| FED TV – Pogledi (22,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| Robertson on Defence | Law on defence |
| HoR on Defence Bill | Robertson visits BiH |
| Presidency on military |
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| Resignation of director |
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NOTE: Due to technical reasons, Boram did not provide with summaries for BHTV 1 and CRHB.
| Oslobodjenje | SDS boycotts Defence Law; Bosmal is still the most serious candidate; Coup d’état: Delic was, after all, invited |
| Dnevni Avaz | Ashdown’s and Robertson’s bitterness: Citizens are hostages of RS parties; Biber: fulfil promises |
| Dnevni List | SDS representatives left session of BiH HoR; Jahic proposed abolishment of parallelisms |
| Vecernji List | BiH must join NATO before Serbia; President Bush is coming to Mostar |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | BiH in fear of terrorist attacks; ‘Bosmal’ is still the most serious candidate |
| Glas Srpske | Increased security measures in BiH: Balkans cautious; Doboj: Farewell to arms |
| Nezavisne Novine | After SDS and PDP left session of BiH Parliament: Robertson and Ashdown demand urgent adoption of defence law; Milan Bogicevic: RS Government is preparing a lawsuit against British Petrocamak; Polish businessman deceived Brazilian football player: He cheated on Romario and transferred eight tones of gold in Banjaluka |
| Blic | Banja Luka has mazout for 10 days; RS Ministry of Defense signed out tender: 100 tanks for sale |
Defence and security issues | |
| BiH HoR did not pass Defence Law; SDS delegate walked out of the session
| FTV, RTRS, BH Radio 1, Oslobodjenje cover, pg 7 ‘SDS boycotts the Defence Law’, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘Three days for harmonization of Defence Law’, Dnevni List front, pg 5 ‘SDS representatives left session of BiH HoR’, Vecernji List pg 3 ‘Law on Defense set members of Parliament at odds’, Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘Law on defence was not adopted’, Blic pg 13 ‘SDS and PDP left the session, OHR threatens’ – BiH House of Representatives did not adopt the draft BiH Law on Defense, despite the fact that it was an obligatory item on the session’s agenda for. All representatives from Federation voted in favour of the Law, however Serb delegates from RS did not support it. The Law now has to be discussed in Council’s Collegial in next three days. SDS asked early at the session that the discussion of the Law is removed from the agenda, but the proposal was rejected. RS delegates said they were unsatisfied since majority of their amendments were not supported. They asked for three-days of postponement for Defence Law discussion, until the end of RS National Assembly’s session to be held on Friday on the same issue. SDS and PDP walked out of the session and its representative Momcilo Novakovic said: ‘The law addresses very deep changes… It is logical to wait until RS President and the Parliament give up on their authorities voluntarily and then transfer it to the higher level.’ House of Representative’s Speaker Nikola Spiric: ‘I can’t understand SDS position, since they claimed everything was agreed… It seems they want to buy time, another three days.’ NOTE: All media carried out report on BiH HoR session. |
| Robertson and Ashdown urge for adoption of Defence Law | FTV, Dnevni Avaz cover splash ‘Citizens are hostages of the RS parties’, pg 2 ‘Parties from RS made huge damage to the state’, Nezavisne Novine cover, pg 3 ‘Robertson and Ashdown demand urgent adoption of defence law’, pg 3 ‘Defence law was not adopted’, Blic pg 13 ‘George Robertson: The decision must be reached’ – During his Thursday’s farewell visit to BiH in a capacity of the NATO Secretary-General, Lord George Robertson urged BiH authorities to pass the Defence Law. Both Robertson and the High Representative Paddy Ashdown at the press conference held on Thursday expressed their deepest disappointment with the fact that the Law was not adopted at the BiH House of Representatives’ session. Robertson said that BiH may be admitted to the Partnership for Peace next year, but before that it must implement certain steps. HR Ashdown explained: ‘BiH received a motivation to get into the PfP, but if the law is not passed by the BiH parliament then Bosnia and Herzegovina could become a hostage of political parties from RS. In that case responsibility will lie on these parties whose members are performing their duties at the state-level.’ Blic pg 13 ‘SDS and PDP left the session, OHR threatens’ – Ashdown warned SDS and PDP that they ‘had couple of hours to remove the damage’ caused by their behavior to the international reputation of BiH. RTRS – Ashdown and Robertson remarked that the behaviour of RS parties is irresponsible, and that it leads towards jeopardising BiH’s admittance to NATO. Following the meeting with Ashdown and SFOR Commander, Virgil Packett, Robertson stated that the politicians refused to adopt decision, which will ultimately, have to be adopted. At the press conference, Ashdown stated that the parties from RS place political interests before the interests of the people and future of BiH. He added that the deadline for adoption of the Law is the next Thursday, when the Council of Ministers in Brussels will hold the session. Oslobodjenje pg 7 ‘Without Defence Law BiH is getting further away from Europe’, Dnevni List pg 3 ‘NATO is taking BiH seriously’, Vecernji List front pg ‘BiH must join NATO before Serbia’, pg 3 ‘It would be ironic that Belgrade joins NATO before Sarajevo’, Slobodna Dalmacija last pg ‘Responsibility for arrest of Karadzic and Mladic rests with BiH’ – Robertson has just completed the visit to Belgrade, where – as he said – was very welcomed. He stressed that it would be very ironic if Belgrade beats Sarajevo on the way towards PfP. He also gave an invitation to SCG Prime Minister Goran Svilanovic to join the meeting of foreign ministers of PfP member states, adding he would be very pleased if he could give the same invitation to BH Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic. |
| Robertson met with Presidency, stressed cooperation with ICTY | FTV, RTRS – During his visit, Lord Robertson also met with member of the BiH Presidency, focusing the talks on the necessary steps to be undertaken in order to join Euro-Atlantic integrations. Following the meeting, Chairman of the Presidency Dragan Covic stated: ‘We are expected to undertake concrete measures, first of all regarding the extradition of all indicted persons to the ICTY.’ Robertson also sent this message to BiH citizens: ‘I’ll be leaving in six weeks, but the new Secretary General is from the Hague and he will work persistently to bring all accused persons into his hometown. Capture of Radovan Karadzic remains top priority for NATO troops.’ Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘NATO considering the withdrawal of SFOR’ – George Robertson, expressed satisfaction over the progress reached in BiH, stressing that Alliance can now start considering the possibility of SFOR withdrawal. He also stressed that arrests of war crime suspects, including Rdaovan Karadzic, represent pre-requisites for admission into NATO and PfP. Dragan Covic, Chairperson of BiH Presidency, is of the view that many things are still left to be done, regarding defence reform. |
| BH Presidency adopts military doctrine of armed forces | FTV, Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Military Doctrine of the armed forces in BiH adopted’, Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘Military doctrine on armed forces adopted’ – BiH Presidency has adopted the document ‘Military Doctrine of the Armed Forcies in BiH’, which is one of the conditions for admission to the Partnership for Peace, despite some reservations expressed by Presidency member Sulejman Tihic. Tihic that he adopted the document because of the international community even though he was not satisfied with some solutions in the document, so the Presidency concluded that certain changes would have to be made after the implementation of the defence reforms. Oslobodjenje pg 6 ‘Military Doctrine under the pressure from outside’ – ‘I wanted it to be the doctrine of the single state armed forces, which we will have anyways after the adoption of the Defence Law. At that time, we will change also constitution, including the document we have adopted today’ – stated Tihic on Thursday. |
| Security measures in BiH strengthened
| FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 8 ‘Security measures in BiH strengthened’, Glas Srpske cover page story ‘Balkans cautious’, Vecernje Novosti pg 17 ‘SFOR at the ready’, Dnevni List pg 2 ‘SFOR intensified security measures’, Slobodna Dalmacija front, pg 15 ‘BiH in fear of terrorist attacks’, Vecernji List pg 19 ‘SFOR intensified security measures’ – SFOR troops in BiH have increased security measures in entire country in accordance with the developments around the world, but also after EUPM warned about security concerns in BiH. SFOR Multinational Division North has also raised its security alert and spokesman Jarrod Krull said: ‘We keep monitoring and assessing all risks including recent events outside BiH… Citizens will not observe any change in SFOR activities… We do not comment and announce any security measures we carry out… We are committed to provide secure environment, which should help further economic growth and well-being.’ According to the EUPM Spokesperson Jan Oscar Solnes ‘EUPM has not observed any concrete threats to the general security situation in BiH, nor to personnel of the Mission’. |
