| CROAT RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| CoM and BiH Presidnecy | Hague Donor Conference | Attacks on tax officers | RS NA session |
| Donor conference | CoM on organised crime | Additional budget for MoD | CoM session |
| Locker on defence reform | Session of RS NA | BiH Presidency |
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| Donor conference |
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| Oslobodjenje | RTV BiH under pressure to adopt BBC plan; FBiH Gov’t increased the budget: for FBiH Defence Ministry and Army five million KM |
| Dnevni Avaz | A truck at full speed grazed jeep: pure accident or trial of Tihic’s assassination?, Brankovic: Telecoms were armies without commanders; Hague: 16 million Euros raised for BiH Court |
| Dnevni List | Eronet will not be shut down, Additional information on persons from US list demanded |
| Vecernji List | USA allowed attack on Banja Luka in 1995, Open war for TV, Bush’s black list for BiH completed |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Niksic’s group got killed in Mostar, ‘Bosmal’ is not competence to Croatia |
| Glas Srpske | Republika Srpska Ministry of Finance: Holders of somebody else’s money; Dragan Mikerevic: To preserve RTRS |
| Nezavisne Novine | Donors conference held in The Hague: EURO 16 million for War Crimes Chamber in BiH; Defence reform before RS MP’s: Dragan Cavic called on MP’s to adopt the changes to Constitution; BiH COM: Plan for fight against organised crime adopted |
| Blic | Dragan Cavic: RS will suffer losses if it refuses the defence reforms |
| Dani magazine | Exclusive: In the headquarters of Jaser Arafat |
| Slobodna Bosna | The Hague continues with the investigation against Delic, Alispahic and Mahmuljin |
War crimes | |
| Donor conference for BiH War Crimes Chamber raises 15.7 million Euros
| BHTV 1, FTV, CRHB, Oslobodjenje pg 4 ‘15.7 million Euros raised’ – At a Conference in The Hague held on Thursday, the International Community pledged 15.7 million Euros towards the setting up of a specialized War Crimes Chamber in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. BH Ambassador in the Hague Zeljko Jerkic represented BH at the donor conference, organised by OHR and hosted by the Hague Tribunal. Members of the Steering Board of the Peace Implementation Council, other participating states of the EU, as well as some non-member states attended. In November 2002 the High Representative Paddy Ashdown and the former President of the ICTY Judge Claude Jorda began discussions on developing BiH’s capacity to try war crimes in its own courts, as they agreed this was essential. The total cost was estimated at 38 million Euros for the first five years of operation. Successful operation of the Chamber would enable ICTY to complete its works by 2008 or 2010. Dnevni Avaz cover, pg 3 ‘16 million Euros for BiH Chamber for War Crimes’ – OHR spokesman Oleg Milisic explained that ‘these funds will be sufficient for 2 years… the Council should be operative by end of next year… Donors showed big generosity and they committed to assist the work of this Chamber in the future. The majority of them emphasized their readiness to assist the work of judges, firstly in next two years.’ Nezavisne Novine cover and pg. 3 ‘EURO 16 million for War Crimes Chamber in BiH’, Glas Srpske pg. 2 ‘Amount of EURO 15 million collected’ – Theodor Meron, ICTY President, stated that the establishment of War Crimes Chamber in Sarajevo would be of great significance for a successful completion of ICTY strategy and work and establishment of rule of law in BiH. |
| Judge Sator on the Chamber | Oslobodjenje pgs 4&5 ’13 Hague’s cases ready’ by Edina Kamenica – Judge of the BiH State Court Mehmed Sator claims that BH Chamber for processing war crimes should start working as of 1 January 2004, and added that following several negotiations in this regard this has been agreed during the latest visit of ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte to BiH. According to Sator, fifteen current local and five international judges should immediately start to process 13 cases form the Hague Tribunal. ‘Those cases are coming straight from the Tribunal’ stresses Sator and also stressed that he believed Chamber will need much more than 38 million Euros for five years of its operations. |
| Mikerevic: IC may impose sanctions against RS | Vecernje Novosti pg. 3 ‘Srpska faces sanctions’ – The RS Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic says there is a possibility that the IC applies sanctions against the RS due to inadequate co-operation with the Hague Tribunal. He says that possibility exists since that the cooperation between the RS and Hague Tribunal has not resulted in arresting the Hague indictees, including Radovan Karadzic. |
