| CROAT RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18:00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19:00 hrs) | FED TV (19:30 hrs) | RT RS (19:30) |
| Pope’s visit to Croatia | Rajic’s appeal rejected | UNDP poll | Foreign Min. in Sarajevo |
| SFOR’s raid | SFOR’s operation | HN Canton govt. | UNDP poll |
| Rajic’s extradition | SEECP meeting in Sarajevo | Zenica mine strike | B.Luka-Gradiska road blk. |
| SEECP meeting in Sarajevo | UNDP’s survey |
| Serbs not leaving Obilic |
The Herzeg-Bosna bulletin is not in full as the reception was poor due to bad weather conditions.
| Oslobodjenje | Scandalous: failed director of the Zagreb airport sheltered in diplomacy; UNDP poll – BiH spends more on its armies than the US; SFOR blocked Upper Rama – search for Gotovina, wrong persons arrested; Drama in the Zenica coal mine – hunger strike 410 metres underground; |
| Dnevni Avaz | Ashdown – there will be dismissal od civil servants; Loans and donations awarded to 512 veterans families; SFOR looked for Gotovina; Arifovic – 416 places sealed in five days; An investigation against Barsa, Brkic, Kanlic and Raguz |
| Dnevni List | God bless you Croatia; Emergency session of the SDA Presidency held last night: The SDA will not participate in the establishment of the HNK govt!?; The FBiH issued two criminal charges – Bender, Markovic and Coric suspected of embezzlement’; |
| Vecernji List | SFOR looking for General Gotovina at the Rama Monastery; Paddy Ashdown – BiH will be constructing 500 kilometres of highway 100 years; Pope – I remember your war sufferings, however, your strength and courage is well-known. You will see better days |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Italians looking for Gotovina – arrest teacher and caterer; Bond and Vrbosic were cleaning houses in Mir |
| Glas Srpske | High temperatures jeopardise health – the shade protects the head |
| Nezavisne Novine | Action of the SFOR MND in Rama/Prozor – SFOR arrested Jozo Mestrovic instead of Ante Gotovina; The UNDP and OHR – bureaucracy wastes 64% of the national income in BiH; SEECP Summit in Sarajevo: Organised crime is the greatest jeopardy to regional security; Inspection into business dealing of the ‘Gacko’ Power Plant completed – a report is on the Prime Ministers’ desk |
| Blic | Divers pulled out three victims from drowning; Bosna river like a garbage container; Dragan Mikerevic – to solve urgently problem of the state capital in enterprises |
Political Affairs | |
| UNDP survey
| BHTV at 19:00 hrs by Lejla Redzovic – the UNDP yesterday presented results of the first comprehensive survey among BiH citizens regarding the effectiveness of the BiH Civil Administration’s work. Almost all questioned subjects said that it was not efficient, not economic, and not professional and that BiH had no money to cover its expenses. “We have overstaffed, old, careless and inefficient civil administration, which cannot provide service to its citizens. At the same time, such administration spends a lot of money leaving nothing to its citizens,” said HR Paddy Ashdown. While BiH spends 64 % of the budget for politicians and administration, the education system takes only 0,3 %. BiH is the only country without a single km of motorway in the Balkans. FTV at 19:30 by Eldar Sarajlic – the UNDP has presented results of its survey in an attempt to initiate the reform of the public administration in BiH. The worst problem of BiH administration is its size and expensiveness. It is unacceptable for BiH to spend two times more on administration than western countries. “No country can be successful if it spends so much on politicians and leaves nothing for its citizens, pensioners and development,” said HR Ashdown. RTRS at 19:30 hrs – “Deep changes in the public administration have no alternative and the local authorities must face this question if they want to speed up the BiH’s joining to the EU,” said HR Ashdown. The poll was carried out on a sample of 2,000 citizens, businessmen and state officials by the UNDP. The poll showed a great displeasure of the citizens with the public administration. Avaz pg. 1 and 2 – the latest research shows the BiH has a bad, slow, unprofessional, unorganised yet very expensive civil administration. HR emphasized it will be necessary to carry out a thorough reform. Oslobodjenje pg. 1 and 9 – the WB has listed BiH amongst 20% of countries with the worst administration. Dnevni List pg. 10 ‘Out of date and inefficient administration hinders BiH in getting closer to the EU’ and Vecernji List pg. 1 and 8 – also reported the press conf. Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 and 3 – “If you are a bad servant, you will not get the support of the OHR nor the Public Service Agency. The new organisational system of civil administration also includes some measures, like disciplinary measures and dismissals,” said Ashdown. Blic pg. 7 ‘Clerks and politicians make country poorer’ – Ashdown said it was necessary to reduce the number of public employees and perhaps shift the level at which services were provided to make the system less cumbersome and inefficient. |
