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| Due to yesterday’s breakdown of electric supply, Mostar Aluminium was on the edge of production collapse | Parliament confirmed names of ministers and deputies in the Council of Ministers | New Council of Ministers has been elected | New Council of Ministers approved |
| Federal Government demands stopping of issuance of licence to the third GSM operator | Federal Government decides to stop privatisation of telecommunication system in BiH | Federal Government has stopped privatisation of telecommunication companies | New RS Government to be approved on January 17 |
| State Parliament House of Representative confirmed the new Council of Ministers | Some war crimes to be processed in FBiH | Human Rights Chamber ordered BiH and Federal authorities to officially request SFOR to extradite Sabahudin Fiuljanin | National parties endanger survival of RS, said Petar Đokic
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| Tomorrow, ICTY medical team arrives in order to examine Janko Bobetko | Americans continue deployment of troops in the Persian Gulf |
| RS has no better guarantee then Dayton Agreement, said SDS president Kalinic |
| Oslobodjenje | BiH gets inco0mplete government; FBiH Government – Eronet shares sold illegally |
| Dnevni Avaz | State gets new government; Paddy Ashdown – Apprehension of Karadzic would represent an act of ending the war |
| Dnevni List | House of Representatives of BiH Parliament Assembly: BiH Council of Ministers was appointed |
| Vecernji List | Federation Government demands postponing of issuing of license: Eronet illegal company? |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | What has caused cut in power supply in great part of Federation and Dalmatia on Sunday: For energetic collapse BiH and Croatia blame each other |
| Blic | Petar Djokic, the SPRS: “Politics, and not social issues, will dominate in the RS”; Bosnia at the edge of social rebellion; Dragan Kalinic: “The Dayton Agreement is guarantee for the RS” |
Establishment of the new authorities | |
| BiH gets new Council of Ministers
| The BiH House of Representatives confirmed the appointment of the chairman of the Council of Ministers, the ministers and deputy ministers in the Council of Ministers at Monday’s session in Sarajevo. Beforehand, Chairman Adnan Terzic had submitted a report on the future work of the Council of Ministers. The priorities are improving living standards, implementing reforms and becoming integrated into the European. Following an unexpectedly long debate about the work of the Council of Ministers in the past year and the very slight support which a report on this had received, the new prime minister of BiH, Adnan Terzic, had the opportunity to speak. In a report on the Council of Minister’s program objectives and priorities over the next four years, he said that their task would be to improve living standards considerably and create better opportunities above all for young people. “In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to considerably improve above all the business climate, whereby we shall create opportunities for the opening of a large number of jobs. This means that the authorities will no longer secure jobs, but they will enable business people to open businesses in a much easier and more efficient manner, and thus employ workers and be successful at what they do,” Terzic emphasized. During its term in office, this Council of Ministers will enable BiH to restore its GDP to two-thirds of the pre-war GDP and to reduce the unemployment rate by 35 per cent and the poverty rate by about 40 per cent in comparison to the current rates. “Regarding this, we shall have the following priorities: preserving the macroeconomic stability of the country; establishing a single economic area; reforming and rationalizing the judicial system; improving the business climate for domestic and foreign investments as the main instrument for increasing the employment rate and reducing the level of poverty; consolidating an adequate institutional framework at all levels and especially at the state level, a framework which will improve exports and introduce good quality controls of imports; ending the process of privatization; establishing the rule of law and efficient instruments to fight organized crime and corruption; getting closer to the EU and signing an agreement on stabilization and association; integrating the country into global economic trends through among other things joining the World Trade Organization and establishing an adequate and sustainable welfare system,” said Terzic. In order to achieve these goals, it will be necessary to speed up reforms and reduce political tensions in the country. (Oslobodjenje, front page, p 