Salihu reiterated.

"This amounts to recognition from a legal point of view."

At the same time, football in Kosovo is broke. No other country in Europe is forced to survive on such meager resources, and UEFA membership couldn't have come soon enough. At present, the FFK survives almost entirely on investment from private donors, with little to no money coming from the government in Pristina or from the European governing body. Access to European competition will go a long way towards transforming the coffers and the image of the country's domestic league.

Private investment in clubs, which for most outfits in the Super League makes up around 80 percent of total revenue, is minimal, with backers reluctant to sink their money into outfits that for all intents and purposes are part of a rebel organization. This leaves clubs surviving on

The ghosts of the war that laid waste to Kosovo in 1999, in which hundreds of thousands of residents were either killed or displaced, are everywhere in this country, nowhere more than on the road from Pristina to the northern city of Skenderaj. Here, crumbling villages form a backdrop to the 'Martyrs' Cemeteries,' which animate the roadside with memories of the dead.

Carried on Playing

scraps, their stadiums little more than a few banks of concrete flanking pitches trodden to shreds by overuse and underinvestment.

Fisnik Isufi is vice-president of FK Drita in the city of Gjilan. He explained that he sees UEFA membership as a path towards renewal for the domestic game.

"There is no hope here at the moment," Isufi said. "People don't want to invest in football because Kosovo is isolated. But attitudes will change after this I think. People will want to invest in us when we are in UEFA." Some problems have already been conquered. Until 2009, players' contracts weren't recognized by FIFA, meaning players could be poached by teams in Serbia and the rest of the Balkans without the say-so of the clubs paying their wages. An agreement was eventually reached with the governing body to give Kosovar clubs protection in the transfer market, but even this is a far cry from the ruinous conditions that prevailed here prior to the war.

That football survived at all in Kosovo during the period 1991-1999 is remarkable. With the country's sports facilities under the control of local Serb-led municipalities, clubs across the country were forced out of their grounds and onto scrap land, seeking out whatever playable surfaces they could find in order to continue their fledging league out of sight of the authorities.

"95% of Kosovar players played for seven years in improvised conditions because we had no stadiums," Salihu said. "We played under terror and under the pressure that we would be [physically] beaten. The other 5%, the Serbs and Bosnians, they played in our stadiums."

Daut Geci, once of local side KF Drenica, tells a harrowing story of the day he and his teammates were chased from the pitch during a game in the province of Mitrovica by a Serb militia.

"But we carried on playing, just on different ground," Geci insisted from the freezing bunker that constitutes Drenica's clubhouse, "Whenever we were chased from a field, we could never go back there. But always we played on the next week."

His tone of defiance is a common feature among those who survived to rebuild the game here.

Back in Pristina, one floor down from Salihu's office, life hurries by along Rruga Agim Ramadani, the street named in honour of the Kosovo Liberation Army leader who helped lead the Albanian resistance. Kosovo is a country determined to remember its divisive past, but a bright future is still being forged.

Acceptance into UEFA has come at just the right moment to help haul football here into the 21st century.

Full membership will give Kosovo the chance to reclaim a lost generation of players; Xherdan Shaqiri, Valon Behrami, Lorik Cana and Adnan Januzaj are just the most well-known of the internationals who will have the opportunity to reconsider their allegiance.

"We'll give these players three months to declare themselves" Salihu said. "After that, we will close the window for them.

But we have a very talented young generation coming out of this country. We have coaches who we have trained with the German association, the Swiss association and the Albanian association.

We have about 15 professional coaches now, and we have some private football schools. I wouldn't call them academies, but we have private football schools."

It's a far cry from the days when football here was still stalked by war.

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Serbian Consul: Fire at NYC St. Sava Church an Accident It has been officially confirmed that the fire which engulfed the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava in Manhattan during the Easter holidays was not started deliberately

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erbia's Consul General in New York Mirjana Zivkovic told this for the national broadcaster RTS after talking with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.

However, Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Patriarch Irinej has said it was "symptomatic" that four Orthodox churches burned on three continents during Easter Sunday.

In a statement for the Belgrade-based weekly Nedeljnik, he stressed that "anything can be suspected - including that the fires were started on purposes and were not accidental" - but advised against "jumping to conclusions before the truth has been determined."

"It is strange that four of our (Orthodox Christian) churches burned at the same time on three different continents. It's all symptomatic. We still don't know if it is some kind of warning, and what kind.

And whether someone set them on fire in an organized way," the patriarch said.

The New York Post on Monday reported about Orthodox believers' fears that "a coordinated attack on their religion" had taken place, quoting Serbia's former ambassador to France and historian, Dusan Batakovic, as liking the fires with the Stepinac case.

In a statement for the Belgrade-based daily Blic, Batakovic said that his statement had been "misinterpreted."

He, however, "left open the possibility that the fires in the four Orthodox tem-

ples on Easter were not accidental."

Interestingly enough, an unidentified man has been arrested in Toronto, Canada, after crashing his car into the St. Sava Serbian Orthodox church in that town.

Canadian media are reporting that

after the incident, the man attempted to flee the scene by stopping other vehicles - but in the end used public transportation.

However, he was detained shortly afterwards. The local police said they were investigating the incident.

Thousands Mark Tito's Death Anniversary Carrying flowers, Communist flags and pictures of Tito, several thousand people from all over the former Yugoslav region gathered in front of the Museum of Yugoslav History in Belgrade to mark the 36th anniversary of his death on May 4, 1980. Some came on buses organised to transport Tito's admirers from as far away as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

"May 4 represents nostalgia, and also as time passes, we see that in the past we used to live better," said Boris Bilicic, the head of the Association of AntiFascists from Zagreb, who told BIRN that this was the fifth time he and his group had come to Belgrade to commemorate Tito's death.

Bilicic admitted however that he had seen few young people among the largely elderly mourners marking the

anniversary at the House of Flowers, Tito's mausoleum at the museum complex.

"In Zagreb, just like it is here, one has to work. And if younger people wish to come on work days, then they have to take a day off, which is hard to get.

Because this is capitalism," he said.

A family from Bosnia and Herzegovina with two small children wearing military caps saluted outside House of Flowers.

The children's uncle, who gave his name as Svjetlan, said he hoped they would embrace Tito's heritage and ideology.

"They are interested in all that, they also watch films about Tito's Partisans.

Besides, their grandfather is a huge communist. However, it is up to them to decide whether they will love it or not," he said.

Also in attendance were some of Tito's

relatives, the Alliance of Associations of the National Liberation War Veterans of Serbia and other veterans' organisations.

Josip Broz Tito ruled Yugoslavia from its formation in 1945 to his death in 1980, after leading the Partisans during World War II. Because of his non-aligned diplomatic stance, he was admired by many in the West as a benign dictator, and was praised for maintaining peaceful coexistence between the peoples of Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia was the only socialist country to successfully escape from the Soviet Union's dominance, splitting with Stalin in 1948 to pursue a neutral foreign policy during the Cold War. The country fell apart just over ten years after Tito's death in 1980.

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UAE Investors Interested in Serbia

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The ADIA representatives interested in building logistics centres that will be required in the context of Serbia's future economic development

erbia has potential for investments in infrastructure, and investors from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are interested in this sector, officials of the Serbian Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) executives said at a meeting with the Serbian government.

The ADIA representatives were briefed on current road construction projects related to Serbia joining the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T), and the company is also interested in building logistics centres that will be required in the context of Serbia's future economic development, as well as in investments in the construction industry, the ministry said in a statement.

Serbia's priority is to connect the regional road network - whose main routes all go through Serbia - with the European road network, the investors were told.

They were also briefed on Serbia's infrastructure plans for the period to come, as well as on complete road and railway infrastructure projects that require investors.