| Oslobodjenje commentary | Oslobodjenje pg. 2 ‘Administration’ by Mirko Sagolj – the author thinks that HR Ashdown ‘has hit another dangerous bee hive – administration’. Sagolj points out that the structure of the post-Dayton BiH is such that its administration would not be able to support the country with the highest GDP – Norway. He points out that Ashdown did not say what he intends to do, but the author thinks the problem can not be solved within the current DPA framework. “BiH needs a new Constitution that would remove causes of the administration that Ashdown labelled as responsible and inefficient. This burden, like no other, is possible to remove within the DPA Constitution.” |
| SEECP meeting | BHTV at 19:00 hrs by Adis Deljkovic – a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Southeast Europe Co-operation Process countries finished yesterday in Sarajevo. Ministers signed a joint statement where they all declared in favour of joining the EU. Ministers supported the involvement of young people in relations between the countries in the region and confirmed their determination to fight organised crime, corruption and terrorism.“ We believe that in Solun the EU is going to show its commitment to help the SEECP countries regarding the establishment of the institutional structures for the use of EU aid to advanced candidates,” said Mladen Ivanic, BiH Foreign Minister. FTV at 19:30 hrs by Blazica Kristo – ministers have adopted a joint document that states priorities of their countries in the process of cooperation. Those priorities include economic cooperation, realisation of infrastructure related projects, fight against organised crime and liberalisation of the visa regime. RTRS at 19:30 hrs – “We expect the Thessalonica summit to be new and an important step in further strengthening of the relations between the EU countries and the west Balkans countries and that it will be another confirmation of the EU support to the south eastern Europe,” said Ivanic. Avaz pg. 4 ‘Europe is not complete without western Balkans’ – the focus of the conf was the coming summit of the EU with western Balkans countries that is to take place on 21 June in Solun. Oslobodjenje pg. 8 ‘Faster to Europe with the regional cooperation’ – on the SEECP meeting. Dnevni List pg. 5 ‘Thessalonica summit marks start of next phase in integration of Europe’, Slobodna Dalmacija back page ‘In Balkans – zone of free trade’, Vecernji List pg. 9 ‘Positive signal of EU for BiH too’ – according to Ivanic, the forthcoming Thessalonica summit will be dedicated to strengthening of regional cooperation, stability, security and development of countries of Southeast Europe. Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 and 2, Glas Srpske pg. 2 ‘Turning point in Thessalonica’ – “Our efforts on the strengthening of the so-called regional property should be observed as taking over of responsibility by the regional states. And final aim of this is our admission into EU,” said Ivanic. Blic pg. 3 ‘Balkans for a clear message’, Blic pg. 7 ‘A step closer to Europe’, Vecernje Novosti pg. 13 ‘There is no Europe without Balkans’ – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia-Montenegro, Goran Svilanovic, said the countries of the region had a joint aim of European integration. He added that fundamental problems of the South-eastern Europe were weak contacts between the institutions, increase of organised crime and the difficult economic situation. |
| HNK government
| FTV at 19:30 hrs – presidencies of the HDZ and SDA parties held separate sessions on the establishment of the Herzegovina- Neretva Canton (HNK) government. “The SDA Presidency assessed that there was no justification for further delays in the establishment of the HNK government. The Presidency is going to appoint a task group to hold a meeting with the HDZ tonight,” said Vice President of the SDA Mirsad Kebo. “We consider that the HNK government should be established in accordance with the current legislatives, meaning in accordance with the national structure from 1991. That means out of eight positions, three should be given to Bosniaks, three to Croats, one to Serbs and one to the Others. That was an initial idea of the HNK HDZ and the HDZ Presidency has supported that idea since it was in accordance with our move towards termination of all the parallelisms in the cantonal governing structures. We will hold a continuation of negotiations with SDA representatives and, hopefully, we will