| RSNA on Friday to vote on defence reforms | RTRS – At the session to be held on Friday, RS National Assembly will discus the proposed RS Constitutional changes regarding the defence. Amendments have to be supported by two-thirds of the representatives in order to be adopted. Amendments refer to the transfer of competencies over the RS Army from the entity to BH Presidency, thus making RS Army part of BH armed forces. |
| OHR urges adoption of Intelligence Law | Oslobodjenje pg 6 ‘The adoption of the Intelligence Law belated’ – Deputy Chief of Rule of Law Department within OHR William Potter warned on Thursday at the seminar of the Centre for security studies that it was a final time to have the Draft BiH Intelligence Law in the parliamentary procedure. He reminded that this service, based ont eh grounds of new law, must start to work at the beginning of next year in order to fulfil one of the demands stipulated by the European Commission. |
| Update on FOSS and coup d’état
| Dnevni List pg 2 ‘Information demanded from FBiH Parliament missed’, Oslobodjenje cover, pg 9 ‘Delic was invited, after all’ – Chairman of the FBIH Parliament’s Commission which supervises the work of Federation’s Security and Intelligence Service [FOSS] Sead Delic said he did not appear before the BiH Parliament’s Commission in charge to investigate the coup d’état on Wednesday because he was not invited. Delic denies he received the letter sent by the Chairman of the state Commission Tihomir Gligoric on 21 November. However, Oslobodjenje carries out statement by Gligoric, who says that the invitation was sent and adds: ‘Mr Delic will be invited once against to attend the session. I hope he will respond this time.’ Commission headed by Delic has been also tasked to examine whether FOSS has been operating outside of the legal frameworks, and Gligoric said that the state commission did not receive any results of the investigation. Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘New Commission overstepped over its mandate and it could not conduct hearing of Acting FOSS Director’ – Commission of the BiH House of Representatives which on Wednesday discussed the ‘coup d’état’ case overstepped its mandate – claims representative Sead Avdic. Avdic stated for DA that he commission did not have a mandate to conduct further investigations, or to carry out hearings of FOSS Acting Director, but to establish a conclusion on the case based of results and findings of the investigation carried out already by the Investigative Commission. |
| SB on FOSS | Slobodna Bosna pgs 28&29 ‘Following SFOR’s action in FOSS, only Mesic’s advisor Bagic suffered’ by Suzana Mijatovic – SB writes on the reports by Croatian media that Croatian President Stipe Mesic fired his advisor Zeljko Bagic, and it says further that the sources from the international community suggest that this has been done following the demand by SFOR’s commander to BiH over Bagic’s relations with FOSS [Established following the SFOR’s probe in FOSS facilities about a month ago]. Magazines further comments: ‘While the most prominent intelligence officer in Croatia… has been degraded, in Federation of BiH nothing serious has been done to clean up this or any other scandalous intelligence affairs.’ Author writes that former FOSS Deputy Director Ivan Vuksic’s trial has been postponed for third time, while ‘Bosniak component’ of FOSS doesn’t stop with conflicts. ‘Earlier started investigations and hearings of all staff members which on any grounds contacted with former Director Munir Alibabic Munja and removed Executive Director Edhem Besic continued, as well as the employment of the new people which arrive to FOSS in accordance with SDA’s instruction… Newly appointed FOSS Executive Director Nezir Fiso spends more time in SDA HQ [that in office].’ – reads article concluding that some future personnel changes within FOSS will also be in accordance with SDA’s orders. |
