- BH-Central Institutions
- BIH Presidency agrees on the protocol for the establishment of
diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia:
- BiH Council of Ministers names new members of BiH Demining
Commission:
- Head of SDP asks for guarantees that he can change the budget:
- BiH Standing Committee for Military Matters meets:
- A member of the B&H Presidency dissatisfied with the decisions of
the Election Commission:
- Federation
- Tenancy rights in Federation ceased to exist:
- Federation Government decides that prices of fuel will be
established freely:
- Dr. Dragan Covic, the Deputy President of the Government of the B&H
Federation: I will not deal with politics any more:
- The Association of the War Veterans of HB in the World Federation
- RS
- RS Ministry of Refugees and DPs - Only double-occupants will be
evicted;
- Cedo Vrzina (RS Justice Minister) - Apprehension of ICTY indictees
would be a political catastrophe;
- Sarovic supports the Law on cooperation with the Hague
- International community
- Peace Implementation Council Steering Board meets:
- Peter Nicholl on reform of payment system in BiH - Petritsch will
impose the Law on payment transactions?
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BH-Central institutions related issues:
BIH Presidency agrees on the protocol for the establishment of
diplomatic relations with Yugoslavia:
Friday's Oslobodjenje reported that BiH Presidency at its session on
Thursday has agreed on the protocol for the establishment of diplomatic
relations with Yugoslavia. All three members agreed that the relations with
be established if Yugoslavia accepts the changed text of the protocol. The
daily said that the disputed sentence has been slightly modified, that is,
it does not say that the two countries ``should overcome their disputes
before international institutions,'' but says that they should ``overcome
their disputes.''
At the same session the Presidency accepted the report from the
Zagreb Summit, has agreed on naming of a number of BiH ambassadors to
foreign countries and establishment of diplomatic relations with the
Philippines, the daily said.
Banja Luka papers reported on Presidency's decision as well.
BiH Council of Ministers names new members of BiH Demining
Commission:
BiH Council of Ministers has accepted the Changes of the Decision on
BiH Demining Commission and has named Dragisa Stankovic, Jusuf Halilagic and
Franjo Markotic as the new members of this Commission. The changes include
the demands of the High Representative, Sarajevo and Banja Luka papers said.
The Council has also accepted the amendments to the Agreement of grand help
of Japan for demining in BiH.
In addition to this, it was agreed that the date of implementation
of the trade agreement between BiH and Croatia should be the date of signing
of the agreement and this opens the possibility that the agreement might be
signed before the end of the year, Council officials said.
The Council has also passed a decision that introduces a visa system
for Iranians and this was intended to prevent illegal migrations, papers
said.
Head of SDP asks for guarantees that he can change the budget:
Head of SDP, Zlatko Lagumdzija is asking for IMF guarantees that he
can change the budget created by the old government, Oslobodjenje reported
on the front page. Lagumdzija has to, by tomorrow afternoon, sign a frame
for macro-economy policy and the budget for next year on state and entity
levels but he stands firm in his demands that he be given the option to
change the budget. This is the first time that IMF demands that in addition
to parties that are in power now, the parties that won a significant number
of votes at the recently held general election also support the frame. NHI,
SDS, PDP and Party for BiH representatives have already accepted the frame
but Lagumdzija refused because he said it is unacceptable that parties that
are not in power have to sign and support the budget.
BiH Standing Committee for Military Matters meets:
Dnevni Avaz reported that after BiH Standing Committee for Military
Matters held a session on Thursday BiH should have a joint defense policy in
January next year. The acceptance of the joint defense policy should be a
step towards the establishment of a joint BiH Army, the paper said.
Enes Becirbasic, military advisor of the Bosniak member of BiH
Presidency told the press that the joint army will not be formed just yet
because some of those who deal with this issue feel that the time is still
not right.
