- BH-Central Institutions
- Alliance proposes candidates for the posts of the Chair of the
Council of Ministers and the Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency;
- BiH Workers Union asks for the revision of the RS Labor Law;
- Federation
- February pensions to be paid before the end of the month?;
- Circle 99 holds round table discussion on pensions;
- Association of Independent Merchants from Sarajevo Stari Grad warn
that the natural restitution would have catastrophic consequences;
- HDZ to form an inter-cantonal council;
- Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Governor says decisions of the
International Community detrimental to Croats;
- Republika Srpska
- RS Minister of Urban Planning on the RS Law on Purchase of
socially-owned apartments;
- International community:
- Thomas Miller: SDS leadership has close contacts with Radovan
Karadzic;
- The High Representative warns that the BiH Presidency has to
nominate a new candidate for the Chair of the CoM without delay;
- Wolfgang Petritsch: Jelavic and the HDZ play on fear and work
against Croats;
- OSCE's Carlo Jan: Integration of armies in BiH is a step-by-step
process;
- Brcko District
- Editorials
- Vecernji List: Over 100 radio and TV stations to be shut down by the
end of the year - What is hiding behind the IMC action?;
- Vjesnik: Certain Alliance members under The Hague Investigation;
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Central Institutions related Issues:
Alliance proposes candidates for the posts of the Chair of the Council of
Ministers and the Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency:
According to media reports the Alliance parties have officially nominated
Bozidar Matic, a prominent academic and a successful business manger, for
the Chair of the BiH Council of Ministers. Safet Halilovic, who spoke on
behalf of the Alliance, said that the BiH Presidency is asked to endorse
the proposal and send it for a discussion to the House of Representatives,
which is to hold the next session in seven days. Halilovic also said that
the Alliance parties agreed to initiate a regular procedure before the
Parliament in order to name the new Bosniak member of the Presidency. It
was confirmed that the Alliance candidate would be Beriz Belkic, the
former Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton.
Meanwhile, SDA's Sulejman Tihic said that this party has not yet discussed
the latter issue in detail, but that the possible candidates for the
Presidency are Halid Genjac, the present member, and Amor Masovic, the
president of the Federation Commission for Missing Persons.
BiH Workers Union asks for the revision of the RS Labor Law:
The president of the BiH Workers Union, Sulejman Hrle, asked the High
Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, and the RS government to take out 'the
discriminating provisions' in the RS Labor Law, in particular the Article
152. At a press conference in Sarajevo, Hrle said that that the
controversial article, which provides for a modest financial compensation
for those illegally dismissed from work from 1992 onwards, simply
legalizes the ethnic cleansing, since it does not give any right to
dismissed workers to return to their jobs. Hrle thinks that the RS Law
should have provision similar to the one in the Federation Law (Article
143), and which allows those who are illegally dismissed to return to
their pre-war places of work.
Monday issue of Dnevni Avaz carried a shorter editorial on the subject, in
which commentator noted the discrepancy between the Federation and the RS
Labor Law and stressed that the only viable and fair solution would be to
enact the single state Law on Labor.
Federation
February pensions to be paid before the end of the month?:
The president of the PIO Fund Sarajevo (Steering Board), Mirsad Salkic,
told Oslobodjenje that the February pensions are planned to be paid before
the end of the month, and in accordance with the new Law on Pension Fund,
which was imposed by the High Representative. Salkic also said that the
two PIO Funds in the Federation are actively working on their
consolidation, and hope that the entity will have the single Fund by
April.
Circle 99 holds round table discussion on pensions:
The Association of Independent Intellectuals, Circle 99, held on Sunday a
panel discussion on the social status of pensioners in BiH Federation.
Speaking at the session, the Deputy High Representative for Economic
Matters, Daniel Besson, stressed that, had the High Representative failed
to impose the new pensions law, BiH would today be a bankrupt country.
Besson also said that, with all the new reforms, he expects the economy in
BiH to rejuvenate itself. Moreover, Besson stressed that the coefficient
of pensions is reciprocal to the economic growth. In other words, as the
economy is getting stronger, the monthly pensions are increasing as well.
"By 2001, everyone will have benefited from this reform," Besson said. The
report from yesterday's panel was carried by all electronic media in the
Federation - the OBN, the RTV BiH reported on it in their prime time news,
while the Cantonal Television prepared a twenty minute reportage focusing
mostly on Besson's statements. Representatives of pensioners' associations
who were present at the panel were not given a substantial media coverage.