Sertic: Important to Encourage Investment in Region Serbia is a pillar of stability in the region, Minister of Economy Zeljko Sertic has said, noting that with infrastructure projects with China worth USD 1.5 billion, Serbia is a leading country in this part of Europe.

"Serbia is doing everything to bring stability and economic prosperity to the entire region," Sertic said at the Sarajevo Business Forum (SBF) titled "Prospects for China + 16 CEECs", underlining the importance of the

cooperation with China.

As for the projects that Serbia is implementing with Chinese partners, Sertic mentioned the Pupin Bridge, the first China-built bridge in Europe, but also the Kostolac package, two sections along Corridor 11, worth USD 303 million.

The Belgrade-Budapest rail line, worth around USD 2 billion, which is also being done in cooperation with China, contributes to closer networking in the

EC Raises Forecast for Serbia's GDP Growth The European Commission (EC) has raised its forecast for Serbia's GDP growth in 2016 to 2 percent, said a statement released in Brussels.

An earlier EC forecast, released in February, was 1.6 percent, with 2017 GDP growth anticipated to be at 2.5 percent.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has said recently that he is confident that international organisations and financial institutions will raise their 2016 growth forecasts for Serbia.

The latest International Monetary Fund and World Bank forecasts in April and May predicted a 1.8 percent GDP growth in Serbia in 2016.

region, he said.

He also pointed to the recent privatization of Serbia's sole steel mill Zelezara Smederevo by China's He Steel Group.

Serbia has chosen the EU path and the reform agenda, so its new GDP growth forecasts have been upgraded to two percent, the minister highlighted, noting that Serbia also offers a highlyskilled workforce and favorable trade arrangements with other countries.

Bids for Galenika Extended Serbia's Ministry of Economy extended the deadline for receiving letters of intent to buy a 25 percent stake in staterun drugmaker Galenika, the Serbian government told Tanjug.

The previous deadline for interested buyers to come forward expired today and is now extended until May 27.

Interested bidders should purchase privatization documents no later than May 10.

According to an earlier release from the Economy Ministry, after buying the stake in the pharmaceutical company, the strategic partner is obliged to secure a team of managers to be entrusted with the management of Galenika during the strategic partnership.

The privatization documents have been purchased by three potential investors so far.

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Air Serbia Books 3.9 Million Euro Profit

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"Our increased revenues and profit are a great achievement and a direct result of our unwavering focus on lowering costs, raising productivity and building on our service offering", says Dane Kondic, Chief Executive Officer of Air Serbia

ir Serbia, the national airline of the Republic of Serbia, recorded a net profit of EUR 3.9 million in its second full year of operation, exceeding last year's profit of EUR 2.7 million by 44 per cent.

The airline posted total revenues of EUR 305 million for 2015, representing an increase of 16 per cent over 2014, a result that was driven by significant growth in passenger numbers.

These results were achieved on the back of growth in the airline's key operating metrics, including its network capacity, which expanded 6 per cent to 3.65 billion Available Seat Kilometres in 2015, and the number of flights operated, which increased by 8 per cent to 32,384 flights by the end of last year.

New Partnerships This was accompanied by an 11 per cent year-on-year rise in the number of passengers carried, which grew to 2.55 million in 2015, and an increase in the load factor, a measure of filled seats compared to available seats, which went up to 71 percentage points in 2015 from 67 percentage points the year before.

Air Serbia's codeshare partnerships contributed EUR 21.5 million in 2015, a result of the airline developing its existing agreements and signing new codeshare partnerships with Aegean Airlines, Air Baltic, Air China, Air Europa and LOT

Polish Airlines.

Air Serbia's annual financial statements were independently audited by KPMG in accordance with International Auditing Standards.

Dane Kondic, Chief Executive Officer of Air Serbia, said: "Our increased revenues and profit are a great achievement and a direct result of our unwavering focus on lowering costs, raising productivity and building on our product and service offering.

"There has also been a continued focus on improving sales and commercial performance as well as attention on revenue management.

