Latest radio news broadcast at 12.00 on 20 December
| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (12,00 hrs) | RTRS (12,00 hrs) |
| FBiH HoR’s session underway | Talks on const. changes to resume |
| Plenary session of BiH HoR and HoP | Persons linked with terrorism in BiH |
| Const. changes talks continue tomor. | Strike of NY’ metro workers |
TV news broadcast on 19 December
| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | TV PINK (18,00 hrs) | BHT 1 (19,00 hrs) |
| Smajkic on Mostar Islamic Centre | SBS arrests war crime suspect | Indictment in “Kravice” case |
| World news | Indictment for Kravica confirmed | Investigation on Ljubinac launched |
| Meeting of police cooperation council | EU supports return to BiH | Trial in “Scorpions” case starting |
| Schilling’s interview for DR | UNESCO delegation in Mostar | Doris Pack visits |
| NTV Hayat (19,00 hrs) | FTV (19,30 hrs) | RTRS (19,30 hrs) |
| War crimes issues | Terzic’s letter to Sanader | Cavic meets Pack |
| Flats for killed soldiers’ families | | McElhaney on constitutional changes |
| 1 million KM for scientific researches | “Sarabon” workers still in strike | Feature on low population increase |
| EU supports return to BiH | Workers entered “Zitoprerada” | Feature on |
| Oslobodjenje | US’ McElhaney: If BiH wants to be a serious state it must unify institutions |
| Dnevni Avaz | US McElhaney: In talks with EU BiH needs a single voice |
| Dnevni List | Prisons will block BiH joining EU?! |
| Vecernji List | Deadly waste at 21 locations in BiH |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Port at Neum – a salty utopia |
| Glas Srpske | Zveka was hiding a crime [feature story on war crimes] |
| Nezavisne Novine | Agreement on a single president is possible |
| Blic | The most powerful Serbs in the world |
| Vecernje Novosti | |
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| LATEST NEWS OF TODAY |
| FBiH HoR’s session underway
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| Plenary session of BiH HoR and HoP
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| Constitutional changes talks continue on Wednesday
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| Rycroft meets with Dodik: Reforms need to be implemented
| RS Radio – After today’s meeting with Milorad Dodik, SNSD President, Matthew Rycroft, British Ambassador to BiH, stated that the future powers of BiH Presidency and Parliament and relations between entities are issues, on which it will be the most difficult to reach agreement during resumption of negotiations on constitutional changes Wednesday. Rycroft said that strengthening of the state does not necessarily mean weakening of entities, stressing that reforms must be implemented for three reasons: the existing system is expensive and criticized by Venice Commission; another is that BiH should be helped to accomplish certain changes necessary for the BiH course to EU. Dodik is of the view that the authorities of the BiH Presidency should be significantly reduced, and that some of authorities should be transferred onto BiH CoM. Dodik also said that Dragan Cavic, RS President, should take a clear stance regarding the approach towards the current RS authority, i.e. future destiny of the RS Government. |
| Matijasevic on presence of terrorists in BiH
| RS Radio – In an interview to Vecernje Novosti, Darko Matijasevic, RS MoI, said in regard to presence of persons suspected of being engaged in global terrorism, that RS and F BiH hold the information of 1800 persons somehow connected with terrorism, adding that joint institutions are currently reviewing citizenship for 800 persons from Islamic states who got BiH citizenship, while the remaining figure of 1000 concerns natives. Matiajsevic said that “the issue of cooperation with the Hague Tribunal will soon be behind us”, without revealing more details on it. |
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| Political Developments/Reforms |
| US’ McElhaney comments on talks on constitutional changes
| BHT, Hayat, FTV, RTRS, Dnevni Avaz cover pg splash ‘In talks with EU BiH needs a single voice’, pg 2 ‘BiH should have one President’ by S.Numanovic, Oslobodjenje cover page, pgs 4-5 ‘If BiH wants to be a serious state it must unify institutions’, Dnevni List, pg 3, mentioned on front ‘BiH must unify its institutions’, by Danka Polovina-Mandic, Nezavisne Novine cover pg splash and pg 3 ‘Agreement on a single president is possible’ by M. Cubro, Glas Srpske pg 5 ‘Single president’ by Z. D. – US Ambassador in BiH Douglas McElhaney held a press conference in Sarajevo on Monday, where he presented his stances on negotiations on changes to BiH Constitution. McElhaney welcomed the fact that the negotiations have started before the 10th anniversary of Dayton Peace Agreement. He emphasized that the stances of participants in talks are more constructive than 6 months ago, adding that the progress made so far is only the beginning of constitutional changes process. According to McElhaney, the issues of human rights have been treated in accordance with EU standards. The talks will continue on Wednesday, and the main topic will be the future structure of the Presidency. McElhaney stressed that BiH should have one President, but he refused to comment the proposals of different politicians regarding this issue. |
