MOST IMPORTANT ARTICLES AND DOCUMENTS
On 8-th of February 2009 Romanian handball player Marian Cozma was killed by a group of gypsies, aka Roma ethnic individuals, in Hungary, Veszprem.
Note that a Serb and a Croat, friends of Cozma, were also wounded.
On 9-th of February 2009, the Serbian and Hungarian Foreign Ministers have met and, on the discussion agenda, included the above-mentioned crime (which, in normal circumstances, wouldn't have had any place in the high-level talks).
On the other hand, it is worthwhile mentioning that since June 25, 2008, Serbia is chairing the Decade of Roma, which is a political commitment by governments in Central and Southeastern Europe to improve the socio-economic status and social inclusion of Roma (gypsy citizens) within a regional framework.
2008-2009 is the year when Serbia holds the presidency of this forum.
Serbia's goal (backed by the US) is to join the EU in 2009. The US will also try to push Kosovo in the EU, whether its independence is recognized or not:
"History suggests more than one scenario in which Kosovo and Serbia can both move toward EU membership."
"It is time, however, to get beyond the issue of recognition/non-recognition and do everything possible to speed up the integration of both Kosovo and Serbia into Europe, whether they normalize relations between each other or not."
"In the end, that goal of EU integration should be front and center, not the issue of recognition. In another interview, this time with SEETV, Lagendijk got it right again when he said, “That is the most important message that I would like to convey: Both Serbia and Kosovo one day should be members of the European Union and one should not be able to block the other from entering the European Union.” "
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=309&NrSection=2&NrArticle=20397
Allegedly, Serbia has a plan to provide more assets for the financing of all projects relating to the inclusion of the Roma in the system of social trends.
This "smart plan" will be used as a pretext for pushing Serbia (and later for Kosovo) into the EU.
According to the scenario, the EU will find itself unable to survive without Serbia on its side, which is a "specialist" in gypsy issues and which could help the EU to solve the multiple Roma problems that popped up over night in the Union, particularly in Italy, Hungary and Romania.
Recently the "gypsy problem" in Kosovo was highlighted by the international press and the EU stresses reforms on Kosovo, which consist of efforts to improve ties with the Serb minority and the Gypsy population.
The conclusion is that:
Marian Cozma was killed in order to provide a flashy video linked to the "gypsy problem", video which has the potential to push Serbia and Kosovo into the EU.
After seeing the video, naturally, people are now outraged, they demand death to the gypsies, so the EU, with the help of Serbia, which drafted that magic plan within the Decade of Roma, will allegedly do anything to integrate gypsies into the European society.
Whether or not Marian Cozma is indeed dead, we don't know for certain.
What we might find out instead is that, in exchange for this "wonderful gypsy Serb plan", Serbia and later Kosovo will receive the EU membership.
-Veronica Bicer
RELATED QUOTES AND ARTICLES:
The Veszprém stabbing over the weekend appeared on the agenda of a Hungarian-Serbian foreign ministerial meeting – Kinga Göncz and Vuk Jeremic sign co-operation agreement between their ministries.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said in Budapest on Monday that Serbia’s central strategic priority in 2009 is to speed up it accession to the European Union, adding that Hungary is fully backing Serbia on this path.
http://www.mfa.gov.hu/kum/en/bal/actualities/visits_and_events/GK_Jeremic_090209.htm
Kosovo: One year on
Kosovo celebrates its first birthday today. But independence has not proved a miracle cure for this international headache. If anything, the situation is now worse.
And this week a further vulnerable group was brought to attention: the Roma population, which is suffering under the general lack of communication. They are currently in lead-contaminated camps but are not being dealt with by the Serbs running the north.
http://www.inthenews.co.uk/infocus/features/in-depth/kosovo-one-year-on-$1268967.htm
DECADE OF ROMA – INTERNATIONAL MANAGING BOARD MEETING
19.02.2009."Serbia has made a strategy for the inclusion of the Roma, the action plan and budget
Since June 25, 2008, Serbia is chairing the Decade of Roma and coordinates the actions of implementing the international initiative to change the position of the Roma in the education, health protection, employment and accommodation from 2005 to 2015. So, the Decade of Roma has started in 2005, on the initiative of the Open Society Fund and the World Bank.
