| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| Adnan Terzic on reforms | Adnan Terzic about reform | Adnan Terzic on reforms | Sarajevo street names |
| Ian Cliff on BiH reforms | Leutar murder anniversary | SDA office robed | SNSD on RS cities names |
| SNSD on RS cities names | SNSD on RS cities names | Floods in Herzegovina | Women Trafficking in BiH |
| Ashdown meets Passy | Accident near Tesanj | Leutar murder anniversary | Return process to RS |
| Oslobodjenje | Six young men and a girl killed [in traffic accident]; Terzic: With Mladic and Karadzic at large, BiH will not join PfP |
| Dnevni Avaz | Seven killed in traffic accident near Tesanj; Tihic: To change names of both entities; Hadzipasic: I am more furious than Syndicate is |
| Dnevni List | Incident: Serbs flood Popovo polje; Transformation of OHR in BiH to follow |
| Vecernji List | Poverty: Citizens spend one mark a day; Tragic accident near Tesanj: Six young men and a girl die |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Miroslav Tudjman: European Presidents tailored division of BiH at Tudjman’s |
| Glas Srpske | Director of the Museum of the Serb Orthodox Church Slobodan Mileusnic: 35 sacred objects damaged; Clash in Gradiska: Buckshot causing injuries |
| Nezavisne Novine | Serious car accident on the road Doboj-Teslic in Krasevo: Seven people killed in the collision of Golf and Opel; Chairperson of BiH Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzic: I will file resignation if we fail to meet pre-requisites for EU |
| Blic | One step from abolishing RS |
Reforms progress/political | |
| Session of Circle 99: Terzic on reforms
| RHB, Oslobodjenje cover ‘Terzic: With Mladic and Karadzic at large, BiH will not join PfP’, pg 7 ‘Terzic: With Mladic and Karadzic at large, BiH will not join PfP?’, Dnevni List pg 2 ‘Essence of joining EU is practical implementation of adopted laws’, Vecernji list pg 4 ‘Road to NATO more uncertain than road to Europe’ – On Sunday, the chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers Adnan Terzic participated the session of the Association of Independent Intellectuals “Circle 99”, and informed the members on the reforms process in BiH on its way towards Euro-Atlantic integration. Terzic stressed that the way of BiH towards NATO has been burdened with an uncertainty, as “it is not clear is BiH expected to arrest Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic as a condition for the admission into the Partnership for Peace.” Terzic added that BiH defense minister and other competent BiH institutions will meet operative obligations related to the organization of the BiH Defense Ministry by May, taking over of competencies from the entity ministries and carrying out of the standing orders on its functioning. He also presented the BiH Development Strategy stressing that the “main goals of the reform scenario are the creation of preconditions for self-sustainable economy, the reduction of poverty and the acceleration of process of integration into the EU.” Terzic also said that the creation of single economic areas is one of the key points that would enable BiH to commence with the negotiations on the Stabilization and Accession Agreement. FTV – “Accession to PfP, which certainly leads us to NATO, stipulates that we have armed forces built by NATO standards,” said Adnan Terzic. BHTV 1 – Beside issue like arrest of war criminals, Terzic is optimistic regarding implementations of reforms in BiH. Stressing that the reforms are painful in any transitional country, Terzic added that the CoM does all possible to achieve impossible. “What worries me is that there are people who in CoM far more concerned with the party’s or national interests than with the interest of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Jakob Finci, Director of the BiH Civil Service Agency. Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Forty representatives cannot bring vital decisions alone’ – Terzic stressed that BiH admission to PfP, preparation of Feasibility Study and negotiations on SAA demanded “general mobilisation and public dedication to EU.” |
| NN int with Terzic: ‘I will resign if we fail to meet pre-requisites for EU’ | Nezavisne Novine cover, pg 5 ‘I will file resignation if we fail to meet pre-requisites for EU’ – In an interview to NN, the Chairperson of BiH Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzic, says that he would file resignation to his position, if BiH failed to meet all 16 pre-requisites necessary for initiating talks on Stabilisation and Association Agreement by end of May this year. He says this is the best proof of his belief that BiH would complete the first phase of its admission into EU in a successful manner. He could not remember saying that the agreement on SAA would be signed by the end of 2004. He notes that the talks on SAA last for six months in some states, and for two years in other states. He also blames the RS Government and Dragan Mikerevic, RS Prime Minister, for delay in the adoption of the Law on Public Procurement. |
