Elections Only in Serbia’s Territory & more – 28th Nov 2023

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 28th of November twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Thursday the 23rd, the Serbian Election Commission announced that Serbians living in Kosovo will be able to cast votes in the 17th of December elections only on the territory of Serbia and not in Kosovo. Setting up polling stations in Kosovo meant reaching an agreement with Kosovo. Since The Election Commission did not want to go through with that, it opted to hold the elections in Serbia only. Serbian president Vucic added that involving Kosovo officials in Serbian parliamentary elections could jeopardize the basic rights of Serbian voters since in the last Serbian elections in twenty twenty, Kosovar authorities did not allow Serbians living in Kosovo to cast their votes.

Many Western organizations are trying to ease the tension between Kosovo and Serbia. For instance, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s Secretary General, met with president Vucic on Tuesday, the 21st, to discuss peace in northern Kosovo and Serbia’s collaboration with NATO. Stoltenberg highlighted the efforts of the Kosovo Force, or KFOR, a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, to guarantee security and a safe environment for all communities. He referred to recent attacks on NATO peacekeepers in Kosovo and deemed them unacceptable, adding that those responsible need to face justice. However, president Vucic said that Serbians in Kosovo is the only community in Kosovo that needs protection from NATO soldiers. He stressed that since PM Kurti came to power, mostly Serbians in Kosovo have suffered attacks and violence, and added that around thirteen percent of Serbians left Kosovo because they felt pressured and threatened by Kosovo’s government. NATO’s Stoltenberg urged Serbia and Kosovo to stick to the normalization dialogue and supported the formation of the Association of Serbian Municipalities but advised Serbia against the use of force near the Kosovo border.

But contrary to Vucic’s statements, on Wednesday the 22nd, Albanian PM Edi Rama called on NATO to increase their presence in Kosovo in order to protect Albanians living there, recalling the Banjska shootout that posed a risk to the stability of the Serbia-Kosovo relations. In a joint press conference in Skopje, Macedonia, Rama met with the Secretary General of NATO, along with leaders of several European countries. Aside from requesting NATO to increase its presence in Kosovo, he also asked Albania to co-finance the construction of the new NATO naval base in Porto Romano in Albania. Rama stated that the new naval base would help NATO gain quick access to Eastern Europe, which he said would help with peacekeeping in the region. He said that the instability in Kosovo could trigger a wider Balkan conflict, and that NATO can help prevent that. Despite Rama’s calls, NATO officials insisted that Serbia did not represent any military threat to other countries in the Western Balkans. They did, however, acknowledge the increasing tensions between Serbia and Kosovo.

Speaking of bilateral relations…

Last week, Serbia’s foreign ministry announced that it had dismissed Croatian diplomat Hrvoje Snajder from his position as the secretary of the Croatian Embassy in Serbia, adding that he “grossly departed from the framework of diplomatic norms and violated the Vienna convention.” Croatia’s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs labeled Serbia’s decision as a step towards the deterioration of mutual relations, and said that they reject the basis for the expulsion of the accredited Croatian diplomat. The Ministry believes the ruling party wants to win the elections and, for support, they fired this diplomat, saying that they are protecting the citizens against people “violating the framework of diplomatic norms.”

In other news…

The International Residual Mechanism for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia announced that they had charged five members of the Serbian Radical party with contempt, including Vojislav Seselj, their previously incarcerated leader. Seselj said that so far, the residual court hasn’t conducted any indictment, only an investigation, and added that he would comply with the indictment decision. Seselj said, however, that the court is conducting an investigation on him for publishing the confidential information within his books regarding protected witnesses who testified in his main trial before the Tribunal for war crimes. Despite the tribunal asking him to remove the confidential information from his books, Seselj refused and added that as long as he is alive, he will publish more confidential documents that have information about his trial for war crimes. Seselj’s colleagues faced charges for helping him distribute his books containing confidential information.

Since we mentioned war…

On Tuesday the 21st, Milos Vucevic, the First Deputy Prime Minister, and Ivica Dacic, Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs met with the Ambassador of Israel to Serbia to discuss the current conflict in Gaza. Serbian officials condemned the attack of Hamas on Israel, and said that they advocated for peace in the Middle East. They acknowledged that such a peace mission must respect the principles of humanity and the norms of international humanitarian law to ensure that there are no civilian casualties.

While on the topic of the principles of humanity,...

On Saturday the 25th, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Brankica Jankovic, a Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, said that twenty-seven women have been killed since the beginning of the year. Jankovic stressed the importance of establishing an effective system of protection and support for the recovery of victims of gender-based violence. She said that Serbia needs to implement laws and promote practices that show the state’s willingness to tackle the issue of violence towards women in Serbia, since it is the most widespread form of human rights violation in the world. She also pointed out that in the past decade, the number of femicides in Serbia amounted to 300.

In some news on the economy…

On Friday, the 24th, the Serbian statistical office announced that the average monthly salary for September had increased by three percent compared to the same month last year. The average salary amounted to nearly 800 dollars after taxes. In September, the economic and telecommunications sectors had the highest salaries with around 1,800 dollars, and the accommodation and food sectors had the lowest, around 500 dollars.

Speaking of work conditions…

The farmers’ protest which started on the 13th of November over agricultural products and subsidies, ended with an agreement between the Farmers and the Serbian Government on Sunday the 26th. Serbian PM Ana Brnabic had a meeting with the farmers and said that they have reached a good compromise, adding that the farmers agreed to stop blocking traffic. Recall that in mid-November, farmers of Serbia protested for their poor work conditions, blocking the roads with their tractors.

Brnabic said that farmers can only buy up to 400 liters of fuel since they enjoy a reduced price, compared to citizens. This way, they won’t misuse the price reduction. The state will help them operate independently on the stock market, and the government will increase subsidies up to 160 dollars per hectare for certified seed material.

Now for all the film lovers…

The 15th International LGBT+ film festival Merlinka will take place from the 7th to the 10th of December in the Belgrade Youth Center. The festival will feature short, documentary, feature and animated films with the themes of the LGBT+ lifestyle. Some of the films that will be screened include Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Housekeeping for Beginners, and many others. For more information, check out the link in the show notes.

And to close this edition…

Last week, the Institute for Public Health confirmed around 3,700 COVID-19 cases, with zero deaths. Compared to the previous week, the number of confirmed cases has increased by around a hundred.

Aaaand that’s it for this week. Remember you can buy one of our really cool and environmentally friendly T-shirts! They are made of 100% unbleached organic cotton, grown and ginned in Texas, spun and knit in the Carolinas, and sewn and printed in Missouri. To buy one, follow the link in our show notes.

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!