| BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| US – Iraq; America loses patience | Fired Sarajevo special policemen still waiting for protection of their rights | Jovan Divjak’s statement about Alija Izetbegovic for Belgrade Nezavisne |
| Subject of the bulletin: Return strategy and situation on the field | Group of BiH writers demands suspension of Pogorelica case | SFOR did not answer on protest letter of RS President Dragan Cavic |
| Sarajevo Football club’s fans interrupted match in Posusje | US will attack Iraq even if France puts veto at the UN | Vojislav Seselj will go to the Hague tomorrow |
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| Biljana Plavsic will testify against Milomir Stakic indicted for war crimes in Prijedor |
| Oslobodjenje | HR Paddy Ashdown sent letter to Adnan Terzic on Saturday: BiH citizens like more expensive ID cards as well?! |
| Dnevni Avaz | Protest over “Pogorelica” – Writers against police fabrications |
| Dnevni List | (Don Hays) They do not have to offer anything to you because you do not have a choice; Attitude towards VAT and customs is completely positive |
| Vecernji List | International investigation on billions dollars of aid; BiH economically too weak for VAT |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | PM Racan: Government decides on Americans’ request on Wednesday; Serbs in BiH reject “third republic”, whilst Croats ridicule it |
| Glas Srpski | Former RS Minister of Treasury, Simeun Vildenceic, warns: RS is losing support |
| Nezavisne Novine | Donald Hays on business dealings of Telekom operators in BiH: ‘They charge to much, and offer too less’; Privatisation of Kristal Banka: Audit finds the sale for 1 EURO debatable; Michael Humphries, Head of the European Commission to BiH: ‘VAT does not violate the constitutional order of the BiH’ |
| Serbian Nacional | Bagzi: I did not want to kill Djindjic; Vuk Draskovic: If it was an assassination attempt then people under Djindjic’s control did it |
| Blic | 17 March – deadline for the authorities to amend the Orao report; Bagzi claims he did not want to kill Djindjic; Veselin Sljivancanin will not surrender alive to police; Protest against war in Iraq; A car exploded in Banja Luka, a bomb planted under a car in Bijeljina |
| Ljiljan | Sulejman Tihic: FOSS cannot any more discredit our officials |
Affairs | |
| CIPS
| Oslobodjenje front page ‘BiH citizens like more expensive ID cards as well?!’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 3 ‘Donald Hays will today present evidences to the CoM commission’ – The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, in a letter sent to the BiH Council of Ministers Chairman Adnan Terzic on Saturday requested that a commission authorized for the CIPS project by Wednesday recommend the price of the new ID card. “I hope that the commission established by the Council of Ministers to deal with the CIPS project will start its work on Monday and recommend the price by Wednesday at the latest,” wrote Ashdown. OHR has offered an assistance to the commission. According to Ashdown’s letter, his Deputy Donald Hays will today present to the commission evidences speaking in favour of the price of 14.5 KM. |
| CRO press on CIPS project | Vecernji List (page 2, by Zoran Kresic, “Where does 30 million KM end up”) reads that the High Representative’s decision to set the price of BiH identity cards at 14,5 KMs instead of 10 KMs is the biggest slap by the IC against the new BiH Council of Ministers. The daily says, given the different prices of IDs, passports and driving licences being set lately, that somebody will eventually benefit from the whole situation. “If you calculate the difference given the number of citizens, prices of IDs, passports and other documents that are being issued, you get more than 30 million KMs. One should not doubt there are not ‘interested parties’ that will get a substantial profit from the higher price of the documents”, says VL. Dnevni List (front and page 3, by D. L., “Complete success of CIPS project is vital for future of BiH”) carries a letter that the High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, sent to the Chair of BiH Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzic, regarding the CIPS project. “Following our telephone conversation on February 21, I attach You a copy of decision of imposition of an amendment to Rule-book on taxes for personal documents. I will not go into details about reasons of this decision that we rendered in our conversation and which are illustrated in the decision. However, and I know you agree, the success of the CIPS project is vital for future of BiH, rule of law, it is vital for integrity of our borders and any possibility that we are to have in the future so the BiH citizens can travel to the rest of Europe without a visa”, reads the HR’s letter. |
