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| GSM licence | CoM determines GSM price | Price for GSM license | Economy Policy Adopted |
| Mtg on Aluminuim | RS NA on privatisation | Al-Qaida again in BiH | Live report from RSNA |
| SFOR on detained Algerian | Isreal attacks Rafah | Free Trade postponed | Serb Vital Interests |
| OSCE on Security in BiH | Initiative for BiH structure | Energy for Aluminium | SPRS: abolish FBiH |
| Oslobodjenje | Third GSM licence costs 140 million KM; Travnik’s ‘Vezir’ company a suspect for terrorism |
| Dnevni Avaz | Investigation into the fire in prosecutors office: files on more than 2000 cases burned; Three GSM operations have to pay 140 million KM each; Doris Pack for Avaz: We lose if BiH doesn’t win! |
| Dnevni List | Cardinal Vinko Puljic: Let Christmas celebration be imbued with sanctum of God’s closeness; Continuation of talks on electricity delivery to Aluminij today |
| Vecernji List | Croats are being divided by books on UDBA (Former Yugoslavia Intelligence Service); USA freezes money of BiH companies due to relations with Al’Qaida |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | 5 secret actions carried out without Minister’s knowledge; Chaos in traffic |
| Glas Srpske | American bans further activities of Association “Vezir” and company “Hoshburg AG”: Safet’s new turban |
| Nezavisne Novine | Decision of BiH COM: Telekom operators must pay BAM 140 million each for licence; Session of Telekom Srpske share-holders today: Vacancy for new management, investigation against leadership; Dragan Vrankic: BAM 50 million missing in budget of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Blic | RS Assembly demands: to stop selling firms; Banja Luka brewery: Rip-off |
Economic and social issues | |
| CoM: 140 mil KM each mobile operator to pay for licence
| FTV, RTRS, CRHB – The BiH Council of Ministers agreed on Tuesday on the price of GSM licence in total of 420 million KM, which is to be equally divided between two current authorized mobile operators, BH Telecom and MOBIs, and a third which is expected to be awarded a licence in the early 2004. BH Minister of Transport and Communications Branko Dokic further explained at the press conference: “The payments need to be made in the next eight years, while in the first two years they will have to pay 15 % of the amount, and the next seven years they will have to pay remaining 10% each year. The third GSM licence has to be decided on in the first half of 2004, the financial means of these licences will be directed to the building of the transport structures in BiH, before all for the project documentation of the high-way 5C and on the production of current opened project documentation of the high-ways in BiH.” Oslobodjenje cover splash ‘Third GSM licence costs 140 million KM’, pg 6 ‘BH Telecom, MOBIs and third operator will pay 140 million KM each’, Dnevni List pg 3 ‘License to Eronet at price of 140 million KM’, Nezavisne Novine cover, pg 2 ‘Telekom operators must pay BAM 140 million each for licence’ – Minister Dokic also explained that the prices was 11% of the telekom’s profit, adding that in other countries prices is usually based on 10-15% of the profit. Asked why BH Telecom and MOBIs have to pay again for the licence price, as they are already paying the obligatory premiums, Minister explained that solution will be a long-term solution, as the licence would be valid for 15 years. Dnevni Avaz cover, pg 2 ‘Three GSM operators to pay 140 mil KM each’ – Deputy BiH Transport and Communications Minister Haris Basic said: ‘Decision on the value of the GSM licence is a result of the expert work and preparations in the Ministry. It is very well and important that all members of the CoM understood the significance of such decision in aim to protect interests of BiH as a state.’ BHTV 1 – Branko Dokic also added that the determined price is obligatory to be paid by all three operators regardless to whether it is of private or public ownership. Minister added that the third GSM operator will be chosen by the Communications Regulatory Agency [CRA], with a condition for it to be domestic company. As a reminder, both HT Mostar and Eronet companies had applied for the licence with the CoM in previous years. |
| Eronet dissatisfied with CoM’s decision on licence premium | Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Knezevic: it is possible that owners bring decision on closures’, Dnevni List pg 3 ‘License to Eronet at price of 140 million KM’ – The president of the Eronet management Bozo Knezevic stated for Avaz that the decision on 140 mil KM to be paid by each mobile operator in the country was too high and without realistic grounds. ‘I am not familiar with the criteria based on which they established that prices and what is the validity of those criteria, but I can tell that the price doesn’t correspond with the real licence value.’ – stated Knezevic adding that 21 million KM which was established by an international consulting agency PWC was realistic. He did not want to comment on whether Eronet will be willing to pay 140 mil KM sum: ‘Our owners will meet in next few days, and will consider the decision of the CoM and decide whether they are able to pay that much.’ |