| SB: ICTY investigates Delic, Alispahic, Mahmuljin | Slobodna Bosna cover, pg 10 ‘Investigation against Izetbegovic halted, but continued against Delic, Alispahic and Mahmuljin’ by Suzana Andjelic – Following the statement by ICTY officials on the investigation against late Alija Izetbegovic, SB writes that the Tribunal not only said that there was a suspicion that BH Army committed war crimes, but also that those crimes might have been tolerated by the Army Command and political leadership. According to ‘confidential sources in ICTY’, SB reads that investigations are being conducted against BiH Army Commander Rasim Delic, former Defence Minister Sakib Mahmuljin and former Police Minister Bakir Alispahic, and that probably indictments will be raised. Investigations will include murder of Serbs and other non-Bosniaks in Kazani region, killing of PoWs in Sarajevo’s park, work of police unit Seve, and some events that occurred in several Sarajevo settlements. In addition, ICTY probes into crimes committed by the unit El Mujahid committed in Vozuca in 1995. |
Security issues | |
| RSNA on defence reforms
| CRHB, BHTV 1, FTV, RTRS, Dnevni List pg 10 ‘It is necessary to adopt unified BiH defense system’, Vecernje Novosti pg. 4 ‘Presidency is commander’; Blic pg. 13 ‘Accept!’, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘To enter NATO, BiH must have one army’, Nezavisne Novine cover and pg. 5 ‘Dragan Cavic called on MP’s to adopt the changes to Constitution’, Glas Srpske pg. 2 ‘Before the door of Partnership’ – During discussion on defence reform, the RS President, Dragan Cavic, made a presentation, in which he called on the Republika Srpska MP’s to support the proposed report of the Defence Reform Commission, because in this manner, the door towards Euro-Atlantic integration would open for RS and BiH. He stressed that RS cannot allow itself to be responsible for the failure to be admitted into Partnership for Peace. He reiterated that following defence reform standards, the proposals regarding the eventual change of the RS Constitution would be defined. He further noted that any rejection of these proposals would result in grand consequences for RS. James Locher, Chairperson of the Defence Reform Commission, stated that defence reforms are of historic importance, and also that reforms are part of BiH future and its admission into PfP and NATO. No discussion was opened on this point of agenda after the presentations of Cavic and Locher. |
| CoM adopts plan to fight organized crime | BHTV, FTV, RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 6 ‘Action plan for fight against crime established’, Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Plan for the fight against organized crime adopted’ – BiH Council of Ministers adopted national action plan for the fight against organised crime, which consists of state and regional priorities. The state priorities include establishing and implementation of the state law enforcement agencies, which includes the existing structures – SIPA, DGS, Interpol and the Ministry of Security. Deputy BiH Minister of Security, Dragan Mektic announced that adoption of the new law on SIPA would transform this agency into the BiH Agency for Investigations and Protection. The Action Plan also envisages issuing of the state law on preventing money maundering, Law on Witness Protection, Law on Protection of Personal Data, as well as the Law on BH Border Protection. Nezavisne Novine cover and pg. 2 ‘SIPA to get police authority by middle of 2004’ – By mid next year, SIPA is expected to get police authority and will be called State Investigation and Protection Agency (instead of State Information and Protection Agency). The expansion of SIPA authority represents just one part of the National action plan for the fight against organised crime, which was adopted at yesterday’s session of the BiH Council of Ministers. Dnevni List pg 5 ‘Entrance to BiH during religious holiday All Saints with identity cards only’, Slobodna Dalmacija pg 7 – newspapers also covered CoM session. |
| SDA rejects Ashdown’s accusations
| Vecernji List pg 3 ‘Establish responsibility of police officials’, Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Chief of Police were connected to previous authorities’ – ‘I call upon the representatives of the international community, especially of the European police to check whether police in BiH is really de-politicised, that is whether some Chief of Police still maintain relations with the representatives of former authorities’ – stated Elmir Jahic, vice president of the SDA for Oslobodjenje answering to the comments made by the High Representative Paddy Ashdown and EUPM Commissioner Sven Frederiksen on the involvement of political parties [especially SDA] in police work. |
