Latest radio news broadcast at 12.00 on 5 December
| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (12,00 hrs) | RTRS (12,00 hrs) |
| BiH Presidency’s session today | OSCE Ljubljana conference |
| FBiH Government’s session today | Matijasevic and Andan in |
| Ivanic at OSCE Minist. Council mtg | KosMet update |
TV news broadcast on 4 December
| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | TV PINK (18,00 hrs) | BHT 1 (19,00 hrs) |
| World news | McElhaney at Circle 99 session | |
| HKDU receives letter from Visoko | Davidovic on | |
| | Sarovic’s defence to file an appeal | Demand of BiH PoWs Association |
| Granic’s book presented in Mostar | Maric as Head of | Sarovic’s Defence objects detention |
| NTV Hayat (19,00 hrs) | FTV (19,30 hrs) | RTRS (19,30 hrs) |
| Sarovic to appeal on detention order | Murder suspect arrested | Cases transferred to |
| Property issue in Neum area | McElhaney’s press conference | Sarovic’s appeal against detention |
| BiH companies owe 4 billion KM | New Head of | Four persons arrested in Bijeljina |
| Low turnover in BiH Lutrija | Investigation against Krstic | Investigation against Krstic |
| Oslobodjenje | [Davidovic] It is possible to reach agreement with |
| Dnevni Avaz | [Biber] This authority is culpable for dismissals of workers |
| Dnevni List | Trials against Majic, Medic and Nuic to begin (trails for war crimes in |
| Vecernji List | For first time there is money for children bonus (FBIH Govt on 2006 budget) |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Features |
| Nezavisne Novine | 2.5 tons of depleted uranium in BiH (proposal for establishment of BiH Agency for nuclear security) |
| Glas Srpske | Debt over BAM 300 million |
| EuroBlic | Custom officers at Raca without power, water and phone lines (owing to technical problems) |
| Vecernje novosti | Features Serbian related cover splash |
LATEST NEWS OF TODAY | |
| Burns:
| RTRS, |
| BiH Presidency in session
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| Matijasevic and Andan in
| RTRS – Darko Matijasevic and Dragomir Andan, RS Interior Minister and RS Police Director, have left for |
Judicial proceedings / War crimes | |
| Sarovic to appeal against detention, Defence: detention decision made after legal deadline expired; Rattel: indictment by 14 December
| PINK, BHT1, Hayat, RTRS, Dnevni List, pg 4 ‘Defence lodges appeal against Sarovic custody’, not signed, Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘Complains to follow’ by Z.Domazet, Nezavisne Novine pg 6 ‘Defence will complaint against detention procedure’ by |
| Several cases of Cantonal Courts handed to BiH Prosecutor’s Office
| BHT1, RTRS, Hayat, Dnevni List, pg 7 ‘Investigations about suffering of Bosniaks and Croats’, not signed, Vecernji List, pg 2 ‘Investigations launched’, by id, Nezavisne Novine pg 8 ‘Crimes against Bosnaiks and Croats being investigated’ by |
| DL: Indictments against 3 Croats from Ljubuski, 300 indictments against Croats from
| Dnevni List, front pg splash and pg 3 ‘Trials against Majic, Medic and Nuic to begin’, by M. Batarello – DL learns from sources close to the BiH Court that indictments for crimes against non-Croat citizenry of Herzegovina are being prepared. Among the indictees are reportedly Vice Majic (former head of |
| DL op-ed: Croats not an equal people in BiH?