6, Dnevni Avaz, front page, p 2) Vecernji List (front and page 2, by E. Medunjanin, “Three months after elections BiH got new Government: 5-member Coalition announces thorough reforms”), Slobodna Dalmacija (last page, “Session of House of Representatives of BiH Parliament: Composition of BiH Council of Ministers confirmed”) and Dnevni List (front and page 3, “House of Representatives of BiH Parliament Assembly: BiH Council of Ministers was appointed”) also report on the issue. The representatives of the House of Representatives did not give their opinion on the new composition of the CoM until yesterday late afternoon. Representative Sead Avdic (from newly established party SDU) assessed Adnan Terzic’s presentation on introduction of VAT and single customs at BiH level as “a hollow talking” because, as he said, he did not have “a confirmation of political will of all parties that represent parliamentary majority” for something like this. Representative Belkic (Party for BiH) requested from the House of Representatives to give individual opinions on people nominated for Ministerial posts. Tihomir Gligoric wondered how was it possible to establish a dialogue with FRY if such a dialogue would be loaded with charges brought to the Court in the Hague and he also added: “We will not be able to talk about a real trust among peoples in BiH until the issue of the character of the war in BiH is solved”. Nijaz Durakovic raected upon this statement saying that all mentors both in BiH and worldwide believe that BiH had suffered an aggression by already known aggressor. (Blic, p 3, title: “Terzic criticized at the start”) |
| Reactions to the CoM appointment | In today’s editorials dedicated to the appointment of the new Council of Ministers, both Oslobodjenje’s Mirko Sagolj and Dnevni Avaz’s Faruk Cardzic emphasized that BiH would surely face collapse if the Terzic’s cabinet fails to genuinely carry out necessary reforms. Dnevni List (page 2, by Valentina Rupcic) carries an editorial dealing with yesterday’s session of House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament Assembly. The editorial says that this session showed that there is no serious approach and relation towards the work of one of the biggest BiH bodies and adds: “All this just proves once again that we are still not ready for joint functioning, that was planned long time ago.” Dragan Kalinic, the President of the RS National Assembly and the President of SDS party, believes that the Dayton Agreement is a strong guarantee for the RS and he thinks none of Serb political parties would accept the position of the RS within BiH to be brought in question in any way. According to Kalinic, only personnel of SDS and PDP would be appointed to eight Ministries that should be given to representatives of Serb people, including the Ministry of Finances and the Ministry of Defense, while the other parties of the Assembly majority would participate at the other levels of the authority. Kalinic confirmed that the Serb majority at the Assembly would support the new Government. (Blic, p 7, title: “The Dayton is a strong guarantee for the RS”) Petar Djokic, the President of the SPRS, believes political issues would dominate both in the RS and at BiH level because of the political nature of parties that will establish the authorities in the RS and BIH, while problems of common people would not be discussed. According to Djokic, it is obvious that the reformer in BiH is actually Paddy Ashdown and the parties of the authorities in both entities are “his subjects that must implement everything because in opposite the HR has mechanisms to sanction them”. Djokic reiterated that the socialists would support neither the composition of the CoM nor the RS Government, in which the main role will be given to SDA, HDZ and PDP, since “in this way, the nationalism is only being strengthened”. In relation to the CoM, Djokic says: “we are surprised with the fact that Ashdown unnecessarily arrogated the right to decide on whether who can and who can not be a minister. For example, the High Representative did not approve the nomination of Mirko Mijatovic from the SDS for the Minister of Justice. This was a great slap to SDS, and I think such a policy of Ashdown will continue”. (Blic, p 7, title: “Politics more important, social issues put aside”) |
| SDS candidates for state-level justice ministry | Nezavisne Novine learns that SDS nominated three persons for position of BiH justice minister. The first candidate is Biljana Maric, the current RS Justice Minister, the second candidate is Mladjen Mandic, the RS Deputy Justice Minister, and the third candidate is Dragomir Dumic, a lawyer from Bijeljina. According to the paper, Dumic is originally from Tuzla, currently lives in Bijeljina and has the biggest chances of becoming a new BiH justice minister. Dumic was the DS RS Chairman who joined SDS last year. |