| CoM postpone FTA on agricultural products for three months | CRHB, BHTV, RTRS, FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 9 ‘Three-month postponement of the Agreemetns with Croatia and SCG’, Dnevni List pg 3 ‘Changed agreements on free trade with Croatia and SciG’, Slobodna Dalmacija pg 7 ‘BiH postpones tariff-free import from Croatia on 3 months’ – The BiH Council of Ministers decided to postpone Free Trade Agreements on agricultural products with the neighbouring countries. They were due to be implemented as of January 1, but BiH unilaterally postponed it for 3 months. Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Dragan Doko commented: “We hope it will not affect relations with these countries, because we have to undertake some measures to protect domestic production.” Representative of the Farmers Association Vladimir Usorac said the Association was satisfied with these provisional measures and added that there will be no announced blockades of the border crossings. Vjesnik pg 15 ‘Ministry of Economy against suspension of agreement on free trade with BiH’ by A. Milovan – Article reads that the Croatian Economy Ministry is against announced, one-sided, suspension of Free Trade Agreement between Croatia and BiH. An anonymous source from this Ministry stated that the BiH economy has had enough time to adjust to free-tariff regime. Vecernji List pg 3 ‘WTO and EU concerned with behaviour of BH authoriites’ – VL claims that the most of the economic experts believe that BiH has not any legal or moral right to suspend the FTA, adding that EU and WTO expressed their concern about an inconsistent behaviour of BH authorities. According to the President of BH Foreign Trade Chamber Milan Lovric, each change even if it was of a cosmetic nature can bring the BiH official police in awkward position. |
| RSNA adopts Economic Policy for 2004 | FTV, Nezavisne Novine pg 6 ‘Economic policy for 2004 passed’, Glas Srpske pg 2 ‘Loans coming to end’ – RS National Assembly adopted on Tuesday the draft Economic Policy for 2004, which defines priorities of the economic policy. In addition, RSNA requested from the Government to accelerate privatization of state capital in companies, which includes restructuring and activating of bankruptcy procedure in places where privatization had been unsuccessful by the present methods. RSNA also demands from the Government to submit the report on privatization programs for strategic companies in January, which are in progress or in preparation, and until then the Assembly will put a moratorium on privatization of launched or planned processes of strategic companies. Blic pg 15 ‘Privatization is too slow’, Vecernje Novosti pg 21 ‘Who is selling Telekom’, RTRS – SNSD proposal from Monday evening was discussed which requested a moratorium for privatisation of strategic companies, such as Elektroprivreda and Telekom Srpske, for next five years. After RSNA rejected the proposal, SNSD leader Milorad Dodik said that on Tuesday morning that such change of an opinion came after a phone call to some delegates from the Principal High Representative Deputy on Monday evening: “Everything we spoke of yesterday (Monday), is not valid today (Tuesday), obviously that the conclusions are differently formulated, and all for the sole reason of you gentlemen in the power to save your functions, and that is why you have let go last night’s requests.” – said Dodik. RSNA Speaker Dragan Kalinic added to this that he “was warned about idea on moratorium by some people, the idea is that in five years you would in such position in the government to do the same thing with Elektroprivreda, you basically gave it away to a foreign partner”. BHTV 1 – RS Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic commented on adopted economic police: “These objectives for 2004 are realistic and Government is able to achieve them.” SNSD leader Milorad Dodik stated following the session: “Next year we’ll invite people to come to Banja Luka to remove this corrupted government and have general election next fall.” |
| Aluminij negotiations on going | CRHB – FBiH Minister of Energy, Industry and Mining Izet Zigic informed the entity government at the session on Tuesday on the Monday evening talks between parties in the dispute over electricity supply to Aluminium. The directors of both Elektroprivreda BiH and HZ HB Elektroprivreda, Directors of three coal mines and Aluminum representatives were present at the meeting, and it was concluded that there is a possibility of larger quantities of electricity and coal to be delivered but the price was not agreed on. FTV – Current market price for electric energy is 36 Euros, while Aluminium pays 23. Minister of Energy Izet Zigic commented on the meeting: “Negotiations were not fruitful. We are seeking solution which will enable Aluminium to have positive operation, but also to have sustainable energy production.” Dnevni List front, pg 4 ‘Continuation of talks on electricity delivery to Aluminij today’, Vecernji