"Last year, we consolidated and built depth into our European network and are now in a position to expand it regionally and across the Atlantic. Our strategy in 2016 is to strengthen the network further by taking advantage of Belgrade's position as the gateway to the Balkans and capturing regional traffic flows to the United States."

Sinisa Mali, President of the Supervisory Board of Air Serbia, said: "Air Serbia's strong financial results for 2015 are a clear and pleasing sign that the business is becoming stronger and the strategy it has put in place is delivering on its key commercial objectives.

"With the support of its shareholders, Air Serbia will this summer expand its network to five new markets, including New York, opening the doors for more growth,

increasing Serbia's brand visibility and laying the groundwork for the airline to make an even bigger contribution to the national economy in 2016."

Continued Expansion Mr Mali added: "Air Serbia's continued expansion in 2015 created significant job opportunities, with the airline employing 400 additional staff and growing the combined workforce of the Air Serbia Group, including its subsidiaries, Air Serbia Catering and Air Serbia Ground Services, to 2,450 people.

"Further demonstrating the airline's reputation as an employer of choice, last year's recruitment drives for cabin crew attracted 6,400 candidates in total, the highest number of applicants in the history of the national carrier."

James Hogan, Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Air Serbia and President and Chief Executive Officer of Etihad Airways, said: "We are pleased

by Air Serbia's continued success in restructuring and strengthening its commercial operations.

"This success is evidence of the equity partnership strategy in action. Air Serbia has made tremendous strides on its journey to sustainable profitability. Europe is a very competitive market, and the airline's ongoing investment in products and services have created a compelling offering for European consumers."

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Switzerland Mulls KLA Ex-Guerrillas' Extradition to Serbia

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The decision whether to extradite two Kosovo Albanians accused of war crimes who were arrested in Switzerland on Serbian arrest warrants could take more than a month, Swiss authorities said

he Swiss authorities will decide in the coming weeks whether or not to extradite to Serbia two former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, accused of committing crimes during the 1990s Kosovo war, who were arrested over the weekend in Switzerland.

"The issue is very delicate, we got requests from Serbia and also complaints from Kosovo. It will take us several weeks to weigh this up," a source from the Swiss justice ministry told BIRN on condition of anonymity.

"We had similar experiences in the past and different decisions were made by our institutions, as we look at every case independently," the source added.

Former KLA guerrillas Albert Spahiu and Genc Zogaj were arrested separately last week by Swiss police on the basis of arrest warrants issued by Serbia.

Both men are wanted for their alleged participation in crimes against civilians during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict.

Killings and Abductions According to the Serbian war crimes prosecution office, Spahiu was involved in the killings and abduction of Serbs in the western Kosovo municipality of Orahovac/Rahovec in 1998.

Between July 11 and July 28, 1998, the KLA attacked and occupied the town

and its surrounding villages, Retimlje, Opterusa, Zociste and Velika Hoca.

The Serbian prosecution says that 45 people were killed and over 100 Serbs and Roma were kidnapped.

Some of the remains of those killed were found in 2005 in a mass grave in Kosovo.

"They took 45 men, separated them from women and children and placed them in an improvised camp in Suva Reka/Suha Reka. The men were later killed," Milan Petrovic, the acting head of the war crimes prosecution office, told Serbian public broadcaster RTS. The Serbian prosecution office accuses 35 former KLA members of involvement in the killings. All of them apart from Spahiu are outside the reach of the Serbian authorities.

It is believed that most of them are in Kosovo, where Serbia doesn't have the authority to make arrests and there is no extradition agreement.

The 'Orahovac 1998' case was first investigated by the Hague Tribunal, but no charges were filed. Later, the case was handed over to the UN mission in Kosovo, which subsequently transferred it to the EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo, EULEX. EULEX launched an investigation but in 2013, a court in the Kosovo town of Prizren acquitted seven ethnic

Albanians of terrorising Serb villagers and forcing them from their homes.

Request for Extradition The other ex-guerrilla arrested in Switzerland, Genc Zogaj, is wanted by the local court in Serbian town of Vranje, where he is alleged to have participated in killings and terrorism.