| Nezavisne Novine on CIPS | Nezavisne novine, page 4, ‘ID card cost of 10 KM is untenable in the economic sense’ – Milan Skrbic, the Director of the CIPS project, supported the decision passed by the High Representative to BiH, Paddy Ashdown, which set back the cost of the ID card issuance to 14.5 KM. According to Skrbic “the cost of 10KM would jeopardise the economic sustainability of the project”. Skrbic further emphasised that there is no reason why the citizens should not be filing requests for new ID cards until the issue is not finalised. At the end, he noted that no BiH CoM official has invited him, as yet, to assist in the work of the inter-department group, which is to reach the final decision on this issue. However, he noted that he is at their disposal. |
| Pogorelica case | Dnevni Avaz front page, pg. 3 ‘Writers against police fabrications’, Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘Writers write against Pogorelica case as well’ – A group of the members of the BiH Association of Writers signed a letter to the BiH public protesting against the fabricated Pogorelica case. “Manifestations of a police state are directed towards the fabrication of the so called Islamic terrorism in order for various careerists to get sympathies of the international factors”, the letter read. |
| Circle 99 Independent Intellectuals Association on Third Republic of BiH | Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘The changes of the Dayton Agreement mean improvement of a monster’ – The Circle 99 Independent Intellectuals Association dedicated its regular session in Sarajevo on Sunday to an idea on the creation of a normal BiH entitled: “BiH – the third republic”. The introductory remarks were delivered by the Sarajevo University Professors, Franjo Kozul and Muhamed Filipovic. “We have come into a so difficult situation out of which we cannot be pulled out without large-scale humiliations. Almost everything except the air is divided in the country,” said Kozul. Vecernji List (page 3, by FENA) also carries a report from yesterday’s session of “Krug 99”, the Association of independent intellectuals, held in Sarajevo. Speaking about an initiative “Bosnia and Herzegovina – third republic” that was started by a group of BiH intellectuals, academic Muhamed Filipovic and professor Franjo Kozul stated that nobody can deprive the BiH citizens of a right to their will including a right to enact a new BiH Constitution and request to convene a constitutional assembly, which is in fact the fundamental request by the intellectuals. (Dnevni List, page 4, by FENA, “Necessary realization of project ‘Bosnia and Herzegovina – third republic’”) Vjesnik (page 10) carries a general article about the initiative itself, about its goals under title “Group of intellectuals against entities in BiH”. |
| Doboj’s Privredna Bank | Nezavisne Novine, page 3, ‘Inspectors requested submission of contracts’ – The RS Interior Ministry inspectors requested all the documentation compiled by the Bank Privatisation Unit at the RS Ministry of Treasury, regarding the investigation into the privatisation of the Privredna Banka Doboj. According to our source, the RS inspectors demanded all documents be submitted. But, NN was unable to check whether the Unit delivered the documents to the RS MOI or not. According to previous announcements of the RS MOI, the investigation findings of this case will be completed and publicised in the course of this week. Nezavisne Novine, page 7, ‘DNS seeks resignation of Milica Bisic’ -Democratic People’s Alliance seeks from Milica Bisic, the Director of the RS Tax Administration, to resign from the position, owing to her role in debatable privatisation of the Privredna Banka in Doboj. Drago Kalabic, a DNS MP, explains that Bisic demanded “some space be ensured” in the privatisation process of Privredna Banka Doboj, which, according to DNS, is unacceptable. According to Kalabic, the financial lobby in the RS is consisted of Milica Bisic, Milenko Vracar, the Director of Nova Banjalucka Banka, and Simeun Vilendecic, the former RS Minister of Finance. Kalabic further noted that Bisic should resign from the position following the drastic drop of tax revenues collected from the biggest taxpayers. He accordingly demands from Bisic to reveal the names of the biggest tax evaders in the RS. |
| Kristal Bank sale | Nezavisne Novine, page 3, ‘Audit finds the sale for 1 EURO debatable’ –The report of the RS Chief Audit reads that the RS Government signed the illegal contract on out-of-court settlement with Kristal Banka, which was later on sold for only 1 EURO. According to our source, this is the fourth settlement of this kind, which the RS Ministry of Treasury performed during the bank privatisation process. First three cases, which damaged the RS budget for the amount of 26 million KM, concern Banjalukcka Banka, Privredna Banka Gradiska and Privredna Banka Serb Sarajevo. According to information obtained from the Cabinet of the RS Parliament Speaker, the report of the RS Chief Audit into Kristal Banka sale will be addressed to Parliament Collegium after the Board for Economy and Treasury takes a final stance on it. |