List pg 2 ‘Aluminij on hold again’, Slobodna Dalmacija last pg ‘Continuation of talks on electricity delivery to ‘Aluminij’’, Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Why contract was terminated’, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘Hays and Presidency to discuss Aluminij’ – The FBiH Government decided to make a final stand on this issue after the meeting of the BiH Presidency, Council of Minister, Government of Federation and representatives of OHR. Principal Deputy High Representative Donald Hays will discuss Aluminij issue with BiH Presidency scheduled for today. The meeting will also be attended by the CoM Chairman Adnan Terzic, BiH Security Minister Barisa Colak and FBiH Prime Minister Ahmet Hadzipasic, and will take place just prior to the BH Presidency session. OHR Spokesperson Vedran Persic stressed that OHR was not participating negotiations, but that it made clear to all sides that it was their responsibility to solve the issue without economic damage to BiH. |
| OHR urges adoption of ITA Law | BHTV1, Oslobodjenje pg 4 ‘Deadline by the end of year’, Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Law on Indirect Taxation to be adopted without disputable amendments’, Nezavisne Novine pg 6 ‘Indirect taxation must be adopted by the end of year’, Slobodna Bosna last pg ‘OHR demands adoption of IT Law by the end of year’, Blic pg 13 ‘OHR warned the Parliament’ – OHR urges for the adoption of the state Law on Indirect Taxation before end of year, and said that the latest failure by BiH Parliament to adopt the Laws meant letting down ordinary citizens. OHR Spokesman Vedran Persic stated: “We call on joint commission in BiH parliament to reconcile differences and to pass the law on December 29… It is a key legislation for elimination of corruption and fraud cases”. |
| NN interview with Vrankic | Nezavisne Novine cover, pg 8 ‘BAM 50 million missing in budget of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’ – In a short interview to NN, Dragan Vrankic, Finance Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, says that Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina does not have any control over public firms in this entity, whose majority owner it is. He claims that the amount of BAM 50 million is missing from the budget. He also noted that it would be hard to implement the budget policy for 2004. |
Security and defence issues | |
| US Treasury Ministry suspects Vezir company from Travnik to assist Al’Quaida
| Vecernji List front, pgs 2&3 ‘USA is freezing money of companies in BiH due to relations with Al-Qa’id’ by Z. Kresic – VL carries that the Department of the US Treasury issued a press release saying that the USA passed the decision on freezing of funds of 2 recently opened European companies that are suspected of collecting funds for the terrorist network Al’Qa’ida. These companies are company ‘Vezir’ seated in BiH and ‘Hochburg AG’ seated in Liechtenstein. The press release says that the USA and the Government of Saudi Arabia, that also participated in this action, demanded from the UN to place these companies, as well as, Head of ‘Vezir’ company Safet Durguti on the list of persons who finance terrorism. Glas Srpske cover pg story ‘Safet’s new turban’, Nezavisne Novine cover, pg 3 ‘‘Vezir’ from Travnik in the net of Al Q’Aeda’ – Association “Vezir” was founded in Travnik in May this year. GS reports that this Association is actually a successor of the humanitarian organisation “El Haramain”, which was placed on the list a year ago. FTV – Safet Durguti commented: “We established organization to have place to drink coffee, play billiard and for some courses… We don’t have any funds and it is ridiculous that I am banned from making transactions with US.” Local police searched these premises even before this organization was put on black list. Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘US frozen property of Vezir company from Travnik’ – Safet Durguti explained further: ‘These speculations probably come from the fact that this used to be an office of ‘El Haramain’. Their work was banned and they don’t work anymore. I claim that there is no connection between ‘El Haramain’ and ‘Vezir’.’ Oslobodjenje cover, pgs 4&5 ‘Vezir company from Travnik suspected for terrorism’ – US Treasury Ministry on the other hand stated that they had information of El Haramain recommencing with their operations in BiH under the new name, Vezir, claiming this was the same organization. |
| SFOR interrogates Zitouri | FTV, BHTV 1, CRHB, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘SFOR keeps arrestee in secure premises’, Blic pg 13 ‘The arrested person in a safe place’ –SFOR Spokesperson, Benjamin Thorp, stated that BiH citizen of an Algerian citizenship, M’hamed Zitouri, detained by SFOR troops on Sunday in Travnik is currently at the secure SFOR facility where he is being interrogated for the further investigation. SFOR Spokesperson was not able to give any details on this case as the investigation was in progress. So far, suspect was allowed to be in contact with family, but not a lawyer. Vecernji List front, pgs 2&3 ‘USA is freezing money of companies in BiH due to relations with Al-Qa’id’ – According to BiH intelligence circles, Algerian M’hamed Zitouni was mot probably mobilized to go to Iraq, and that SFOR refused again to reveal the identity of the person arrested on Sunday as well as to what they possibly found in the Zitouni’s house in Travnik. |