| RS President Cavic meets with EU’s Pack
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| PDP leader Ivanic: ‘New round of constitutional changes talks would be more difficult’
| Hayat, Oslobodjenje pg 4 ‘New round of talks would be more difficult’ by Onasa, Dnevni List pg 4 ‘Harder part of negotiations follows’ not signed – PDP President Mladen Ivanic stated that continuation of the constitutional changes talks (scheduled for December 21) would be much harder than the previous round of talks since parties from Sarajevo, that demand support from the Bosniak people, are trying to promote a concept of a civic state. He believes that if the Bosniaks parties continue to support such stands it would be very difficult to reach an agreement. |
| M. Lazovic (SDU): State Ministry of Education should be formed
| Oslobodjenje pg 6 ‘To from state Ministry of Education’, Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘BiH must not remain at prisoners’ deck’ by FENA ,Dnevni List pg 6 ‘Form state Education Ministry’ not signed carried an SDU press release signed by SDU President Miro Lazovic who says that SDU demands from the US administration representatives to remove obstacles for introduction of the state Ministry of Education and to support those constitutional changes that would consistently implement given promises and orientation of the US administration with regard to recognition of BiH and its institutions. |
| Potocnik (independent MP) proposes changes to BiH Constitution: State and local level of authority
| Dnevni List, pg 4 ‘Potocnik for abolishment of entities and cantons’, by Danka Polovina-Mandic – An independent MP in the BiH House of Representatives, Mladen Potocnik, proposed amendments to the BiH Constitution that completely change the Constitution. His amendments foresee establishment of BiH as a republic with local and state levels of authority, with one president, one government and a two-chamber parliament. Potocnik is convinced that as much as 70% of people in BiH see/want the country as a normal country without entities and cantons. Other BiH media also covered the issue. |
| Dodik: BiH institutions are responsible to BiH peoples, not BiH people
| Dnevni List, pg 9 ‘Assertion that BiH institutions are responsible to people rejected’, not signed – The SNSD leader, Milorad Dodik, commented that during the constitutional talks, the assertion that “the BiH institutions are responsible to people of BiH” was not accepted because it reminded of some previous statements about creation of a one nation. Instead, Dodik says the qualification that reads “the BiH institutions are responsible to peoples and citizens of BiH” was accepted.
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| British ambassador Rycroft: positive changes were made in talks on constitutional changes
| Hayat, RTRS, Nezavisne Novine pg 4 ‘Positive changes in negotiations on the Constitution’ by D. K. – Ambassador of Great Britain to BiH Matthew Rycroft stated on Monday in Prijedor that there are some positive changes in talks on constitutional changes, but he assessed this was still not enough. ‘There are five important pre-requisites for a success of the talks. A progress was made with regard to the first two pre-requisites – human rights and strengthening of the institution of CoM. The remaining issues are the structure of parliament, Presidency and competencies between entities and state’, Rycroft stated and he added he hopes Hague fugitives Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic would soon be arrested. EuroBlic pg RS2 ‘Rycroft: progress’ not signed also reported on the issue. . |
| GS critical of initiative on introducing single president
| Glas Srpske pg 5 ‘Cabbage and meat’ by D. Momic – The article claims Bosniak representatives are trying to use constitutional changes for the start of applying of principle “one person – one vote” and reminds that such a situation had already existed in the past, when the creation of Bosniak – Croat coalition was only one step away from the war breaking out. The author of the article notes Sulejman Tihic and those who share his views seem not to be bothered with political past because, if they were bothered with it, they would not have pleaded for abolishment of the Presidency and introduction of the institution of a single president. |