| Orao | Nezavisne Novine, page 3, ‘Orao report contains no names’ – The SFOR Spokesperson, Iv Vaniet, said that the report of the RS authorities into Orao affair contains no names of persons, potentially responsible for the violation of UN embargo on arm sales to Iraq. He further expressed expectation by SFOR that the RS President, Dragan Cavic, will submit the list with names of those responsible for this violation of UN embargo. Blic pg. 7 headline ’17 March is deadline for authorities’ also reports on the IC demanding RS authorities to submit additional facts about the affair within the set deadline. |
Political affairs/statements | |
| FBiH Prime Minister Hadzipasic’s interview for FENA
| Dnevni Avaz pg. 4 ‘In agriculture are at the moment our biggest opportunities’ -“My goal as the Prime Minister in the first one hundred days is to maximally engage in professionalising and rationalizing the State administration, to insure functioning of the Law on Civil Service, to reduce public expenditures and to design a qualitative working program. I believe that the program will be finished in 30 days and that it will indicate the seriousness of the measures and seriousness in its realisation”, said the FBiH Prime Minister, Ahmet Hadzipasic, in an interview for the FBiH News Agency (FENA). Dnevni List (front and page 6, by FENA, “Attitude towards VAT and customs is completely positive”) also carries the interview. Hadzipasic says that the attitude of his Government towards the VAT and single customs is very positive believing that a unification of the BiH market will soon take place. Talking about the plans of the Federation Government, Hadzipasic says his intention is to create a dynamic Government: “I intend to animate myself too and animate the ministers and their key officials to be in more frequent contacts with business people, cantons, because the cantons and business people should provide useful initiatives and suggestions that will help the making of legislation”, says Hadzipasic. |
| Tihic and Terzic against withdrawal of NATO troops from BiH | Dnevni Avaz pg. 4 ‘Tihic and Terzic against withdrawal of NATO troops from BiH’ – In their joint statement, the Foreign Ministers of France and Great Britain, Dominique de Vilepin and Jack Straw, emphasized that they wanted to see the European Union forces replacing NATO-led SFOR in BiH at the beginning of 2004. “The fact is that for some time BiH will continue having a need for the engagement of the Stabilisation Forces having in mind it had committed itself to the accession to the NATO Partnership for Peace program in 18 months,” the general Secretary of the BiH Standing Committee for Military Matters Stjepan Pocrnja told the newspaper. According to Pocrnja, the idea itself about replacing SFOR with EU forces is acceptable for BiH. The Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, Sulejman Tihic, does not however share Pocrnja’c opinion. “I personally believe that SFOR should not withdraw because the situation in the territory of former socialist Yugoslavia is still uncertain, and many things have still not been fully resolved,” said Tihic. The BiH Council of Ministers Chairman Adnan Terzic also has reserves towards possible replacement of NATO forces with EU troops. |
| Adnan Terzic: Finci clumsily present incorrect data | Dnevni Avaz pg. 4 ‘Finci clumsily make incorrect data public’ – The BiH Civil Servise Agency Director, Jakob Finci, recently reacted to the BiH CoM decision to appoint Fuad Sabeta and Bakir Dautbasic as the acting secretaries in the Ministries for Foreign Affairs and Security saying it was not in compliance with the state Law on Civil Service. “I must say I am disappointed with a fact the CSA Director has started to communicate with the CoM through media,” said Adnan Terzic, the CoM Chairman. “I also want to believe that the Director unintentionally and clumsily made the incorrect data public. It was not about any illegal procedures,” Terzic added. |
International community/OHR | |
| VL: International investigation into billions of US$ of assistance
| Vecernji list (front page & p 3, “How the money for BiH was spent”, by Ivica Pjanic) reports that, not even a week after the US daily The New York Times published an article containing serious accusations on spending of several billion US$ meant for assistance to BiH after the war, there have not yet been official reactions by either BiH authorities nor the IC representatives. VL adds that, from well-informed diplomatic circles, information leaked that the NYT article is just an announcement of a comprehensive investigation the goal of which is to establish whether some 5 to15 billion dollars have been spent in the best way possible or, as speculations say it, some of the money has gone to projects which do not have significant effect. Reminding the High Representative’s and the new Council of Ministers’ priorities (boost of economy, creation of safe business environment, jobs and justice, foreign investments), VL says that what is equally important is to establish mistakes done in the past when it comes to distribution of donations and the way they were spent. The daily quotes an anonymous high-ranking diplomatic source as saying that lot of thinking has been given to launching of the investigation, but it is questionable if its realisation is feasible. The source also pointed to frequent disagreements on the concept of the IC assistance. The article concludes by saying that the OHR for the time being did not want to comment on the allegations and the information that there have already been consultations held on the issue. Mario Brkic, an OHR Spokesperson, is quoted as saying: “At this moment, I have no information on this, yet it is possible that the OHR declares its position on the matter within a couple of days”. |
