| NTV HAYAT (18,55 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| New RS PM designate | Respect to tsunami victims | Mine explosion in Potocari | Day of RS |
| BiH News | New RS PM designate | Bomb alert in | BL airport closed |
| World News | Message of Met. Nikolaj | New RS PM designate | Pero Bukelovic is new PM |
| Face to Face | Paravac on crisis in BIH | Dodik on PM designate | Reactions to the new PM |
| Oslobodjenje | Pero Bukejlovic appointed new RS PM designate |
| Dnevni Avaz | Cavic extending crisis in RS |
| Dnevni List | Blockade of state border crossings |
| Vecernji List | Features Croatia related headlines |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Features Croatia related headlines |
| EuroBlic | Pero Bukejlovic appointed new RS PM designate |
| Vecernje novosti | Pero Bukejlovic appointed new RS PM designate |
Political developments | |
| SDS’ Pero Bukejlovic appointed new PM-designate
| RTRS, TV Hayat, BHT, FTV, Oslobodjenje cover page, pg 2 ‘SDS’ Pero Bukejlovic appointed new PM designate’ by Orijana Vukovic, Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Pero Bukejlovic appointed new RS PM designate’, Blic cover page, pg 3 ‘Pero Bukejlovic appointed new RS PM designate’, Vecernje Novosti cover, pg 3, Dnevni List, pg 3, mentioned on front ‘Pero Bukejlovic is new RS Government prime minister-designate’, by Nermin Bise – RS President Dragan Cavic on Saturday named Pero Bukejlovic as prime minister designate and asked him to form a new RS government. Bukejlovic previously held the post of industry and technology minister in the former RS government of Mladen Ivanic. Bukejlovic is member of the Serb Democratic Party. He was born in Doboj and he graduated from the Sarajevo Faculty of Engineering in 1969 and completed his postgraduate studies in |
| RTRS: First reactions to the appointment of new PM-designate
| RTRS brings first reactions to the appointment of new PM-designate Pero Bukejlovic. SNSD Chairman Milorad Dodik stated that with Bukejlovic’s appointment RS President Dragan Cavic is making fun of RS. He stressed that Bukejlovic was a Minister during the time when highest decrease of industrial production in RS was marked and added that Bukejlovic has produced criminal privatisation. SP RS Chairman Petar Djokic supposes that all parties who signed the agreement on coordinated political acting will support the new Government. PDP Chairman Mladen Ivanic says that there is a month ahead and it will be seen what will happen so PDP will their evaluation then. Krstan Simic from SNSD wished Bukejlovic success in an attempt to do something in the short period ahead. Simic says that opposition will act in accordance with the agreement on coordinated political acting. Zivko Marjanac from SP RS says that SP will support the establishing of the Government and remain in the opposition. Opposition is determined not to ask positions on the new Government. Savo Cvjetinovic Chairman of RS Veterans organisation expects that the new PM will respect all previous agreements that this organisation has made with the new Government. RTRS reporter comments that if the PM-designate gets Assembly majority than the new Government will have to face domestic and even harder international obligations. BHT also carried reactions by SNSD’s Simic and PDP’s Ivanic. |
| Dodik on appointment of Bukejlovic
| FTV – The FTV reporter interviewed SNSD Chairman Milorad Dodik on appointment of Pero Bukejlovic as RS Prime Minister designate. Asked about his opinion on Bukejlovic, Dodik said that he doesn’t think anything good about Bukejlovic. According to Dodik, Dragan Cavic’s decision to appoint Bukejlovic shows Cavic’s bad attitude towards RS. Cavic is joking with the fact that RS is in crisis. RS needs persons with strong references who can help the reform process. By appointing Bukejlovic from SDS, RS is once again challenging |
| SDA’s Sadovic: Cavic extending crisis in RS
| Dnevni Avaz cover page ‘Cavic extending crisis in RS’, pg 2 ‘Cavic attempts to maintain the crisis’ by E. Sarac – Head of SDA caucus in RS National Assembly Tarik Sadovic believes that by appointing Pero Bukejlovic as new RS PM designate RS President Dragan Cavic is just extending crisis in the government. “In a way this is a sign that there will be no cooperation with |
| RS Vice-president Osmanovic: Government with tiny majority
| Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘Government with tiny majority’ – RS Vice-president Adil Osmanovic told the daily on Saturday that the SDS will together with PDP, radicals and some smaller Serb political parties have a tiny parliamentary majority to support the new government. Osmanovic said that SDA had not invited to participate in the new government but that it was however being announced that the newly-appointed PM designate Pero Bukejlovic would talk on the issue with SDA representatives as well. “We are prepared to participate in the new government but under condition that a number of SDA nominated ministers are appointed and that the new government continues with the reforms including the fulfilment of obligations set by High Representative Paddy Ashdown,” said Osmanovic. |
| RS President Cavic slams Ashdown’s decision on defence, police reform
| TV Hayat, FTV, RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘Cavic threatens with obstructions to bringing BiH closer to NATO’ and pg 9 ‘RS is not like it was 13 years ago’, Vecernji List, pg 2 ‘Representatives of RS requesting demilitarisation of RS’, by Branka Stevandic,SRNA – As far as the reform of the defence system and police in BiH is concerned, RS President Dragan Cavic has rendered as unacceptable for the RS solutions which have been explicitly defined by High Representatives Paddy Ashdown’s decision/measures. “New, explicit demands which are going to literally demolish the defence system – which has been built on a compromise and a balancing act between the entities – have ushered in the demilitarization of BiH as an inevitability and a political issue,” Cavic told journalists in Banja Luka on Saturday at a special reception for representatives of the Defence and Interior Ministries and the RS Army. The reception was held to mark 9 January – the Day of the RS. Saying that the demilitarization of BiH will not be either accepted by the other two peoples (Croats and Bosniaks) in the Federation of BiH, Cavic emphasized that he did not rule out a possibility of a unilateral decision with regard to demilitarization if RS representatives reach a consensus on the issue. “Consequences of such decision would mean that BiH would have armed forces with no Serb participation,” Cavic said and added that the issue’s long-term outlook should be thought through. The RS president believes that the level of the defence reform agreed so far should be implemented as, judging by all NATO statements and stands, the achieved level of defence reform is in line with meeting all legal and reform demands for BiH’s admission into NATO’s Partnership for Peace programme. He recalled that the RS’ political stand on the reform of the BiH’s defence system is clearly evident in one of the stipulations of the recently signed agreement on a unified political activity of the six strongest political parties in the RS. Cavic said that the offered concept of the reform of the BiH police structure was also unacceptable for the RS. “The RS and all political parties in the RS believe that we can accept a reform of the state police structure which would envisage that the reform of the RS Interior Ministry would organize police forces as a sub-system of a unified system and that, in line with the agreed deployment and solutions, the RS would be an authority which would take part through its representatives in the drafting of a unified police concept, which should also be satisfactory as far as the BiH Constitution and the standards defined by the Feasibility Study are concerned,” Cavic said. Asked by journalists how stable the RS was following 13 years of its existence as an entity, Cavic said that “the RS is as stable as it was during its first year, the only difference is that it is not the same as it was in its first year”. He recalled that immediately after the |
| Paravac: Crisis caused by persons and bodies outside RS
| BHT, Dnevni List, pg 4 ‘Misunderstandings outside RS caused crisis’, not signed – The Chairman of BiH Presidency, Borislav Paravac, believes that the current social-political difficulties in BiH have been caused by big misunderstandings “of some persons and bodies outside the RS”. “The current events in BiH, which have been caused against the will of the Serb people and Serb politicians, show that the battle for existence of the RS has been prolonged even 15 years after it was established and the wartime that is far behind us”, stated Paravac. |
| Political conflicts inside SPRS
| RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 7 ‘Petar Djokic blocked work of SPRS bodies’ – Senior officials in SPRS have entered into conflict due to speculations that Nedjo Djuric might become the new RS PM-designate.Member of SP RS main board Milutin Pejic sent an open letter to SPRS Chairman Petar Djokic. Pejic stated that he stops all cooperation with Djokic and announced his withdrawal from all positions in the party. He accuses Djokic of self-willingness, blockade of party bodies and political games. Members of SP were not surprised with this letter. Zivko Marjanac member of SP says that Pejic announced his withdrawal from party functions at the last party meeting. Marjanac feels that the reason for that is that Pejic wanted for Djuric to accept the position of new PM-designate. Djokic says that this letter will not disturb the party too much. |
| DL op-ed on arrest of PIFWCs: RS not crazy about meeting deadlines
| Dnevni List, pg 2 ‘New deadlines’, by Jurislav Petrovic – Commenting on the statement of the High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, that Republika Srpska and Serbia and Montenegro have to arrest war crimes suspects, foremost Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic by April this year, the author argues that the High Representative has to remember that the RS “is not crazy about meeting deadlines and fulfilling promises”. In that context, the author also reminds that the Chief ICTY Prosecutor promised on numerous occasions that war crimes suspects would be arrested by such and such date, but they never did. Finally, the author argues that NATO officials often go public with statements that the suspects were seen here and there, and the author argues that in that case NATO should have arrested them if they know their movements. |
| DL: Mayor Beslic to appoint heads of services in City administration on Monday
| Dnevni List, pg 12, mentioned on front ‘Mayor appoints heads of services tomorrow’, by V. Soldo – Reports that HDZ and SDA’s negotiating teams in Mostar, represented by Mladen Margeta, Ljubo Beslic and Ivan Beus (HDZ) and Suad Hasandedic, Murat Coric and Sead Maslo (SDA), met of Friday night to discuss issues pertaining to functioning of Mostar authorities, including the future organization of Mostar administration and lack of decision regarding the temporary financing of City of Mostar. Apparently, the two sides reached a conclusion that the City administration had to be put in place as soon as possible in order to have the city fully functional, and according to information coming from the negotiating teams, it would appear that the Mayor of Mostar, Ljubo Beslic, would appoint 16 heads of services in the City administration tomorrow (Monday). Moreover, DL reports that the negotiators agreed that no institution would be included in the city budget (for 2005), unless it has re-organized its acts in accordance with the Mostar Statute. |
Economic/social issues | |
| Former employees of Orasje Customs Office protest against alleged irregularities
| FTV, Dnevni List, front pg splash and pg 9 ‘Blockade of state border crossings’, by Tihomir Bijelic – 42 former employes of the Customs Office at Orasje protested yesterday (Saturday), believing that the vacancies for the jobs were not carried out according to the rules and regulations. The fired workers claim that parts of their documentation such as different diplomas and certificates, which they had enclosed in replies to vacancy notices, had somehow gone missing. Moreover, the former employees claim that several highly qualified workers lost their jobs and instead people with criminal charges against got the jobs. In that context, DL goes on to say that, in order to establish a national balance in the Idirect Taxation Administration, 42 Croat officials from Orasje and Bosanski Samac crossings have been fired. The fired workers demand talks with relevant authorities and if there were no positive developments by January 11, they would block the said border crossings. |
| Newly-appointed BiH Central Bank Governor Kozaric expects interest rates to fall this year
| Dnevni Avaz pg 5, mentioned on cover ‘We expect interest rates to decrease by one to 1.5 percent this year’ – In an interview for the daily, Kemal Kozaric, newly-appointed BiH Central Bank Governor who assumed the duty as of January 1 this year said that he did not expect any major change in the policy of the institution in comparison to the mandate of his predecessor Peter Nicholl. Kozaric however said that he expected interest rates to decrease by one to 1.5 percent in this year. |