| Ian Cliff: implementation of reforms slown down by peripheral issues | RHB, Oslobodjenje pgs 4&5 ‘BiH is, however, moving towards Europe’, Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘It is not a failure to start negotiations with EU at the beginning of next year’, Nezavisne Novine pg 2 ‘Irrelevant debates obstructing reforms’, FENA by Lejla Alibegovic – In an interview to Fena news agency, the UK Ambassador to BiH, Ian Cliff, stressed that the “implementation of reform in BiH is developing slowly and is often slowed down by debates on locations of headquarters, nationalities of key officials, and other problems, which should in fact be periphery.” Declaring that BiH authorities still have to do a great deal of work in meeting the 16 priority requirements from the EC Feasibility Study, including if necessary adoption of 348 laws and establishment of 25 new institutions, Ambassador Cliff said that “sufficient progress may perhaps be realized by mid this year for the purpose of opening the negotiations on Stabilization and Association with the EU, but if this does not happen by the beginning of next year, nobody in BiH should regard this as a failure.” Talking about specific reforms, UK Ambassador said that there was a slight progress regarding the public RTV service, but expressed concerns with the legal package for SIPA and slow progress in education reforms. As for the cooperation with ICTY, Cliff asked for greater progress, especially from RS side. “In the past eight years we did not manage to catch [Radovan] Karadzic and [Ratko] Mladic, but I believe that with a concentrated joint effort it might be possible to catch them in this year”, stresses British Ambassador. He warned that nobody should underestimate the complexity of this task, or the commitment of his government to bring Karadzic and Mladic, and other war crime suspects to justice. |
| Oslobodjenje: OHR warns BiH authorities jeopardize beginning of SAA negotiations this year | Oslobodjenje pg 6 ‘BIH could jeopardize this year’s negotiations with EU’ by R.I. – According to Oslobodjenje’s source from OHR, the High Representative Paddy Ashdown believes that local authorities could jeopardize beginning of the negotiations on Stabilisation and Accession Agreement with EU. The reason for this HR sees in slow progress in the implementation of the 16 conditions laid down in the Feasibility Study. On Tuesday, the European Commission will publish its annual report on the tempo of fulfilling conditions. After that, political directors of the Peace Implementation Council are expected to analyse the report by the CoM Chair Adnan Terzic on implementation of requested reforms. However, according to Oslobodjenje’s source, “it is hard to imagine that Prime Minister’s report would be welcomed by PIC directors.” BiH authorities, according to their own plan, were supposed to adopt the Law on public acquisitions, law on companies’ registration, law on statistics and a law on Agency for Protection of Foreign Investments. Authorities also failed to harmonize entities laws on refugees and DPs with state bill, to introduce the draft of the new elections bill and the law on public broadcasting system. In addition, authorities failed to include the law on BiH High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council in parliamentary procedure; and a number of other administrative measures. |
| Dodik: authorities will fail to fulfil conditions for SAA | Oslobodjenje pg 5 ‘SDS was initiator of ‘Serb’ prefixes in RS’, Vecernje Novosti pg 21 ‘Hardly to Europe’ – The current authority of RS and BiH will not succeed in fulfilling terms for signing the Agreement on the admission of BiH to EU, and by this they will definitely show their incompetence, stated SNSD leader Milorad Dodik in Banja Luka at the press conference. He added: ‘It is also possible that the Agreement will be signed after all, which would be a result of pressures that will be applied by the international community, since it does not want to note a failure here’. |
| OSCE Chairman meets IC, local authorities on reforms | RHB, Oslobodjenje pg 4 ‘Talks about BiH reforms’ – The High Representative Paddy Ashdown today will meet with the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, who will head Bulgarian delegation in a day visit to BiH. They will discuss progress of reforms implementation, especially in the fields of education and defense. Passy will also meet with the the Head of the European Commission Delegation to BiH, Ambassador Michael Humphryes, the BiH Presidency, Chairman of BiH Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzic and Deputy Foreign Minister Lidija Topic. |
| BiH Presidency on defence | Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘Presidency prepared six candidates for SFOR’ – Members of the BiH Presidency, Sulejman Tihic, Dragan Covic and Borislav Paravac, have prepared the names of two candidates each for the positions of commanders at the joint defence troops and will hand them to SFOR in the next few days. |