| DL op-ed on constitutional changes talks: Silence of HDZ officials is dangerous
| Dnevni List, pg 2 ‘Dangerous silence’, by Ivica Glibusic– comments on the talks of BiH political parties saying what worries is the position of the |
| SD on constitutional changes talks: BiH should have a three-member Presidency
| Slobodna Dalmacija, pg 11 ‘One president undermines foundations of BiH’, by Veso Vegar – Commenting on the constitutional reforms talks, especially the issue of BiH Presidency/single BiH President, Vegar argues that the proposal about having one BiH President shows that there are still people who are not at peace with the fact that BiH is a multi-national country. Instead, SD insists BiH should continue to have a three-member Presidency as a symbol of “three-national BiH”. |
| Schilling feels that military engagement of EU in BiH must be long term
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| DL on alleged
| Dnevni List, front pg splash and pg 6 ‘Prisons will block BiH joining EU?!’, by Anja Vrebac– writing about the issue of existence of alleged |
| Serbian President Tadic: equal rights for everybody in the region
| Nezavisne Novine pg 6 ‘Serbs should be given the same rights as Albanians’ by |
| BiH Ministerial Council for Police Cooperation set up
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| VL: FBiH Govt proposed corrupt official for member of Police Reform Directorate
| Vecernji List, pg 3, mentioned on front ‘Concealer of assassins in police reform’, by Zoran Kresic – Commenting on the decision of the FBiH Government to propose Faik Lusija for a member of Police Reform Directorate (for expert works), Kresic argues Lusija is a man responsible for obstruction of justice in the ‘Leutar case’ because he was in charge of the criminal investigation department ( |
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| War Crimes/Legal Proceedings |
| Matijasevic’ first int. to F BiH media: Threats will not stop me in apprehending Hague indictees
| Dnevni Avaz pg 5, announced on cover ‘Threats will not stop me in apprehending Hague indictees’ by Edina Sarac – In his first interview to a F BiH daily, Darko Matiajsevic, RS Interior Minister, speaks of economic crime, arrests of war crime suspects, police reform. He notes that ever since he assumed the position, the RS MoI conducted tens of actions aimed at locating war crime suspects. He adds it is natural the first man of MoI is faced with threats over arrests of war crime suspects, stressing threats are secondary aspects of his work, stipulated by the nature of work. On voluntary surrenders, he says all negotiations with indictees have resulted in surrender, stressing: “It is an institute we will keep applying in our work. Naturally, we will use other sorts of mechanisms in case no voluntary surrender takes places, i.e. arrests.” He reiterates his stance that the maintenance of the RS MoI and police is justified, noting the new functional organisation of the security forces in BiH would include this as well, adding: “The aspiration is that MoI and police of RS become a sub-system in the overall security system in domain of public security authority.” This model, according to him, is very much alike the police systems in the |
| Matijasevic: We will get rid of that Hague
| Vecernje Novosti pg 2, announced on cover ‘We will get rid of that Hague’ by Dusan Stojakovic – In an interview to daily, Darko Matijasevic, RS MoI, says that “the issue of cooperation with the Hague Tribunal will soon be behind us”, without revealing more details on it. He notes there is a general political consensus that joint efforts with SiCG should result in resolving this problem, which is the most important. He denies media speculation “Serb agents are already having Radovan Karadzic in their hands, waiting for the right moment to transfer him to |
| Court of BiH confirmed the indictment against 11 persons, indicted for massacre in Kravica
| Pink, BHT, FTV, Dnevni Avaz pg 12 ‘Indictment against 11 suspects upheld’, announced on cover ‘Indictment for crime at Kravice upheld’ by S.T., Oslobodjenje pg 2, Dnevni List pg 6 ‘Bill of indictment against 11 persons confirmed’ not signed, Slobodna Dalmacija last pg ‘Indictees killed over 1000 Bosniaks’ by B. Kristo, Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘Indictment against 11 persons was confirmed’ by A. Sisic, EuroBlic pg RS3 ‘Ten in custody over war crimes’ by R. R. and Srna – Court of BiH confirmed on Monday the indictment against 11 persons, indicted for participating in the massacre of Bosniaks in the warehouse of the farming cooperative in Kravica in July 1995. Those indicted persons are Milos Stuper, Milenko Trifunovic, Petar Mitrovic, Brano Djinic, Aleksandar Radovanovic, Slobodan Jakovljevic, Miladin Stevanovic, Velibor Maksimovic, Branislav Medan, Dragisa Zivanovic and Milovan Matic. Ten of those eleven persons are in detention, only Milovan Matic is still on the loose; now, they have 15 days to plea on the accounts of the indictment. |