Association of Independent Merchants from Sarajevo Stari Grad warn that
the natural restitution would have catastrophic consequences:
The Association of Independent Merchants from Sarajevo municipality Stari
Grad warned once again that the natural restitution of property in BiH is
not possible and that, if it happened, it would cause a catastrophic
consequences. The association issued a statement on Saturday saying that
original owners of property should be compensated through financial
restitution. They also stressed that the Vakuf Management has no rights to
the stores and offices which have been taken care of and sustained by
independent merchants for the past fifty years.
HDZ to form an inter-cantonal council:
According to an unidentified source of Dnevni Avaz, the HDZ will propose
to the Croat National Assembly to create the so-called "inter-cantonal
council", which will include Croat majority cantons and Croat-populated
areas within other cantons in the Federation. The same source said that
this body will be financed by the profit made from taxes and customs
collected on the territory under control of the Council.
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Governor says decisions of the International
Community detrimental to Croats:
In an interview with Slobodna Dalmacija, the governor of
Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Rade Bosnjak, said that the peoples in BiH
should make an agreement about the implementation of elections results
instead of "doing as they are instructed by the High Representative and
his Alliance, and always to the detriment of BiH Croats." Commenting on
the last Wednesday's session of the House of Representatives, when the
candidacy of the HDZ nominee Martin Raguz was rejected, Bosnjak said that
this session, or the farce - as he called it - will be remembered in
history, while the International Community and its emissaries will bear
the responsibility. He refused to comment substantially on the decision of
the Constitutional Court to declare the lack of jurisdiction in the case
of PEC (Provisional Elections Commission) rules and regulations for the
election of deputies to the House of Peoples, but stressed that by passing
this ruling, the Court simply affirmed the existence of the protectorate
in BiH.
Republika Srpska
RS Minister of Urban Planning on the RS Law on Purchase of socially-owned
apartments:
In an interview with Glas Srpski, Nedjo Djuric, the RS Minister of Urban
Planning, Housing, Civil engineering and Ecology, comments on the RS Law
on Purchase of socially-owned flats. He said that he believes that the RS
Government will not introduce the so-called "two-year provision" in the RS
Law. Commenting on the RS Law on Purchase of socially-owned flats, Djuric
said that the law should become effective as soon as possible, since the
working group, the Ministry and the OHR agreed on it earlier. As for the
Law itself, Djuric said that it gives room to all citizens to decide where
they want to live. Djuric reminded the press that the RS Ministry still
has not received the answer from the OHR, but that the head of the OHR
Working Group Gary Collins said that he is ready to discuss the issue.
International community related issues:
Thomas Miller: SDS leadership has close contacts with Radovan Karadzic:
In an interview with Oslobodjenje, the US Ambassador to BiH, Thomas
Miller, said that the leadership of the SDS is in the constant contact
with the indicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic. Miller could not say
whether the current RS President Mirko Sarovic, also an SDS member,
presently communicates with Karadzic, but stressed that the latter is
still one of the key SDS figures, and "a backstage player". The US
Ambassador also said that the attitude towards the party indeed caused
certain disagreement between the US Administration and the OHR, since the
US believes that the SDS has not changed substantially since the war. "If
this party is truly a better party now, then it will extradite Karadzic to
The Hague Tribunal," said Miller, and added that this would be the
simplest way the SDS could show to the US government that it really
changed.
The High Representative warns that the BiH Presidency has to nominate a
new candidate for the Chair of the CoM without delay:
The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, warned the BiH Presidency
that it has to propose a new candidate for the Chair of the Council of
Ministers without delay and constructively. All Federation and RS media
carry the OHR press release.
Wolfgang Petritsch: Jelavic and the HDZ play on fear and work against
Croats:
In an article written exclusively for Zagreb's Jutarnji List, the High
Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, commented on the present policy of the
HDZ and the status of Croat people in BiH.
OSCE's Carlo Jan: Integration of armies in BiH is a step-by-step process:
The number of soldiers in the RS and the BiH Federation has been reduced
from 300,000 to 45,000, and the goal is to reduce this number to 15,000 or
20,000 in the entire BiH, the representative of the Head of the OSCE for
Military Issues in BiH, General Carlo Jan, told the press on Sunday. He
also said that the full demilitarization of BiH would be possible only if
the NATO was in position to provide security guarantees. Speaking about
the possibility of a joint BiH army, he pointed out that this was a
step-by-step process, which would be result in the full integration of BiH
into the European institutions.