| Cavic on SFOR action in Prijedor | Glas Srpski, page 3, ‘Brutal conduct of SFOR soldiers’ – RS President, Dragan Cavic, yesterday addressed a letter of protest to the SFOR Commander to BiH, William Ward. The letter followed the Friday’s “vandal and brutal conduct” of the Italian SFOR against Milorad Bilbija on Friday. The letter expresses protest and embiterness over the violation of basic human rights and humiliating maltreatment of innocent citizen of Serb nationality. Copies of the letter of protest addressed to General Ward were also submitted to HR to BiH, Paddy Ashdown, Head of OSCE Mission to BiH, Robert Beeckroft, Italian Ambassador to BiH, Sab D’Ali, and BiH Ombudsmen. |
| SFOR action in Ljeskare | Nezavisne Novine, page 3, ‘SFOR does not want to comment on claims by Milorad Bilbija – The SFOR Spokesperson, Iv Vaniet, said that the SFOR soldiers did not exceed their authorities and acted in accordance with their mandate. The statement concerned the SFOR action in the Prijedor settlement of Ljeskare Friday. They barged into the house of Milorad Bilbija in search for unregistered weapons. SFOR Spokesperson did not want to comment on claims that Bilbija was beaten up. He further confirmed that SFOR received a letter of protest from the RS President, Dragan Cavic, in regard to this case, noting that SFOR would respond to it. |
| Tihic on the international community, vetting procedure | Ljiljan pgs. 18-22 ‘The time has come for the international community to take over (its part of) responsibility’ – Interview with the Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, Sulejman Tihic. “I have been criticising so far some decisions of the international community particularly its policy of tolerance towards the obstructions in RS. It is my right and my obligation to publicly present my stand with regard to the policy of the international community’s institutions in BiH. Particularly having in mind that the criticism cannot influence either the process of making or the process of implementing the decisions. Finally all holding public offices must be prepared to accept a public discussion on their work. In my opinion, it is therefore a high time that the international community together with the rights it has in BiH share the responsibility with the domestic authorities for all the mistakes and failures that are happening,” Tihic emphasized. “When its is about the vetting procedure in general, I am speaking about this issue in a more principled manner. It is unacceptable that an officer in the international community has a right to know why a candidate for the education minister, for example, cannot get green light, and I am not allowed to know that although I am a member of the Presidency and the leader of the strongest political party. I am in favour of a full checking on each candidate, not only those whom there is a legal obligation for. However, the vetting procedure must be carried out in compliance with the democratic standards and in a transparent way,” Tihic said. |
| DL: US preparations for the war in Iraq include South-east Europe | Commenting that, in the framework of the US preparations for the attack on Iraq, most countries of South-east Europe are facing a serious dilemma – whether to support the US or to side with majority of countries-members of the EU, Dnevni list (front page & p 5, “BiH gave tacit support to the USA for the attack on Iraq”, by Ivica Glibusic) reminds that the US has sent requests for use of air-space and airports to all the SE Europe countries and countries from that region which are in the state of neither peace nor war. “BiH has an unclear position with regard to the US’s request and the Presidency members do not have a unified stance: judging by their public statements, Covic and Sarovic are in favour of supporting the US, whereas Tihic, ‘squeezed’ between the US requests and radical Islamic groups in BiH, does not clearly declare himself in the matter. In case of support to the US, advocators of pan-Islamic unity would request Tihic’s resignation (…) As a part of the US war strategy, BiH, Croatia and Hungary make the 3rd strategic logistic ring for the war in the Middle East. In case of need, the US has been granted unimpeded use of Tuzla and Sarajevo airports for needs of the US army. Bearing in mind that the US forces are already stationed in Tuzla, i.e. their allies make part of SFOR, and indications are that nobody will ask for a special permission from BiH. This represents a direct violation of a country’s sovereignty which everyone is silent about”, reads DL. |
