ConflictBarometer_2012

EUROPE
the northern part of Kosovo, mainly inhabited by ethnic Serbs.
On January 1, deputies of the three main Serb municipalities
in northern Kosovo decided to hold a referendum in February
on whether they wanted to acknowledge legal bindings by
Kosovar institutions or not. On February 14 and 15, Serbs in
northern Kosovo rejected Kosovar rule. The referendum was
denounced by both the Kosovar and Serbian governments and
was not legally binding. Serbian President Boris Tadic ruled
out EU requirements regarding relations with Kosovo during a
visit to a monastery in Pec, west Kosovo, on January 7. About
200 protesters from the Kosovar opposition Self-Determination
movement (Vetevendosje), mainly ethnic Albanians, demonstrated
against his visit and threw stones at Tadic’s convoy.
On January 14, hundreds of Vetevendosje members tried
to block two border crossings near Merdare and Bela Zemlja
and clashed with Kosovar police, who used tear gas and water
cannon, arresting 146 protesters. 52 people, including 31 police
officers, were injured.
A new round of EU-sponsored dialog between Kosovo and
Serbia started in Brussels on February 21, resulting in an agreement
concerning Kosovo’s participation in regional and
EU-Balkan forums and the application of previous agreements
like the integrated border management. As a consequence,
some border crossings were opened on February 23. On February
27, more than 1,000 Kosovar Albanian hardliners protested
against the agreement. On March 1, Serbia was given
EU candidacy status. Unknown persons attacked a Serbian
delegation with stones in Pristina on April 4 when heading to
a meeting with Kosovar officials. On April 8, tensions rose in
north Kosovo when a bomb exploded in Mitrovica, leaving one
ethnic Albanian dead and five children injured. The same day,
three unidentified assailants beat up a Serb and hundreds of
Serbs dismantled a mobile police post right after Kosovar officials
had set it up. On May 23, unknown attackers torched
two houses belonging to Serbian refugees in Drenovac.
On June 1, two KFOR soldiers and three Serbs were wounded
in a clash when a crowd tried to stop them from removing
border barricades. On June 19, unknown attackers threw two
grenades at KFOR barracks at the border. About twenty Serbs
and 40 officials were injured during border clashes between
Serbs and Kosovar police on June 28 - 70 Serbs had entered
Kosovo, threwing stones at the authorities and firing automatic
rifles. Later that day, unknown perpetrators attacked five
buses, carrying Kosovar Serb students, with stones and Molotov
cocktails in Pristina, injuring ten. On August 2, a group
of ethnic Albanians raided mainly Serb-populated Grabac and
damaged houses, injuring one person. On August 14, a group
of Serbs attacked two Albanians in Mitrovica, leaving one of
them severely injured. On September 7, a policewoman was
injured in northern Kosovo when unknown attackers opened
fire at vehicles carrying EULEX forces and Kosovar police.
On October 18, EU chief diplomat Catherine Ashton met
the prime ministers of Kosovo and Serbia in a bid to re-launch
talks. Four days later, hundreds protested and threw stones
at police that used tear gas in response, leaving dozens injured
in Pristina. The protest was organized by Vetevendosje,
which opposes all talks with Serbia. As a reaction, Kosovar Prime
Minister Hashim Thaci called on the movement to halt its
protests. On November 7, the prime ministers of Serbia and
Kosovo held talks again.
map
Serbia
Intensity:
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
(Vojvodina)
1 Change:
Start:
regional parties vs. government
autonomy
1989
The secession conflict between the Catalan regional govern-
The autonomy conflict between regional parties of Vojvodina,
among them the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV), the
Union of Socialists of Vojvodina, the Vojvodinian Movement, and
the Alliance for Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM) on the one hand, and
the central government, on the other, continued. On March 12, the
Vojvodina Assembly president and SVM member Sandor Egeresi
demanded an own police force for Vojvodina. In regional parliamentary
elections on May 6 and 20, the Choice for a Better Vojvodina coalition,
led by LSV Vice President and President of the Government
of Vojvodina, Bojan Pajtic, gained the majority of votes, winning 58
out of 120 seats. On July 11, the Constitutional Court declared parts
of the Law on Establishing Jurisdiction of Vojvodina, implemented
in January 2010, as unconstitutional. While the Democratic Party of
Serbia leader Vojislav Kostunica supported the court’s decision seeing
it as an important step to stop further dissolution from Serbia,
LSV urged the regional government to appeal to the European Court
of Human Rights. On October 13, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic and
Pajtic met in Belgrade to discuss the Constitutional Court’s decision,
specifically the Law on Financing of Vojvodina.
fph
Slovenia – Croatia
Intensity:
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
1 Change:
Slovenia vs. Croatia
territory
(border)
Start:
1991
The maritime and land border dispute between Slovenia and Croatia
continued. After both countries submitted their arbitration
agreement to the UN on 05/25/11, Croatian Minister of Foreign
Affairs Vesna Pusic and his Slovenian counterpart Samuel Zbogar
met in Brussels on January 10 to discuss a list of potential arbitrator
judges for the dispute resolution process. On January 18, Pusic
and Zbogar announced the five candidates in Zagreb. Moreover,
both sides agreed to accept any judgment of the panel, without
the possibility of appeal. At a meeting in The Hague, Netherlands,
on April 14, Croatia and Slovenia agreed to submit their memoranda
and reasoning on 02/11/13 and their counter-memoranda on
11/11/13. The deciding debate will be held in spring 2015. sth
Spain (Catalan nationalists /
Catalonia)
Intensity:
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
1 Change:
Start:
1979
CiU, ERC, Catalan government vs. central
government
secession
25