War crimes | |
| Ashdown: Apprehension of Karadzic would represent an act of war ending | In an exclusive interview with Dnevni Avaz (p 5, announced on the front page) and the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown said that the apprehension of Radovan Karadzic would represent an act of ending the war. “This country cannot look in future in a full capacity until it gets rid of its past,” Ashdown emphasized. |
| OHR and ICTY Experts Begin Talks on Scope of BiH War Crimes Prosecutions | Senior Deputy High Representative and Head of the Rule of Law Pillar, Bernard Fassier and President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Judge Claude Jorda, on Monday opened a technical conference at the level of senior experts. The conference will look at the issues that need to be addressed to allow the effective prosecution in BiH of those war crimes cases that will not be tried in the ICTY. The conference will afford the international community the opportunity to understand better the technical requirements of such a process, including the number of cases that will have to be considered, the number of courts that may have to be involved and the financial burden of developing such a capacity. Both the ICTY and the OHR are committed to assessing jointly the parameters and scope of this issue, the cases to be considered, the costs, the level of international involvement and adaptation of BiH’s legal framework. This three-day working meeting is the most recent in a series of meetings held on this issue between the OHR and the ICTY. The High Representative met in Sarajevo in November 2002 with the Chief Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, and in the Hague in December 2002 with the ICTY President, Judge Claude Jorda. (Oslobodjenje, p 5: “Small Hague requires $ 30 million”, Dnevni Avaz, p 2: “May the war criminals be tried in BiH?”) Vecernji List (front and page 2, “Claude Jorda and Carla del Ponte in Sarajevo: Karadzic overshadowed problems related to establishment of ‘Mini-The Hague’ “), Slobodna Dalmacija (front and page 12, “Conference on Processing of War Crimes in BiH: Conference started without Carla del Ponte”) and Dnevni List (front and page 5, “Three-day conference of experts takes place in Sarajevo: Carla del Ponte did not show up”) carry that a three-day Conference on processing of war criminals in BiH started yesterday in Sarajevo under patronage of the ICTY officials and experts and OHR representatives. SD says that although it was announced that Carla del Ponte, the Chief ICTY Prosecutor, would arrive at the beginning of the conference, she did not come and according to the information coming from the ICTY del Ponte should arrive on Tuesday. DL also says that Carla del Ponte did not show up at the conference although her coming was announced. |
| Reactions to HR’s statement for BBC | VL also carries in the same article that the BiH media covered yesterday the statement that Paddy Ashdown, the High Representative, gave to BBC in which the HR objected the Western leaders because they did not exert more efforts in order to arrest Radovan Karadzic. Also, in the HR’s opinion a completely new approach of the International Community to this problem is necessary. VL says that it is quite certain that Ashdown will talk about this issue with Claude Jorda, the ICTY President, and Carla del Ponte. With regard to the aforementioned HR’s interview given to BBC, Dnevni List (page 6, “SDP is satisfied with new Ashdown’s statement”) and Oslobodjenje (p 3) carry an SDP press release saying that this party is satisfied with a new Ashdown’s statement on Karadzic’s arrest. The press release also says that the judgment stated in this last statement saying that West has not passed yet a political decision on Karadzic’s arrest is concerning. The press release goes on to say: “We cannot believe that this judgment expresses the stand of the HR and his office, especially since, so far, the International Community has been resolutely supporting urgent arrest of all persons charged with war crimes.” Moreover, the Oslobodjenje Editor-in Chief Senka Kurtovic (a second-page editorial) and Secretary of the BiH Commission for War Crimes Mirsad Tokaca (Oslobodjenje, p 3) criticising the HR’s statement for BBC saying that it is immoral to link Karadzic and Sadam Husein. |
Affairs | |
| Federation Government halts telecoms privatization