| SB on SIPA | Slobodna Bosna pgs 16&17 ‘Tihic and Terzic neither give premises for SIPA, nor they allow it to move to Serb Sarajevo’ by Suzana Mijatovic – SB writes that inter-resource group appointed by the Council of Ministers is supposed to propose the location of the headquarters of the State Information and Protection Agency [SIPA] by the end of this week. Magazine notes that this would fulfil one of the demands by EC, and that also OHR and US Embassy to BiH see this as one of the priorities for BiH. Article further says CoM several months ago, following OHR’s instruction, established Team for Rule of Law headed by Barisa Colak, consisting of local and international official, which will define SIPA’s structure, while parallel to that several legal solutions must be adopted that OHR requests to be adopted in a package by end of March 2004. These Laws will enable some changes to SIPA’s structure, which will be divided into 3 departments: Crime related information, protection of VIPs and protection of diplomatic residencies and state institutions. However, SB says that according to current Law, Department for crime related information has no police authorities and therefore cannot conduct investigation, which should be changed with the amendments. ‘Since [such] extension of SIPA’s authorities presents the first step towards establishment of the police forces at the state level, political representatives of RS in the first stage of proposal strongly opposed it. Ground for their objection was taking over the jurisdiction from entities’ MoI, which is absolutely untrue as state policemen would lead investigations in the cases which are not in the jurisdiction of entities’ policemen.’ – writes SB noting that on the other hand FBiH is guilty that SIPA still has no location for its HQ. ‘Permanent refusal of Bosniak officials to solve the issue of SIPA’s location, of course, had nothing to do with the lack of appropriate premises, but it was rather aimed to buy time and until for legal solution for future state intelligence service.’ Author goes on saying that OHR has became deeply involved in the issue since the summer, and that consequently it criticised CoM Chairman Adnan Terzic. Following, Terzic transfers the case to FBiH Government, which further complicates it giving SIPA building which is not theirs, and than later ruined building with Police Academy in Sarajevo. More complications have raised from suggestion to locate SIPA in Serb Sarajevo. Meanwhile, SIPA officials finalized all preparatory work and selected about 200 new workers, but without location they cannot start working while regional offices in Mostar and Banja Luka carry out their duties. |
Economic issues | |
| Dokic: Bosmal remains the most serious candidate for Vc corridor
| FTV, Oslobodjenje cover, pgs 4&5 ‘Bosmal still the first candidate’, Dnevni Avaz pg 3 ‘Bosmal remains the most serious candidate’, Dnevni list pg 7 ‘Bosmal is No. 1 on the list of possible future concessionaires’, Vecernji list pg 17 ‘Bosmal without privileges’, Slobodna Dalmacija front, pg 7 ‘Bosmal still a most serious candidate’, Nezavisne Novine pg 5 ‘Bosmal is still the most serious candidate’, Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘Bosmal in dead-end street’ – BiH Transport and Communications Minister Branko Dokic stated that as of November 23 the BiH Council of Ministers no longer has the commitment to hold talks with Bosmal, but that the company remains the most serious candidate for receiving the concession for the construction of the Vc corridor. ‘We expect appointment of the Concession Commission very soon, and the deadline for bids for the project documentation is approaching, so are we actively seek partner to finance the project documents. Presidency is providing important assistance by offering budget allocation for Feasibility Study… Bosmal is still the most serious partner, but not the only one. We received a letter from the bank asking for concession as precondition for 300 million Euros. They definitely stay in game’. As for the issue of third GSM licence, Dokic stated: ‘Council of Ministers will need to decide in next weeks about the premium and conditions for licence and then CRA will be able to act… EroNet has permission for limited territory, but not licence.’ |
| EU ambassadors urge adoption of ITA Law without amendment on Brcko regional centre | Oslobodjenje pg 7 ‘Decrease the number of regional centres’, Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘EU Ambassadors call for abolishment of the disputable amendment’, Dnevni list pg 3 ‘Appeal of EU Ambassadors to BiH’ – In the eve of the final vote on the draft Law on Indirect Taxation in the BiH House of Peoples, the EU Ambassadors in BiH call on all involved parties to reconsider the amendment, which raises the number of regional centres from 4 to 5. The announcement from the Italian Embassy to BiH stressed that the increased number of regional centres would significantly raise the operational costs of the Indirect Taxation Authority without any economic or functional justification. Ambassadors believe that four zones allow an acceptable geographic division, where no trade would need to go very far and good distribution of work throughout the country could be guaranteed. The introduction of a larger number of areas is not justified as the same degree of efficiency will not be guaranteed and the distribution of work between the various zones would be imbalanced. |