find solution that, I repeat, must be in accordance with the current legislations,” said Vice President of the HDZ Niko Lozancic. Dnevni List pg. 1 and 2 – Vice President of the SDA, Elmir Jahic, said the SDA party principle was advocating that no party, especially no representatives of one people, should have a majority in the HNK government because they believe it was the best way to build trust among the citizens and authority in the Canton, considering the events that occurred during the war. On the same issue, the same papers on pg. 2 ‘The HDZ BiH confident in the formation of executive authority’ – the distribution of the positions, according to the HDZ Presidency, is: three ministries to Croats, three to Bosniaks, one to Serbs and one to the Others. |
| SDA – HDZ meeting | Avaz pg. 4 ‘HNK PM will nominate a Serb minister’ – the SDA and HDZ delegations, headed by Tihic and Colak, late last night agreed the establishment of the HNK govt. According to the agreement, the SDA and SBiH will nominate ministers of finances, urban planning, judiciary and agriculture, while the HDZ will nominate HNK PM, ministers of interior, education and transport. The minister of health and social policy (a Serb rep) will be nominated by the PM in agreement with parties that make the majority in the HNK Assembly. Oslobodjenje pg. 4 and 5 ‘The SDA and HDZ agreed on the distribution of posts’ – also on yesterday’s session where party reps, eight months from the elections, finally reached an agreement on the establishment of the HNK govt. |
| Mostar re-structuring | Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘A mix up due to Ashdown’s principles’ – councillors of the Mostar City Council held a session yesterday during which a report was submitted on the work of the Commission for Devising Mostar Statute by Radmilo Braco Andric. He stated that the work of the Commission was off-balance due to priority principles sent to the Commission by HR Paddy Ashdown. He further explained that after five session the Commission was at the point of reaching an agreement, and then they received Ashdown’s principles. According to Andric, the principles have double meanings and pose dilemmas (i.e. whether Mostar will be a city of several municipalities or a city-municipality). He also added that OHR principles were of political nature and request the revision of the DPA, which was not within the Commission’s competencies. Dnevni List pg. 15 ‘The OHR recommendations disturbed Commission’s work?! – since Commission reps were dissatisfied with the answer they received from Senior Deputy High Representative, Gerhard Enver Schroembgens, the Commission addressed the Mostar City Council. DL says that the stand of the Mostar City Council with regard to this issue is clear: the High Representative is the main authority in BiH and the Council cannot change the given principles. |
| DL editorial | Dnevni List pg. 6 by Slavo Kukic ‘Pope’s arrival as encouragement to helpless’ – in light of an announcement on new charges against 50-odd humanitarian organizations and 18 senior officials by the Director of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) Customs Administration and a document prepared for the FBiH Prime Minister by the Director of FBiH Police that talks about connections between senior officials and organized crime in the FBiH, Kukic says the pressure is mounting. Kukic also says that the OHR is turning the screw too by supporting the US showdown with Mafia in the Balkans. “Who will lose the head once Ashdown is finished, only God knows. But, many are not sleeping well. Among them are some who are in the highest positions of the legislative and executive authority,” says Kukic. |
Strikes | |
| Zenica coal workers
| FTV at 19:30 hrs by Ibrahim Muratovic – the second shift of the Zenica coal miners started a hunger strike. It is expected that the third shift is going to join. The production in the Zenica Coal Mine has been stopped for the last seven days and the unions claim nobody form the respective government bodies has responded to miners’ demands. Oslobodjenje pg. 1 and 8 – sevtnh days of the drama in the Zenica coal mine during which workers went 410 metres underground and started a hunger strike. On Tuesday, miners from the Stranjani mine will join them. One of the workers said the conditions for work were extremely poor – wooden constructions, no boots, no gloves, no one invests in the mine, several km had to be walked underground to get to the construction site, and receive no salaries. |
| Ratarstvo company workers | FTV at 19:30 hrs – workers of the ‘Ratarstvo’ company from Nova Topola conducted on Monday a 15-minute blockade of the Banja Luka – N. Gradiska road. Workers demand payment of 10 late salaries, health and pension insurances. RTRS at 19:30 hrs by Vesna Cibic – Workers of the ‘Ratarstvo’ from Nova Topola have been on strike for ten days. According to the workers, the company is continuously falling into debts and nobody seems to bear the responsibility. |