| Dnevni List, pg 2 ‘What’s in store for Croats?’, by Arijana Beus – comments on the news about possibility of war crimes charges against 300 Croats from Herzegovina, saying if the news turn out to be true, it will confirm fears that the Croats are not an equal people in BiH. However, Beus notes this story could be hoax. |
| BiH War Crimes Chamber took over cases of war crimes against “Doboj triplet” Bjelosevic, Stankovic and Ninkovic
| Dnevni Avaz pg 10 ‘BiH Court took over cases of Doboj inhabitants Ninkovic, Bjelosevic and Stankovic’ – Daily learns that BiH War Crimes Chamber decided at the end of last week to take over cases of war crimes (including genocide, crimes against humanity) against “Doboj triplet”, Andrija Bjelosevic, Milovan Stankovic and Milan Mico Ninkovic, which was run before Zenica Cantonal Court. Daily further lists positions the suspects assumed during the war, concluding that the list of witnesses also includes the name of Borislav Paravac, Serb member to BiH Presidency. |
| BiH PoWs ask to be “friends of courts” in BiH
| BHT1, FTV, Oslobodjenje pgs 4-5 ‘PoWs request to be friends of the court’, Dnevni Avaz pg 3 ‘Victims need to be protected both from defense and prosecution’- Association of War Prisoners sent a letter to The Chair of BiH Court Meddzida Kreso and member of BIH Presidency Sulejman Tihic asking them to allow their association to participate in the trials to war crime indictees as “friends of the court”. The Association proposed to have its representative, a lawyer, attending the trial in order to provide a moral support to the prosecution witnesses. |
Constitutional changes / | |
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| FTV by Ognjen Blagojevic – PINK, Hayat, Oslobodjenje pg 3, mentioned on cover ‘Constitutional changes by March’, Dnevni List, pg 5 ‘Interest of USA is stable BiH’, not signed, Vecernji List, pg 2 ‘McElhaney: Bush will solve all problems in Balkans’, by dja, Nezavisne Novine pg 2 ‘First constitutional changes by beginning of January’ by R.Cengic– also reported. |
| New round of talks on const. changes on Tue in
| Dnevni Avaz, pg 8 ‘Cosmetic changes are unacceptable for majority’, by L. Sinanovic – Announces that the second round of talks about constitutional reforms will continue on Tuesday with participation of Donald Hays and his associates. The talks will gather representatives of SDA, SBiH, HDZ, |
| Covic to represent HDZ at Tuesday’s mtg; BHT1: SDA still has no appointed representative; Simic: Const. changes must be reached through compromise
| BHT 1 By Sanita Lisica Biberovic– At the upcoming meeting on the constitutional changes, HDZ will be represented by Dragan Covic, who was not presented in Washington, and some media speculated that USA haven’t allowed him entrance in the country. Majority of FBiH Parties aren’t satisfied with agreed changes, stressing that they lead to nowhere. HDZ Spokesperson, Miso Relota underlines abolishment of cantons and parallel preservation of two entities would be unacceptable. Tihic says the reason for his absence from the meeting is a trip to conference in |
| Oslobodjenje int/ with Davidovic: Possible to reach agreement with
| Oslobodjenje cover pg splash ‘It is possible to reach agreement with Brussels in one year’ and pgs 4 and 5 ‘Big setting a house in order is ahead of us’ by M. Kavaz-Sirucic carries an interview with Chief BiH negotiator with EU Igor Davidovic who says that expectations according to which consent on all elements of the PINK, BHT1, Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘First round in middle of January’, EuroBlic RSpg 2 ‘First round by 15 January’ by |
| Solana arrives to BiH: There’s too much crime in BiH; Any attempt to link Kosovo with other regional issues will be rejected
| Dnevni Avaz pg 5, mentioned on cover ‘There is too much crime in BiH’ by S. Numanovic carries an interview with EU High Representative for Common and Foreign Policy Javier Solana who will visit BiH this week. Asked as to what concerns him the most when security in BiH is in question Solana says: ‘There is too much crime especially the organized crime and this is not just a BiH peculiarity but the problem of the region as a whole…For this reason the BiH security structures must become more efficient.’ Asked whether the negotiations on the Kosovo status might cause instability in the regions, Solana strongly denied it and he added: ‘The International Community would strongly and resolutely reject any attempt to connect the negotiations on Kosovo with any other regional issue.’ DA inset ‘Significance of opening Nezavisne Novine op-ed pg 7 ‘Balkans turning point’ by Javier Solana – Daily carries op-ed by Javier Solana, along the same lines as his statement given to Dnevni Avaz today. BHT 1, Dnevni List, pg 6 ‘Solana meeting Ashdown’, by agencies, Vecernji List, pg 3 ‘Javier Solana in Sarajevo tomorrow’, by id– also reports on Solana’s arrival. |