| The BiH Federation Government decided on Monday to halt all privatization activities and procedures concerning the telecommunication system in the Federation, concluding that Eronet was in many ways an illegal company. At the emergency session held in Sarajevo, the government has demanded of the Council of Ministers to suspend the issuing of licences to the third mobile communications provider in BiH (Dnevni Avaz, p 3: “Lawsuit over illegal sale of Eronet shares”, Oslobodjenje, p 4:” Toby Robinson illegally sold Eronet shares”). “Hercegovacka Bank Provisional Administrator Toby Robinson illegally sold 4.48% of the Eronet shares to the Grude Municipality,” said following the session the BiH Federation Minister of Transport and Communications, Besim Mehmedic. “I hope CRA will not make any decisions on the issuance of the third GSM license until the BiH Council of Ministers makes its stand on the issue,” the CoM Chairman Adnan Terzic told Oslobodjenje. |
| HB Provisional Administrator says everything was legal and transparent | “The Provisional Administrator of the Herzegovina Bank would like to set the record straight regarding the transfer of Eronet shares from Herzegovina Bank to the Municipality of Grude,” said the HB Provisional Administration in a press release issued on Monday, according to Fena news agency (Dnevni Avaz, p 3: Everything was legal and transparent”, Oslobodjenje, p 5: “Federal Attorney confirmed the shares belonged to the Bank”). “First and foremost, Herzegovina Bank was the legal owner of the 4.48% stake in Eronet that was sold to the municipality of Grude, as was confirmed by the Federal Attorney’s Office in its letter to the Federation Privatization Agency, dated 14 December, 2000. Herzegovina Bank’s ownership of these shares has not been legally disputed by the government. Despite recent comments by a number of politicians, neither the Federation Government nor HPT have seen fit at any time to file a court case disputing ownership of these shares. Moreover, it is the legal and fiduciary responsibility of the Provisional Administrator under her mandate to dispose of these shares in a manner that will maximize the value of HB assets, thus benefiting depositors,” the release read. |
| CRO Press on Eronet case | Dnevni list (front page & p 5, “”To suspend issuing for the 3rd GSM operator in BiH”, by J.P. & Lj.S. and “Federation Public Attorney’s Office takes over the Hercegovacka banka case”, by D.L.), Vecernji list (front page & p 2, “Behmen’s Government requests issuing of licence to Eronet to be postponed”, by E. Medunjanin and “Declining Toby Robinson’s offers”, by Z.K.) and Slobodna Dalmacija (last page, “Toby Robinson illegally transferred the shares”, by D. Pasic and “Hercegovacka banka will be sold through public tender”, by N. Dimitrijevic) carry extensive and basically the same reports on the conclusions the FBiH Government made at its extraordinary session yesterday. DL and SD also report on Toby Robinson’s yesterday’s meeting during which she briefed the FBiH Defense Minister, Mijo Anic, on the Ministry’s role in financial transactions of the Hercegovacka banka. “Unfortunately, we have not been delivered the necessary documentation from the Croatian Government and we do not have any hope to get it, but we are in possession of lots of documents indicating to transactions of the Croatian money. The final say in dubious transfers in this Bank’s case will be the one of the Public Attorney”, SD quotes Robinson as saying. DL adds she has asked that the FBiH Ministry of Defense undertake certain activities with the competent bodies of authority in relation to certain irregularities within the Ministry which she came across during the investigation into the Hercegovacka banka. A separate VL article reminds of Toby Robinson’s 3 offers to HPT Mostar to have the Croherc AG’s shares in Eronet back, but the Alliance’s FBiH Government and the HPT Management declined them. VL goes on to say that the HPT owed a larger amount loan to Hercegovacka Bank but they settled it by taking, under unfavorable conditions, a new loan with the Zagrebacka Bank instead of settling the matter by trading with the shares which are even nowadays, according to the court register, the ownership of Hercegovacka Bank. In a separate article, DL (p 7, “CRA changed its position for the sake of the interest of foreign capital”, by S. Kuzman) points to contradictory positions of the CRA regarding their role in granting the licence for the 3rd GSM operator. Namely, following the sale of Eronet shares to Grude Municipality, the Agency has immediately reacted by saying that the CoM is only competent to approve the value of the premium that Eronet will have to pay in order to get the licence. The daily comments that the premium amount is a minor one compared to the actual value of the concession which would have been granted via regular privatisation process. The CRA decision would not be strange were there not written evidence (DL published the copy