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The Balkans Today
The Balkans Today: 4th - 10th April 2016
Our team brings you live updates of the most important events and developments in the Balkans as they happen.
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Serbian Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj, who was acquitted on all nine counts of his indictment by the UN war crimes court in The Hague last week, plans to visit Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, as well as the country's capital, Sarajevo, in the next few weeks, he told N1 television network on Monday.
Seselj said his planned visit will possibly happen at "the beginning of May", adding that he plans "to walk a whole day in Sarajevo and nobody can impede me to visit Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina."
"From the legal point of view there's no way they can prevent me to do that," he said.
Vojislav Seselj | Photo: BETA -
Croatian Journalists' Association, HND, has called on authorities to investigate the sale of daily newspaper Novi list to Czech-Slovak investment fund J&T, because the deal was not officially announced by Novi list's current management, HND said in a press release on Monday.
The journalists' association said that ownership of media should be transparent in line with Croatian law, and warned that J&T previously tried to buy a Slovenia-based newspaper, but was prevented by the country's government, which categorised it as "a hostile takeover".
Novi list logo. | Photo: Facebook -
Macedonian parliament verified the resignations of government ministers from the country's junior ruling party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, at its session on Monday.
The parliament will vote on whether to approve the party's proposed new set of ministers at one of its following sessions, which are yet to be scheduled, but are expected to be held either later on Monday or on Tuesday.
Macedonian parliament | Photo by: MIA
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Members of Albania's Bektashi Muslim community marked the 25th anniversary of the reopening of the religious order's world headquarters in the country's capital, Tirana, on Monday.Baba Mondi, the Bektashi order's world leader, gave a speech during a ceremony commemorating the day in which he referred to terrorists as barbarians and said they have nothing to do with Islam.“Barbarians don’t have any relation with Islam religion. They just want to stain our religion,” he said.In his speech, Baba Mondi also called for members of all religions in Albania to work together against the threat of terrorism.
Baba Mondi | Photo: Wikipedia -
Representatives of Bosnia's three main statistical agencies are expected to meet again this week to settle their outstanding methodology disputes, which are impeding the publication of the data from the 2013 census, Bosnian media reported.
The three agencies - the Statistical Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the institute for statistics of Republika Srpska and the institute for statistics of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina - need to agree on a method for processing the census data to be able to publish the results by the July 1 legal deadline.
The European Commission has warned that the census results need to be published to make Bosnia's EU membership application credible.
The 2013 census logo | Photo: Popis.ba -
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When it comes to cool sounds in the summer sunshine, continental Europe is your playground. Guardian picked the best mostly affordable parties for this summer and three of them are in the Balkans.This summer, don't miss the Love International and the Obonjan festival in Croatia and Exit in Serbia! -
Top stories from the Balkans today:- Sources inside Macedonia’s ethnic Albanian junior ruling party have denied that international pressure forced it to reverse its decision to pull out of the government.
- The construction of a new national stadium, a showpiece project backed by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, has come under fire for being too expensive.
- Romania’s government is to offer a financial incentive package to buyers of electric and hybrid cars in an effort aimed at curbing pollution.
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Residents of Bosnia's capital, Sarajevo, are today commemorating the start of the siege of their city, which began on April 5, 1992, and lasted for 1,425 days, becoming the longest on a capital city in modern history.
Over 11,000 Sarajevo residents died during the four-year blockade, including Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sucic, who became the first casualties when they were killed while protesting for peace on the first day of the siege. Both will be specially commemorated during a small ceremony in the city. -
Kosovo police announced it is currently investigating five persons who may have been involved in an incident when a hand grenade exploded in the sports hall of Zubin Potok, a town in the Serbian-populated north of Kosovo, on Sunday morning where Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic was due to hold a speech later that day.
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Blood circulation disorders were the leading cause of death among Albanian citizens between 2001-2009, according to a study conducted by the Albanian Institute of Public Health.During this timeframe, blood circulation disorders accounted for 278.2 out of every 100,000 recorded deaths.The second most common cause of fatalities was cancer (87.9 deaths per 100,000 citizens), followed by traumas and accidents (36.1 deaths per 100,000 citizens).
