EU Parliament on Banjska Attack & more – 24th Oct 2023

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 24th of October twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Thursday, the 19th, the EU Parliament adopted a joint resolution on the recent developments in the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue, focused on the Banjska attack in the north of Kosovo. The EU Parliament parties that submitted the vote for the resolution were the European People’s Party, Socialists and Democrats, Renew Europe, the Greens, and European Conservatives and Reformists. The EU Parliament condemned the attack and called on EU member states to adopt measures against Serbia. Tonino Picula, Socialist and Democrats spokesperson and negotiator on the resolution on Serbia and Kosovo, labeled the Banjska attack as a cowardly terrorist attack, adding that it calls for serious political consequences. He called on the Commission to freeze pre-accession funding if the investigation revealed that Serbia was involved in the Banjska attack.

Recall that a few weeks ago, the EU Commission had drafted measures against Serbia. However, they did not enforce them at the time.

Since we mentioned Banjska…

On Wednesday, the 18th, the Jarinje border between Kosovo and Serbia reopened after a twenty-four-day blockade following the shootout in Banjska. After the shootout that took place in September, Kosovo authorities blocked the border in an attempt to stop more armed people from entering Kosovo. Some Serbian communities in Kosovo reported having difficulties getting certain Serbian goods and not having access to Serbian dinars since the border was closed. They also experienced difficulties going to work or school outside of their city.

Upon opening the Jarinje border, an officer from the Kosovo Police said that there would be increased checks of vehicles and citizens.

Speaking of border security…

For its improvement, Kosovo’s PM Kurti asked for additional presence of KFOR, or Kosovo Force, a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo, while meeting with Ozkan Ulutas, NATO’s peacekeeping mission commander in Kosovo. Kurti was concerned about the security situation in Kosovo after the Banjska shootout, emphasizing his interest in cooperating with KFOR. He said that the border between Serbia and Kosovo is the biggest security risk due to many illegal crossings used to smuggle weapons from Serbia. The main reason is the border’s length of around 220 miles, or 350 km, and that Kosovo police are not powerful enough to guard it all the way through.

After the meeting on Wednesday, the 18th, KFOR put out an official statement saying that they will mainly focus on safeguarding the Serbia-Kosovo border to prevent illegal crossings. Besides KFOR, NATO has also increased its presence in Kosovo by sending additional troops for peacekeeping reasons.

In other news…

The Islamic Unions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia have been raising money to aid Palestinians during Israel’s attack. On Friday the 20th, the Islamic Unions prayed in mosques, condemning Israel’s aggression in Gaza, while collecting cash aid in Sarajevo and Belgrade. The unions also performed funeral prayers for those who lost their lives during Israel's attacks.

The Palestinian community of Bosnia even took it to the streets and organized a walk, which thousands attended, to express support towards Palestinian people while calling for the end of the Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip.

Speaking of bilateral relations…

At the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held on Tuesday the 17th in Beijing, Tomislav Momirovic, the Serbian Trade Minister, and Wang Wentao, the Chinese Commerce Minister, signed a free trade deal between Serbia and China. President Vucic labeled the trade deal as a big step forward for Serbia since China has significantly impacted the country. Moreover, Serbia’s Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure announced that it signed three commercial contracts with Chinese companies that will fund almost 300 kilometers of new roads in Serbia. Chinese entities implemented or cooperated on over sixty projects in the Balkans over the last ten years. China has invested a total of nearly twenty billion dollars in the region.

Aside from being in contact with China’s president, Vucic also mentioned that he had an informal call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding that they had a brief conversation but denied any bilateral meeting.

Dusan Bajatovic, the director of SerbiaGas, a state-owned natural gas provider in Serbia, said that Bulgaria’s recent decision to increase the transit tax for the Russian gas transported through the Balkan Stream gas pipeline in Bulgaria will most likely affect the gas price in Serbia. Bajatovic explained that whether Serbia will notice the cost effects depends on the government. He added that the government must estimate the new gas price, considering the increased tax from Bulgaria and Serbia’s economic growth and employment situation.

At the end of last week, Bulgaria introduced additional taxes on importing and transporting Russian gas, which will earn Bulgaria around one billion dollars a year solely from these taxes. The director of SerbiaGas said that such taxing violates market rules since it exploits consumers in Serbia and Hungary, which use Russian gas, for Bulgaria’s profit.

Moving on…

The 25th Serbia Against Violence protest took place in Belgrade on Saturday, the 21st. The protesters took their regular route called the “media route,” which includes the headquarters of Radio Television of Serbia, or RTS, and the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media, or REM. Attending the protest were politicians from the opposition parties, such as the Green-Left Front and Democratic Party. Members of the Green-Left Front accused REM of being corrupt and paid by Pink TV, one of the TV companies broadcasting violent content that the Serbia Against Violence protest is campaigning against. All the organizers called the demonstrators to support the opposition by attending future Serbia Against Violence protests and boycotting the ruling regime.

In addition to the lack of free media in Serbia, on Friday the 20th, the government adopted the Bill on Public Information and Media and the Bill on Electronic Media. The Bill on Public Information and Media tackles the issue of freedom of public information, the prohibition of discrimination, and the exerting of pressure, threats, or blackmail of media workers. The bill on electronic media will define the work of REM, the conditions and methods it uses while providing media services, how it licenses TV channels, and how it supervises media service providers.

These two bills will work on establishing freedom of expression and media freedom that aligns with the EU standards.

In other news…

Breast Care Center Jefimija, a health care program at NGO Women’s Center Uzice, reported that Serbia has the highest number of breast cancer deaths in Europe. They said that Serbia sees 4,600 breast cancer patients yearly and, unfortunately, 1,600 die. However, they pointed out that breast cancer is highly treatable if detected early on, with 3,000 patients surviving it every year due to early detection. They stressed the importance of preventing and detecting breast cancer.

Serbia started working on spreading breast cancer awareness a few years ago, with Serbian health institutions organizing cancer screening programs and encouraging women to do annual mammograms.

In other health-related news…

Last week, the Institute for Public Health confirmed around 3,900 COVID-19 cases, with zero deaths. Compared to the previous week, the number of confirmed cases has decreased by about a hundred.

And that’s it for this week!

So, you've noticed we are ad-free. That is because we dislike ads and respect your time. But that also means we only get money if someone makes a donation or buys a shirt. What shirts, you ask? Well, we have made 100% unbleached organic cotton shirts that are the most environmentally gentle and cool new T-shirts you can buy. If you want to check them out and help us, go to Rorshok.com and click on Support, or head over to the link in the show notes. You can buy them from anywhere in the world! Let us know if you get one at serbia@rorshok.com

Do daljnjeg, zbogom!