Last Chance

A letter from Flavio Coti, chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) arrived at the addresses of the coalition Zajedno and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Yugoslavia which says that it is his pleasure to inform them that an eminent OSCE delegation shall visit Yugoslavia and obtain true information on all facts in connection to the recent local elections in the FR of Yugoslavia.

Coti expresses satisfaction that the eminent international statesman Felipe Gonzales, former prime minister of Spain, has accepted to be his personal representative and stresses that the delegation, which is due to arrive before Christmas (December 25), shall be made up of the representatives of the US, the Russian Federation and the threesome from the European Union (Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands), Poland, Denmark and Switzerland, as well as the law expert professor Flayner and logistic personnel.

The letter precisely deals with the mandate of the OSCE mission: the personal representative shall seek information from all political parties, institutions and court bodies on data and occurrences in connection with the local elections in the FRY, including the annulment of their results. The OSCE mission has free access to all people, institutions, media, election committees and documents, including all court rulings and documents which the special representative believes to be necessary. The OSCE mission gives all recommendation which it deems as corresponding, states the chairman Flavio Coty towards the end of his letter.

"The election of Felipe Gonzales as the special representative and the structure of the mission, as well as the concrete and demandingly formulated mandate show that the international community has opted for the quickest and most efficient formula, without plenary sessions, extensive discussions, research missions and commissions. This is by no means a ceremonial delegation, as Belgrade had possibly hoped for at the beginning, but rather a high political level delegation. The decision of the OSCE chairman Flavio Coty is strong, both by it's contents and by it's mandate" says Dr. Ljubivoje Acimovic for VREME, expert on international law and legal relations.

VREME: If the OSCE mission confirms that the appeal of the coalition Zajedno on the court rulings is justified by which their victory in Belgrade and other controversial larger cities throughout Serbia were taken away from them, what can Gonzales's mission actually recommend?

It can recommend that the election results of the second round of local elections be recognized or that new elections should be called.

What if Belgrade doesn't agree with the recommendations of the mission?

The Yugoslav side can agree or not agree, but the international community shall insist on it. This isn't a legal, this is a political procedure; OSCE isn't based on an international legal agreement, so these shall not be legal obligations, but rather political obligations which, however, carry an immense amount of political weight and are very efficient. The European Union and the US shall insist upon fulfilling the recommendations of the mission. In case Yugoslavia does not accept the OSCE recommendation, then political pressure shall ensue on Yugoslavia, just as now, for example, America is insisting on the "outer wall" of the sanctions.

Did OSCE ever have a similar mission?

No, we are an unprecedented and special case: there have never been such subsequent election results revisions.

The OSCE mission has not fared too well in organizing the elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in monitoring the first election round in Yugoslavia...

In Bosnia and Herzegovina OSCE organized the elections and was the executing power in accordance with the Dayton agreement. Even the action concerning the first round of elections in Serbia, which around 50-60 OSCE monitors attended, was formed in a hurry and, as was shown, was an abortive mission. The job was not properly done: the OSCE mission even gave their opinion that all went very well, totally neglected the pre-election campaign and the media situation.

How do you view the comments that the arrival of the OSCE mission on the occasion of the current post-election crisis in Serbia is a "defeat for the seriousness, if not the independence of this country"?

This is not the first time we have endured a situation of political defeat in this country: even Dayton was an unavoidable defeat - all that needed to be signed was dictated... We have been in a subordinate position for a long time. Defeat or capitulation began with the contact group, followed by the border on the Drina river, followed by abandoning Krajina... Defeat has been hanging over this region for a long time, this is just one sequence. This is a crisis from which there is no easy way out.

The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Alberto Dini openly said, after his visit to Belgrade, that it wasn't realistic to expect a recognition of the annulled election results?! How do you see the unraveling of the post-election trauma?

It is characteristic that the invitation for an OSCE mission came from here: Milosevic calls the "eminent OSCE delegation to visit Yugoslavia and obtain true information on all facts in connection with the recent local elections in the FR of Yugoslavia". Actually, as can be deduced by certain sources, the West had suggested to Belgrade to address OSCE as a way of coming out of a blind alley. The government cannot easily change it's election maneuvers, nor can the other side easily impose their will. This is probably a last attempt to emerge out of this blind alley, to prevent an even bigger crisis, an even further fall into isolation. I suppose all shall be done to enable the OSCE mission to succeed. Both sides have an interest in this. This is probably the last chance to, in a more or less painless way, emerge out of this crisis. The West has an interest to save Yugoslavia, to put the circumstances in this region in order, so that the country could somehow or other stand on it's own feet again. I am afraid that we shall find ourselves in an extremely difficult situation, both Yugoslavia and the European Community, if we allow this chance to slip by.