"Our goal is to provide more assets for the financing of all projects relating to the inclusion of the Roma in the system of social trends", said Djelic, while adding that this organization will ask for the formal inclusion in the realization of European projects for the Roma. He repeated that the priorities of Serbia during its one-year chairing of the decade are the following: education and avoiding the discrimination; accommodation and making of the European policy towards the Roma.
http://glassrbije.org/E/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6274&Itemid=28
Serbia to seek faster EU membership
February 10, 2009 – 12:42 pm
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic said in Budapest on Monday that Serbia’s central strategic priority in 2009 is to speed up it accession to the European Union, adding that Hungary is fully backing Serbia on this path.
The Hungarian prime minister also expressed deep regrets over the incident in Veszprem, in which handball player, Serbian national team member, Zarko Sesum sustained grave fractures of the facial bones in an attack by an as yet unidentified group of persons early on Saturday morning. In the incident, which took place in a bar in Veszprem, Marian Cosma of Romania was stabbed to death and Ivan Pesic of Croatia sustained grave injuries. All three attacked handball players were engaged by the local MKB Veszprem KC.
http://www.serbianna.com/blogs/newspost/?p=1454
EU official stresses reforms for Kosovo
BRUSSELS: The EU's representative in Kosovo said Wednesday the former Serb province must do more to fight organized crime and corruption, and to promote democracy.
Pieter Feith said his top three priorities this year were to push stability, reforms and reconciliation between the majority ethnic Albanian population and the minority Serbs in the north of Kosovo.
The province of Kosovo gained independence last year.
Feith told lawmakers at the European Parliament there was "continued fragility" in Kosovo, notably tensions between the Albanian and Serb populations but also with the ex-Serb province's Gypsy population.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/02/11/europe/EU-EU-Kosovo.php
‘Gypsy crime’ versus ‘political crime’
Monday, 16 February 2009 The Veszprém murder made it clear that protection rackets remain a problem in Hungary. Secondly, and more emphatically, it demonstrated that relations between ethnic Hungarians and their fellow Gypsy citizens are at breaking point.
“Gypsy crime” was denounced, rather than inadequate public safety. The murderers of the Veszprém handball idol Marian Cozma and their relatives earned the hatred and the thirst for revenge of the majority of society, not only because of their crime, but also because they are Gypsies.
http://www.budapesttimes.hu/content/view/10978/230/
Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015
http://www.romadecade.org/
Serbian Decade Presidency 2008-2009
http://www.romadecade.org/index.php?content=176
Less Talk, More Action
page 1 of 2
by TOL20 February 2009
History suggests more than one scenario in which Kosovo and Serbia can both move toward EU membership.
This week Kosovo celebrated one year of self-declared independence. As expected, cries of jubilation rang out from Pristina while words of defiance flowed forth from Belgrade. The Kosovars proudly pointed to the stability that has largely reigned over the country – a surprise to many – while critics lamented the lack of progress in so many vital areas of economic and social development. Nearly everyone put their spin on the issue of recognition, with naysayers pointing out that only 54 of the United Nations’ 192 members had recognized Kosovo, while boosters stressing that the vast majority of the European Union (plus the United States) were among the 54. It is time, however, to get beyond the issue of recognition/non-recognition and do everything possible to speed up the integration of both Kosovo and Serbia into Europe, whether they normalize relations between each other or not. One politician who got the message right over the past few weeks was Joost Lagendijk, a Dutch member of the European Parliament and the EP's rapporteur for Kosovo. In an interview with the Serbian newspaper Dnevnik, he said, “It is not realistic to expect Serbia to recognize Kosovo any time soon, but Serbia, Kosovo, and the EU should not be wasting time in integrating Belgrade and Pristina into the EU.” Yet some analysts and European politicians still insist that recognition of Kosovo be a condition of Serbia's EU bid. Accession should be off the agenda, they say, until Belgrade concedes the independence of Kosovo. That approach is completely divorced from reality. Even more moderate, pro-EU forces in the Serbian government will not budge on the issue of recognition, nor can one expect them to in the near future. It is a genuine, not fabricated issue, and the Serbs have real grievances, no matter whether one considers them justified or not. Cooperating with The Hague on arresting war criminals is one matter, but agreeing to recognize what many consider a breakaway province is something completely different.