| Oslobodjenje editorial on SFOR actions against terrorism suspects | Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘Knocking on the doors with mallet’ editorial by Antonio Prlenda – Article reads that recent actions carried out by SFOR troops regarding the terrorism suspects shows that ‘US war against terrorism entered the stage, at least in BiH, when … suspects are not safe in their homes. If someone [who?] makes you a suspect for keeping in contact with someone from international terrorism network, armed soldiers will probably break your doors with a mallet… Picture is ugly, not tender at all, or promising. The thing is even worse as SFOR practically says nothing of its actions, reasons or evidences.’ Noting that no army acts ‘gentle’ and that disclosing information on the case could endanger it, author still warns that such actions of SFOR and US in BiH could cause more damage than use, as citizens get a picture of troops who can do anything under any terms which could further result in aversion especially towards USA. ‘The fight against terrorism requires good public relations… Instead of smaller Al’Quaida… presence, it is not groundless to say that based on these conditions the seed of Al’Qaida could easier and longer be kept long in the future… Therefore, more skilful balance between protection of information and justification of its actions now is more than welcomed.’ – concludes the editorial. |
| Protection of Serb vital interests in defence reforms | RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 10 ‘National interests are not jeopardized’, Nezavisne Novine pg 6 ‘Laws on defence and army do not violate vital national interests of Serbs’– The Serb delegate club in the RS Council of Peoples announced that it adopted the conclusion that the laws of amendments to the laws on defence and army RS do not endanger the vital national interests of the Serb people. In its announcement, the Serb delegate club states that it had been informed by the deputy chairmen of the RS Council of Peoples form the Serb and Croat people, Momir Malic and Pejo Krnjic, that they launched an initiative on protection of Serb national interest in regard to the laws on army and defence, which were recently adopted by the National Assembly. “We were, to say the least, appalled by this statement of the deputy chairman, when it is known that the RS Council of Peoples had been formed and consisted of national clubs, whose basic tasks is to protect the interests of their nations”, reads the statement, which was signed by President of the Serb delegate club, Desanka Sakic. |
| OSCE welcomes joint committee on Security & Defence | CRHB – “Both houses of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly have finalized the formation of a permanent joint committee on security and defense matters. Last Thursday, this joint committee met at its inaugural session where it elected a committee chair and two deputies. This effort demonstrates BiH’s commitment to the basic principles of the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security and its orientation towards NATO’s Partnership for Peace”, told a press conference today the OSCE spokesperson, Zinaida Delic. The OSCE Mission to BiH welcomes this positive step forward and will continue to support this Joint Committee by providing advice and training as requested by the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, said Delic. |
| Robertson briefs UN Security Council, including on BiH
| BHTV 1 – Outgoing NATO Secretary-General George Robertson reported to UN Security Council that situation in BiH was stable and without a threat to SFOR troops on ground. He generally conveyed positive information on BiH together with the conclusions from last NATO defence ministers meeting. Robertson also underlined good progress on reforms and commitments of all politicians to work toward Euro-Atlantic integrations. If all conditions are met by mid 2004 then BiH will become member of Partnership for Peace about the time of Istanbul summit, being held in June. |
| SD on alleged illegal activities and parallelism in FOSS | Slobodna Dalmacija front, pg 16 ‘5 secret actions carried out without Minister’s knowledge’ by Z. Tulic – Article reads that after the activities of the joint FBiH Intelligence Service, FOSS, were placed within the legal framework, Bosniaks transferred most of their parallel activities from the domain of secret services to the military component. According to the source close to the FBIH Interior Ministry, Bosniaks decided to make this move after the recent affair known as the coup d’état. SD reads that the proof for this are 5 actions, that have been carried out recently under the masque of the joint FBiH interests, that none Croat official in the FBiH was aware of. The article says that the goal of the last of these actions called Ocean was to follow employees and activities of the International Community. SD claims that this action was focused mostly on the individuals from OHR and OSCE. Author also writes that FBiH Defence Minister Miroslav Nikolic was not aware of any of these actions although he is the only authorized person who can pass the decision on their launch. |
