Thursday, June 5, 2008

LAJCAK ADDRESSED OSCE COUNCIL

VIENNA, Austria (June 5,2008) – “The fact is that the incentive of eventual European Union membership and the enormous resources that would accompany the integration process have combined – and will increasingly combine – to address and resolve many of the challenges posed by the Bosnia’s historical legacy and multinational reality,” the International Community's High Representative and EU Special Representative in Bosnia Miroslav Lajčák told a meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna,Austria,today.

He added that “the main goal of our future engagement will be to ensure that EU integration remains at the top of the political agenda and serves as the main driver towards ever-more cohesion, competency and reform.”

Following two years of political gridlock and crises, and now in an election year, Bosnia is entering a “highly demanding phase of making good on the SAA, the interim agreement that will follow and the opportunity Brussels has offered for the eventual elimination of visas,” Lajčák said.

“Managing all this at once will require a degree of political concord, practical application, hard work and sound judgment on the part of the domestic authorities that will test them to the limit.

” However, he emphasised that “Bosnia’s peace, security, prosperity and statehood are best guaranteed by maintaining progress towards the EU.”

Lajčák said that “if the ‘soft power’ of European integration is to supplant the ‘hard power’ of Dayton and the Office of the High Representative (OHR) with executive powers, the people, politicians and institutions of Bosnia will have to do the heavy lifting: both in making the OHR redundant and in making themselves fit for EU accession.”

He added that “the closure of the OHR will confirm Dayton’s success. But this can only happen if and when the conditions are met.” The conditions and benchmarks, he noted, have been clearly laid out by the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), and progress in meeting these will be examined when the PIC meets later this month and again in the autumn.

In view of the eventual transition from the OHR to the Office of the EU Special Representative (EUSR), there is a need for other international organisations to stay strong and focussed. Lajčák in particular underlined the key role of the OSCE in supporting confidence- and security-building measures; good municipal government, democratic oversight and education reform.

Referring to his ongoing public debates with Bosnian citizens, Lajčák said he fully agrees with the demands from young people for a more inclusive and modern education system.

“All forms of discrimination should be removed from the education system before the country becomes an EU member. And here I mean the segregation that exists in the form of ‘2 schools under 1 roof’, or the assimilation that prevails in other areas of Bosnia where the curriculum of the majority community prevails over the minority community”, Lajčák said.

The OSCE should also remain focused on developments in the justice sector, through its monitoring of war crime trials, and promotion of human rights which will all serve to complement Bosnia’s own Euro-Atlantic integration efforts, he added.

“Steady progress towards EU membership can and should unlock the readiness to compromise that is so hard to see today,” Lajčák said.

“I believe that Bosnia’s political leaders will be able to agree on those constitutional changes that are clearly necessary to secure EU membership, because more than 70 percent of their constituents want to join the EU and expect their leaders to get them there – and sooner rather than later,” Lajčák concluded.
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BOSNIAN STATE COURT ORDERS CUSTODY FOR SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL ZORAN TOMIC CHARGED WITH GENOCIDE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 5,2008) – The Bosnian State Court has, on the proposition of the Prosecutor from the Special Department for War Crimes of the Bosnian State Prosecutor’s Office, adopted a decision on one month custody for Serbian war criminal Zoran Tomic (1971), charged with genocide,committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Serbian war criminal Zoran Tomic, who was arrested by the Bosnian authorities in the eastern Bosnian town of Zvornik, is suspected that he willingly participated in genocide from July 10 to 19 1995 in the area of the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica, as a member of the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's formations.

Serbian war criminal Zoran Tomic is suspected of participating in the search of the villages on the area of the UN protected zone of Srebrenica.He is also suspected of illegally detaining and leading more than 1000 Bosnian civilians towards Kravice village near Srebrenica where the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor mass murdered them.
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REPORT ON BOSNIAN STATE BUDGET FOR THE FIRST THREE MONTHS OF 2008 ADOPTED

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 5,2008) – The Bosnian government has adopted the report of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury on the execution of the Bosnian state budget for the first three months of 2008.

Total realized revenues of the Bosnian state institutions in first three months amount to 193.000.829 Bosnian Marks or 21% comparing to the plan and total liabilities for the first quarter amount to 148.510.198 Bosnian Marks or 16% compared to the planned liabilities for this period.

The Bosnian government also adopted action plan for realization of activities towards NATO membership.

The Bosnian government also approved participation of the Bosnian police officers in support operations in 2008 to: Liberia, 12 officers, Sudan UNMIS, 5, Sudan UNAMID 15 officers and Cyprus UNFICSP, 8 police officers.
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BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS TO GET HIGHER SALARIES

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 5,2008) - The Bosnian State Parliament's House of Representatives adopted a law yesterday about salaries in public institutions, making members of the Bosnian State Presidency the best-paid state officials with 5,000 Bosnian Marks a month.