Other political issues | |
| HDZ’s Maric wins early elections in Grude
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| ATV int with Tihic: my stance on const. changes has not changed
| ATV ‘Nedjeljne vijesti’ [Sunday news program] by Dragan Stegic – In an interview to ATV, BiH presidency member, Sulejman Tihic, talks of his initiative to change the name of the Republika Srpska before the BiH Constitutional Court, underlying that he has had no intention to use the initiative to obstruct or prevent the negotiations on constitutional changes but on contrary. As for his request on the change of the RS flag, anthem and insignia submitted to the Court over a year ago, Tihic believes that in the light of the constitutional changes it would be just right for the highest judicial instance to make a decision on this legal matter. As for the further course of the talks on the constitutional changes, Tihic underlines his stance has not changed: there should be just one President without Vice Presidents, the Prime Minister and strong government instead of the Council of Ministers; a functional Parliament, where there would be no entities voting in the House of Representatives and the Council of Peoples dealing only with the issues of the vital national interests. Commenting the current mayhem between the parties in the RS, Tihic says this is not a new situation in which everybody announces resignations but nothing changes. |
| ATV in with Bukejlovic: PDP should act reasonably to avoid problems with adoption of budget/ economic policies
| ATV ‘Nedjeljne vijesti’ [Sunday news program] by Igor Pozgaj – Commenting the PDP’s intention to move to opposition, the RS Prime Minister Pero Bukejlovic says he expects PDP deputies to act reasonably in order to avoid problems with the adoption of the budget and economic policies, otherwise the reform processes and position of the RS might be endangered. He repeats having no intention to resign and adds that PDP just plays political games, noting it has started earlier than expected. Bukejlovic also stresses that the power in the RS is practically in the hands of PDP, not |
| Terzic calls on Cavic to propose new ministers instead of Ivanic and Dokic
| Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘Let Cavic propose two new ministers’, announced on cover ‘Let Cavic propose new ministers and deny confidence to Ivanic and Dokic’ by V.Popovic – Adnan Terzic, BiH COM Chair, voiced message to Dragan Cavic, RS President, that if he wanted to see Mladen Ivanic and Branko Dokic removed from ministerial positions, he should propose two new candidates to these positions, instead of vying with the PDP. Terzic said: “Vying in regard to personnel issues between Cavic and Ivanic represent beginning of pre-election campaign and are counter-productive for BiH, that should turn to |
| Dokic: PDP ministers will not leave BiH COM | Nezavisne Novine pg 2 ‘Trust to RS Government on agenda’ by V.P. – Reporting on Sunday’s night session of PDP (discussing its issue of trust to RS Government), NN carries statement of Branko Dokic, member of PDP Presidency, saying PDP would stick to its stance to remain at opposition. On the issue of status of PDP Ministers at BiH COM, he said that PDP Ministers would not leave CoM just because |
| HR Ashdown: Bosna is not Kosovo
| Vecernje Novosti pg 2, announced on cover ‘Bosna is not Kosovo’ by Dusan Stojakovic – In a page-long interview to daily, Paddy Ashdown, High Representative to BiH, is summarizing results of his three-and-a-half year “rule” in BiH. HR admits he made some mistakes during his mandate, without willing to exemplify those, adding: “When I came to BiH, I set four tasks to myself. The first is to bring BiH to the course of statehood, results of which I am satisfied…My second task was that BiH heads towards EU, which has been done…Third goal was to bring the state in a phase when it no longer needs HR. I have never stated I would be the last one on this position, but I am happy with the announcement of IC that BiH would no longer need institution of HR in October 2006 if BiH continued its progress towards EU. The fourth task was to stop young people leave BiH. it seems to me this exodus has been somewhat slowened, but still insufficiently.” He stresses that the Kosovo issue has nothing to do with BiH, noting that any attempt to change BiH border would have catastrophic consequences and would represent playing with fire that would raise tensions in the entire region. On RS status, he says he has never stated RS should be abolished, reiterating that only and solely RS citizens can decide on RS destiny. On police reform, he reiterates police reform is the last big reform demanding reduction of sovereignty, noting there will be more reforms in BiH in the future that should make it more functional. He strongly rejects journalist speculation that BiH is a field for experiments of international community. |