Political issues | |
| Comments on SPRS demand to abolish FBiH
| BHTV 1 – Initiative pitched on Monday by RS Socialist Party, which proposed different political structure of BiH to abolish FBiH entity and to be compromised of 10 cantons and RS, caused negative reactions. SDS said to be very dissatisfied with this initiative and strongly condemned it. SDS Spokesperson Dusan Stojicic commented: “It is a political adventure with substantial risk.” PDP also said they could not support such initiative, while SNSD Spokesman Igor Radojicic: “We want to discuss some other options but entities are indispensable element of any future solutions”. On behalf of SDA Tarik Sadovic was also negative: “If they had proposed cantons in whole BiH then it would have been in line with positive experience from rest of Europe.” RTRS, Dnevni Avaz pg 9 ‘SDS against abolishment of the Federation’, Oslobodjenje pg 10 ‘All that is political game’ – SDS issued a press release which reads that SPRS leader Petar Djokic’s statement on abolishment of FBIH was irresponsible and thoughtless political fraud by which the RS would be practically reduced to the eleventh canton in the unitary BiH. SDS also stated that Djokic’s initiative represents support to the ideas of certain international and well-paid lobbyists on constitutional reordering of BiH, which SDS definitively opposes. Milorad Dodik, President of SNSD, stated in Banja Luka that he is in favour of two entities in BiH. |
| Dodik announces protests for removal of the Govt | Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘PDP is a RS grave digger’, Dnevni Avaz pg 9 ‘Dodik: In March protests for removal of the government’ – SNSD leader Milorad Dodik said that the party would organize public protests in early March in the RS for removing of authorities and organizing of extraordinary elections. Dodik sharply criticized the current RS authorities, especially the Government of Dragan Mikerevic, stating, “it has covered up the criminal activities of the former government of Mladen Ivanic”. Accusing PDP of being “the RS undertaker in the economic sense” and that this political party should be banned, Dodik added that he “offered SDS talks on eliminating PDP from authority”, because “if PDP continues to work this way, the people have nothing to expect”. |
| DA int with Doris Pack on changes to DPA | Dnevni Avaz cover, pg 5 ‘We lose if BiH doesn’t win’ by Sead Numanovic – Member of European Parliament Doris Pack, in an interview to Avaz, explains how she got to be involved in the initiative on the change of Dayton Peace Accord, explaining that at least 35 MPs support it. She explains that the initiative has several goals: ‘Those in the IC brining decisions regarding BiH must seat down and consider what has been made so far and how to move forward and work better. I that these things should be talked about, and not to run away from it, because if BiH loses as the state, both Europe and IC lose too… Among other things, entities are very, even too much, powerful, while centralized state structure is not. But, we cannot say that nothing was done – within Dayton much was done, but I think we should look into what could have been done if he had had different structures.’ |
| VL interview with Cardinal Puljic; on IC in BiH | Vecernji List front, pgs 4&5 ‘Croats are being divided by books on UDBA’ [note: UDBA – former Yugoslav Intelligence Service] by J. Pavkovic – In an interview to VL, Vrhbosna Archbishop Cardinal Vinko Puljic commented as to what extent the International Community is creating a clime in which Croats will be bypassed: ‘The activity of the IC is very complex. It is not so unified body as we think. Every member of the IC implements policy of his own country under the umbrella of joint principles.. They are not willing and sometimes they are not capable to hear the reality. They keep acting with the prejudice… Unfortunately, some of them deliberately work against Croats, because it as a part of some plan… I wonder as to how they will justify their aggression in the case of Hercegovacka Banka and on the grounds of this case they are giving complex to Croats that all Croats are criminals.’ |
War crimes | |
| Del Ponte: Karadzic, Mladic would be arrested if there was political will
| Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Karadzic is protected by the Serb Orthodox Church’, Dnevni Avaz pg 9 ‘If there was enough of political will, Karadzic and Mladic would be arrest in few weeks’, Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘Karadzic protected by Serb Orthodox Church’, Blic p 2, ‘Mladic receives pension’ – ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte stated that the top war crimes suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic would be arrested in a few weeks if there was a political will for something like that. ‘I am very satisfied with the arrest of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, as that proves that a person protected by people could also be found.’ – stated del Ponte in an interview to the New York Times. She also requested from the international community to make additional efforts towards their arrests. ‘Both are looked at like they were heroes, so they were protection.’ – said ICTY Prosecutors also adding that ‘you can bet they live in normal houses and that they are hiding in holes… The last information we have is that he [Karadzic] is protected by [Serb] orthodox church, my moving him from one to another monastery… With such protection it is very difficult to have valid intelligence information on his movement.’ Carla del Ponte concluded that Ratko Mladic is certainly hiding in Serbia, where he receives regular pensions, while Serbian government refused to block his bank account. |
| Prosper: US to take measures against those not cooperating with ICTY | Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘Pair must go to The Hague’ – Pierre Richard Prosper, US Envoy for war crimes, stated that Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic must be extradited to The Hague Tribunal – otherwise, the US Department of State would undertake measures against those, who fail to co-operate with the ICTY. BiH and Serbia and Montenegro must resolve this issue if they want to become members of NATO programme Partnership for Peace. |
| Bond on US award program for information on terrorism | Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Awards programme is conducted in entire world, not just BiH’ – Following the announcement of the US government of award program for BiH for offering information on the terrorism activities, US Ambassador to BiH Clifford Bond commented for Avaz: ‘This programme is not unique in Bosnia, that is the programme being implemented in entire world. The aim of it is to award information that would be relevant in a sense of leading towards the arrest of the terrorists or disclosure of terrorism activities… I expected that people who have a certain information will call that number [033 49 49 49].’ |
| Bacon on Srebrenica Commission | Oslobodjenje pg 4 ‘Assistance to Srebrenica Commission’ – The Head of International Commission on Missing Persons [ICMP] Gordon Bacon stated for the Fena news agency that before ICMP takes part in work of the Srebrenica Commission it wants to be certain that all other members of the Commission would work on its success. Bacon was appointed by the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, member of the Commission for Srebrenica. “I think that due to the work ICMP had done in the entire Balkans, and especially in the Srebrenica region in identifying of blood samples, we have much information that can be offered to the Commission”, said Bacon. The Commission, which was formed by the RS Government for the purpose of investigating into the Srebrenica massacre, must complete its work and present its findings by April 14 2004. |
| Reactions on Varadi’s statement re BiH lawsuit against SCG | Dnevni Avaz pg 13 ‘Halilovic: Crime cannot be subject to trade’ – Following statement by Tibor Varadi, which said that Croatian and BiH lawsuits against Serbia and Montenegro should be settled through political agreements, President of Party for BiH Safet Halilovic said this was another in a series of pressures with an aim to give up on the lawsuit, adding that Varadi’s statement was not political serious. Such opinion is shared also by president of SDU, Miro Lazovic. BH Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic: ‘My stand on the BiH lawsuit against SCG has been known since earlier and I would not elaborate on it further. I think that everything reached by agreement outside of the courtroom is far better. The political agreement on the lawsuit would serve political function in improving relations between two countries, but I don’t think that there are political conditions for that. I don’t think that there is any politician ready to take upon himself such burden of this agreement, especially among representatives of Bosniak people.’ |
Judiciary | |
| RS Constitutional Court held session | RTRS, Glas Srpske pg 2 ‘Apartments on table’, Oslobodjenje pg 6 ‘RS Constitutional Court held session’ – The first working session of the RS Constitutional Court in the new composition was held on Monday. Around 300 unsolved cases are currently before the RS Constitutional Court, due to the fact that the Court was not operational for a year and half. It has been planned that in addition to the Serb, Croat and Bosniak judges there is a group representing Others. When asked to comment the initiative that was started by the SDA representative Tarik Sadovic regarding the changes to the flag, oath, anthem, seal and territorial arrangement or RS, President of the Constitutional Court Mirko Zovko said that the Constitutional Court is obliged to look into any initiative. |