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Russia says Abkhaz rebels shot down plane

Russian authorities said on 22 April that it must have been Abkhaz rebels who shot down an unmanned Georgian spy plane over the secessionist region of Abkhazia. The Russian foreign ministry also said the flight breached a 1994 peace accord which had ended fighting in the province.

The Georgian defence ministry, however, insists that it was a Russian MiG-29 plane which shot down the reconnaissance drone on 20 April, calling it an act of "open aggression". The ministry showed video of what could be identified as a MiG-29 shooting down the drone with a missile. Temu Iakobashvili, the Georgian minister in charge of matters concerning the seceded regions, said "We have hard evidence proving that this is the Russian military aircraft shooting down Georgian UAV" [Unmanned Aerial Vehicle].

Russia's foreign ministry, on the other hand, said the drone had been shot down by Abkhaz anti-aircraft weapons, and the Abkhaz administration said its own forces had shot down the UAV because it was violating Abkhaz airspace and breaching ceasefire agreements.

The two separatist regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia are tacitly supported by Russia, and Russian and UN peacekeepers have been deployed in these regions since the early 1990s. The Georgian government alleges that Russia has been ratchetting up the tension in order to damage Georgia's hopes of joining NATO.

NATO deputy spokesman Robert Pszczel commented "there are some things that require clarification... The sooner the issue gets clarified, the better …. the territorial integrity of Georgia, like other countries, is paramount... We would like to see calm, to see any disputes settled."

Georgia's Foreign Minister, Davit Bakradze, who has been in the United States on a working visit, held meetings with the UN and the US State Department officials, and in the US Senate. These were in anticipation of a closed door meeting of the UN Security Council to consider a situation in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict zone.

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Berliner Zeitung newspaper rocked by Stasi scandal

After the admission by two editors at the German daily newspaper, Berliner Zeitung, that they had informed for the East German secret police, the Stasi, when they were younger, all staff at the paper agreed to have their files investigated for links to the former secret police.

Originally East German, after reunification in 1989 the Berliner Zeitung made a successful transition to the market economy. It became the capital's largest subscription daily, and it is now British-owned. It emerged at the end of March that the editor of Berliner Zeitung's magazine, Thomas Leinkauf, had informed for the Stasi. Leinkauf admitted to having worked for the Stasi for two years when he was a student in the 1970s. The paper's chief editor Joseph Depenbrock said the credibility and independence of the paper had been harmed.

Then at a staff meeting another senior journalist, Ingo Preissler, announced that he had been an informant for 10 years, until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. A meeting was called to discuss the crisis, and staff agreed they would apply for access to their Stasi records. Employers have no legal power to access these records.

Berliner Zeitung started in 1945, and until 1989 was regarded as a mouthpiece of the East German regime. Working with two historians, chief editor Depenbrock said he would now carry out an investigation into the paper's history and its links with the former communist regime.

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Public transport strike hits Budapest

Strikes by staff of Budapest's national public transport company BKV, and the VDSzSz (Free Railway Workers' Union), successfully crippled public transport in the capital on the morning of 7 April.

While the VDSzSz strike was the latest in a long-lasting dispute between the union and management of MÁV, the national railway operator, it was the first time ever that an all-out strike had been called by the employees of BKV. Their strike, in which all employee unions participated, was launched at midnight on Sunday 6 April; the strike officially ended at 2 pm on the Monday.

BKV workers were taking industrial action in protest against the company’s new reform proposals which, according to unions, could end up in job cuts. The BKV management said it was planning yearly savings of 2 billion forints (£6.35 million), and a closing of six bus routes. The unions said that was unacceptable.  Budapest City Council, meanwhile, has asked for a 18.5 billion (£58.73 million) state subsidy to resolve BKV’s financial crisis.

At MÁV, on the other hand, the negotiating positions of the union and management have not changed since January this year. The VDSzSz union is still demanding a 10% wage rise on top of the 6.9% offered it by the management, as well as a one-off payment of 250,000 forints (£794) for every MÁV employee, following the sale and privatisation of the company’s profitable freight branch MÁV Cargo, in December 2007.

Prime Minister braves isolation

“I think the person of the prime minister is only important for a couple of people in this country,” On 4 April Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány emphasised that it was the programme of the prime minister and the government that mattered not the personality.