| R. Gregorian: ‘If BiH invests a little it will not be capable for NATO’
| Dnevni Avaz pg 4, mentioned on cover ‘If BiH invests a little it will not be capable for NATO’ by L. Sinanovic carries an interview with Defence Reform Commission Co-Chairman Raffi Gregorian who said that the defense reform will not implement according to the plan if the BiH Parliament does not adopt the budget for defense amounting to 300, 5 millions KM. He is also certain that if the BiH Council of Ministers’ proposal gets the support, BiH will not have time to join NATO and he added: ‘At this moment BiH must ‘buy’ capability since this is what NATO is interested in…If you invest a little, you would be developing more slowly and you will not be capable and this will not be a positive signal.’ |
| BiH- | Oslobodjenje pg 5 ‘RS Government requests for changes’, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘RS Government requests for changes to the BiH- |
Economic issues | |
| Biber accuses authority for future dismissals of workers following VAT introduction
| Dnevni Avaz cover pg splash ‘This authority is culpable for dismissals of workers’, pg 2 ‘Authority will be culpable for dismissals of workers’ by E.Plecic – In a statement to daily, Edhem Biber, President of BH Syndicate, reiterates that VAT introduction would lead to destruction of several hundreds of firms and dismissals of thousands workers, saying: “The authority will be the sole culprit for dismissals of workers.” He does not exclude the possibility that Syndicate would call on workers to hold general strike and serious measures, if tax collectors start seizing property over incapability of firms to pay taxes. |
| FBiH Govt on 2006 budget
| Vecernji List, front pg splash and pg 3 ‘For first time there is money for children bonus’, by Zoran Kresic – The FBiH Government will today (Monday) discuss a draft FBiH budget for 2006. The FBiH Finance Minister, Dragan Vrankic, hopes the budget will be adopted in the both chambers of the FBIH Parliament by end of year. |
| Cenic: Budget expenditures in RS to amount to BAM 926 million at most
| Nezavisne Novine pg 8 ‘Budget expenditures in RS to amount to BAM 926 million at most’ y P.Klincov – Svetlana Cenic, RS Finance Minister, Sunday stated that the draft budget expenditures of RS for 2006 will amount to BAM 926 million, including the increase of allocations to police, pensioners and those employed at fields of education and culture. She noted amount mentioned refers only to expenditures and should not be mixed with the overall draft budget for 2006 (whose amount she did not want to specify). Commenting on impact of VAT introduction for 2006, Cenic said they have anticipated the amount of BAM 19.8 million with an aim to alleviate consequences of possible price increase. She noted that VAT tax would lead to revenue increase, adding: “BiH ITA anticipates revenue increase of 10%. Still, it is a matter of technique as well, not just realistic expectations.” |
| RS Govt. and RS firms fail to pay contributions to RS
| Glas Srpske cover pg splash ‘Debt over BAM 300 million’ by R.S.-D.V.M. – Daily writes that firms in RS owe over BAM 200 million, while RS Government owes over BAM 80 million to RS Pension and Disability Fund. Director of RS |
| Deputy Minister Grubesic says it will be difficult to reach property-legal agreement with
| Dnevni List, pg 6 ‘Whole agreement between BiH and Croatia is questionable’, by Danka Polovina-Mandic – According to the BiH deputy Justice Minister, Niko Grubesic, it will be very difficult to reach an agreement on property-legal issues between BiH and Croatia. He explains there are several disputable issues, foremost regarding the RS Government’s request that Croatian property in BiH becomes the entity’s property and that BiH’s property in Croatia becomes Croatian property. Other disputable issue is related to the tenancy rights of Croatian Serbs now living in BiH since |
