U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Mary Warlick Arrived in Belgrade

Belgrade, Jan. 24, 2010 (Serbia Today) United States Ambassador to Serbia Mary Warlick arrived in Belgrade on Friday, January 22, 2010. Upon her arrival she made following statement:

“I am very pleased to arrive in Belgrade today and I am honored to soon begin my responsibilities as the Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Serbia.  Serbia and the United States have a long tradition of friendship and together with my colleagues in Belgrade and Washington I intend to do everything I can to strengthen our bilateral cooperation. 

I look forward to working with the democratic government of Serbia to realize the aspirations of the people of Serbia to achieve greater economic prosperity, complete Serbia’s integration into Europe, and assume a constructive leadership role in the region. 

Yesterday, my husband, James Warlick, arrived in Sofia as the new U.S. Ambassador to Bulgaria.  We and our three children are delighted about the opportunity we will have in the coming years to enjoy the hospitality and warmth of the Serbian people and discover the richness of Serbia’s culture.  Finally, I very much look forward to soon meeting new friends and colleagues here and making Belgrade my new home.”

Spanish FM: Serbia crucial in region

Vienna, Jan.21, 2010 (Source: Tanjug) - Spanish FM Miguel Angel Moratinos said in Vienna on Tuesday that Serbia is a crucial country in the West Balkan region.

He added that Madrid supports its request for receiving the candidate status for EU accession.

In his address to the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Moratinos said that the European perspective of the western Balkans is very important and that all regional countries should head in the direction of the EU.

All western Balkan countries are on their way towards the EU and Spain supports them in that path, Moratinos pointed out.

Serbia is the crucial country in the region and Spain, as the one currently presiding over the EU, is pleased about the submitting of the request for receiving the candidate status, he stressed.
When it comes to Croatia, Moratinos expressed hope that there will be some progress in the following months, so that negotiations with that country could be completed in 2010.

According to Moratinos, it is important that all the West Balkan countries that tend to join the EU fulfill the necessary conditions, and Spain intends to support them in it.
Moratinos stressed that the Corfu dialogue on European security should be used as a possibility, as this process reactivated the role of OSCE and it offers a strategic perspective.

The Corfu process showed that security in Europe has a global and indivisible character, Moratinos underscored.

Tadić to address UN Security Council on Kosovo

Belgrade, Jan. 21 2010 (Serbia Today) - President Boris Tadić will be in New York on January 22 where he will attend a UN Security Council session dedicated to Kosovo.

This is according to a report in Belgrade daily Politika, which says that Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić will also attend the debate.
Tadić will address the Security Council, according to the newspaper.
Politika says that “while awaiting the decision of the International Court of Justice on the legal validity of the decision to unilaterally declare independence of Kosovo, clearly confrontation is gearing up”.

The newspaper concludes that Tadić’s decision to travel to New York for the session should be seen in this context.

EC Official on genocide suits and integration

Beograd, Jan. 19, 2010, (Source: Beta) – Head of the European Commission Delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert spoke about the genocide suits filed by Serbia and Croatia.
It is up to every country individually to see how it wants to lead this process. We will encourage both countries to talk about that question, to establish dialogue again,” Degert said. He added that as war as war crimes are concerned, the EU insists on the individualization of crimes and “will not back down from that.”

According to the EC official, good neighborly and regional relations, especially when new enlargements are concerned, are the key goal of the EU.

“When you have cases of lawsuits being filed between two countries, that means that the goals are not functioning very well,” Degert said. Croatia filed a lawsuit before the International Court of Justice in 1999 accusing Serbia of having committed genocide, and Serbia filed a countersuit on January 4, 2010 against Croatia accusing it of the same crime committed in the same period – the first half of the 1990s.

Degert, who was joined by Spanish Ambassador Inigo de Palacio Espana during the news conference in Belgrade today, said that the Lisbon agreement taking power has brought many institutional changes that were prerequisites for further enlargement, which was significant for Serbia and the rest of the Western Balkans. “All these changes have already reflected on relations between the EU and Serbia. The first visible sign of this is the visa liberalization at the end of last year, but I think that it had much more of an effect on the great support of Serbian citizens for EU integration,” Degert said. He added that it was a great challenge for the EU to see the next steps in Serbia’s application for EU candidate status, which it submitted at the end of 2009.