Zogaj was previously arrested in France in 2015 on the basis of a Serbian warrant, but the French authorities decided to release him.

The Serbian justice ministry has sent an extradition request to Switzerland for Spahiu and Zogaj, but Kosovo's justice ministry has also sent its own letter, claiming the arrests were political.

In the past, the Swiss authorities have responded in different ways to Serbian arrest warrants in war crimes cases.

In June last year, former Bosnian Army commander Naser Oric was arrested on Serbian warrant, but the authorities decided to extradite him to Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he is now on trial for alleged war crimes.

But in 2012, a Swiss court decided to extradite ex-KLA member Shemsi Nuhiu to Serbia.

A Serbian court later acquitted Nuhiu of involvement in war crimes in the Kosovo town of Gnjilane/Gjilan in 1999.

S e r b i a D a i l y, M a y 5 , 2 0 1 6

10

German Left Asks Berlin "31 Questions About Serbia"

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The German Left Party has posed 31 questions related to Serbia to the government in Berlin, Deutsche Welle is reporting

evim Dagdelen and several other federal deputies of the Left Party asked about "Serbia's relations with Kosovo, an agreement with NATO, and how will it affect Serbia's European path," said the media outlet, adding that it had "exclusive insight" into the answers that reveal Berlin's positions on Serbia's geopolitical positioning."

Among other things, the answers said that the position of the German government toward the issue of relations between Belgrade and Pristina is based on the negotiating framework which Serbia signed in January 2014, which requires "a comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo in the form of a legal binding document" by the end of Serbia's accession negotiations with the EU. It is added that the negotiating framework does not require Serbia to recognize Kosovo.

On the other hand, the party's Sevim Dagdelen sees the position of Brussels and Berlin as "effectively coercing" Serbia to recognize Kosovo if it wants to join the EU. It is a way to destabilize the Balkans, she told Deutsche Welle. The Left is the only German parliamentary party whose politicians oppose Kosovo's independence and NATO enlargement.

Cooperation with NATO The Left was first interested in the way the position of Serbia is affected by the Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP), which Belgrade a year ago concluded with NATO. According to the German government, the IPAP does not say anything about the possible future membership of a country in NATO, nor does it conflict the proclaimed military neutrality of Serbia.

"As its goal in IPAP, Serbia defined the intention to, in line with its national interests, intensify cooperation with NATO and other Partnership for Peace countries. Besides, a number of countries are devoted to neutrality but are at the same time maintaining partnership relations with NATO, for example Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Moldavia," the German Foreign Affairs said in its reply, sent on behalf of the government.

It is added that Germany's ruling CDU/CSU coalition agreement envisages "active encouragement" of Western Balkan countries to join the

European Union and NATO, but that "the political will of Serbia will be decisive when it comes to the intensity and continued forms of relations with NATO." Berlin is also aware that the Serbian parliament in December 2007 decided that changing the country's policy of military would require a referendum.

"The constant attempts to soften Serbia's neutrality through binding it ever stronger to the Euro-Atlantic structures creates a new uncertainty in the Balkans," Dagdelen said in her interpretation. She is in charge of foreign affairs in her parliamentary club and a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the German parliament. Dagdelen believes that Serbia is being forced to oppose Russia by moving closer to NATO, but that Serbia is also opposing its own citizens, a majority of whom reject membership in the Western military pact. She also told Deutsche Welle that security in Europe can only exist "with Russia, not against it."

Military Exercises Several of the questions posed by opposition MPs aimed to find out what the German government knows about the Serbian Army's military exercises with the Russian and Western armies. The answers are not spectacular - rather they are a summary of information that is already well known publicly. For example, they concern the SerbianRussian Humanitarian Center in Nis, the military exercise Slavic Brotherhood, the flight training conducted by Serbian

and Russian pilots - both exercises will be held once again this year. It is also stated that Serbian soldiers took part in three exercises organized by the U.S. army in southern Germany - Saber Junction (with 100 soldiers); Combined Resolve IV (100); and Allied Spirit II (30).

