Politics | Tuesday 26.04.

2011 | 17:46
Serbian, Bosnian, Turkish leaders meet
Source: B92, Beta
BELGRADE -- A summit of top officials from Serbia, Turkey and Bosnia and Herzego
vina was held on Tuesday in the resort of Karađorđevo, northwestern Serbia.

The news conference (Beta)

Serbian President Boris Tadić, Turkish President Abdullah Gul and the tripartite p
residency of Bosnia, including Serb, Muslim and Croat members, Nebojša Radmanović, B
akir Izetbegović and Željko Komšić, all took part.
The future of the Balkan region lies in overcoming prejudices, reconciliation an
d non-interference in internal affairs of other states, the participants in the
summit concluded. Boris Tadić said that "prejudices that stem from our difficult his
tory must be fought against together, because otherwise we will face many proble
ms in the future". Serbia will "never support a referendum that would lead to the
breakup of Bosnia-Herzegovina and in any way bring into question the integrity o
f that country", he also told reporters during a joint news conference. Tadić said t
hat Serbia fully respected the Dayton peace agreement and territorial integrity
of all its neighbors, "but that it expects the same from them when it comes to K
osovo". The Serbian president told reporters that Serbia held strongly to the stan
ce that all war crimes must be processed and condemned, "because that is the onl
y way to reach truth and full reconciliation among nations". He also noted that Se
rbia has extradited 44 out of 46 war crimes suspects indicted by the Hague Tribu
nal, and said that "everything was being done to arrest the remaining two fugiti
ves". Tadić, his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, and Chairman of the Bosnian Presi
dency Nebojša Radmanović stressed the need to "improve bilateral and trilateral coop
eration", with three countries working toward the goal of seeing the Western Bal
kans "integrated into the EU as soon as possible". Gul also asserted that the Balk
ans "is not on the margins of Europe, but is rather at its heart", and spoke in
favor of the region "gathering under a wider EU and NATO umbrella". According to r
eports from Karađorđevo, the Turkish president also stated that "all three countries
wish to see increased cooperation in order to solve the burning issues", and th
at this should come "along with respect for principles of preservation of sovere
ignty and integrity and without interfering in other countries' internal affairs
". Radmanović noted that the meeting also addressed the issue of war crimes indictme
nts raised by Serbia and Croatia against citizens of Bosnia-Herzegovina, saying
that this "created political problems in Bosnia". The summit's participants will a
lso hold bilateral meetings, and later adopt a joint statement. The meeting today
comes one year after Tadić, Gul and then head of the Bosnian presidency Haris Sila
jdžić met in Istanbul, where they signed a declaration stressing the importance of n
ational reconciliation and willingness to take any steps necessary to ensure reg
ional peace, stability and prosperity. It also comes two decades after then Serbia
n and Croatian presidents Slobodan Milošević and Franjo Tuđman met at the same resort,
for what are widely believed to have been talks dedicated to attempts to partit
ion Bosnia. This time, according to announcements, the discussion was about the fu
nctioning of Bosnia, as well as regional and inter-state cooperation.
**
BiH police protest low wages
26/04/2011
Police are angry over their pay and the failure of the cantons to implement
new laws.
By Jusuf Ramadanovic for Southeast European Times in Sarajevo – 26/04/11
photo
Police officers in each canton are paid different salaries [Reuters]
Police officers protested the failure of their canton governments to honour a 20
10 law on police salary increases in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (F
BiH), demanding that policemen's wages be harmonised throughout BiH.
"The situation with police salaries has not improved at all; it is still bad eve
rywhere," a Sarajevo police officer said, declining to disclose his name.
In July 2010, at the request of the BiH police union, the FBiH government passed
two pieces of legislation that aimed to mitigate the discrepancies in police sa
laries among the cantons.
"We are not demanding salary increases; we are demanding that the law be applied
. Wouldn't it be right for all those working at the same job, in the same state,
to be paid equally for this job?" Elvedin Mioc, president of the Zenica-Doboj c
anton police union told SETimes.
"Imagine how police officers feel when they secure football matches in other can
tons and are paid several times less than others doing the same job, securing th
e same state of BiH. Someone is intentionally discriminating against us. The sal
aries are twice as high for some, including additional allowances and compensati
on," says Mioc.
"We are hungry. People are borrowing money to buy bread. We have bills to pay an
d our children's needs to meet," said the president of the eastern Posavina cant
on police trade union, Drazen Kobas.
He says the canton's policemen are not paid for the night shift, and that police
salaries in the canton are the lowest in the entire FBiH, at only 230 euros per
month.
"A police officer working night shifts, [which puts him in a position of] being
half way in the grave and half way in jail, performs the most honourable job of
the state," says Mioc.
About 1,500 Zenica policemen started a protest on March 25th at the cantonal gov