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| FTV, RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Mladic BiH’s joker in lawsuit against |
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| SBS arrests war crime suspect
| BHT, Pink, FTV, Hayat, RTRS, Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘Radisav Ljubinac was arrested’ by A. D.– Members of the BiH State Border Service (SBS) have arrested Radisav Ljubinac, who is suspected of genocide and war crimes committed in Rogatica area. Ljubinac was arrested in Zvornik on Saturday, December 17, by the order of |
| SD: BiH is classic example of corrupt state
| Slobodna Dalmacija, pgs 16-17, mentioned on front ‘Prison threatens two former heads of state’, by Zlatko Tulic – The author argues that BiH is a classic example of a corrupt state in which many former officials are mostly charged with abuse of office/authority, citing examples of Dragan Covic and Mirko Sarovic as the two most high-profile cases. SD also notes that a senior official of SDA and former FBiH Interior Minister, Mehmed Zilic, who is being tried by the Sarajevo Cantonal Court for abuse of office and financial malversations, ‘swapped’ his counselling role in Sulejman Tihic’s office for a seat in the BiH Parliament, where he replaced Seada Palavric, who has become a BiH Constitutional Court judge. |
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| Economic/Social Issues |
| Terzic demands return of BiH property in Croatia Read by the presenter
| BHT, Hayat, FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 2, mentioned on cover ‘Terzic sends a letter of protest to Sanader’, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘Terzic threats with suit before Strasbourg Court’ by A.Malagic, Slobodna Dalmacija pg 3 ‘Terzic: We shall go even before court because of Cavtat’ by B. Kristo– Trade Court in Zagreb decided to reject the request to exclude BiH’s property from the list of real estates which are to be liquidated. On that occasion, Chair of BiH Council of Ministers Adnan Terzic sent a letter to Croatian PM Ivo Sanader reminding him that the Prime Ministers of Croatia and BiH had discussed the status of children’s hospital in Cavtat, which is property of Sarajevo Clinical Centre, during their meeting on October 4th 2004 in Zagreb. Terzic asked Sanadertodo all possible in order to prevent a lawsuit at the Court for Human Rights in Strasburg regarding BiH’s state property in Nezavisne novine pg 9 ‘BiH authorized attorney to launch a demand for revision’ by R. Rakic also covered the issue. |
| Contracts for supporting the process of return to BiH signed in Sarajevo
| Pink, BHT, Hayat, FTV, RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 3, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘Circa EURO 1 million for school reconstruction’, Dnevni List pg 4 ‘1 million Euros for reconstruction of schools and infrastructure’ not signed, Nezavisne Novine pg 2, announced on cover ‘A million € for return’ by M. Rener, Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘A million € for reconstruction’ by Srna – The Delegation of the European Commission to BiH and EUFOR have signed on Monday in Sarajevo the contracts for supporting the process of return to BiH. Those contracts, for which European Union will provide approximately one million Euros, include the renovation of the social and technical infrastructure in Visegrad, Sokolac, Vlasenica, Potocari-Srebrenica, Podlugovi, Malesici, Ilijas, Hadzici, Stolac and Trebinje municipalities. Deputy Head of the EC Delegation to BiH Renzo Daviddi, who signed those contracts along with the commanders of Austrian and Italian units for civilian-military cooperation, stressed that those projects represent the good example of the cooperation between different segments of European Union’s mission to BiH. Recently appointed EUFOR Commander, Italian Major General Gianmarco Chiarini added that those projects represent another step towards the full normalisation of situation in BiH. “As you know, EUFOR is no longer involved in implementation of new projects regarding the civilian-military cooperation, but we are still capable of monitoring those projects, so we will use our capacities to monitor the implementation of those projects”, concluded Chiarini. Those projects will be implemented by the Austrian and Italian units for civilian-military cooperation, in cooperation with local authorities and private companies. |
| Malaysia interested in construction of Corridor Vc
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| Osl. on consequences of VAT introduction: ‘Who is going to secure 18 millions KM for pensioners?’
| Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘Who is going to secure 18 millions KM for pensioners?’ by M.K.S. says that after many attempts the daily failed to learn from FBiH Minister of Labor Radovan Vignjevic in which way 25 millions KM would be secured for reducing negative consequences of a VAT to socially endangered categories. Out of this amount, 18 millions KM should be allocated for payment of 10 KM of monthly subvention to the pensioners whose incomes are less than 200 KM. Osl. says that according to the Ministry’s proposal this amount should be secured from the Pension Insurance Bureau ( |
| WB’s Reinermann on VAT: ‘VAT is true reform for BiH’
| Oslobodjenje pg 9 ‘VAT is true reform for BiH’ by Head of the World Bank Office for BiH Dirk Reinermann carries an editorial on the VAT introduction. Among the other things, the author says: ‘The fact is that the VAT introduction is probably one of the most significant reforms in BiH during the last few years. Benefits of this new taxation system are obvious and this is the reason as to why most of the countries in the world accepted it. The VAT system with a single rate might be especially useful for BiH today, since, first of all, it can reduce and discourage some of the biggest problems that citizens and taxpayers are concerned about and they are corruption, smuggling and grey economy…’ |
| Parliamentary commission says NATO in 1995 used depleted uranium ammunition at 21 locations in BiH
| Vecernji List, front pg splash ‘Deadly waste at 21 locations in BiH ‘ and pgs 4-5 ‘Depleted uranium’, by Dejan Jazvic – Notes that a (BiH) parliamentary investigative commission established in its report that NATO used depleted uranium during the sorties/attacks in BiH in 1995. The report should be discussed at the next session of the BiH House of Representatives. VL also notes that NATO confirmed existence of 15 such locations, about 5 of which they even submitted relevant documentation. |
| SD says Bosniak intellectuals should stop politicising with issue of building of Neum port
| Slobodna Dalmacija, front pg splash and pgs 16-17 ‘Port at Neum – a salty utopia’, by Radoslav Dodig – Writing about periodic requests of the “Bosniak parade intellectuals” about building a port at Neum, the author reminds that a group of experts from Hamburg and Marseille prepared a study back in 1993, concluding that there are no natural pre-requisites to build a port at Neum. In a nutshell, the author argues that the Bosniak intellectuals, especially the ones gathered in the ‘Council of Congress of Bosniak Intellectuals’ (VKBI), should stop manipulating the issue. |
| Ht Mostar’s Prlic says HT Mostar will not collect RTV tax at expense of company
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Vecernji List, pg 5 ‘HT Mostar will not collect RTV tax’, by Zoran Kresic – The CEO of HT Mostar (Croat telecommunications Mostar), Stipe Prlic, hopes the HT Mostar will not be collecting the RTV tax along with the phone bills. “We hope we will reach an agreement by February next year. If we are to save the public RTV system and destroy the HT Mostar, than it is unacceptable”, says Prlic. He also notes that the law that regulated the collection of the RTV tax is enacted at the detriment of consumers and in contradiction to the Law on protection of consumers. |
| OHR: Ravne municipality violated ban on sale of state-owned land BiH Public Attorney’s Office: if this was town construction land, there was no violation of the ban
| Nezavisne novine pg 2, announced on cover ‘Municipality violated the ban of OHR’ by R. Cengic – OHR Spokesperson Sanela Tunovic on Monday stated that Ravno Municipality had violated OHR’s ban on disposal of public property in BiH by selling 7 million square meters of state-owned land to “Agrotur Ivanjica” and “Razvitak AS” firms. The Department for Finances of Ravne Municipality confirmed that the land was sold in price of 1,1 KM per square meter. Municipal attorney Darko Simovic says the sale was carried out in accordance with a public tender, while the money would be used for construction of infrastructure in the area of this Municipality. A source close to CoM claims the purchase was made on behalf of “ |
| RS Budget issue: Cavic says crisis of authorities in RS exists; Djokic, Tesanovic, Popovic: RS Govt will have to resign if it fails to get support for adoption of draft budget
| Nezavisne Novine pg 4, announced on cover ‘RS needs a new Government’ by V. Popovic – Representatives of political parties think RS must have stabile institutions and Assembly majority, since BiH is facing serious talks with EU next year. Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘Constitution is clear’ by G. D. – Dragan Cavic noted that those who have created the crisis at the authorities should be the ones to launch an initiative for removal of the current Government, not Dnevni List, pg 4 ‘Solve crisis in Republika Srpska Government’, not signed also carried Cavic’s statement. |
| NN op-ed raises the issue of how to provide new and stable Government of RS
| Nezavisne Novine op-ed pg 7 ‘New Government’ by Dragan Jerinic – Criticising the fact it has almost become a practise in RS to get a new Government with the beginning of new year, the author highlights that far more important than dealing with already former parliament majority is how to get a new stable government with parliament majority, which would be capable of holding out all quakes expected after New Years’ celebration. |
| Head of RS Directorate for Privatisation Mackic: general audit of privatisation would be a bad message for investors
| Nezavisne Novine pg 11 ‘General revision of privatization is a bad message to investors’ by P. Klincov – In an interview to NN, Head of RS Directorate for Privatization Vladimir Mackic stated the Law on Privatization Audit should deal only with those firms for which it would be established, beyond any doubt, there had been illegalities in the privatization process, while a general audit would be a bad message for investors. He added he does not understand what might be disputable with regard to privatization of strategic firms. |