| SB on Ashdown’s statement re political influences in police | Slobodna Bosna pgs 12&13 ‘Ashdown finally realized what was behind SDA’s request to remove Miletic, Selimovic, Dzebo, Jakupovic’ – Magazine writes that one of the harshest critic made against FBiH Ahmet Hadzipasic at the session of SDA Main Board was his failure to dismiss FBiH Police Director Zlatko Miletic. Adding that Hadzipasic has been putting effort into this, SB writes: ‘And just when Hadzipasic started to believe that… dismissal of Miletic was to happen any day, there was a shocking development: … the High Representative Paddy Ashdown unexpectedly strongly attacked SDA for its permanent campaign against policemen not loyal to that party… Ashdown was clear in saying that SDA’s pressure against commissioners in Una-Sana, Gorazde and Sarajevo Cantons was not acceptable.’ Article concludes that Hadzipasic still waits for OHR’s respond to his letter, in which he requested Miletic’s removal, while Ashdown said that serious allegations made against Miletic require serious analysis and approach in writing respond. |
| SB on post of Director of Intelligence Agency | Slobodna Bosna pgs 30-32 ‘Main candidates Novic and Planovjevic: You can’t tell who is worse!’ by Suzana Andjelic – SB writes that as BiH joint Intelligence Agency [OSA] is to start working on 1 January 2004, coalition partners still negotiate on the candidates for senior position in the agency. ‘Even though it was agreed for the OSA Director to be Bosniak… Serb side now tries to gain something for themselves.’ Magazine explains that SDA offered Bosniaks to take over leading position in the State Information and Protection Agency [currently headed by Sredoje Novic], and it return to have a Serb on the position of OSA Director. ‘To understand this … it is enough to know that SIPA’s annual budget if 5 million KM, while the budget foreseen for new joint intelligence service is 30 million KM… It is also planned for SIPA to be transformed into state Interior Ministry, while OSA would unify intelligence services of both entities [FOSS and OBS], therefore it is more important for SDS to control entire intelligence system in BiH.’ Author further claims that Coalition partners unofficially accepted this, and that two candidates for OSA Director are Sredoje Novic and Dobrivoja Planojevic, proven SDS disciple and OBS’ Chief Inspector. ‘Both Novic and Planojevic are catastrophically bad choice, as it is absolutely clear that they will not make this service into professional intelligence, but they will make it service of their political mentors, as it was case with OBS in RS.’ Author further describes in details political connections of two candidates. |
| Update on US black list | Dnevni Avaz pg 3 ‘BiH Prosecutor’s Office made the list of persons referring to US Prsident’s decree’, Dnevni List pg 3 ‘Additional information on persons from the US list were demanded’ – After FBiH Prosecution and RS Prosecution handed over demanded information to the BiH Prosecution, the BiH Prosecution made a list of the persons that the executive decree of US President George W. Bush refers to. BiH Prosecution informed that this list was handed over to the BiH Security Ministry. With regard to this issue Chief Prosecutor Marinko Jurcevic stated: “The BiH Prosecution has made the list of persons that are tried before domestic courts or ICTY and on whom the US President’s executive decree refers to.” Nezavisne Novine pg. 3 ‘BiH Chief Prosecutor refused to disclose the names of suspects’’- Marinko Jurcevic, BiH Chief Prosecutor, refused on Thursday to disclose the names of persons from ‘US ban list’, who will be tried before BiH Courts, although he announced such possibility sometime last week. He expressed fear that if he revealed the names, those people could try to flee from BiH. Vecernji List front, pg 3 ‘Bush’s black list completed’ – VL carries that the names of following Croats from BiH are stated in the annex of the Bush’s list for Balkans: Tihomir Blaskic, Mario Cerkez, Valentin Coric, Anto Furundzija, Ante Jelavic, Dario Kordic, Pasko Ljubicic, Vinko Martinovic Stela, Zdravko Mucic, Mladan Naletilic Tuta, security company ‘Puma’ from Mostar, Ivica Rajic, Vladimir Santic, Drago Josipovic, Stanko Sopta Baja, Jozo Peric. VL also says that Karadzic, Mladic, Cengic, Bjelica, Alispacic, the Ravna Gora Chetnik’s Movement etc. are also on the list. |
| FBiH Defence Ministry receives 4 mil KM | BHTV, FTV, Dnevni List pg 4 ‘Another 2 million KM to FBiH MoD’, Oslobodjenje pg 7 ‘For FDM and FBiH Army five million KM’ – At its sessions, FBiH Government allocated additional 4 million KM for the budget of FBiH Defence Ministry and Army. After the FBiH Defence Ministry rationalized its expensed government allocated additional funds to assist Army to cover the most essential cost. Defence Minister Miroslav Nikolić said: ‘This 4 millions are part of earlier promised emergency assistance for this Ministry in order to maintain minimum living standard in our army.’ |