Tirana main square | Photo: BIRN/Ivana Dervishi -
Dean of Zagreb University's Faculty of Humanities and Social Studies, FFZG, Vlatko Previsic, told media that nobody will ask for "baptism certificates and recommendations from Catholic priests" from his students for taking joint studies with the university's Catholic Theology Faculty, KBF.
Previsic is currently trying to arrange a deal merging the studies of the two faculties, but students and some FFZG staff are opposing the idea, fearing they will have to obey religious standards imposed by the KBF.
FFZG students and staff have organised a meeting for Wednesday evening during which they will decide whether to start a protest against the proposed merger. -
Albania's prosecution has asked for a total sentence of 152 years in prison for nine defendants on trial for allegedly recruiting Albanians to fight for ISIS.Among those accused, the prosecution asked that imams of two Tirana mosques, Genci Balla and Bujar Hysa, who are believed to be the ringleaders of the group, be given prison sentences of 20 years each.All nine defendants were arrested in spring of 2014 and were sent to court by the serious crimes prosecution office in February 2015.
Imams accused of recruiting in behalf of ISIS | Photo: Youtube screenshot -
Russian police in Moscow and St. Petersburg have detained several alleged members of a religious cult Aum Shinriky, Russian media reported on Tuesday.
Police raided about 20 apartments belonging to alleged members of the banned group and reportedly found books related to Aum Shinrikyo's teachings in several of the apartments.
In March, authorities in Montenegro deported 58 foreigners, mostly Russians, suspected of being members of Aum Shinrikyo.
Aum Shinrikyo is a Japanese doomsday cult founded by Shoko Asahara in 1984. It has been banned in many countries after its members carried out a deadly sarin-gas attack in the Tokyo subway in 1995. -
Serbia's government has accepted the 46-million-euro offer from Chinese company HBIS to buy Smederevo Steelworks.The government announced the sale of the steelworks today, which had a starting price of 45.7 million euros, but HBIS was the only bidder.Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic stressed in November last year that Smederevo's sale was essential for ensuring the company's long-term survival and the jobs of 5,000 people.
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Over 150 designs are in the running to become Bulgaria's new tourist logo, the Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism announced on Tuesday after the open call for applications closed on April 4.The aim of the logo, which has to be connected with Bulgaria’s tourism advertising slogan, “A Discovery to Share", is to elaborate on the country’s brand strategy, developed in 2013.The winner, to be chosen by a 15-member jury, will be announced in mid-May.Over the past few years there have been several similar competitions held, but all were unsuccessful.
The latest proposal for a tourist logo of Bulgaria did not gain enough public support. | Photo: Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism -
The prosecution from the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, DIICOT, is to start its own investigations into the contents of the massive data leak from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Numerous figures and companies from the Balkans are named in 11.5 million leaked files, known as the Panama Papers, including several Romanian companies and business people, according to the independent journalism website Rise Project, which has been assisting with the international investigation. -
Croatian interior minister Vlaho Orepic announced the resignations and removals of five police officials during a press conference on Tuesday over a burglary that took place at the police headquarters in Zagreb on Sunday night.
Orepic said the chief of Croatian police, Vlado Dominic, chief of Zagreb police, Goran Burusic, and two unidentified police officers resigned, while the head of the police department for organised crime, Zeljko Dolacki, was removed from his position.
According to media reports, burglars stole around 280,000 euros and two kilograms of gold, which was seized property, from the safe in Dolacki's office.
Vlaho Orepic. | Photo: BETAPHOTO/HINA/Dario GRZELJ/MO -
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Macedonian parliament has its last working day today and is due to dissolve before midnight ahead of the country's early elections, scheduled for June 5.
The snap polls, hoped to bring an end to Macedonia's deep political crisis, were initially set for April, but were postponed after a joint EU and US assessment said the country was not yet ready for truly free elections.
The head of the European Commission department for neighborhood policy and enlargement, Christian Danielsson, said during his visit to Macedonia on Monday that there was much more work to be done for credible elections to be held in the country.
Macedonian parliament | Photo by MIA -
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A known soccer player, a fashion designer whose dresses are worn by first lady Michelle Obama and 16 other mostly business figures are on a list of prominent Serbs who used the services of law firm Mossack Fonseca to create offshore companies in various tax havens, ABC reports on Wednesday.