| VL on Croatian assistance to BiH Croats | Vecernji List (front and page 5, conducted by Zoran Kresic, “We ensured money for medical treatment in Croatia”) carries an interview with the Croatian Health Minister, Andro Vlahusic, following the announcement that the Croatian Government would this year allocate 25 million Croatian Kunas (around 6,5 million KMs) for health, scientific and cultural projects of Croats in BiH. Asked whether the BiH Croats will be treated in Croatian hospitals in the future, Minister Vlahusic says: “Until the moment the Mostar Hospital has been built, the medical treatment in the Republic of Croatia is necessary. We have allocated 10 million Kunas in the (Croatian) budget exclusively for medical treatment of Croatian citizens who are outside Croatia, which has been allocated only for the Croats from Bosnia and Herzegovina”, says Vlahusic underlining the importance of the Mostar Hospital.The same papers also features an editorial on page 4 by Iko Skoko, entitled “Through presents to hospital and better relations”. Skoko says: “We appreciate these presents because they open hope in better treatment and prevention of diseases. And they especially speak about new communications between Croatia and Croats in BiH”. |
| DL’s editorial: “Is Djindjic becoming new defender of RS interests?” | Miso Relota notes in Dnevni List (page 9) that the Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, has in the past few months given several “politically dangerous statements regarding the inviolability of borders” which leads the author to speculate whether Djindjic is becoming a new defender of national interests of the Serbs in BiH. “With the request that in case of independence of Kosovo, the lost territory is to be made up through annexing of parts of BiH, Djindjic is only following the criminal policy because of which the former FRY President Slobodan Milosevic is answering before the judges of the ICTY”, says Relota. |
Economic reforms | |
| PDHR Hays in Dnevni List and Nezavisne Novine
| PDHR Donald Hays signs an article in Dnevni List (front and page 7) that deals with the BiH market in the area of telecommunications saying it is a good thing to have public discussion regarding services of telecommunications companies. PDHR Hays says the three current operators in BiH run highly profitable monopolies in their respective areas at expense of individuals and small and medium size companies that are of utmost importance for economic revival of BiH. PDHR recommends that the authorities, which run the three companies, decrease the prices thus stimulating opening of jobs through attracting investors instead of creating profit. “The aim of this discussion is to make sure that the authorities understand that they have to start offering better services to BiH consumers – including the small and medium size companies that are key to creation of prosperity and new jobs. I do not doubt that the telecommunication operators will soon realize that their profitable future depends on offering competitive services, with competitive prices, to their consumers. In the meantime, they charge too much and offer too little. Do not let them fool you, they make profit but the profit does not go to you”, says PDHR Donald Hays. Nezavisne novine, page 1/also cover page, ‘They charge to much, and offer too less’ – The PDHR, Donald Hays, called on the BiH citizens not to allow the BiH Telekom operators to deceive them any longer, because the operators charge too high, and offer to less and make a profit on the population. Hays is of the view that: “Regardless of what some people may present as counter-argument, the fact is that the three Telekom operators in BiH hold extremely profitable monopolies, each over its territory. And they are doing that at the cost of the average citizens and small and medium firms.” Furthermore, Hays stresses that the three BiH operators are not interested in the liberalisation of telecommunications, because at such market, they would be force to race with the lowest prices and better services. |
| VL on VAT | Vecernji List (front “BiH economically too weak for VAT” and page 2 “S. Tokic: Cavic denies BiH”, by Gorden Knezovic) carries a reaction by one of SDU leaders, Sejfudin Tokic, to a statement by the RS President, Dragan Cavic, that “its internal peace and security, which is based on constitutional entity structure, is very important for BiH” saying that the statement reveals Cavic’s true attitude towards the State of BiH. VL also says that many economic experts warn that BiH is still not capable of introducing VAT because employers believe that the introduction would decrease the inflow of tax revenues into the entities and state budgets so the employers suggest tightening of financial discipline in the next two or three years and only then the introduction of VAT. The Association of Employers sees a large gray economy as a reason for not introducing the VAT saying that introducing of the tax would burden the economy too much. |