| Hercegovina osiguranje to file lawsuit over Eronet issue
| Vecernji List pg 4 ‘Even court war for Eronet’, Slobodna Dalmacija pg 7 ‘Why to shut a successful company down?’, Dnevni List front, pg 8 ‘Lawsuits to follow over shutdown of Eronet’ – Hercegovina Osiguranje Co. from Mostar has criticized the Communication Regulatory Agency (CRA)’s announcement which does not exclude the possibility to shut Eronet down since the BiH Council of Ministers (CoM) has still not passed decision on the value of concession for the 3rd GSM license. Hercegovina osiguranje has announced a possibility of filing a lawsuit over the issue. “It is illogical and incomprehensible to shut down a successful private company which makes profit and which pays all the taxes and contributions. If it is not possible to file a lawsuit with a domestic court, we are ready to do so at an international court”, Hercegovina osiguranje, which owes 34% of Eronet, released. |
| DA on the Law of Privatisation Revision in FBiH | Dnevni Avaz cover ‘Bober: fulfil promises’, pg 4 ‘Delegates promised to their voters to deal with corruption’ – President of the BiH Syndicates Edhem Biber ureges FBiH Parliament representatives to support the syndicates’ proposal for draft Law on the Revision of the Privatisation, which would include obligatory re-evaluation of the so-called Markovic’s privatisation. The proposal will be discussed at the FBiH Parliament’s session scheduled for 1 December. ‘I will call on to adopt our proposal and with that to justify the trust of the citizens who gave them mandates in order to deal with corruption, crime and bad privatisation. They promised that to its voters, and the Syndicate only wants to turn it into the legal solution which will enable the right way to regulate that field.’ Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘SDA and HDZ will probably not support Syndicates’ requests’ – President of SDA club in the FBiH HoR Semsudin Mehmedovic stated that this party has reviewed Syndicates’ proposal for the Law, but that it will support Government’s proposal. Mehmedovic added that SDA believes that if that Law also included the revision of Markovic’s privatisation, it would bring additional confusion. Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘We have documents on the frauds committed from time of Markovic’s privatisation’ – Chairman of the Syndicates-established Commission in charge of the gathering fact on privatisation frauds, Amer Toskic sad that Commission has materials which refer to some crimes privatisation-wise at the time of Markovic’s privatisation’. |
Political | |
| Tihic on mtg of BiH/Croatia Inter-State Council
| FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘BiH to give up on Ploce and turn to Bar Port?’, Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Statue of Ploce port will not be discussed’, Slobodna Dalmacija last pg ‘Across the border without visas’, Vecernji List pg 4 ‘Discussion on Ploce Port postponed’, pg 14 ‘To BiH with identity card as of January 1?’, Dnevni List front, pg 5 ‘Abolishment of visa regime between BiH and Croatia soon’, Jutarnji List pg 4 ‘BiH Presidency adopted proposal on abolishment of visa with Republic of Croatia’ – BiH Presidency adopted on Thursday the Platform for appearance of BiH at session of the Interstate Council for co-operation of BiH and Republic Croatia, which should take place on December 5 in Sarajevo. BiH Presidency member Sulejman Tihic said that the representatives of the two countries should sign the agreement which would cease visa requirements and would liberalize the crossing the interstate border with Croatia. In regard to the status of Port Ploce, Tihic said that BiH side would not officially raise this issue at the upcoming session. Considering that Croatia is currently in the election process, according to Tihic, BiH side estimates that this is not the right moment for asking this question. He confirmed that BiH is considering the possibility of using Port Bar in Montenegro, regarding this as logical considering that the talks on Port Ploce are taking too long. |
| Mostar City Council’s session interrupted