The Belgrade-based KRIK network investigating crime and corruption, which issued the list on Tuesday after going through documents leaked from the Panama-based law firm, says Darko Kovacevic had officially earned about $2,000 a month while playing for Spanish club Real Sociedad during the 2006-2007 season.
The leaked documents, however, show the club had paid Kovacevic $1.4 million that season to his offshore account. That means that both the club and Kovacevic had avoided paying full taxes in Spain, KRIK says.
Fashion designer Roksanda Ilincic had a firm in British Virgin Islands, KRIK says, adding that the ownership of a shell company is not a crime, but that it can be used for money laundering or evading taxes. -
Serbian authorities will check every case related to Serbia in the massive data leak, known as the Panama papers, from law firm Mossack Fonesca, Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said."Not everything is clear and simple, but we are very interested that the Tax Administration and tax police check everything," Vucic said.Serbia's network for research on organised crime and corruption, KRIK, released a list of Serbian citizens named in the leaked files on Tuesday.Among them are Serbian businessmen Srdjan Saper, Zoran Drakulic, Miodrag Kostic and others. -
Serbian police "preventively" identified the person who shouted "President, we are hungry” to Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic during his speech at a Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, rally in the northern city of Pancevo on Tuesday, Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said today.“If there is a person who, during a protest, shouts or makes noise and can later be suspected of violation of public peace and order, the duty of the police is to establish the identity of that person,” Stafanovic said.At the SNS rally, a male from among the crowd also shouted to Vucic “We work for 20 000 dinars [160 euros].”Vucic said today that nothing had happened to him, but if it did “media will report it all over the place.”Video from a rally in Pancevoby N1 via YouTube
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Only 41 per cent of the names pinpointed as suspicious in Macedonia's electoral roll have been checked by the police so far, Aleksandar Chichakovski, the head of the State Electoral Commission, DIK, said at a press conference on Wednesday.
He added that the DIK is yet to adopt its final report about its field checkup of voters, which is still ongoing.
The announcement comes on the same day that Macedonia's parliament is due to dissolve ahead of early elections, scheduled for June 5.
Skopje | By: AP/Boris Grdanoski
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Romania's national tax authority has set up a working group to examine the data published by investigative journalists on offshore accounts and firms held by Romanians, the The Associated Press reported.
The National Agency of Fiscal Management said Tuesday anti-fraud inspectors, tax inspectors and inspectors specialized in checking people's assets and financial information would be part of the interdepartmental group.
Funds have been made available for the group to probe information about companies, business people and correlate it with existing data about foreign and domestic bank accounts, shares and transactions.
Paul Radu, who heads the RISE Project, a group of investigative journalists publishing details about Romanians who have offshore companies, says there are 100 Romanians in the so-called Panama Papers.
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President Atifete Jahjaga has strengthened positive image of #Kosovo abroad
bit.ly/23gUXLa @PresidentKosovoby Ulrike Lunacek via twitter 4/6/2016 1:41:38 PM -
Bulgaria’s antitrust regulator, the Competition Protection Commission, together with police authorities, is carrying out inspections of the offices of Lukoil Bulgaria and Rompetrol Bulgaria oil companies, it announced on Wednesday.The inspections are being conducted over suspicions that a cartel agreement is in place between seven petrol companies and the Lukoil Neftochim oil refinery in the coastal city Burgas.The commission launched the investigation into the oil firms' alleged abuse of dominant market position in February after carrying out a sector analysis.
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Macedonia's opposition Social Democrat ministers have tendered their resignations from the interim government, tasked to carry out early elections, hours before the parliament is set to dissolve.
The two ministers and three deputy ministers from the Democrats said they are officially resigning on the parliament's last working day before elections, scheduled for June 5, because conditions for free and fair polls have not been met.
Macedonian parliament | Photo: MIA -
Macedonian parliament was dissolved on Wednesday night with only the ruling parties present, setting the date for the country's early elections for June 5.
The leader of the opposition Social Democrats, Zoran Zaev, said his party will not participate in the early elections, insisting that key reforms, including those in the media sector to ensure objective and unbiased election coverage, as well as cleaning up the electoral roll, had not been achieved.