A member of the B&H Presidency dissatisfied with the decisions of
the Election Commission: Ante Jelavic initiated the procedure for the
assessment of constitutionality
Split daily Slobodna Dalmacija reported that Ante Jelavic, member of
the B&H Presidency, requested the procedure to be initiated, which would
make assessment whether some rules and regulations of the PEC of the OSCE
are in accordance with the B&H Constitution. Namely, Jelavic holds that the
regulations of the Chapter 600 and Article 606 of the mentioned rules and
regulations, as well as the provisions of the Chapter B of the Article 1212,
are not in accordance with the B&H Constitution. The B&H Constitution,
however, guarantees the rights and freedoms safeguarded by the European
Convention for protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and
those documents have priority over all other laws.
Federation related issues:
Tenancy rights in Federation ceased to exist:
Tenancy rights in the Federation do not exist since Dec. 6th and the
OHR has asked local authorities to pass the laws that regulate this issue,
Sarajevo papers reported.
``Authorities should accept laws that regulate new relations but
they have not done it yet. OHR appeals that they urgently accept these
laws,'' Alexandra Stiglmayer, head of OHR Public Affairs told a news
conference on Thursday.
Federation Government decides that prices of fuel will be
established freely:
BiH Federation government has at its Thursday's session decided that
starting December 15th the prices of fuel in the Federation will be
established freely, Sarajevo papers reported. Officials said that the
decision does not necessarily mean that prices are going to increase. Energy
Minister Mirsad Salkic told the press that according to this decision the
government will not have control over the establishment of prices of fuel in
the federation but it will monitor the prices.
Dr. Dragan Covic, the Deputy President of the Government of the B&H
Federation: I will not deal with politics any more:
" It is quite certain that I will never be working in the sphere of
politics any more," Slobodna Dalmacija quoted Dr. Dragan Covic, the present
Deputy of the Federal Premier and Minister of Finances of the B&H Federation
as saying. Explaining the reasons of his departure from politics, Dr. Covic
said in the interview to Sarajevo weekly Slobodna Bosna: " I am not the
person to deal with politics. I am, maybe, too open and naÔve to be dealing
with politics." When being asked what he plans to do in future, Dr. Covic
answered that he chose to work at the University, where he will teach as a
professor, that he wants to complete the book, he has been preparing for two
years, and plans to spend several months abroad in order to learn the
language. After being asked what is going to be with his participation in
the HDZ B&H, since he is a Deputy President of the Party, Covic said: " I am
a Deputy President of the Party, and if I had not planned to finish my
mandate in the Federation Government, I would not have done so. Also, I
believe that changes in that regard will happen very soon. I am convinced
that the HDZ will continue its transformation, which was started still at
the fifth and continued at the sixth congress of the Party. There is no one
who recognises that enough, but if people really read and follow the
rhetoric, then they can, in a way, correctly feel it. If they constantly
feel that it is a nationalistic or national party, then they are wrong. I am
convinced that main reforms of the HDZ will happen even in the next seven or
eight months, and during that period of time I am absolutely staying with
the Party."
The Association of the War Veterans of HB in the World Federation
Zagreb daily Vjesnik reported that the Association of the HVO
Volunteers and Veterans of the Homeland War of HB was admitted to full
membership of the World Federation of the Veterans at the 23rd Session of
the Chief Assembly of this Organization in Paris. Although the Association
of the Fighters of the National and Liberation War of BiH, opposed the
admittance of this Association to the membership of the World Association of
the Veterans, 77 countries which are the members of the Association
unanimously approved the work and the results of the HVO Association of the
Volunteers and Veterans of HB. The Veterans and Volunteers stressed that the
admittance to such an important Association means 'affirmation and
recognition of the truth about the Homeland War, in which the Croat people
in BiH fought for their survival. '
RS related issues:
RS Ministry of Refugees and DPs - only double occupants will be
evicted:
Glas Srpski reported that Dragan Vuleta (RS Assistant Minister of
Refugees and DPs) said that, during winter, OMIs are not allowed to schedule
evictions of families who do not have alternative accommodation. According
to him the Fed Ministry of Refugees and DPs also made the same decision, and
the OHR connived at it. "This does not mean that evictions will be stopped,
they will be only filtered till March 15th, and only double-occupants will
be evicted", says Vuleta. According to him the RS Ministry of Refugees and
DPs does not know the number of double-occupants in the RS, but as it claims
many of them live in Banja Luka, Prijedor and Doboj. "During the winter time
100 evictions will be scheduled in these towns", says Vuleta.