His comment followed the announcement by the SzDSz (Alliance of Free Democrats) that would leave the government coalition. “… I’m not at all happy with the SzDSz’s decision to leave the coalition, and I strongly believe that a coalition government would be more favourable for the country,” Gyurcsány stated.

The most likely scenario now, he said, would be the formation of an open, one-party Socialist government, with ad hoc support from the SzDSz, and, in some cases, from the centre-right Magyar Democratic Forum.  Once the SzDSz had left the coalition, the Socialist parliamentary party was left with a slight minority in Parliament, needing six additional votes from other factions for a simple majority, when all MPs were present at a vote.

The PM also said the greatest challenge the government had to face was not its conflict with the liberals, but the increasing strength of the anti-reform movement, led by the main opposition party Fidesz.

Fidesz had embarked on continuous threats of referenda aiming to overturn bills earlier approved by Parliament. The government, he said, had to find a “very delicate balance” between those who want more radical reforms, and those who would not accept change of any kind. Referring to the SzDSz insistence on its original reform programme, Gyurcsány said “it’s much better to accomplish moderate reforms than to fail with radical ones.”

Asked about the possibility of going to the country with early elections, the PM said, “The problem with early elections is that we have no idea what the programme of the opposition parties would be.” The popularity Fidesz had gained in the past two years was entirely based on anti-reform slogans.

Balaton airport qualifies to join Schengen

The FlyBalaton Airport near the village of Sármellék, at the western end of Lake Balaton, qualified as a Schengen border from 30 March. The first airliner to arrive under the new rules landed on 1 April.

When it was built in 2005 the terminal at FlyBalaton had already been planned and constructed to meet Schengen regulations. Speaking for the airport operator, Eszter Takács explained “This meant that only some information boards and internal environmental modules were necessary to securely separate incoming and outgoing passenger movement across borders.” Since May 2006 FlyBalaton had already been receiving international flights. “FlyBalaton airport has undergone considerable development during 2006 and 2007 and has now served as many as 170,000 passengers,” she said. Now acknowledged as Schengen-compliant the airport expected traffic to increase.

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Shady business may led to murder of developer

In mid April new evidence emerged in the case surrounding a prominent Lithuanian businessman who disappeared in Kaliningrad in 2007. Police recently reclassified the investigation into the disappearance of Stanislovs Jucius to pre-meditated murder. Authorities believe that his death may be linked to local business practices in Lithuania and Kaliningrad. Prosecutors in Kaliningrad have revealed evidence of numerous death threats levelled against the businessman over real estate development projects, corporate debt and murky real estate deals.

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Kosovo Serbs aim to form their own parliament

On 7 May the Serb leader in Kosovo Marko Jakšić said that after the 11 May elections the Serbs would set up their own parliament in Kosovo. “The Kosovo Serbs need a representative body in order to exercise their legal and legitimate rights,” he said, “this is of the utmost importance given the Kosovo Ministry’s plan for the functional division of the Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo.”

Jakšić claimed that the Kosovo parliament was full of “puppets” of the West, who would definitely not work in the best interests of Kosovan Serbs. A parliament of their own would be the “only way for the Serbs to be able to survive in Kosovo.”

Draft constitution signed

Kosovan political leaders, together with members of the Kosovo Constitution Commission, signed a draft constitution on 7 April. President Fatmir Sejdiu described this as "another step towards establishing the basis of a functional independent, sovereign and stable state".

EU Special Representative to Kosovo Pieter Feith, whose approval was also necessary, said the draft contained all the provisions for the "consolidation of Kosovo as a modern, multi-ethnic state". In part, the document is modelled after the US Constitution. The preamble has a special article guaranteeing the rights of Kosovo Serbs and other minorities.

The draft was forwarded to parliament for formal approval, with debate planned to begin on 9 April. The new constitution is expected to take effect on 15 June, nearly four months to the day since independence was declared.

Hague Tribunal acquits former prime minister

Ramush Haradinaj, a former prime minister of the Kosovo province and also previously a commander in the Kosovo Liberation Army, on 3 April was acquitted of war crimes by the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. The judge said much of the evidence had been inconclusive or non-existent.

He was found not guilty on 37 counts, including murder, persecution, rape and torture. But another former liberation army commander, Lahi Brahimaj, was sentenced to six years for torture and cruel treatment. A third accused man was also found not guilty.