However, the German government either did not know or was not willing to say what was the content and purpose of these military drills.

In its replies, the German government also stated that Serbia's EU orientation is not in conflict with Belgrade's cooperation with Moscow, even when it comes to military cooperation.

"On the other hand, Serbia as a candidate has taken on the obligation to, before joining the European Union, increasingly align its foreign and security policy with EU's common foreign and security policy."

Three of the Left Party's questions are dedicated to the Belgrade-based Belgrade Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies (CEAS) NGO - a brain trust that is publicly advocating Serbia's membership in NATO. The party asked about the financing of the organization by NATO's Public Diplomacy Division - noting also that this department had provided substantial assistance in order to increase the support for NATO in Ukraine from 13-15 to over 50 percent, over the course of several years.

Berlin replied that the NATO department in question has for several years sponsored one event organized by CEAS, and that the organization also receives funds from the European Commission and various foundations.

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11

Great Britain's Davis Cup Contest in Belgrade on Clay

Great Britain will play their Davis Cup quarter-final against Serbia on outdoor clay in Belgrade

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he tie, from July 15-17, will take place at the 6,100-seat Tasmajdan Stadium in the city centre.

Andy Murray has already committed to playing, fitness permitting, as Britain continue the defense of their title.

Whether world number one Novak Djokovic also features remains to be seen, and the choice of clay potentially makes it less likely Serbia's star player will turn out.

The tie comes at a hectic time of the season, sandwiched between Wimbledon and the Olympics, which will be a hardcourt tournament.

Serbia has two other top-70 players in Viktor Troicki and Dusan Lajovic but Britain would fancy their chances without Djokovic.

GB captain Leon Smith said: "Now we know the surface and venue our preparations for

Belarus to Open UEFA Women's U17 Finals Against Serbia The UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship in Belarus kicked off with Belarus against Serbia match at Traktor Stadium in Minsk yesterday, BelTA has learned. England will take on Norway in Group A in Zhodino.

Two more games will take place in Group B: Italy will face the Czech Republic in Borisov, while Germany will play Spain in Slutsk. Belarus coach Irina Bulygina said ahead of the competitions that her team would do their best to progress and continue the competition for the continental trophy.

On 7 May Belarus will travel to Slutsk to play England. Belarus will complete the group round against Norway on 10 May. The top two in each group go through to the knockout phase, beginning in the semi-finals. The two matches for the spot in the final will be held

at Zhodino's Torpedo Stadium on 13 May. The final game is due at Borisov Arena on 16 May. The bronze-medal game will take place at Traktor Stadium on the same day.

The three best teams (finalists and thirdplace finisher) will play at the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup which is to take place in Jordan from 30 September to 21 October 2016.

The first UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship final was held in Nyon, Switzerland in 2008 and was won by Germany. Then the German U17 team won gold three more times. Spain holds two champion titles, including the one clinched last year. Poland raised the trophy once. The final stage of the next European championship will be hosted by the Czech Republic.

the Serbia tie can go to the next level".

"It is going to be an exciting contest in Belgrade and we can't wait to get back together as a team and continue our defence of the title," he says.

Britain have met Serbia once before in Davis Cup in Glasgow in 2006. Murray and Djokovic both played as teenagers, with Djokovic winning both his singles rubbers in a 3-2 victory.

Silver success in Serbia for Aqeel Ahmed Motherwell boxer Aqeel Ahmed boxed two athletes set for this summer's Olympics on the way to a silver medal in Serbia.

The Keir Hardie ABC fighter was competing at the Belgrade Winners Tournament in the light flyweight class.

And the 23-year-old was faced with a tough draw on his way to silver, facing Patrick Lourenco from Brazil in the semi-finals and Birzhan Zhakypov from Kazakhstan in the final.

With both of his opponents set for the Olympics in Rio, Aqeel was faced with one of the toughest draws in the tournament.

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