Apprehension of ICTY indictees would be a political catastrophe:
Today's edition of "NN" carries short interview with Cedo Vrzina (RS
Justice Department). Vrzina talks about adoption of the Law on cooperation
between the RS and the ICTY. He says that the RS has been working on the Law
for more than a year, but that the cooperation with the ICTY is not
conditioned with adoption of the Law. Vrzina furthermore says that with or
without adoption of the Law the RS has to cooperate with the ICTY but that
cooperation with the Tribunal helps the RS to try some individuals, indicted
for war crimes, in the RS and in accordance with the RS legislation. Since
Vrzina himself said that there are the ICTY rules and regulations as well as
the DPA according to which the RS made itself liable to cooperation with the
Tribunal, he was asked to comment on obligation of the RS to apprehend and
transfer the ICTY indictees . Vrzina says that it has been obligation of the
RS from the very beginning. "Another question is - are the RS authorities
capable of carrying it out-. "If we did it, if only our authorities
apprehended and transferred indictees to the Hague, it would have such
negative effect,.., would be catastrophic". Asked to clarify in what sense,
he says in political sense.
Sarovic supports the Law on cooperation with the Hague
The newly elected President of the RS, Milan Sarovic, stated to
Banjaluka magazine Start that the RS ' has to pass a special law', which
will regulate the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. It was a cause for a
serious reaction of the High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch, who
characterised Sarovic's comments as a provocation, adding that 'this is not
the moment for any kind of ambiguities.' Petritsch warned Sarovic that the
Hague Tribunal has mandate for criminal prosecution and trials against
persons responsible for serious violations of the international law in
former Yugoslavia since 1991. The jurisdiction of the Hague Tribunal over
that territory, including also the RS, the High Representative emphasises,
was established by the Resolution 827 of the Security Council from 25 May
1993 and strengthened by the Article 9 of the GFAP and Article 2 of the
Annex 4 of the Dayton Agreement. " All the relevant institutions in Bosnia
and Herzegovina will establish the cooperation and enable unlimited access
for the ICTY," those provisions read. The OHR claims that that the
statements of the SDS, whose member is Mirko Sarovic, that they respect the
Dayton Agreement, could be frequently heard so far. In that context,
Wolfgang Petritsch calls upon the newly elected President of the RS to
ensure for the RS Government to respect their clearly defined commitments
toward the ICTY, and not to think how to pass some special laws.
International community related issues:
Peace Implementation Council Steering Board meets:
Peace Implementation Council's Steering Board met in Brussels on
Thursday, Dnevni Avaz reported. OHR officials said that the Steering Board
will discuss the political and economy situation in BiH and will release a
statement after the meeting.
Oslobodjenje reported that the Steering Board decided that OHR's
budget for next year will be 25.5 million Euros. The Board also said that
the results of the BiH general elections express the will of its citizens
and called for an urgent establishment of the new governments asking the new
authorities to function according to standards of a modern European state.
The Steering Board has called upon the High Representative to
continue to use the powers of his mandate to enable the full implementation
of the Peace Agreement, Oslobodjenje said.
Peter Nicholl on reform of payment system in BiH
Today's editions of both BL dailies report that 7.718 BiH
enterprises transferred their accounts from Payment Operations Bureaus to
commercial banks. Since commercial banks will not open accounts for
insolvent enterprises, the closure of those enterprises is expected. Peter
Nicholl, Governor of the BiH Central Bank, thinks it is a exaggeration,
although he does not deny existence of 10 000 frozen accounts which mostly
belong to enterprises that have not been working for years. The goal of the
BiH Central Bank is not to dismantle Payment Operations Bureaus but to
establish infrastructure for new system. Other organizations decide on
closure of POBs", says Peter Nicholl. The "NN" article furthermore reads
that the IC representatives are worried because the Law on payment
transactions still has not been passed in the RS, which may slow down
establishment of new payment system in this entity. The RS Government
promised that the Law would be passed at the RS NA session scheduled for
December 15th. If it does not happen, the High Representative might impose
the Law.
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