| Griscenko: ‘Transformation of OHR in BiH to follow’ | Dnevni List front, pgs 8&9 ‘Transformation of OHR in BiH to follow’ by Ivica Glibusic – Responding to the journalist claim that the OHR is expected to reform and commenting on the change between the SFOR and EU forces, the Russian Ambassador to BiH, Aleksandar Griscenko, says talks are ongoing about the EU taking over the military aspect of mission in BiH. “Next up is the transformation of the international civilian presence in BiH, the OHR that is. The timing depends on deadlines and implementation of tasks the OHR has and which the Peace Implementation Council overviews. There is not a precise date”, says Ambassador Griscenko announcing a session of the Political Directors of the PIC, scheduled for April 1 in Sarajevo, believing the meeting will be discussing aforementioned issues. Questioned about problematic functioning of BiH, Ambassador Griscenko notes: “I think there is not a force that can start and ensure the process of abolishment of entities (…) I simply do not see a way how the State would function if the smaller entity was to be abolished (…) In the current situation, this organization is a necessary evil (…) In my own judgment, entity has to exist as long as there is no corresponding trust among the three peoples”. |
| DL: Opposition coalition for forthcoming local elections confirmed | Dnevni List pg 3 ‘Opposition coalition for forthcoming local elections confirmed’ by N. Bise – DL reports that opposition parties in BiH should be soon forming a coalition in order to take on the national parties in the forthcoming local elections in October. President of NHI, Kresimir Zubak, says the core of the future opposition block of parties will be made of the SDP, SNSD, SPRS and NHI, adding that other parties are expected to join in as well. |
| NN editorial says FBiH opposition “has nothing to offer to people” | Nezavisne Novine pg 7 ‘Opposition in service of authorities’ by Nihada Jablic – “Ruling authorities in FBiH are doing their job flawlessly, judging by calmness of the opposition,” reads introduction to the editorial. Author further claims that opposition in FBiH lead by SDP, instead of behaving like “corrective to ruling parties, proposing better solutions”, has not done any of that in the past few months. She concludes that the FBiH opposition parties – unlike its colleagues in Republika Srpska – should not call for early elections, because they have nothing to offer to their people. |
Constitutional issues | |
| Spiric slams SDS for BiH Constitutional Court’s decision
| RHB, BHTV 1, Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Abolishment of ‘Serb’ prefix is SDS problem’, Oslobodjenje pg 5 ‘SDS was initiator of ‘Serb’ prefixes in RS’ – At the press conference held on Sunday, Vice President of SNSD Nikola Spiric said that the verdict of the BiH Constitutional Court, which orders abolishment of the ethnic prefix ‘Serb’ from the names of cities and municipalities in RS, is a problem of the current authorities, outmost of SDS. Spiric stressed that SDS was the initiator of adding ‘Srpski’ in the names at the first place, at the time when they held absolute power in the entity. Spiric also refused to comment whether he agreed or not with the Court’s decision, and stressed that deputies of this party will not participate discussion on this verdict announced to take place in RS National Assembly. RTRS – “I believe that, unfortunately, the last big impact on RS will follow the report [by Commission on] Srebrenica,” said Nikola Spiric. Nezavisne Novine pg 4 ‘Names divide parties’ Blic front, pg 13 ‘One step from abolishing RS’, Vecernje Novosti front, pg 2 ‘People will pay for all’ – also report on SNSD announcement that the party will not participate RSNA discussion on the Court’s decision. |
| Tihic announces initiative to change names of both RS and FBiH | Dnevni Avaz cover ‘To change the names of both entities’, pg 2 ‘Soon, I will start with initiative to change the names of both BiH entities’ – In a statement for DA, Chairman of BiH Presidency Sulejman Tihic announces that in the next few dyas he will file a demand with the BiH Constitutional Court asking for the change of the names of both BiH entities. Tihic believes that “it was not logical to have both federation and republic existing in one country”, and stresses that he would demand only changes to the names and not abolishment of entities. Tihic adds that before he sends a request, he would talk to members of BiH Presidency Borislav Paravac and Dragan Covic, and that he would propose them to make the request a joint initiative. Tihic further says that BiH Constitution contains several discriminatory items that need to be removed, such as the disability for representative of others to be elected to BiH presidency, or representation of minorities in BiH House of Peoples. Chairman of BiH Presidency also points to the provision, which says that Serb delegates to BiH HoP come only from RS, Bosniaks and Croats from FBiH, is not right. Commenting the statement by SDS leader Dragan Kalinic, who said that SDS would raise the issue of cities in FBiH with prefix ‘Bosnian’ in their names, Tihic stressed this demand did not have any legal ground. |