| Oslobodjenje pg 8 ‘HDZ against abolishment of parallelism in Mostar’, Dnevni List front, pg 15 ‘Mayor Jahic proposed abolishment of parallelisms’, Slobodna Dalmacija last pg ‘Agenda is stumbling block’ – FENA news agency reports that the 22nd session of the Mostar City Council was interrupted on Thursday due to the failure of the Councilors to agree on the agenda. Namely, the mayor of Mostar, Hamdija Jahic, proposed for the agenda to be extended by one more item but the proposal was not carried, and the session was cut short. Jahic blames the Council’s chairman, Ivan Musa, for this failure. He said he was sorry that his proposal for the abolition of parallelisms in the City Government was not carried. ‘Everybody says that the parallelisms must be abolished but when it comes to putting the words into practice, obstacles appear, which showed itself today when the HDZ Councilors voted against the abolition of parallelisms in the City Government’ – said Jahic. However, Musa responded: ‘HDZ is not against the abolition of parallelisms, but the problem seems to lie in the work of the City Government, or rather in the relations between the mayor and deputy mayor. It is just this parallelism that has caused the current situation. You cannot refer a proposal to the Council if there is no agreement about it.’ |
| Update on Mostar Commission | Dnevni list pg 4 ‘Returnees, SDU, NSRB and SBiH will present joint proposal’ by V. Kljajic – DL reports that session of the Mostar Commission held on Thursday mainly focused on the future election system in Mostar, i.e. the number of constituencies. Since the working material offered by Norbert Winterstein, the Commission Chairman, was not adopted at the previous session, political parties’ representatives yesterday once again presented their proposals. According to DL’s source from the Commission, similar views on the constituencies are shared by SBiH, NSRZ, SDU and Mirko Ivanisevic, returnees’ representative. DL goes on to say that Chairman Winterstein has made a compilation of all the discussions and offered, as a possible proposal: a single constituency (HDZ request); the 2nd variant contains 3 constituencies (returnees’ suggestion); and SDP’s proposal of 4 constituencies. DL source says: “Proposals of 6 and more constituencies tend to be most acceptable and, following detailed analyses, most Commission members accepted 6 constituencies, which was Winterstein’s’ proposal. SDU, NSRZ, SBiH and returnees’ representative accepted such a proposal as a basis to build on”. HDZ sticks to its position, while SDA does not accept anything that does not have competence of a municipality as per valid laws and Constitution. DL finds it interesting that SDA keeps on requesting several municipalities as units of local self-government, while the City would make a separate level of local self-government. The paper adds that prior to the next Commission session, due Wednesday, SDU, NSRZ, SBiH and Mirko Ivanisevic will hold a meeting aimed at reaching agreement on joint representation of these 4 political factors and a joint solution. According to DL’s source, Zoran Pajic, Paddy Ashdown’s Advisor in the Commission, is inclined to their positions. Slobodna Bosna pgs 11&12 ‘No progress in negotiations on Mostar structure’ – SB writes that despite the fact that Mostar Commission should finalize its work by mid-December, there is still not even an indication of agreement between representatives of the political authorities participating in the work of the Commission. |
| DA editorial on ‘sleepy’ CoM | Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘What Terzic waits for?’ editorial by Faruk Cardzic – Author writes that the beginning of the work of the government headed by the Prime Minister Adnan Terzic was generally marked as good, while now again generally is being seen as slowly giving up, ‘and lately more and more often the High Representative Paddy Ashdown warns over this as well.’ Article further refers to 16 conditions laid down by the EC in order to start with stabilization and admission agreement, however adds that so far nothing has been done while time passes by, concluding that this task will not be easy. ‘For matters to be even worse, these conditions to not include Vc corridor building nor the story on third GSM operation, which would according to official announcements, should be over by the end of this year. Those stories,… for the public are much more interested and attractive than any others, but the corridor’s problem is that it must not be belated due to additional procedural traps. From all this, many form the opinion that the state government has been sleeping, which has been contributed to by unnecessary problems in delays of finding appropriate building for SIPA. Something like that, on the other hand, is good for its [authorities’] critics. But, the problem is not in criticism, but in the fact that that [criticism] is objective and realistic.’ Author concludes: ‘Therefore, it is finally a time for the Council of Ministers to break away from the lethargy in which it fallen down. The most responsible in that sense cannot be anybody else by the Prime Minister Adnan Terzic.’ |