All three had denied committing war crimes in Kosovo in 1998 while fighting against Serb forces. They had been accused of driving Serb and Roma civilians from their homes, and targeting Kosovo Albanians who were thought to have been collaborating with Serb forces.

Ramush Haradinaj had been a KLA commander fighting Serb forces in the west of the country in 1998, and later became prime minister in UN-run Kosovo. After the war, with Kosovo now under a UN mandate, he formed a political party the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo. It came third in the elections of 2004, but joined the governing coalition, and Haradinaj was then chosen as prime minister. His indictment by the war crimes tribunal in 2005 led to his resignation as PM. When he flew off to the Netherlands to face the Hague Tribunal charges hundreds from the Kosovo Albanian community turned out to bid him farewell.

Having returned to Kosovo, Haradinaj promptly resumed his post in the political party Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, and lost no time in criticising the cabinet headed by Prime Minister Hashim Thaci for failing to have a governing programme in place. The citizens of Kosovo should take offence, he said, when Thaci said his government had been too busy resolving Kosovo's status to have a domestic political programme in place.

Competition for new anthem

On 11 March a month-long competition to choose an anthem for the newly independent nation was announced by Parliament. “It should follow the criteria set by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari's comprehensive status proposal,” Parliament Speaker Jakup Krasniqi said, “meaning it will have to respect all communities living in Kosovo.” The anthem should be no longer than 60 seconds and sound different from that of any other country. The competition would be open to everyone, and the winner will receive 10,000 euros (about £7,700).

The Kosovan Parliament has already approved a flag and a coat of arms.

Kosovo declares its independence

On 17 February the Parliament of Kosovo in Priština approved a Declaration of Independence. The extraordinary session was called for 3 pm, by the President and Prime Minister. The declaration, which proclaimed Kosovo to be an independent and sovereign state, was voted by all MPs of Kosovo’s Parliament, except Serb MPs, which did not attend the extraordinary session. MPs present unanimously endorsed the unilateral declaration of independence.

The declaration, read by Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, said Kosovo would be a "democratic country that respected the rights of all ethnic communities."

The session of Parliament was also attended by the representatives of the European Union and USA.

After the declaration of independence had been read by the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi, it was signed by all MPs present, by Kosovo’s President Fatmir Sejdiu, by the Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi and by the Speaker of Parliament Jakup Krasniqi.

Parliament also approved proposals for a flag and state symbols. The flag of the new state of Kosovo is blue with the yellow map of Kosovo in the middle and six white stars above it.

"The independence of Kosovo marks the end of the dissolution of the former Jugoslavija," Thaçi said, but added that "Kosovo was a unique case that should not set a precedent." He said the new country’s governance would be constructed in accordance with the UN plan drawn by former Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari - at the end of negotiations which did not produce a deal. The international military and civilian presence envisaged in the Ahtisaari plan would be welcome. Thaçi emphasised "There should be no fear of discrimination in the new Kosovo … We will abide by the obligations in Ahtisaari's plan and we will fulfil these obligations in the future - especially Annex 12 of his plan, the one that deals with the rights of ethnic communities."

The declaration also welcomed an EU judicial and police mission in Kosovo, and urged NATO to continue with its current peacekeeping mission. It pledged that Kosovo would contribute to reconciliation in the Balkans and expresses a wish for "good relations with all our neighbours, especially Serbia".

Tens of thousands of Kosovan Albanians took to the streets to celebrate, with cars circling Priština draped with Albanian and U.S. flags, with dancing to the sound of traditional drums, and with fireworks. No incidents were reported and Thaçi said on TV that he expected ethnic Albanians in the province to celebrate "with dignity".

Bulgaria hopes for reconciliation between Kosovo and Serbia
Czech Republic hesistant
Georgia concerned at implications
Hungary calls for joint EU position on recognition
Poland expected to recognise independence
Slovakia - official stance on Kosovo needs time

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Cruise ship stuck on a sandbank

Latvian authorities have begun evacuating hundreds of people from a cruise ship stuck on a sandbank. The Bahamas-registered Mona Lisa ran aground off Latvia on 4 May with nearly 1,000 people on board, and tugs have so far been unable to free the ship.

Most of the passengers are German. The ship set sail from the German port of Kiel on 1 May for a 10-day Baltic cruise. It had been en route to Riga in Latvia when it hit a sandbank. A total of 984 people were on board - 651 of them passengers, mostly elderly German tourists. Not all of the crew are being evacuated.