| Livno Canton teachers | FTV at 19:30 hrs by Bosiljka Stipic – the secondary and elementary education workers in the Livno Canton are on general strike since negotiations between the unions and cantonal government have failed. The government accuses unions for bringing new demands on, while the unions claim government’s negotiating team is responsible. |
Economic Affairs | |
| Gacko power plant
| RTRS at 19:30 hrs by Biljana Bokic – General Director of the Gacko mine and power plant, Radoslav Stanjevic, denies this company lost 100 million KM. He claims that the business was successful in the last five months. Stanjevic says that outside contractors were hired because the power plant does not have the required machinery. Deputies of the Gacko Municipal Assembly also discussed the situation in this company at an extraordinary session yesterday. Company leadership presented the consolidation program aimed at recovering the company. |
| Conference on VAT | Nezavisne Novine pg. 3 ‘VAT means increase of prices’, Glas Srpske pg. 3 ‘Concern added tax’ – the negative effects of the introduction of the value added tax at the BiH state level is the increase of expenditures of the tax administration, general increase of prices and closure of some contractors’ activities and firms. This is written in the Manual called ‘Taxes – why and how’, which was yesterday presented in Banja Luka at a conference on the importance of the VAT introduction in BiH. The conference was organised by the ‘Management Promo’ Association and non-governmental organisation ‘Friedrich Ebert Stifftung’. The author of textbook is Borislav Bijelic, Professor at the Banjaluka Faculty of Economics. As priorities of the VAT, Bijelic referred to the reduction of tax evasion (grey economy), making of tax administration work more efficient and rational, evasion of double-taxation and the stabilisation in public income sector. According to Bijelic, some possibly negative effects of VAT may be increase in prices, closing of some firms (that have been faced with certain problems so far). Blic pg. 7 ‘With VAT against tax evasion’ – representative of the Republika Srpska Finance Ministry, Boro Medic, stressed that the collection of the VAT and principle of distribution of collected taxes should be solved before the introduction of the VAT. A member of the BiH Commission for Indirect Taxation, Aleksandar Stojanovic, said that nothing had been agreed on the introduction of the VAT, namely that they only had been working on the establishment of the organization structure of the administration for indirect taxation, which would start working on July 1. |
| Mikerevic on RS economy | Blic pg. 8 ‘Republika Srpska will not be a hostage of import lobby’, Vecernje Novosti pg. 23 ‘Hostages of import lobby’ – “We have to stop a bad import policy, las if we were a wealthy society. In our economy there are structures that think wrongly considering that imported goods are of better quality,” Republika Srpska Prime Minister, Dragan Mikerevic, told journalist on Monday after his meeting with Bijeljina’s businessmen. He stressed that the Republika Srpska and the government would not be hostages of an import lobby. According to him, it is not in the Republika Srpska’s interest that issued tenders give preference to outside investors. “Businessmen request prevention of grey economy and black market and if this government does not do it then it should leave,” Mikerevic said. |
| Report on RS Elektroprivreda | Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 & 5 ‘Report on Prime Ministers’ table’ – The Task Force, which the RS government formed to investigate the situation at the RS Elektroprivreda and Mine and Thermal Power Plant ‘Gacko’, completed its work and the report was on the desk of RS Prime Minister, Dragan Mikerevic. No official at the Republika Srpska Finance Ministry wanted to tell NN any detail from the report. However, an NN source close to the RS Elektroprivreda claims that the Task Force barely reviewed documents at the accounting department of the RS Elektroprivreda Directorate, whose Head was Nada Vujicic. The source also said that Vujicic was appointed to this position following an order of Svetozar Acimovic, former General Manager of the RS EP. The question is why somebody like her with the secondary school education assumed these duties. |