The Spanish ambassador said that one of the priorities of the Spanish EU presidency is to encourage the European integration process in the Western Balkans. The countries that have been the last to submit applications for EU membership will be in the focus of our attention – Serbia, Montenegro and Albania, and our goal is to not have any of these countries left behind, especially not Serbia,” Espana said.

Ban Ki Moon: “Serbia and Kosovo should dedicate themselves to regional cooperation”

New York, Jan. 16, 2010, (Source Beta) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on Serbia and Kosovo to set status issues aside and dedicating themselves to regional cooperation.

“I am asking for flexibility in the continuation of defining the method of work when talking about Kosovo’s participation in regional and international mechanisms and forums that are necessary for economic and democratic development, and long-term stability in the region,” Ban said in his newest report to the Security Council on the work of UNMIK.
He said that relations between UNMIK and the Kosovo government have improved after several months of very limited contact.
Ban added that the security situation in Kosovo is “relatively peaceful, but potentially fragile.”
The mission continued efforts for finding a lasting solution for protecting the Serbian cultural heritage in Kosovo, but unsuccessfully, even if the question is “in the interest of all sides and there has been expansive talk regarding the issue over the last months,” Ban said.
Even though he said that he is content with the fact that tensions between Kosovo Albanian and Serbs in Brđani, a northern Kosovo municipality, have calmed down, Ban said that the situation in northern Kosovo is still fragile.
“Inter-ethnic incidents are still occurring in northern (Kosovska) Mitrovica, which is a reason for concern,” the UN Secretary General said.

He said that UNMIK continued supporting minority communities and encouraging reconciliation and easing dialogue and regional cooperation.”

The strategic goal of UNMIK remains “the promotion of security, stability, and respecting of human rights in Kosovo and the region through engagement with all communities in Kosovo, and with Priština and Belgrade, along with regional and international officials,” Ban said.
The report covers the period between September-December 2009
The Security Council will discuss Ban’s report at a meeting scheduled for January 22, according to the UN’s official website.

President Tadić outlines Serbian foreign policy priorities

Belgrade, Jan. 06, 2010, (Source: B92, Tanjug) - President Boris Tadić said that Serbia’s foreign policy priorities are the EU, the country’s sovereignty, regional cooperation and economic diplomacy.
Tadić addressed the Ambassadors' Conference in Belgrade on Tuesday and said that the success of Serbia’s foreign policies is an articulation of relations with big world powers such as Russia, America, and China.He said that modern international relations are prone to changes, and that Serbia’s foreign policies must be flexible.
Tadić added that Serbia must work harder on cooperation with “political entities” for which there was "not enough time in the past", especially improving relations with the BRIC group (Brazil, Russia, India, China) and countries of the Non-Aligned Movement.
The president said that as far as Europe is concerned, Serbia has achieve close relations and cooperation with Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Greece, Slovakia, Hungary, among other countries. "Still room for withdrawing lawsuits"
Tadić said at the same gathering today that Serbia had been obliged to file a counter-lawsuit against Croatia with The Hague-based International Court of Justice, but added, however, that there was still room for withdrawing the suits.
Tadić underlined that it would have been better had justice been sought in regular court proceedings than in a confrontation of the two countries. “I am deeply convinced that that we have sufficient political and legal room for giving up on the lawsuit and the counter-lawsuit, and with such a position we want to avoid any confrontation of our countries, since that is not in the interest of any of us,” Tadić said while addressing the ambassadors. The Serbian government reached the decision on filing the counter-suit on December 31 last year, following Tadić's consultations with Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković.
Serbia decided to make the step because on July 2, 1999, Croatia launched proceedings before the ICJ against then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SRJ) over an alleged breach of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide during armed clashes on the territory of that republic in the period between 1991 and 1995.