It was not clear how the 30,000-tonne Mona Lisa came to run aground some 18 km off the Latvian coast in normal weather conditions. Six Latvian and one Swedish vessel have been involved in the salvage and evacuation. Passengers were being taken to the port of Ventspils, about 37 km away.

National Bolshevik leader arrested

A Riga court decided on 15 April to arrest the controversial former leader of the National Bolshevik Party, Vladimir Linderman. He has been wanted for a number of serious charges including the alleged planning of an assassination attempt on former President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.

Vladimir Linderman has spent the past six years hiding out in Russia. He was extradited to Latvia on 20 March. Linderman, who also goes by the nom de guerre “Abel” , stands accused of orchestrating a plot to kill the President in 2002 along with three other members of the Latvian branch of the National Bolshevik Party, a group that advocates an extremist ideology. He was arrested in Russia earlier this year for breaches of the Russian immigration code.

Voters may get power to throw Parliament out

A campaign to amend the constitution appears to have been legally successful. The campaign needed about 149,000 signatures to force Parliament to vote on the issue. The Central Election Committee said on 12 April that more than 213,000 people had signed the petition. It was aimed to give citizens the constitutional right to disband Parliament through referenda. The campaign was spearheaded by the Free Trade Union of Latvia, which has been aiming to make Latvia the only country in the European Union where it is possible for the people to directly dissolve the legislature.

It has been clear that Latvians are angry, claiming to have the worst leadership in the European Union. Yet it was the citizens who elected the current Parliament and produced the resulting coalition government. The campaign demands the constitutional right to dissolve Parliament (and thus the government as well). It may not be logical, but it has reflected the public mood, with some 65,000 more signatures than necessary. It was equally impressive that voters were prepared to travel long distances to signature-gathering points, and queue in long lines for their turn.

The amendments in the petition, worded under the guidance of former Constitutional Court Chairman Aivars Endzins, will be sent to President Valdis Zatlers, who in turn will pass them on to Parliament for a vote. It is not likel;y that MPs will be persuaded to give the electorate the right to sack them. What will inevitably follow is a referendum, most likely toward the end of summer. For that to succeed, more than half of all registered voters must say “yes” to the amendments, which if the public mood remains the same could well happen.

It has become all too apparent that the elections in October 2006 had produced a ruling coalition of three parties that appeared to have been capable of nothing more than advancing their own, oligarchic business interests. Back in 2006 the media had shown substantial evidence why the People’s Party, the Greens and Farmers Union and the Latvia’s Way/Latvia’s First Party union should not have been supported, but voters at the time ignored the warnings.

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Minister of Education resigns

An obvious casualty of the long-running teachers’ strike has been Roma Zhakaitene, the Minister of Education and Science. She handed in her resignation on 7 April. She explained her decision to leave the government was a matter of work-related stress.

A series on ongoing protests by Lithuanian teachers have aimed to put pressure on the Minister because of the low salaries earned by teaching staff. Their actions were symbolically supported in neighbouring Baltic countries. Teachers’ unions representatives have been campaigning for Zhakaitene’s resignation since autumn 2007. The minister had earlier indicated that she might leave the cabinet if this would reduce social tensions in the Lithuanian school system.

Lithanian Government website

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Greece vetoes invitation to Macedonia for NATO entry

At the NATO summit in Bucharest on 2 April Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis vetoed a NATO invitation to Macedonia to join.

Karamanlis outlined Greece's positions on the issue, emphasising there woyuld be no consent to Macedonia’s NATO entry invitation if the "name issue" were not resolved first.

Opposing the Greek position and supporting a NATO invitation without such a condition were Turkey, Slovenija, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Lithuania. Other European countries said they understood the Greek arguments, but Canada, Great Britain and Portugal refrained from taking a stand on the issue.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy seems to have been the warmest supporter of the Greek position, saying in his address that "We stand in solidarity with Greeks, we believe that a solution must be found. I have Hungarian roots, but I also have Greek roots and I fully assume them."

During a reception preceding the official dinner, Prime Minister Karamanlis held a brief conversation with U.S. President George W. Bush who had come to the NATO summit firmly intending to exert pressure on his partners for Macedonia, Albania, and Croatia to be extended invitations for membership in NATO, and for opening of the process for accession of Ukraine and Georgia.