| Siljadzic claims RS name can be changed | Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘International conventions above the BiH constitution’ – Following the statements by RS officials that the change of name of Republika Srpska was not possible, as RS was established with the Dayton Peace Agreement and BiH Constitution, founder of Party for BiH Haris Silajdzic states that they have no grounds: “There are two undeniable arguments: According to Dayton, international conventions on human rights are above the agreement itself, and, subsequently, above BiH constitution. Calling an entity a “Serb”,… is violation of these conventions.” In its “Statement of the Day” column, Dnevni List, pg 2, carries Haris Silajdzic as saying: “The next step is change of the name of Republika Srpska”. |
| Paravac: Decision by Constitutional Court should be respected | Blic pg 13 ‘One step from abolishing RS’, inset ‘Paravac: Respect the decision’ – BiH Presidency member Orislav Paravac stated: ‘BiH Presidency, most probably, will not discuss the issue regarding the abolishing of prefix ‘Serb’ in names of towns in RS. This is a decision of the Constitutional Court and I do not want to comment it, because the Constitutional Court is the supreme court institution and it should be respected’. He emphasized that nobody has the right to try to change the name of RS, because no change can be made without consent of the entities and all three peoples. |
| Two RS Associations demand from Court to change Sarajevo street names
| RTRS – Association of Refugees from Pale and the municipal organization of former Prisoners of War from Srpsko Sarajevo announced that next week they will submit request to BiH Constitutional Court demanding the change of streets in Sarajevo. President of PoWs Association, Slavko Jovicic said that Bosniaks don’t have exclusive right on BiH capital city and that names of some streets such as Patriotske lige [Patriot league], Zelenih beretki [Green berets] and similar were offensive for Serbs, stressing that they are also one of three constituent peoples in BiH. |
| Tokic: ‘A verdict is a big step forward to BiH future’ | Oslobodjenje pg 5 ‘Big step forward to BiH future’ – “Decision of the BiH Constitutional Court, instructing RS National Assembly to make decision in next three months on the future names of all those cities which at this moment contain a prefix ‘Serb’ in their names, is the most important decision since the one about the constituency of all three peoples,” commented initiator of the case, Vice President of SDU, Sejfudin Tokic, for Oslobodjenje. |
| Madunic (MP) about initiative to transfer authority onto State and Cantons | Vecernji List pg 5 ‘Abolishment of Federation, a path to European to European integration’ by Ljuba Djikic – Speaking about the draft law on transfer of competencies from the FBiH onto the State and cantons, the President of HDZ-CCD-HNZ Caucus in the FBiH Parliament, Ivan Madunic, says the main reason for the Caucus to propose such a plan was the wish to implement the Constitutional Court’s decision on constituent status of peoples in whole of BiH, which is, according to Madunic, not the case at present. “The current Constitution and organization of BiH do not enable it, and apart from that, we heard from the High Representative on several occasions that one should not expect changes to the Constitution by the IC, it has to be done by the peoples and citizens, in other words by their representatives (…) The State, as it is, is unjust, especially towards the Croat people”, says Madunic. |
Economic issues | |
| Dodik will not appear on hearing regarding sale of banks in RS
| RTRS, Dnevni List pg 3 ‘Dodik: I will not appear at hearing’, Nezavisne Novine pg 4 ‘Dodik: Auditor identified those responsible’, Glas Srpske pg 2 ‘Authority ignores warnings’ – At the press conference held on Sunday, SNSD leader Milorad Dodik said on Sunday he will not appear at the hearing on the audit reports on the status of “Kristal” and “Banja Luka” banks before the RSNA Economy and Finances Board on Monday. Dodik said that was the job of the prosecutor’s office, estimating that the invitation for hearing is an attempt of politicisation and manipulation because he “did not participate in the sale of the banks.” It was also stated that SNSD supports the adoption of the BiH Law on Public Procurement, as this bill was initiated after the revision of Telecom’s work, which noted a number of irregularities. Oslobodjenje pg 5 ‘SDS was initiator of ‘Serb’ prefixes in RS’ also brings Dodik’s statement regarding the hearing. Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Dodik accuses Ivanic’s Government’ – DA carries that Dodik said that there was no reason to appear at the hearing as illegal actions regarding the sale of these banks took place during the Mladen Ivanic’s government. |