Less Talk, More Action page 2 of 2
TWO-STATE SOLUTIONS“We must look for a creative diplomatic solution which would not hurt anyone, and would work to everyone’s benefit,” Lagendijk continued in the interview. “The idea of a solution according to the principle of two Germanys, where, despite not recognizing one another, the two sides committed not to interfere with the international activities of the other, could be the basis for an agreement for the two sides that would be rubber-stamped by the EU.” There are many other prominent examples of countries entering Western institutions with major territorial disputes still outstanding, including Turkey and Greece’s accession into NATO and, more recently, Cyprus’s successful application to join the EU. Spain and the United Kingdom continue to disagree about the status of Gibraltar, with Madrid claiming sovereignty over this British territory and London insisting that it will not enter into talks with Spain without the consent of the local government and people. Yet life goes on, and, since 2004, the people of Gibraltar have participated in elections for the European Parliament as part of the South West England constituency.Lagendijk also said some lessons could be learned from Ireland and the way it has constitutionally handled the issue of Northern Ireland.The time is ripe to seriously consider such solutions instead of unrealistically hoping that pressure on Serbia will change the situation. The same goes for the stalwarts within the EU who refuse to recognize Kosovo (Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, and Slovakia). A non-binding, European Parliament resolution on 5 February called on those countries to fall in line. They have remained defiant, however, and it is a waste of time and energy to pressure them to cave in. A difference of opinion on such a critical issue as a territory declaring independence, with all the ramifications on international law and setting a precedent, is not without value. And longer term, as EU integration accelerates for both Kosovo and Serbia, the non-recognition stance should in any case become less and less tenable. In the end, that goal of EU integration should be front and center, not the issue of recognition. In another interview, this time with SEETV, Lagendijk got it right again when he said, “That is the most important message that I would like to convey: Both Serbia and Kosovo one day should be members of the European Union and one should not be able to block the other from entering the European Union.”
http://www.tol.cz/look/TOL/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=4&NrIssue=309&NrSection=2&NrArticle=20397&ST1=ad&ST_T1=job&ST_AS1=0&ST_LS1=-1&ST2=body&ST_T2=letter&ST_AS2=0&ST_LS2=-1&ST3=text&ST_T3=aatol&ST_PS3=1&ST_AS3=0&ST_LS3=0&ST_max=3
Czech presidency outlines three EU priorities for Kosovo
06. February 2009. 09:26
Source: Kosovo Compromise
The indivisibility of territory, decentralisation and participation at regional integrations are three EU priorities regarding Kosovo, Czech Minister of European Affairs Alexander Vondra said on behalf of the Czech EU Presidency
The indivisibility of territory, decentralisation and participation at regional integrations are three EU priorities regarding Kosovo, Czech Minister of European Affairs Alexander Vondra said on behalf of the Czech EU Presidency on Wednesday during a debate on a draft resolution on Kosovo proposed by Dutch MEP Joost Lagendijk. In his address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Vondra stressed the issue of Kosovo's regional cooperation and participation in the main European processes and stressed his expectation that the European Union would some day bring Kosovo closer to the stabilisation and association process. He also stressed that numerous challenges were to be overcome by that date, because it would be difficult for the European Union to achieve unity on Kosovo. The Czech minister said that the division on the status of Kosovo within the European Union in no way diminished the key goals of long-term stability. "Our main challenge in the next few months will be the full engagement of EULEX", Vondra said. He stressed the situation in northern Kosovo, voicing his expectation that it would be difficult in the next few months and that it would be an object of constant EU attention. On behalf of the European Commission, the MEPs were addressed by Commissioner for Consumer Affairs Meglena Kuneva, who quoted several EC programmes of assistance and stressed the special concern over the position of Roma in the lead-polluted camp in Kosovska Mitrovica.