Economic issues | |
| RS NA on Indirect Taxation
| RTRS, BHTV 1, Blic pg. 13 ‘Tax vs. tax evasion’, Glas Srpske, pg. 2, ‘One tax, more money’ – Republika Srpska National Assembly yesterday agreed that the authority over the sector of indirect taxation should be transferred onto the BiH Parliamentary Assembly. Green light was given to the Republika Srpska Government to sign an agreement with the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding realisation of the provisions of the proposed Law on indirect taxation. 52 MP’s (including 4 opposition MP’s) voted pro adoption of these conclusions, whilst 4 MP’s voted contra and 14 abstained from voting. |
| SB on ITA Director | Slobodna Bosna pgs 5&6 ‘Kasumovic has been turned down because OHR believes Hasan Cengic to stand behind him’ by Mirsad Fazlic – Article refers to the appointment of the Director of the BiH Indirect Taxation Administration, in which the international community and Council of Minister have different stands caused by the misunderstanding between Chairman Adnan Terzic and PDHR Donald Hays. After Commission for Indirect Taxation proposed two candidates for the post, Fuad Kasumovic and Mile Kudic, the statement made by Hays showed that both candidates could be problematic. Hays stated that ‘he was not sure whether during the selection of the candidates their professionals overruled, or was it done for political interests. He added that OHR would do its part of the job in fair manner. Later, Hays proved to be right and OHR … did its part of the job in fair manner. So, regardless to official remarks that Kasumovic was the best and most appropriate personnel solution, OHR could not ignore the fact that there was a criminal charge filed against this ‘expert’ just recently, which was justified and sufficient reason for his elimination.’ However the article claims that the main problem to be ‘ instead of public statement… OHR suggested to Ambassador Hays to solve the problem silently and … to agree with… Terzic on eliminating Kasumovic.’ According to the source ‘close to the IC, SB reads that Hays held meeting with Terzic on this issue, in which he offered CoM Chairman for Kasumovic to withdraw its nomination, while OHR in return would not dismiss him publicly which would also mean ban of performing duty in some other public institution. Magazine goes on saying that both Terzic and Sulejman Tihic accepted Hays’ offer, however Kasumovic [whose is said to be supported by Hasan Cengic, ‘man who had deciding impact for selection of Adnan Terzic as Chairman of CoM’] did not act as it was agreed. However, SB concludes that Kasumovic will never be chosen as Paddy Ashdown sent a letter to Terzic informing him that he extended the mandate of Commission for Indirect Taxation, and that he supported new competition for the Director post. |
| Regional Investment Forum held in Sarajevo | FTV, BHTV, RTRS, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘Next week, the competition for project documentation’, Oslobodjenje pg 4 ‘BiH Must not be afraid of the foreign investments’, – ‘Economic Infrastructure of the Western Balkans’ is title of the sixth Regional Investment Forum – RIF 2003, which took place in Sarajevo on Thursday. This forum, as the previous one, has an international character, and the basic subject include discussions on Vc corridor, current programmes and projects of regional significance and the privatisation process of the of strategic companies. Chairman of the BiH Presidency Dragan Covic stated: ‘There is a lot of potential for investing in food processing and agriculture as well infrastructure development.’ On the issue of Vc corridor, Croatia again presented its interest to provide technical assistance. Co-owner of Bosmal Edin Sabanovic: ‘Commission for the concession should decide on next steps and we expect its establishment. Bosmall has provided all required banking guarantees.’ Dokic said that a competition would be announced next week for choosing the companies that will design project documentation for building corridor 5C. The Principal Deputy High Representative, Donald Hays, Chief of the EC Delegation to BiH Michael Humphreys and the Italian Ambassador in BiH, Saba D’Elia, ascertained that that BiH essentially requires a strategy of self-sustaining economic development and that economy, together with legislation, must be prioritised by BiH society. RTRS – He announced that the Council of Ministers would insure by mid 2004 credit funds for building the detour around Sarajevo and freeway Banja Luka – Gradiska, and will also insure funds for launching of railway and the eventual construction of ports in Brcko and Samac. |