| Dragicevic, BH Amb. In Croatia: Property return is crucial problem
| Glas Srpske pg 2 ‘Property return is crucial problem’ by M.Dizdar – In a brief interview to daily, Aleksandar Dragicevic, newly appointed BiH Ambassador in Croatia, says that one of the most important issues in relation between BiH and Croatia is to see Agreement on property and legal affairs signed between the two states, stressing that one of crucial issues is the issue of property return to refugees and DP’s on both sides. |
| Ivanic in favour of giving bigger subsidies to BiH agriculture
| Dnevni List, pg 2 ‘Free market will suffocate BiH economy’, by Erna Mackic – According to BiH Foreign Minister, Mladen Ivanic, says that small agricultural producers in BiH will not be able to match the competition from the EU, which have the advantage in form of subsidies they receive. “I think that from our side, and there will be possibilities to do so because most of the VAT generated incomes will go to the budget, we should be aiming towards subsidies in agriculture”, said Ivanic. |
| Knezevic from RS Bar Chamber non-supportive of new Law on Obligations
| EuroBlic RSpg 3 ‘Regulations run over with time’ by Tijana Veselinovic – Following last week’s message Martin Ney addressed to BiH Parliamentary Assembly (urging the adoption of the Law on Obligations), daily carries statement of Zlatko Knezevic, President of the RS Law Chamber, passing on the view of Chamber that there is no grounds for enactment of new law, adding that some corrections should be added to the existing law instead. Thomas Mayer from GTZ urges the adoption of New Law instead. |
Financial police / investigations and audits | |
| Vrankic urges abolishment of Financial Police in BiH
| Nezavisne Novine pg 10 ‘Financial Police to be abolished’ by R.Cengic – Dragan Vrankic, F BiH Finance Minister, has confirmed that the F BiH Financial Police will be abolished, since it has lost 95% of its powers through several reforms at the state level, reminding that such a service does not exist at either entities or state level at the present time. He explained by saying: “The service has been lately engaged by the BiH Court and BiH Prosecutor’s Office to assume some tasks SIPA or ITA should do. Since Service has lost its legal powers, the proposal is that those employed at Financial Police are transferred to newly established services.” Milos Babic, BiH Court Judge, respects arguments of F BiH Finance Ministry, noting that BiH still does need Financial Police. Financial Police did not want to make any comment, while some individuals from this service claim that the issue “was launched by the HDZ through Vrankic and upon an order from Deragan Covic and Ante Jelavic, who are being tried on the basis of evidence Financial Police has compiled.” Dnevni List, pg 9, mentioned on front ‘SIPA does not want Financial Police’s staff’, by Mensud Zorlak – also brings Vrankic’s statement. |
| Nisic: SIPA collects information about financial frauds; senior BiH politicians, officials involved?
| Dnevni List, pg 8, mentioned on front ‘Arrests of political tycoons to begin’, not signed – According to the President of Association of old foreign currency savers in BiH and Diaspora, Svetozar Nisic, members of SIPA were recently at the Association’s premises in Banja Luka when the Association handed over to SIPA documentation on involvement of a thousand persons in money laundry, embezzlements, tax evasions etc. According to DL, list of names involved include, among others, Mladen Ivanic, Mato Tadic, Dragan Covic, Dragan Cavic, Hasan Cengic and the Lijanovic brothers. |
| EUFOR detected irregularities in work of private security agencies in BiH | Nezavisne Novine pg 6 ‘Irregularities detected at security agencies’ by S.Karic – James Thomas, EUFOR Spokesperson, Sunday stated that during weekend’ inspections at security agencies (on Thursday launched by EUFOR and local police across BiH), certain irregularities in the work of these agencies have been detected, without being willing to specify any of such. |
| OHR expects names of those responsible for | Nezavisne Novine pg 4 ‘The name of those responsible by New Year’ by R.S. – Daily learns at OHR that OHR expects from RS Government to soon publish measures that have been undertaken with an aim to establish those responsible for omissions at “RS Elektroprivreda” (established in audit report). OHR reminded that names of those responsible must be published by New Year. Miladin Gligoric, RS Minister of Economy, Energy and Development, previously stated that concrete results on investigation into |