President Bush stated in an interview for the German daily newspaper Berliner Morgenpost that Macedonia already fulfilled the conditions for membership of NATO, and emphasising that the problem with the country’s name would eventually be resolved.

Macedonia’s parliamentary assembly has declared it would not debate the name issue until it had become clear whether Macedonia will receive an invitation for membership in NATO. It needed to know if the latest proposal by UN mediator Matthew Nimetz for resolution of the name dispute was to be regarded as final. Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski was said to be prepared for the Macedonian delegation to return from Bucharest to Skopje so that the country’s leadership could assess the offer. The parliamentary assembly could then adopt a resolution. But the VMRO-DPMNE party now in government has been categorical that the name issue could only be solved after it had been put to Macedonian citizens in a referendum.

Macedonian Government website

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President and Transdnestr leader agree to meet

Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and Igor Smirnov, the leader of the seceded Transdnestr region agreed on 7 April by telephone to meet to discuss confidence-building measures between Chisinau and Tiraspol.

Voronin and Smirnov have not met at any time for the past seven years. During that period some negotiations has been conducted by ministers under the aegis of the OSCE. These negotiations stopped in February 2006. The next month Ukraine imposed a new customs regime for the Transdnestr region.

The Trasndnestran regime in Tiraspol branded the move as an economic blockade and refused to take part in further talks until it had been cancelled. Since then mediators have repeatedly appealed to both sides to resume dialogue, but so far have been unable to get the parties together.

Moldovan President Voronin was in fact born in Transdnestr. He came to power under the slogan of restoring the country’s territorial integrity and joining the Russia-Belarus union. In 1991 Voronin decided not to put off the long-standing issue and came to Tiraspol for negotiations with Smirnov, though little came of them. Soon after that meeting, Voronin was proclaimed persona non grata in Transdnestr, for reasons never made clear.

NATO backs Moldova’s territorial integrity

The final declaration of the NATO summit in Bucharest expressed its support for the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova, calling for a peaceful settlement of regional conflicts. "We are concerned about the persistence of the conflicts in South Caucasus and in Moldova", the declaration on 3 April said. "Our nations back the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova," it read, adding that NATO would continue to support efforts to settle peacefully the conflicts in the region.

European Commission to increase assistance for Moldova

It was reported in early April that the European Commission would increase financial assistance for Moldova. The country had been included in the Government Facilities Programme, along with Ukraine and Morocco, and Moldova would receive the assistance in 2008.

Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU Commissioner for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy, presented a progress report on Moldova's achievements within of the Neighbourhood Policy during 2007. She said the Programme's annual budget was €50 million and was intended for countries that had achieved the best results in development in 2007. She said the decision of her office was to propose to EU countries that the sum be divided between the three states, "because Moldova has proved it works to become closer to European standards".

"Moldova achieved successes in recent years, but still has room for improvement in the fields of press freedom, struggle against corruption, democracy consolidation", she said. The projected budget for EC financial assistance to Moldova in 2007-2010 was some €210 million, and the detal would be defined within 3-4 weeks.

Links:

Country information and history
The Parliament of Moldova
Independent Moldovan website and news service

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Government ready to apply for EU membership

The Speaker of the Montenegrin Parliament Ranko Krivokapić announced on 20 March, while on a visit to Slovenija, that Montenegro would apply to become a member of the EU in the coming weeks. It was counting on Slovenija's support in the matter.

Krivokapić acknowledged the valuable support, especially of the Slovenian parliament. "Slovenia is … the country that started and pushed its way through, making it easier for other countries of the western Balkans to follow," he said.

On the question of recognising Kosovo, Krivokapić explained that Montenegro, which has already signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU, would follow the decision of the bloc. "We will make the decision at the moment when we can best contribute to the stability of both the region and Montenegro," he explained.

No exact date for EU membership application

According to Miodrag Vuković, a senior official of the DPS party speaking on 23 March, Montenegro would not be able to apply for EU membership during the presidency of Slovenija. But it was not important to set a date, and that was not an EU requirement. “A state independently evaluates if it has met conditions, as well as its own capacities, guaranteeing that it shall be given a chance to continue with its application, and that it would be positively accepted by those who make decisions”, Vuković said.

The Government of Montenegro and its working bodies would continue with their efforts to meet the necessary conditions and submit an application.

Elizabeth Roberts: Realm of the Black Mountain - a history of Montenegro.  Hurst & Co. London 2007

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