| Vilendicic on his resignation | Glas Srpski, cover page story, ‘RS is losing support’ – “If the RS loses authority over the revenues, which is the solution imposed by the international community, the RS will lose its fulcrum, the material support of its existence’, claims the former RS Minister of Treasury, Simeun Vilendecic. He further claims that he did not want to bear this burden (namely the introduction of the VAT and the single customs) on his shoulder, because of which he submitted his resignation last Thursday. Vilendecic further stresses that “the Dayton Peace Agreement and the Constitutions stipulate that the RS and the BiH Federation collect revenues at their territories. The entities are then to provide resources from those revenues for the joint institutions. The Dayton further set that the RS is to set aside one third, while BiH Federation is to provide two thirds of finances to the joint institutions.” |
| EC’s Humphries on VAT | Nezavisne novine, page 6, ‘Single VAT does not violate the constitutional order of BiH’ – Michael Humphries, the Head of the European Commission to BiH, is of the view that “we should stop with political stories at senior positions and should instead dedicate to technical details. The politicians should fully agree in all aspects of the VAT.” Responding to press question as to what may happen if the sides fail to agree on the concept of the VAT introduction, Humphries said that the concept proposed by the international community does not violate the constitutional order of BiH. “Although BiH had made an improvement in becoming closer to EU, it has been lagging behind other states in the region in this aspect. Politicians must take over responsibility, must pass decisions in order to move ahead.”, stressed Humphries. |
| People’s Party Working for Prosperity: Introduction of VAT would result in more expensive prices | Nezavisne novine, page 7 ‘Introduction of VAT would result in more expensive prices’ – The People’s Party Working for Prosperity, on Saturday in Banja Luka, organised a discussion on the topic “Strategy of the value added tax”. Jerko Ivankovic Lijanovic, the President of the People’s Party, warned that the introduction of the VAT would result in increase of prices for some products. Ranko Bakic, the President of the Main Board of People’s Party, stressed that it is necessary to set an exact meachanism for tax collection and return of money collected through VAT to entities. He furtehr emphasised that the VAT should result in economy and production improvement in BiH, noting that this is the only way to “prevent” grey economy from expanding. |
| Dixon arrives today | “Briton Joly Dixon that the High Representative Paddy Ashdown appointed on Friday as Chairman of the Indirect Tax Policy Commission, should arrive to Sarajevo today”, Sonja Pastuovic, OHR Banja Luka spokesperson told Blic. She said that upon Dixon’s arrival a plan for the Commission’s work would be defined. (Blic pg. 6) |
Other developments | |
| RS Public Prosecutor on Law on Criminal Proceedings
| Glas Srpski, page 3, ‘Settlement with the Court’ – According to the new RS Law on Criminal Proceedings, which is being prepared, the investigation is to be conducted by public prosecutor, with the assistance of the police, Tax Administration, Customs Administration and State Border Service. Acting Public Prosecutor of RS, Jovan Spajic, is of the view that the new rules and regulations at the Law of Criminal Proceedings would ensure more efficient and faster conduct of trial proceeding. Furthermore, the new Law is to include some new legal opportunities, such as the settlement with the Court, especially in less important case trials. |
| Incident at opening ceremony of Hemofarm | RS Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic boycotted the meeting with Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and Serbian Government’s delegation, offended because RS President Dragan Cavic, and not him, opened Hemofarm in Banja Luka together with Djindjic. The first version of protocol foresaw that Djindjic together with Mikerevic would cut the ribbon, but that was changed on Friday morning. Due to that Mikerevic sent a letter to Cavic informing him that he would not participate in the meeting with the Serbian delegation. According to some information, because of this incident chief of the RS Protocol Luka Petrovic might be dismissed. (Belgrade Nacional pg. 6 headline ‘Offended RS Prime Minister ignored Serbian Government’) |
| RS Protokol on Serbian delegation visit to B. Luka | Nezavisne novine, page 2, ‘Protocol altered in Banja Luka’ – According to NN source, the Serbian Government delegation sent a proposed Protocol for Serbian delegation’s visit to Banja Luka on Thursday at 16:00 hrs. The proposed protocol anticipated that Serbian PM, Djindjic Zoran, was to give an interview to NN at 11:00 hrs, then to attend the ceremony at Hemofarm at 12:00 hrs, where he was supposed to cut the ribbon with the RS PM, Dragan Mikerevic. However, the RS Protocol sent back the visit plan to Serbian Government at 17:30 hrs, with some changes. One of such is that RS President, Dragan Cavic, instead of Mikerevic, was to cut the ribbon at Hemofarm with Djindjic. On this, Luka Petrovic, Head of RS Protocol, said that Hemofarm intervened and demanded this change be made. |