| Comments on Hays’ statement on privatisation | Dnevni Avaz pg 11 ‘Zigic: many investments exist only on paper’ by A.Zeba – Following the statement made by PDHR Donald Hays that ‘privatisation in BiH failed’, Director of FBiH Privatisation Agency Resad Zutic thtat there one could not make ‘general statement on the privatisation as the failure’. Zutic explains that out of 270 bidding processes conducted, there were about 30 unsuccessful. FBiH Minister of Energy, Mining and Economy Izet Zigic said he completely agrees with Hays: ‘Beside several exceptions… everything else had very weak concrete results. A lot of investments exist only on paper.’ Zigic also announced that at next session of the FBiH government he will propose certain changes and amendments to the Law on Privatisation in order to eliminate some irregularities in the implementation of that process. |
| NN: Opposition will support TS audit report | Nezavisne Novine pg. 5 ‘Opposition to support Telekom report’ – Krstan Simic, SNSD MP, confirmed that the SNSD would propose to the RS National Assembly to support the international audit report on Telekom Srpske. Drago Kalabic, DNS MP’s, also said that they would support adoption of the audit report. |
| NN editorial on audit report | Nezavisne Novine pg 7 ‘Parliament majority legalised the crime’ editorial by Dragan Jerinic – The author is critical of the current authority of Republika Srpska, namely of Republika Srpska Parliament majority, which, in his words, on Wednesday legalised the crime and corruption by having decided to stand behind Telekom Srpske and not to support international audit report. Accordingly, the author concludes that it is no wonder at all that people are living this state, because there are only few people who can survive here – and those have been serving the war profiteers, party businessmen and clans. |
| DA interview with Nedzad Brankovic on telecoms | Dnevni Avaz cover, pg 5 ‘Telecoms were armies without a commander’ by Adi Hadziarapovic – In an interview to daily, FBiH Transport and Communications Minister Nedzad Brankovic says that following special audit’s report in telecoms, government applies set of measures to establish new system of management in order to correct irregularities. He also denies allegations made by, now, former management that value of telecom will be decreased by the Government prior to the privatisation. As for Eronet case, Brankovic says that Agency for Privatisation and Public Attorney now must act as it was established that sale of HT capital was not in accordance with the regulations. ‘I hope that the return of share will be carried out on time, as in November Ministry of Transport and Communications has to … bring decision on 3rd GSM licence.’ – concludes Brankovic. |
| DL interview with Bozo Knezevic [Eronet] | Dnevni List front, pg 9 ‘Eronet will not be shut down’ by J. Petrovic – DL carries an interview with President of ‘Eronet’s’ Management Bozo Knezevic. Asked to comment on the fact that Eronet does not participate in the activities that should be completed in order to prevent shutting down of Eronet, Knezevic says that the positive side of the action plan is that the competent Ministry and CRA took upon themselves certain obligations. Also he added that they hope that CRA and the Ministry will meet these obligations and therefore he is sure that Eronet will not be shut down. Asked whether something will change if Eronet gets back to HT Mostar, Knezevic says that he believes that some significant change will not take place because the ownership structure does not have a direct influence on running the company. |
Political issues | |
| Selection of BiH Ombudsmen
| CRHB, FTV, BHTV, Dnevni List pg 6 ‘Voting on candidates for BiH ombudsmen postponed’, Vecernji List pg 2 ‘M. Ljubic Croat ombudsman’, Slobodna Dalmacija pg 7 ‘Appointment of BiH ombudsmen postponed’, Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Appointment procedure not questionable’ / ‘Ljubic and Savic proposed, Sulejman Tihic withdrawn candidacy of Ibrahimagic, Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Ombudsmen not appointed’ – BiH Presidency was supposed to nominate candidates for BiH Ombudsmen, but it failed to meet deadline. Chairman of the Presidency Dragan Covic stated that they ‘were not able to complete the procedure as Bosniak side did not prepare name of its candidate…other two candidates are Mariofil Ljubic and Snjezana Savic, both politically neutral and with impressive professional record…I hope we’ll complete the process next week.’ President of Helsinki Committee Srdjan Dizdarevic claimed that such procedure discredited credibility of future ombudsman, since proposed candidates were not non-political figures. Current BiH Ombudsman Frank Orton, whose mandate expires at the end of this year, also questioned political neutrality of candidates, whoever added that the procedure of their appointment was not entirely against international standards. Ombudsmen of Federation are supposed to be appointed after BiH ombudsmen. |