ernment building in Zenica, demanding higher salaries and better working conditi
ons, and threatened job walk-offs and hunger strikes.
Policemen from several other FBiH cantons supported their colleagues along with
the local education and administration trade unions, while Zenica taxi drivers b
locked the streets in support of the protesters.
Each of the ten FBiH cantons has its own administration, budget and financing, a
nd independently decides on police officers' wages. Claiming insufficient funds,
the government of Zenica-Doboj and several other cantons have not implemented t
he law.
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Canton head Fikret Plevljak told the media that the "laws impose significant fin
ancial burdens which the cantonal budget cannot honour and, I also think, the si
tuation is the same with a number of other cantons."
"The police employees in all ten cantons of FBiH are the hostages of ten small r
ulers, that is, ten cantonal governments and their ten different laws, decrees,
rules, uniforms, emblems and everything that is not unified on the territory of
FBiH," Mioc told SETimes.
He said the police should be united at the FBiH level as a "path to creation of
a single police force for the entire BiH".
The strike ended on April 4th when police union representatives and the cantonal
government reached an agreement to postpone the application of the federal law
until later in the year.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com.
**
Buying local in BiH
03/02/2011
A new law seeks to ensure that domestic products are well represented in the
stores.
By Jusuf Ramadanovic for Southeast European Times in Sarajevo -- 03/02/11
photo
New BiH legislation encourages buying locally. [Reuters]
Much of the food on the shelves in Bosnia and Herzegovina comes from countries s
uch as Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, and even from locations as far away as Chin
a. Meanwhile, domestic products languish. A Sarajevo-based NGO, "Let Us Buy and
Use Domestic Products Association" (Udruženje Kupujmo i koristimo domaće), is trying
to change that.
In collaboration with domestic food companies, they have filed several complaint
s to the BiH Federation's trade ministry, calling for a change in policy.
"Due to lack of regulation, large shopping centres have generally discriminated
against domestic producers by imposing retail contracts requiring them to pay on
average 10,000 euros, just to negotiate the shelf placement of their products,"
says Admir Kapo, president of the Sarajevo-based NGO.
"If they want better exposure of their produce, they pay additionally, and then
are charged rebates, demanded to provide free goods as promotion of their produc
ts," he said.
Now the push for reforms appears to be bearing fruit. In July 2010, the Federati
on of BiH (FBiH) Ministry of Trade passed the Law on Internal Trade in an effort
to regulate the sale of domestic products.
"This law is the first attempt to impose some rules in a deregulated domestic re
tail sector, and we are certainly looking towards more regulation in the future,
" says Djula Djukic, assistant minister of Internal Trade.
Under the new regulation, he said, all shops with 1,000sqm of space or more in t
he FBiH are now required to provide the ministry with a written statement confir
ming that at least 50% of the products are locally made.
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Exceptions will be made for goods which are not widely produced at home, such as
chewing gum.
"But with wines, for example, of which we produce a lot and of good quality, the
y'll be required to store at least 50% of domestic wine types," Djukic said.
Market inspectors will be authorised to impose sanctions on non-compliant retail
ers, though initially they will issue a warning and encourage compliance before
turning to stricter measures.
"We hope to display more of domestic products to domestic consumers than before,
and instill a habit of looking for domestic products in stores," Djukic said.
This content was commissioned for SETimes.com
**
URS collects 225,000 signatures in support of decentralising Serbia
26/04/2011
BELGRADE, Serbia -- A petition launched by the United Regions of Serbia (URS) th
ree weeks ago pushing for decentralisation of Serbia has been backed by 225,000
citizens so far, URS president Mladjan Dinkic announced on Monday (April 25th).
He predicted it would attract the support of more than 300,000 people by May 30t
h when it will be submitted to parliament. The URS proposes that 80% of payroll
taxes be given to local authorities, who collect them; that citizens be allowed
to directly elect the municipality president and mayor; and that confiscated pro
perty should be returned to local self-governments. (RTS, Tanjug, Beta - 25/04/1
1)
**
(RTTNews) - Serbia's average salaries and wages declined from last year in March
, data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia showed Tuesday.
The average gross salaries and wages, in real terms, fell 6.4 percent year-on-ye
ar in March. The net salaries and wages also dropped 6.4 percent annually.
Month-on-month, the average gross salaries and wages, in real terms, dropped 2 p
ercent during the month, while the net salaries and wages declined 1.9 percent.
In the January-March period, the average gross salaries and wages declined by 2.
3 percent from the corresponding period last year. The net salaries and wages fo
r the period decreased 2.4 percent.
by RTT Staff Writer
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com
Serbian March Salaries & Wages Drop
4/26/2011 9:44 AM ET
**