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Top stories from the Balkans today:
- Croatia's Prime Minister, Tihomir Oreskovic, is visiting Rome where his talks with Pope Francis will include the proposed canonisation of Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac.
- An Austrian company will complete the remaining 2.1 km of a long-anticipated gas interconnector between Bulgaria and Romania that will help the energy diversification of the two Balkan countries.
- The political crisis in Macedonia is impacting on foreign investment, which has fallen in recent years – but concerns about transparency have been present for longer.
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Around 800 students and staff from Zagreb University's Faculty of Humanities and Social Studies, FFZG, decided against the idea of merged studies with the university's Catholic Theology Faculty, KBF, at a plenary session on Wednesday night.
Students and some of the staff from the FFZG have been opposing the idea of merging studies with KBF for over a year, claiming it would discriminate against students on the basis of religion. -
Bulgaria's nationalistic party, VMRO, wants the punishment for those found guilty of preaching radical Islam to be three year's imprisonment or a 5,000 leva fine (around 2,500 euro) under its proposed amendments to the country's penal code.“We are criminalising the activity, preaching or campaigning for radical Islamist ideas. We need those changes,” leader of VRMO Krasimir Karakachanov told Bulgarian National Radio.The party has also proposed a definition of radical Islamic ideology, relating it to agitation in favour of the foundation of an Islamic State, enforcing Sharia law, enforcement of Islamic religious norms over non-Muslim communities, and propagating jihadist ideology.
Krasimir Karakachanov | Photo: VMRO -
Tim Judah: “Books and films about the Balkan wars of the 1990s may not be able to change politics but, as the UN’s tribunal winds down its work, they remind us how these legacies remain very much alive.”
//www.facebook.com/nybooks/posts/10153665352866429 -
During his meeting with Pope Francis, Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic expressed his wishes that the process of canonising Croatian Catholic cardinal Alojzije Stepinac will start this summer and end quickly, because "Croatian people would suffer."
Oreskovic welcomed the Pope's idea to pass the decision over Stepinac's sainthood to a mixed commission, which would include representatives from the Serbian Orthodox Church.
The Prime Minister travelled to the Vatican to discuss his wishes with the Pope in person, because Stepinac remains a controversial figure over his role in the Croatian Nazi puppet regime, the Independent State of Croatia, NDH.
Tihomir Oreskovic and Pope Francis. | Photo: Alessandro Di Meo/Pool Photo via AP -
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A heated argument broke out between Albania's former prime minister Sali Berisha and Socialist Party MP Erjon Brace during a parliamentary session in Tirana on Thursday, after Berisha accused the ruling Socialist Party of being linked to organised crime.Berisha claimed this was the reason why consensus had not been reached on the country's judicial reform.The argument nearly escalated further when some opposition MPs attempted to move towards Brace, but chamber guards held them back.
Erjon Brace speaking during a parliamentary session | Photo: LSA -
Pope Francis will travel to the Greek island of Lesbos next Saturday, April 16, where he will meet with ecumenical leaders and refugees, the Vatican announced on Thursday.
Director of the Holy See Press office, Fr. Federico Lombardi, told journalists the invitation for the Pope to visit the island came from Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, and Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos.
Photo: Pixabay. -
Vladimir Miladinovic’s exhibition ‘Drawing rectification’ opens at Pristina Boxing Club on April 7. Lura Limani visits the show and discusses the ink reproductions of archival works with the artist. Read more. -
Thousands of refugees and migrants are being held arbitrarily in appalling conditions amid growing uncertainty, fear and despair over their fate under the new EU-Turkey refugee deal, Amnesty International said, after obtaining access to two highly restricted detention centres on the Greek islands of Lesvos and Chios. Read more.
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After Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolic was criticised for giving a medal to his Sudanese counterpart Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir, who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, Nikolic’s office said the award was given because Al-Bashir did not recognise Kosovo’s independence from Serbia.“The medal awarded to President Al-Bashir is an expression of our respect for the Sudanese people, to whom we are grateful for their support in one of the most important questions for our people and state,” Nikolic’s office said in a press release.
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