| Orucevic and Tomic will not be members of Mostar Commission | Dnevni List pg 3 ‘Discussion on ways of administration of city budget’, Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘SDA leads Mostar in division’, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘Orucevic and Tomic refused to be members of Mostar Commission’ – According to Avaz, Norbert Winterstein was on Thursday introduced to the idea of appointing former Mostar Mayor’s Safet Orucevic and Neven Tomic to become members of the Mostar Commission. Source close to the Commission claims that Witnerstein did not voice his opinion, but that he would probably reject such proposal. Even both Tomic and Orucevic described it as unacceptable. ‘I refused to be directly involved in the work of Commission for Mostar Statute, but my assistance to its work is present through City branch of Party for BiH and persons form this party who [are in the Commission]’ stated for Onasa former Mostar mayor Safet Orucevic, who stressed the need for HDZ and SDA to over come their current disputes. ‘Unfortunately, today SDA in Mostar includes certain forces whose moves lead to division of Mostar, and consequences could be fatal for entire country. They explain it all by the protection of vital Bosniak interests, but in this way they can only threat to it, and not protect it.’ |
| Mostar Commission agrees on the budget | Oslobodjenje pg 7 ‘Unanimous attitude towards the budget’ – Members of the Mostar Commission focused at the issue of budget during their latest session. All of them agreed for budget to be unified, as established by the proposed Statute drafted by the Commission’s Chairman Norbert Winterstein. Session on Thursday also for the first time was attended by the new member Marko Ivanisevic a representative of Serb returnees. [Dnevni list also reported on this] |
| High Rep visits Mostar
| Oslobodjenje pg 6 ‘Talk about city’s structure’, FENA – The High Representative Paddy Ashdown visits Mostar on Friday, where he is to meet with the parties which actively participate the work of the Mostar Commission to discuss progress achieved. [Dnevni list also reported on this] |
| Update on HNK Gov’t | Dnevni List pg 16 ‘Prime Minister is person most responsible for events in Government’ by Vesna Leto – DL carries the Canton 7 Prime Minister Miroslav Coric as talking about the situation regarding the functioning of the Canton 7 Government. Talking about a meeting that he had with the Head of OHR South Ambassador Jacques Andrieu PM Coric says he and the Head of Cantonal Treasury Nada Glibic made a retrospective of events from the past few days. “I never doubted the final outcome of the talks. Imagine, some would like to play with decisions of the Prime Minister which are final and legal and which has been confirmed with the payment of the salaries”, said PM Coric adding that he does not know what the Bosniak Ministers from the C7 Government talked about at the OHR. “I know what I said, at the end of the day the Prime Minister is the person most responsible for everything that happens in the Government. When will the gentlemen realize that what they did was just a product of political activity”, concludes Coric. Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘Coric announces dismissal of Boric’, Vecernji List pg 5 ‘OHR makes a ruling – payment of salaries begins’– The payment of salaries to the Police officers and education workers in the Canton 7 began yesterday “after the OHR ruled that the payment of money from the cantonal Treasury has to be approved by the competent minister Semin Boric and head (of treasury) Nada Glibic. Prime Minister Coric and Bosniak ministers had separate talks with OHR officials in Mostar, who confirmed that the Government’s decision, which annulled Boric’s self-will, should be observed”. VL also reports that the PM Coric announced sanctions against Minister Boric adding that he would “use all his authorities”. |
Public Broadcast | |
| DA: Ashdown’s editorial on broadcasting