of the CRA letter) on a different CRA view on issuing the GSM licences. The inconsistent change of positions unambiguously shows the CRA partiality regarding illegality of Eronet privatisation and regarding granting the concession for this GSM network for a shamefully low amount to a foreign owner. Referring to the published CRA reply to the HPT Mostar request for the licence for HPT’s own mobile telephony network (as HPT Mostar did not repossess its illegally usurped share in Eronet within the foreseen deadline), dated 8 May 2002, DL says that the CRA at the time named the CoM as the main body competent to resolve the request and to issue the licence for the 3rd GSM network: “The Telecommunication Sector Policy foresees that the Council of Ministers decides when and under which conditions the 3rd GSM licence will be issued. Bearing in mind the CRA is the regulatory body which implements the tasks set in the mentioned document – the Telecommunication Sector Policy – we are obliged to wait for the CoM to take a stand on the issue”, the document, signed by David Betts, CRA Executive Director, reads. DL goes on to say that, at the time, the CRA even instructed HPT Mostar to request from the CoM to pass the decision on the 3rd GSM operator as soon as possible, and took upon itself to inform the CoM on the HPT request. Following the CRA instruction, HPT Mostar sent such a request to the CoM on 15 May 2002 but, as there was no reply, HPT renewed its requests in June and September. Last October, HPT Mostar directly addressed the then CoM Chairman Mikerevic, yet there was again no reply. With regard to the Eronet case, Vecernji List (page 4) carries an editorial signed by Radoslav Dodig. The editorial says: “What has attracted one foreign Manager (referring to Toby Robinson, the Provisional Administration of Hercegovacka Bank) to offer shares exactly to Grude Municipality? Perhaps, Ljubuski Municipality would pay more for them. Is that a recipe for other Municipal leaders to start dealing with shares’ business? How come that all of a sudden international procurators and former HVO logisticians from Grude (Rupcic, Knezevic and company) are sitting at the same table, negotiating? Before, international circles were qualifying considerably more harmless transactions and moves of Herzegovinian businessmen as dangerous, anti-state malversations. Whit is at stake now? Reply: a) Money; b) Money; c) Money; d) Money;” Dnevni List (page 4, by Slavo Kukic) carries a critical editorial dealing with the Eronet issue but also with the sale of BiH banks to foreign banks. The editorial criticizes hypocrisy of foreign investors who are, according to Kukic, only interested in extra profit and conquering of new territories because of this extra profit. Kukic says that smart people and their politicians should be more careful and determined when coming of the international capital is in question. The editorial goes on to say that politicians are passive when this issue is in question and Kukic concludes that the most efficient response of this people would be in knob-sticks in their attitude towards all those who are pilfering this people, no matter whether they are domestic or foreign criminals since the knob-sticks are the most efficient and perhaps the only remedy when the transition-colonial pilfering is in question. |
International community/OHR | |
| Solana on EU policy in the Balkans
| In a statement for Dnevni Avaz (p 4: “EU does not want to create a Balkans federation”), the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, said that the EU did not intend to create a Balkans federation. “In place of that, our key goal remains to promote the principle of regional cooperation in the western Balkans,” Solana emphasized. |
| Meeting of Clifford Bond with representatives of BiH community in Washington | Dnevni List (page 9, “Meeting of American Ambassador Bond with representatives of BiH community in Washington”) carries that Clifford Bond, the American Ambassador in BiH, met with representatives of the BiH community, who live in the area of Washington. During the meeting Bond first mentioned uncertainty present in BiH after the coming of the national parties in power, however, he also explained that the situation is different from the period in 1992 and 1993 because the International Community is strongly present and determined to continue with reforms. Asked whether the USA is leaving BiH because the EU is becoming more involved in the BiH issue, Bond said: “No, in any case not. The USA remains present in SFOR, it will continue to support the establishment and rule of law in BiH, return of refugees and economic assistance to refugees…” Bond especially referred to the process of reconciliation and arrest war criminals. |