| Dani editorial on Ashdown | Dani pg 22 ‘Cold, my dear lord’ editorial by Gojko Beric – Author refers to the EC’s respond regarding the BiH Feasibility Study, and following statement by the High Representative Paddy Ashdown: ‘To be honest, and little bit brutal, based on current efficiency I don’t believe that political parties can implement these pre-conditions within set deadline.’ Editorial reads that this statement had an impact of ‘cold shower’, but that ‘Ashdown’s estimation is correct, however… he turned out incompetent and a little bit silly… Ashdown doesn’t trust anymore both local politicians, and it also seems, himself… Till yesterday, however, everything looked very much different.’ Asking what happened meanwhile in ‘Ashdown’s mind’ and why his view towards the future suddenly become so gloomy, author writes: ‘Perhaps, after 18 months… the man realized whom he deals with… The problem… is that he did not want to listen to voices of warning… If things failed at majority of the most important fronts, than that is the joint bankruptcy of the high representative, nationalists’ parties and… citizens.’ Author concludes: ‘Paddy Ashdown know, well in advance,… how additional demands from EC would look like. I understand his discouragement… Nobody normal would bet for even a pfenging of the success. It is human of Ashdown to feel so dizzy of such heights. Perhaps, that is the sing that he himself become aware that… he personally did little. But, if nothing else, our king Paddy … started to acknowledge his own powerlessness, which usually reflects in his rotten compromises with nationalists… Therefore Ashdown… will keep stressing more and more often that he is here only to help, and that it was up to domestic politicians to decide what they will do… BiH will stay little nationalistic country in the heart of the Balkans, the country of hatred and ethnic divisions, the country of crime,… country of shelter for war criminals at large,… country which most Serbs and Croats do not see as theirs.’ |
| SB on meeting between political parties and Ashdown | Slobodna Bosna pgs 5-7 ‘Lobby in favour of ‘political consensus’ of all parties, Ashdown tries to hide that existing authorities fall apart’ by Asim Metiljevic – The article deals with the inter-party meeting held in the OHR last week, in which the High Representative Paddy Ashdown appealed to opposition parties to disregard partisan interests in favour of state interests. SB writes that following opposition reaction, ‘Ashdown, unable to hide his outrage, stood up and, without a greeting,… walked out of the meeting he hosted!’. Magazine further carries reactions to the meeting and proposed ‘political consensus’ by opposition: ‘In opposition circles, this ‘generous offer’, presented by the High Representative on behalf of the ruling coalition, has been reacted on differently, but they all agree that the story of ‘political consensus’ tries to make opposition energy passive.’ Noting that ruling coalition held majority at all levels of the authorities and therefore it did not need opposition’s agreement on almost anything, magazine writes that the problems is that coalition partners among themselves cannot reach agreement on even the most important issues. Further saying that the meeting was organized following EC’s respond on BiH feasibility study, author writes: ‘Opposition believe that none of 16 conditions laid down were disputable, and that in no way opposition will be an obstacle to authorities… However, opposition will not set for the rule OHR intended for them ‘at this stage of reforms’: to passively observe and blesses proposed solutions which in most of the cases come from OHR.’ SB also carries out reaction by SNSD leader Milorad Dodik: ‘Ruling envisages taking the responsibilities for the decisions which most of the times are unpopular.’ Dodik also stated that he was certain that ‘political consensus’ is aimed at hiding coalition’s internal differences. SDP also believes that ruling coalition fears to take responsibility for several big decisions it has to make very soon: regarding Eronet, Mostar city and Vc corridor. Claiming that authorities cannot agree on any of these three issues, SDP leaders Zlatko Lagumdzija comments: ‘Ruling parties are not looking for partnership with the opposition in order to speed up reforms, but rather to cover fatal mistakes on which we warned them off well in advance… To listen about mistakes made is not in the interests of the state, but only in the interests of its ruling parties and their international sponsors.’ |