http://www.emportal.rs/en/news/serbia/78151.html
INTERVIEW-Serbia pins Kosovo hopes on court, president says
Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:24pm EST
By Aleksandar VasovicBELGRADE, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Serbia is pinning its hopes for better relations with Kosovo on an international court ruling, but will never recognise Kosovo's independence, Serbian President Boris Tadic said on Monday.Tuesday is the first anniversary of Kosovo's declaration of independence -- a declaration bitterly opposed by Serbia, which sees the region as the cradle of its religious and national identity.Serbia last year asked the International Court of Justice in The Hague to rule on the legality of Kosovo's secession. But a ruling could take years, and would not be binding."The only way for us to enter talks about the future status of Kosovo and a compromise solution is the court's ruling," Tadic told Reuters in an interview.Recourse to the court implies Serbia would accept its ruling, however it turned out. But Tadic nevertheless restated a position that remains a political imperative in Serbia:"Serbia will never take a single action that implies Kosovo's independence," he said.Kosovo is patrolled by NATO peacekeepers and administered by EU and United Nations missions, 10 years after its conflict between Serbs and Albanians ended in 1999, when NATO bombing forced Serbian troops to end a crackdown on Albanians.More than 200,000 Serbs and other non-Albanians have fled Kosovo since, fearing reprisal attacks by their Albanian neighbours. Most are still in Serbia."Serbia wants to see the return of normal life in Kosovo," Tadic said. "The protection of human and minority rights there is below an acceptable level and we haven't seen many (Serb) returnees."The United States, 22 of 27 EU members and a number of other countries have recognised Kosovo as an independent state but others, including U.N. Security Council members Russia and China, have not.Tadic said Serbia would not block Kosovo's accession to international financial agencies on condition the territory was represented there by the U.N. Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recognised Kosovo's independence last year and said it would consider its membership "in due course". Kosovo has also applied for membership of the World Bank.Tadic, a pro-Western politician, said Serbia would not hasten the submission of its candidacy to the European Union, reflecting a new approach after EU officials told Belgrade not to rush its application."I am a practical man ... full EU membership is more important than formal application," he said.The Netherlands is opposing the unfreezing of an EU trade deal with Serbia until it arrests and hands over former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, which wants him on genocide charges. "We don't know where he (Mladic) is now. Serbia will boost operations of its law enforcement agencies and use its economic resources to arrest Mladic," Tadic said. (Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLG118812
WHO urges Kosovo to close lead-contaminated camps
The Associated Press
Published: January 31, 2009
PRISTINA, Kosovo: A World Health Organization official says Kosovo must close down lead-contaminated camps in the tiny Balkan country's industrial north where about 100 Gypsy families live.
WHO regional director Dorit Nitzan says tests have shown levels of lead contamination are "severe" though they are falling.
Nitzan said Saturday the area should be declared hazardous for humans, and its residents should be moved.
The makeshift camps are located near a smelter that is part of the Trepca mining complex in the ethnically divided town of Mitrovica.
The Gypsies, also known as Roma, have lived in the camps since their homes were torched just after Kosovo's 1998-99 war with Serb troops. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia last year.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/01/31/europe/EU-Kosovo-Roma-Camps.php
Kosovo: One year on
Tuesday, 17 Feb 2009 00:00
Deadlock Economic woes are making the current situation on the ground especially pronounced. Unemployment is hovering just short of the 50 per cent mark, shockingly high for any western European country.
Crime levels remain high. Infrastructure is yet to recover. And this week a further vulnerable group was brought to attention: the Roma population, which is suffering under the general lack of communication.
They are currently in lead-contaminated camps but are not being dealt with by the Serbs running the north.
The reason for all this is the lack of a strong central government.
The majority, ethnic Albanians, may run the government but their authority has been eroded by Serbs establishing their own local authorities. Municipalities in Serb-majority areas, especially, have effectively taken over at the local level. A leadership vacuum is the result.
http://www.inthenews.co.uk/infocus/features/in-depth/kosovo-one-year-on-$1268967.htm
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