| Dnevni Avaz cover ‘It is time for truth’, pg 4 ‘Exclusively: It is time for truth on the public RTV system’ – The High Representative Paddy Ashdown wrote an article for Dnevni Avaz on the subject of reforms in field of public broadcasting, following publishing of the BBC Consultancy plan which start avalanche of criticism for both the company and rest of the international community in BiH. With aim to clearly answer to most often accusations repeated against IC in past several days, Ashdown said that ‘it was the time for say [to BiH citizens] what was going on in public broadcasting’ and went on by assuring the public that ‘public broadcasters will never be used for propaganda again, or for promotion of the hatred and divisions based on bnationality. And be assured that EU also want to be sure of that before they let BiH to move on towards Europe.’ Ashdown denied that PBS already fulfilled European standards [as it was stressed frequently lately] or that the international community was responsible for all problems in the public broadcasting. Other ‘myths’ High Representative denied include accusations that OHR is to sell RTV House in Sarajevo [stressing this was the matter for PBS] and that IC has responsibility to solve all the problems. Ashdown said PBS has to become self-sustainable system, but also stressed that was not the only problem of this media pointing to the fact that FTV was over-staffed. |
| OHR on BBC Consultancy plan | Dnevni Avaz pg 10 ‘PBS is to lose international assistance’, Nezavisne Novine pg. 6, ‘Public broadcasting service will lose support’, Dnevni List pg 2 ‘PBS is losing about 2 million KM every month’, Oslobodjenje cover splash, pg 3 ‘RTV BiH under the pressure to adopt BBC plan’ / ‘Not for sale’ – If Public Broadcast Servic rejects the plan proposed by the BBC Consultancy on the establishment of RTV system in BiH it would lose the support of the international community. ‘Refusal of this plan would indicate that PBS was not serious in its intention to solve the problems’ – stated OHR spokesperson Vedran Perisic, stressing PBS looses over a million KM monthly. |
| Cliff on BBC Consultancy | Oslobodjenje cover, pg 3 ‘RTV BiH under the pressure to adopt BBC plan’, Dnevni Avaz pg 10 ‘All decisions made by leaderships and management of the BiH broadcasters’ – The British Embassy issued press release saying that there are numerous misunderstandings concerning the work of the BBC Consultancy team and reminded that it is financed as part of British Government’s bilateral program for the development of BiH. This donation is used for activities of the BBC Consultancy team defined by PBS, RTRS and RTVFBiH general managers and steering boards. UK Embassy also stressed that ‘It is important to understand that the mentioned agreement does not give the BBC Consultancy team any authority to impose solutions on BiH broadcasters. All decisions on possible acceptance of certain advice and recommendations made by the BBC Consultancy team are made by their leaderships and steering structures.’ BHTV 1, FTV – UK Ambassador to BiH Ian Cliff reacted on accusation made against BBC Consultancy’s proposal for restructuring public broadcasting system. He explained three broadcasters requested consultants to provide viable solution: ‘FTV, RTRS and PBS could not find solution, so they asked for outside assistance and UK government decided to help, so BBC consultants were hired…goal was to design depoliticised system which can be integrated with other systems in EU…Contract reads that any party can withdraw and solve problems on its own.’ |
| Durakovic and Maric warn workers BBC plan only a proposal | Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Not for sale’ – Workers placed a poster in the front of RTV building in Sarajevo on Thursday morning, which reads ‘not for sale’. Dnevni Avaz pg 10 ‘Workers wrote ‘not for sale / Letter to employees’ – PBS Director Drago Maric and the FTV Director Jasmin Durakovic and wrote a letter to all employees calling them to actively participate the BBC questionnaire which will last till the end of the week. This was done also last year, when employees were asked to comment on the work of the management an overall situation in public broad casting. The letter also stressed that BBC plan ‘has a form of proposal, and not final solution’. |
| Mikerevic: PBS Law a threat to Serb culture and language | BH Radio 1, Blic pg. 13 ‘Attack on media’, Glas Srpske cover page story ‘To preserve RTRS’, Nezavisne Novine pg. 3 ‘PBS Law represents an attack against editorial independence’ – Dragan Mikerevic, Republika Srpska Prime Minister, stated that the proposed law on public broadcasting system of BiH represents a danger for Serb language and culture. He also said that the proposed law also represents a kind of attack against editorial policy and independence and media pluralism. Dragan Solaja, Republika Srpska Minister of Traffic and Communication, yesterday refused to make any comment on the OHR proposal on this issue. |
| Helsinki Committee against change to FTV Law | Dnevni Avaz pg 10 ‘To suspend FTV law’, Dnevni Avaz ‘They use speaker space for personal promotion’, FENA – Member of the BH Helsinki Human Rights Committee Almin Terzic asked from the Office of the High Representative to suspend the Law which forces FTV to carry out live broadcast of FBiH Houses’ sessions. In an open letter to the Principle Deputy High Representative Donald Hays Terzic reminds that several months ago OHR recommended FBiH Parliament not to adopt mentioned Law. |