Members of the Bosnian State Parliament have been excluded from the law with a special amendment, after they were initially to get raises and receive more than 6,000 Bosnian Marks a month.

the Bosnian Finance Minister Dragan Vrankic welcomed the law, saying it would bring more order into this area. Employees in the public sector do not share his opinion, though, and announce that a strike is very likely.
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EU PRESENTS TODAY VISA LIBERALISATION ROADMAP FOR BOSNIA

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 5,2008) - The Bosnian Foreign Affairs Minister Sven Alkalaj is leading a delegation of ministers who are to meet with the EU’s Director General for Enlargement Micheal Leigh in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo today.

Leigh will hand in Bosnia’s Road Map for the visa liberalisation process. The visa liberalization dialogue was formally started by the EU and Bosnia on May 26 in Brussels.
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NEW MINE AND THERMAL POWER STATION TO BE BUILT IN BUGOJNO

BUGOJNO, Bosnia (June 5,2008) - The construction of a mine and a thermal power station is the most important single long-term project to be launched in central Bosnia in the Municipality of Bugojno in the following period.

Director of Elektroprivreda BIH Amer Jerlagic said the project which would meet all the highest operational and environmental standards is worth around 2.5 billion Bosnian Marks (1,99 billion US Dollars). Its finalization is expected in 2019.
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EUPM TO CO-HOST SEMINAR ON BOSNIAN POLICE REFORM

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 5,2008) - The EU Police Mission in Bosnia (EUPM), the Slovenian Presidency of the European Union and Centre for European perspective will host a seminar on the Security Sector Reform and the Stabilisation and Association Agreement process on 5 and 6 June in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

The European Union has been an important actor in police reform since 2003. Police reform has been a key conditionality for the Stabilisation and Association process. Year 2008 will mark a turning point of the police reform process in Bosnia and the start of new engagements in the region. The end of the first semester of the year therefore offers an opportunity to review the engagement of the last years in preparation of the next phase of the Stabilisation and Association process.

The outcome of the seminar and lessons identified shall contribute to the formulation of reform strategies, promoted by the governments of the countries of the region, European Security and Defence Policy operations and Community instruments, as well as EU Member States. The seminar outcome will enhance knowledge regarding the constraints and opportunities that the EU faces in these complex areas of reform.

Seminar participants will discuss about the various reform agendas for police and international police cooperation, criminal justice and the judiciary, border and migration issues, as well as the role of national parliaments and civil society.

The two-day seminar will bring together representatives of the European Commission, EU Member States involved in the policy formulation in Brussels, and the Bosnian Parliamentarians.
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VOLKSWAGEN AND SKODA ASSEMBLY LINES IN BOSNIA SHUTTING DOWN THIS YEAR

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 5,2008) - The assembly lines for Volkswagen and Skoda vehicles in the Vogosca plant near the Bosnian capital Sarajevo will be shut down by the end of this year, because with the cancellation of import tariffs on EU products the cars from these plants will no longer be competitive in the Bosnian market, it was announced yesterday by Nihad Imamovic.

He is the head of ASA Holding – the majority shareholder in Vogosce. The plant used to be the Sarajevo car factory (TAS), which was reconstructed with the help of Volkswagen immediately after the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia.
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REGIONAL INSURANCE CONFERENCE TO BE HELD IN SARAJEVO

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 5,2008) - The Bosnian capital Sarajevo will host the 19th Insurers and Reinsurers’ Conference (SorS) from June 11 to 13. More than 150 representatives are expected of insurance companies operating in Bosnia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia and several other southeastern European countries, along with representatives of insurance regulators and associations.

The topic they will focus on this year will be the influence of climate change on economies, with special emphasis on (re)insurance.

The premium revenue of the Bosnian insurance market amounted to a little over 200 million Euros by the end of 2007, indicating a market which is still underdeveloped in this segment.
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BOSNIAN STATE PARLIAMENT SUPPORTS ALKALAJ,SEPIC AND CRNADAK

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (June 5,2008) - The Bosnian State Parliament's House of Representatives did not agree yesterday with Bosnia's Prime Minister Nikola Spiric’s decision to dismiss the Bosnian Foreign Affairs Minister Sven Alkalaj, the Bosnian Deputy Civil Affairs Minister Senad Sepic and the Bosnian Deputy Defence Minister Igor Crnadak, over claims of conflict of interest.

Spiric initiated the discharge process following a conclusion of the Bosnian Central Electoral Committee, which issued the three with a four-year ban on running for political office, due to established conflict of interest.
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SLOVENIA SUPPORTS BOSNIA'S INTERESTS IN BRUSSELS

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia (June 5,2008) - Slovenia is working on the promotion of Bosnia in Brussels, and Slovenia is ready to help Bosnia with drawing 440 million Euros intended for the country in the EU’s pre-accession funds in the next three years, the Slovenian Ambassador to Bosnia Natasa Vodusek said yesterday in the northern Bosnian city of Banja Luka.

Slovenia is the fourth leading foreign investor in Bosnia.
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