| Economic crime cases | Nezavisne Novine pg. 2 ‘There are more thieves at large than in prisons’ – it is crushing that only 54 persons in BiH are serving their sentence for economic crime, while everything in the state has been robbed. (Out of 54, four persons are serving the sentences in the Republika Srpska, while 50 of them are serving in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.) Sefik Dzaferovic, Chairperson of the BiH HoR, is of the view that there are many more persons who committed economic crime and are currently at large. He points out that the divisions between legal and economic system in BiH suit criminals. Chairperson of the BiH Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzic, is of the view that the figure of 54 persons does not fit reality. He stresses the importance of more accelerated and efficient functioning of the legal system. The officials of the Republika Srpska Ministry of Justice stress that the problems exist at all three sides – police, judiciary and prosecutor’s office. Namely, the entire criminal legislation contains certain gaps. |
Social Affairs | |
| HR in Roma settlement | BHTV at 19:00 hrs by Sanita Lisica – High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, yesterday visited the Roma settlement in Gorica. Their houses were constructed with the donation of the Dutch government, thus solved a housing problem of some 30 Roma families in Gorica. High Representative was introduced with problems of the Roma population and he promised the IC was going to do everything within its powers to help. Avaz pg. 4 ‘Roma people are victims of discrimination on daily basis’ – Dervo Sejdic, President of the Brothers Roma Association, stated Roma people were in a difficult position and encounter discrimination on a daily basis, especially from clerks at the civil administration. |
Police Affairs | |
| SFOR looking for Gotovina | CRHB at 18:00 hrs – SFOR arrested two persons arrested yesterday during an operation in Prozor-Rama municipality during their search for an ICTY suspect Anto Gotovina. The suspects were released after an official interview in the SFOR base in Butmir. SFOR checkpoints are still present in the area, they continue to search passengers and check vehicles. The story was also reported in Avaz on pg. 1 and 3, Oslobodjenje pg. 1 and 6, on BHTV at 19:00 hrs, FTV at 19:30 hrs, Vecernje Novosti pg. 13 ‘SFOR chases Gotovina’, Nezavisne Novine pg. 1 and 3, Glas Srpske pg. 3 ‘Gotovina – haphazardly’. |
Media Affairs | |
| FTV vs. FBiH Parliament | FTV at 19:30 hrs – responding to the adoption of the Changes to the FTV Law, Head of the FTV Council, Slavo Kukic, sent a letter to the Federation House of Peoples and the OHR explaining the position of the FTV as a public broadcaster. It is stated in the letter that the FTV had an editorial independency and institutional autonomy, therefore an obligation to broadcast live parliamentary sessions would mean putting viewers in the position of having no choice. Dnevni List pg. 7 ‘Viewers forced to watch sessions of the Federation Parliament’ – excerpts from Kukic’s letter. “It is our obligation to warn you that the support to the adopted changes means the support to opening of door to the return of logic of a state TV, support to departure from the European standards in the matter, and direct manifestation of the lack of readiness to tackle the European integration processes.” |
Army Affairs | |
| Bojic on armed forces | RTRS at 19:30 hrs by Stela Jungic – an SDS representative in the RS National Assembly, Borislav Bojic, is satisfied with four conclusions concerning the process of armed forces reform in the RS and FBiH. Bojic stresses no one can abolish the RS Army nor was anyone trying to do that. According to Bojic, the conclusions were adopted with the aim of joining the Partnership for Peace. He added the Assembly requested from the highest BiH authorities to hold a discussion on armed forces in line with the RS and BiH constitution. |
Judiciary Affairs | |
| Charges against three HDZ officals | Dnevni List pg. 1 and 3 – a press release by the FBiH Ministry of Interior regarding charges pressed with the Mostar Canton Prosecutor’s Office against four persons charged with the abuse of office or authority and embezzlement. Charges were reportedly pressed against senior HDZ officials, namely Ivan Bender from Neum, Pero Markovic from Capljina, former manager of the ‘Sume HZ-HB’ who had been removed from the office by a High Representative’s decision, and Miroslav Coric, current Deputy PM and PM designate of the HNK government. According to the charges, in 1996 Bender presented Markovic as a gift an ‘Audi A6’ worth 71,000 KM, the car which was owned by the Croat Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia (CR H-B). After the CR H-B ceased to exist, it became an asset of the HNK, and Coric presented Markovic as a gift the same car. Furthermore, there is a reasonable doubt Coric enabled Markovic to get the necessary paperwork, which resulted in Markovic registering the car as his own. |