Kosovo and Serbia To Reduce Tensions & more –25th July 2023

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 25th of July twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Wednesday the 19th, president Vucic met with the EU Envoy Miroslav Lajcak in a new round of negotiations, after which Vucic adamantly expressed that Pristina does not want to de-escalate. He explained that Kosovo’s unwillingness to cooperate creates security problems for Serbs in Kosovo as Kosovo police target them regularly.

On the same day, Vucic met with Jens Stoltenberg, a NATO Secretary General, to discuss the relations between Serbia and Kosovo. After the meeting, Stoltenberg said that it is important that Kosovo and Serbia reduce the tensions as soon as possible, adding that the two should resume the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue with the support of the EU.

During his visit to Brussels, Vucic talked about the Kosovo Force, or KFOR, a NATO-led international peacekeeping force in Kosovo. He said that “KFOR is the only institution that works toward preserving peace and security in Kosovo”. Because of that, Vucic said he requested more of KFOR’s soldiers in Kosovo in order to prevent further unrest between Kosovo police and Serbian citizens. He added that Serbia has had professional and good cooperation with both NATO and the KFOR mission so far and that he wishes they ensure safety and security for all Serbs in Kosovo.

Recall that in May, Kosovo Serbs protested against the entry of ethnic Albanian mayors into municipal buildings in four Serb-majority municipalities. After the protests, KFOR added around 500 soldiers on top of the four thousand five hundred already there.

On the next day, on Thursday the 20th, the special prosecutor's office in Pristina indicted two Serbs arrested on charges of hooliganism committed in May. Now, the office accused them of crossing into Kosovo through the Jarinje border and damaging private buildings, as well as inflicting injuries on officials. One of the arrested men faces an additional charge of unauthorized possession of weapons. The office also said that the arrested men were armed and prepared to participate in May’s protests where a couple of dozen of KFOR soldiers got injured.

Speaking of protests,

The twelfth Serbia Against Violence protest took place on Saturday the 22nd all over Serbia. In Belgrade, the crowd marched from the National Assembly to the building of Radio Television of Serbia, or RTS, which is Serbia's public broadcaster. Like in previous Serbia Against Violence protests, people demanded the dismissal of the staff of the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media, better known as REM. They also demanded the shutdown of tabloids that publish clickbait titles and the removal of pro-regime Pink TV and Happy TV from the national frequencies, because they “promote violence“. Some of the journalists from the protest even said that they feel silenced by the government since it only highlights and promotes pro-regime media sources.

In our previous episode, we mentioned that the National Assembly established an Inquiry Committee and tasked them with determining the circumstances which led to the school shooting at the Vladislav Ribnikar elementary school back in May. On Friday the 21st, the Serbian Parliament received a request from the victims' families to suspend any work of the Committee, until the criminal proceedings before the court are completed. Rumors have it that they want the shooter to be brought to justice as soon as possible and the Inquiry committee might take a while to do its job.

Upon receiving the request, the National Assembly immediately abolished the Inquiry Committee. However, the opposition disagreed with the Assembly's decision, saying that it was unconstitutional to halt such a process. They explained that 193 deputies supported the decision to form an Inquiry Committee at the plenum and that the deputies in the Assembly are the only ones who can suspend the committee or put them to work.

On Wednesday the 19th, Sinisa Mali, the minister of finance, said in an interview with RTS that inflation in Serbia will fall as pensions and salaries rise. He noted that the average pension rose by around sixty percent in the last two years, and added that the salaries and pensions have never been higher in Serbia. Mali also said that the country is not responsible for the inflation it is facing, but that the inflation is mainly the product of the Russia-Ukraine war.

Currently, the average monthly pension is roughly 280 dollars, whereas the average salary is about 620 dollars. However, the consumer basket for a family of three costs around 710 dollars. Moreover, the annual inflation rate in Serbia was 14% percent in June, which was a decrease from May’s 15% percent.

Last week, the Ministry of Economy announced a call for grants under the Program for Encouraging the Development of Entrepreneurship to financially help young people with businesses in twenty twenty-three. They announced that the state has allocated around three million dollars, from the budget for this program. The public call refers to all the persons who are in the initial stage of developing SMEs and will fund the purchase of equipment, tools, and delivery vehicles, and the ongoing maintenance of a business

Entrepreneurs, micro and small businesses who registered in the Agency for Business Registers after twenty twenty have the right to apply for the Public Call. Those who have registered themselves between twenty eighteen and twenty twenty-one can also apply, however, their founder and legal representative must be a natural person under the age of thirty-five.

On that note about funding,

Serbia took a 300 million dollar loan from the French Development Agency. Four million will be allocated to the city of Kraljevo for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of existing traffic infrastructure, and to build new pedestrian crossings and bicycle paths. Apart from those, the city can use the funds to rehabilitate landslides, strengthen river banks, and solve pollution problems in the city.

In some environmental news,

Activists from the Guardians of Perlez association, which protects the environment of the Perlez village and its immediate surroundings, launched an initiative to protect the mulberry forest that is near the town of Zrenjanin. Along with that, they also requested that the state declares the forest as a natural monument. The mulberry forest in Perlez is the largest and one of the few preserved mulberry forests in the Serbian province of Vojvodina. Moreover, if the forest becomes a natural monument, the mulberry trees will be saved from felling or clearing.

The government wants to find a strategic partner for the construction of wind farms, as a part of the Plan for the Development of Energy Infrastructure and Energy Efficiency Measures. The plan, which the Ministry of Mining and Energy prepared, serves to define the steps the state will take in order to develop a new Energy Development Strategy for Serbia. The plan also highlights that it may boost Serbia's electricity import demand after twenty twenty-six. The Ministry said that their first step will be preparing and launching the procedure for selecting a strategic partner for the construction of wind farms. They expect to launch the operation by twenty thirty.

While on the topic of wind,

On Saturday the 22nd, the Republic Hydrometeorological Institute launched a red weather alert in western Serbia, due to heavy storms and winds. The institute reported that the incoming storms will be very strong and fast-moving, with some large hail, short-term storm wind gusts, and isolated hurricane winds. The institute also added that they will issue an emergency warning of thunderstorms one to two hours in advance.

A day before that, on Sunday the 21st, a severe thunderstorm hit Serbia, which killed three people, destroyed homes, streets and left many without electricity and water.

Aaaaand that’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!