Brcko District:
University in Brcko?
According to Oslobodjenje, the Expert Team made of nine university
professors from the Association Povratak said that there are real
possibilities for organizing the system of higher education the Brcko
District. Moreover, professors of Economic Faculties from Tuzla and Brcko
have proposed to the Brcko District Government and the OHR to form the
expert group which would prepare an elaborate on organizing the higher
education system and the draft law on high education in the District.
Editorials:
Provided by OHR Mostar:
Vecernji List: Over 100 radio and TV stations to be shut down by the end
of the year - What is hiding behind the IMC action?:
By Z. Jurilj
By shutting down 42 radio and TV outlets in the media landscape of Tuzla,
the IMC has practically announced the radical reduction of the surfeited
media landscape in BiH. Judging from the Tuzla case, the reduction of the
media space in BiH, where around 270 radio and TV outlets were registered
by the end of 2000, will be merciless and painful. After dealing with
Tuzla, the IMC will keep monitoring the 13 other media regions in BiH
throughout the year. It is already certain that the electronic media
market will be cut by almost 50 percent by the mid year, which is also the
deadline for issuance of long-term licenses for radio and TV broadcasting.
The long-term licenses, which are valid for the periods of two to five
years, will be granted to the stations that meet the four fundamental
criteria of the IMC.
Although the IMC regulations were produced as far back as 1998, and then
offered to all editors and directors of radio and TV stations, reactions
only followed after the media case in the Tuzla region. What caused a
particularly negative reaction of the public was the IMC decision on
abolishing Radio Tuzla, which was functioning for 47 years and is the
second oldest regional station in the former Yugoslavia.
"The situation is as it is and we have no solution. They should have
studied the IMC laws which they had previously adopted unreservedly,
instead of doing it now that the action has already started," stated IMC
Spokesperson Odobasic. In answer to the question about possible political
motives behind the action, she said such allegations are superficial.
Vjesnik: Certain Alliance members under The Hague Investigation:
By A. Zornija
The Law on the Cooperation with The Hague might become a disputable issue
within the Democratic Alliance for Changes, big post-election coalition,
which wants to take over the mandate for the composition of the BiH
Council of Ministers and to control the main instruments of the Executive
Authority in the BiH Federation and in most of the cantons in this entity.
The Law on the Cooperation with The Hague is also in the set of the
regulations that the parties, which are the members of the Alliance, are
preparing to pass in an urgent procedure.
However, the information leaked that there is no agreement among the
Alliance members and their political partners within the BiH Federation
and the RS regarding the contents of that Law and that this issue, along
with the disputes regarding the distribution of the executive authorities,
might endanger the implementation of the Alliance Agreement. The problem
is actually that some of the leaders from the Alliance have rather
suspicious war histories.
Although the members of the Alliance claim that their political purpose
are changes, a fact is that some of the key members of this coalition
performed important functions in the legislative and executive authorities
in the period from 1991 to 1995, and they were even commanders of the
Police and Army.
The case of Sefer Halilovic, former Commander of the HQ of the BiH Army,
is the one that the public knows best. The retired General Halilovic is
now the leader of the Bosnian Patriotic Party, one of the nine [actually,
there are ten parties] parties that joined the Alliance, and his name has
been mentioned as possible Minister of Defence. However, General Halilovic
carries a heavy mortgage of the crime committed in Grabovica, a
Herzegovina village, back in 1993, when the BiH members killed dozens of
Croat civilians during the operation 'Neretva 93'.
Also, Zlatko Lagumdzija, the SDP leader, was Vice President of the
Government and GDS Representative in the Federal Government, while Jusuf
Pusina was Minister of the Interior. Stjepan Siber, the Republican
Representative in the Federal Parliament was also on a high position in
the Army for a while. Miro Lazovic who is the new President of the
Cantonal Assembly in Sarajevo, was the leader of the BiH Assembly. Haris
Silajdzic never denied the accusations that he signed the permissions to
enter BiH Army Prison Camps as the Musala Prison Camp in Konjic was.
Naturally, it is not very likely that The Hague will issue bills of
indictment against Lagumdzija, Pusina, Lazovic, Silajdzic and Siber, but
the fact remains that no matter who comes to power in the coming period
these people will not be 'new people'.
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