Vojvodina Statute to go into effect fully in 2010

Novi Sad, Jan. 04, 2009 (Serbia Today) – The President of the government of the northern Serbian province of Vojvodina, Bojan Pajtic told B92 TV on Friday that it is to expect that new Vojvodina “Statute” goes into effect fully in 2010.
The new “Statute” is in effect, the law which grants certain rights, privileges, and powers, which were for last twenty years kept as the exclusive prerogatives of the Serbian government, to the provincial government and local administrations in Vojvodina, . In all, there is about 150 administrative powers that will be transferred from the Serbian government to regional Vojvodina administration. It is expected that most of these changes will be implemented in several months.
Vojvodina is industrially and culturally the most developed region of Serbia. It is also known as a “wheat-land” of Serbia, for its very developed agronomy in the fertile Pannonia Valley. The regional capital is Novi Sad, the second largest city in Serbia.
Residents of Vojvodina hope that new Statute will help faster economical development in industry and agronomy and easier access to international loans. Vojvodina is ethnically the most diverse region of Serbia and some of the new administrative powers will help local government address more fairly certain ethnic equality issues as well.
Some of the Serbian politicians are not quite happy with the new Vojvodina Statute, claiming it to be anti-constitutional. The representatives of the opposition DSS-NS party coalition, Milos Aligrudic and Velimir Ilic, filed a motion on December 24th 2009 with the Serbian Constitutional Court to determine the legality of the Vojvodina Statute and accompanying Laws, and to assess if they are in accordance with Serbian Constitution. Their claim is that Statute is unconstitutional and that the articles of the Statute contradict to at least 30 Serbian Laws. They also fear that Statute will open door for the separation of Vojvodina from Serbia. According to their understanding, some of the articles of Statute give too much of the “statehood” rights to the regional Vojvodina administration.
25 members of the Serbian Parliament from the opposition parties, have signed this motion

The balance of political power in Serbia today

Belgrade, Dec. 29, 2009 (Serbia Today) – After recent local elections in the municipality of Vozdovac, which the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won, there is much speculation in the Serbian media about the balance of political power today and in 2010 after potential general elections.
Belgrade’s daily “Press” published yesterday the results of a survey by an unnamed research agency indicating that 60% of the 1100 participants selected from all segments of Serbian society said EU visa liberalization would not influence which party they would vote for in the potential general elections.
According to the research the Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic now in power still has the majority of support from Serbian voters with 31, 4 %. Second is the Serbian Progressive Party run by Tomislav Nikolic with 30,6 %. The Serbian Radical Party improved its position with 9.2 % of the votes. All the other parties have 7% or less of the votes, putting them very close to the “census” line, below which they can not get any seats in the Parliament.
The last general elections proved that the influence of the smaller parties can not be undermined. Any of the winners in the potential general elections would have to look for coalition partners in order to secure a ruling majority. Yet it must be asked who would benefit from a public opinion survey that is anonymous. On a practical level these results could benefit only the ruling Democratic Party, since the percentages gained or lost by the other parties were expected anyway. What remains unclear is the extent of real support for the Democratic Party today among Serbian voters.

EU visa liberalization and Serbian unemployment

Belgrade, Dec. 28, 2009, (Serbia Today) – Serbs can finally travel to EU countries without a visa. While few can afford to do so to see the sights or to visit relatives, there are many who would do so to find seasonal work.
Both EU and Serbian officials minimize the potential impact of migrant Serbian workers, each for their own political reasons. For the Serbian government any possibility for unemployed to make living would certainly help to lower social tensions that now exist in Serbia. On the other hand EU governments are reluctant to admit that policies for migrant labor are being poorly enforced, resulting in an estimated 4 to 8 million workers in the EU illegally in spite of strict controls and large fines for offending employers.
Reports estimate that at the beginning of December there were some 723,000 unemployed citizens in Serbia. Some analysts believe that as many as one fourth of them are willing to work in the EU. Serbs can now stay in EU without a visa for up to three months. Anyone working during that time can earn enough money to live at home unemployed for the remaining nine months of the year. Seasonal jobs in hospitality, agriculture, and construction are the easiest ones to get without an EU work visa. And for many EU companies in these industries the only way to be competitive and profitable is to employ less expensive, illegal workers.
This probable influx of short term, no-visa workers from Serbia into the EU will benefit all concerned. Despite some social (often nationalistic) issues, EU countries will benefit from a less expensive labor force, as they did with workers from Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. Serbia will benefit from lower unemployment and higher disposable income.