| DA int with Hadzipasic on economic issues
| Dnevni Avaz cover ‘I am more furious than Syndicate’, pg 5 ‘Council of Ministers keep silent about initiatives worth over 500 million KM’ by Adi Hadziarapovic – In an interview to DA, FBiH Prime Minister Ahmet Hadzipasic announced that the priorities of the Government in execution of FBiH budget for 2004 would be construction of highway between Podlugovi and Visokog, payment of overdue pensions, and timely payments of disable allowances this year. In addition, Hadzipasic points to need to dela with stimulation of agriculture, industry, and refuges and DPs. Asked why none of the initiatives sent by FBiH Government to BiH Council of Ministers with an aim to strengthen financial discipline and increase budget was not implemented, FBiH PM responded that FBiH Government sent a request to CoM demanding urgent decision on these initiatives. Hadzipasic believes that the measures could result in saving 100 million KM this year. CoM also did not respond to the harmonized entities’ initiatives, 16 submitted by FBiH and 12 by RS, which – if implemented – could save 300 million KM to FBIH and almost 200 million KM to RS. Asked to comment on angriness of BiH Syndicate with the cancellation of the FBiH Economic and Social Board’s session and with trials of FBiH Govt to pass Bankruptcy Law, Hadzipasic said: “I am the angriest, as I cannot connect all that is normal, reasonable and legal. Syndicate is a partner to the Government, but … it has to work together with us to find optimal solutions. It is the easiest thing to make unrealistic demands.” |
| Dokic says Parliament to discuss Concession Commission at next session | Dnevni Avaz pg 9 ‘The only request for concession for Vc corridor is Bosmal’s’ – BIH Communications and Transport Minister, Branko Dokic, confirmed that the list with proposed names of the candidates for members of the BiH Concession Commission is expected to be discussed by the BiH Parliament next week. “Commission will be tasked with all concessions issued at the state level. It will not be only decision making task… but Commission will also have to monitor implementation of a contract and coordinate,” explains Dokic. Asked whether there are already some concession demands, Dokic said that the only to date was coming form company Bosmal regarding the construction of 5c corridor. In addition to seven members to the Commission, three from each of entities and one from Brcko District, to be appointed by BiH authorities, one member will be nominated by OHR. |
| VL on poverty in BiH | Vecernji List front pg splash ‘Poverty: Citizens spend one mark a day’, pg 3 ‘Only one mark to survive the day’ by Marko Banozic – VL claims that BiH is the poorest country in Europe, noting that data coming from the World Bank and UNDP say that majority of families live on 200 KMs a month. According to international standards, says VL, a person that spend less than 8 KMs a day lives in poverty, which leads the daily to say that according to that classification, a four-member family in BiH should be living on approximately 1000 KMs a month. In that context, VL notes only 12,5% families in the FBiH are on that a high budget, and that the percentage is even lower in the Republika Srpska (4,3%). VL concludes that experts warn that Albania has a bigger GDP than BiH. |
Other issues | |
| Flood of Popovo polje destroys crops of Croat returnees | Dnevni List front splash, pg 5 ‘Incident: Serbs flood Popovo polje’ by Miso Relota – DL reports that the citizenry in Herzegovina was yesterday shocked with the news that some 200 hectares of cultivated land was flooded in the area of Popovo polje [Popovo field, eastern Herzegovina] because of bad regulation of the water accumulation of the Bileca Lake. DL claims the floods happened as people in eastern RS in charge of the lake were not ready for additional waters coming into the lake, which was already full of water. This resulted in ten times more water than usual getting released from the lake into the Popovo polje. According to DL, the final result has been destruction of the crops of the Croat returnees to the area. The site was visited by several officials on Sunday, including the Herzegovina-Neretva Cantonal Economy Minister, Samir Sunagic, who has initiated an extraordinary session of the HNC Government to discuss the situation. Apparently, the HNC bodies will request the competent FBiH and State authorities [since the incident involves two entities] to task certain BiH Council of Ministers’ commissions and RS Water-Works Inspector to ascertain the facts. FTV, BHTV 1 – also report on the floods and destroyed crops in Popovo polje, caused by “release of the enormous amount of water from the accumulation of Hydro Plant station on Trebisnjica river. Both media carry that if crops star under the water for couple of days longer, Herzegovina could face the biggest ecologic catastrophe ever. |