By: Sara Kovač
“The last time I met with the President of the European Council Charles Michel was last year. Thus it would be difficult for me to physically hand over anything to him in February or March this year, as the obscure web you cite writes. Slovenia is seriously looking for solutions for the development of the region and the EU perspective of the Western Balkan countries, but with such allegations that goal is trying to be prevented,” Prime Minister Janez Janša emphasised on Monday after the correspondent of the Delo newspaper from Brussels, Peter Žerjavič, posted a post on Twitter stating that there were already rumours in Brussels about the existence of the so-called non-paper on the Balkans, prepared by the Prime Minister Janša, which is supposedly based on an ethnic understanding of borders. “Whether its content fits this article is uncertain,” he added. However, it is interesting that the article, shared by Žerjavič, was signed by Sead Numanović, who otherwise completely “accidentally” writes nicely about the president of the SD party Tanja Fajon in Dnevni Avaz newspaper! Finally, the “peaceful departure of Serbs from BiH” was proposed by the last president of the Communist Party of Slovenia, Milan Kučan, when Borut Pahor, then Prime Minister (2010), appointed him special envoy, after which Kučan prepared a scandalous report, which remained somewhere in the EU building in the middle of Brussels.
Until September 2020, the author of the article, Sead Numanović, was the executive director of KM Sarajevo, a company involved in the big BiH “respirators” affair. Long-time journalist and editor of Dnevni Avaz, Numanović, was also the director of the company “Avaz-roto press” for a long time before being employed at KM Sarajevo. In Bosnia, according to Planet TV journalist and editor Mirko Mayer, he is known as a spokesperson and a close confidant of the former Minister of Security, now a media mogul, Fahrudin Radončić. This is also supported by the statements of the Slobodna Bosna portal. It is possible to read that he was a long-term and close collaborator of the owner Avaz Radončić, and for a short time he was also a member of the editorial office of Al Jazeera Balkans. At the time, it was even rumoured that he would go to Al Jazeera to check the operation of the competition, after which he would return to Avaz.
Before the European elections, he wrote a hymn to Fajon
Just before the elections to the European Parliament in 2014, Numanović wrote a hymn to Fajon in Dnevni Avaz. Namely, he wrote how her election as an MEP should be good for Slovenia as well as for Bosnia and Herzegovina. In support of this, he cited her statement when she asserted that she herself, as well as her socialist political group, was intensively engaged in the promotion of the countries of the Western Balkans and its future. At the time, Numanović scared that if too many nationalists and “radicals” were elected to the European Parliament, it would be bad for the further enlargement of the European Union.
In this article on the Politicki.ba portal, where Numanović has been editor-in-chief since September last year, it was written that the Prime Minister of Slovenia had informed the European Council that one of the priorities of the presidency of the European Union, which Slovenia would take over on July 1st this year, is the transformation of borders in the area of former Yugoslavia. For the mentioned portal, this was supposedly confirmed by several sources in Ljubljana and Brussels. The start is expected to be a return to the Vučić-Thaçi plan to reshape the border between Serbia and Kosovo. The possibility is that parts of Montenegro and Northern Macedonia with the Albanian minority would belong to Albania, there is a possibility of the secession of the Republic of Serbia from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the annexation of western Herzegovina to Croatia.
As is usual when it comes to stories exported abroad, this time Fajon again responded with “concern”. She wrote: “These days, too, I have been overwhelmed by calls and numerous worried messages from BiH, which warn that Prime Minister Janša is trying to complete the Milošević-Tudžman plan to form a greater Serbia and Croatia with a proposal for the peaceful disintegration of BiH. Such irresponsible behaviour can lead to a new war in the Balkans!” However, Bojan Požar pointed out that the last “peaceful departure of Serbs from BiH” was proposed by the last president of the Communist Party of Slovenia Milan Kučan, when Borut Pahor, then Prime Minister (2010), appointed him special envoy, after which Kučan prepared a scandalous report, which remained somewhere in the EU building in the middle of Brussels.
According to Siol, Kučan met with Serbian President Milorad Dodik in 2010. It was a closed-door meeting where Dodik explained to Kučan the Bosnian Serbs views regarding key issues in BiH. It was clear from the press release at the time that Dodik’s views explained to Kučan, would be presented to the Slovenian government during the forthcoming EU summit. Kučan then pointed out that his intention was to find out if constitutional changes were possible after the parliamentary elections in BiH. However, after Kučan was appointed envoy, Dodik stated that he had a hard time believing that Kučan would contribute to a solution for BiH.
According to Žerjavič, this was supposedly a day of Brussels confusion?!
The correspondent of the Delo newspaper from Brussels, Žerjavič, who announced the story to the Slovenian public, shortly afterwards wrote that the press service of European Council President Charles Michel confirmed that they had received a non-paper from Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša on the Western Balkans. Then, miraculously he quickly wrote the following: “Obviously another day of Brussels confusion. Now the European Council says that they cannot confirm that they have received the non-paper…” Prime Minister Janša responded to Žerjav’s nebulosus and wrote: “Obviously you are one of the essential components of this confusion. All just to harm Slovenia. In the EU. A bunch of nonsense.”
As we can see, it is clear as day that Žerjavič arranged for the announcement of a truly bizarre story, which he did not check at all in advance. To say now that the confusion was caused by Brussels is, of course, sad, sometimes it is really necessary to look in the mirror and be in sackcloth and ashes! It is unfortunate, however, that for the purposes of settling accounts with the government that is not to the liking of the left wing, it goes so far as to slander its own country! Will Žerjavič apologise now? That is the minimum one would be expected of him! After all, he did not only take care of slandering Janša, but also the state!
Ever since the efforts of the KUL opposition quartet, led by Karl Erjavec, failed, we have, of course, completely “accidentally” witnessed various stories, which have a common denominator of insulting the Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša in every way possible. Everything is becoming quite bizarre, as anyone who does not fall for the nice words of the opposition has long ago found that the writers of such articles have no idea what is happening in Slovenia, and that they only write under the orders of the Slovenian left and specific sources, which are subordinate to the left. Thus, in their writing, they never include both views, as it is in the Left’s interest to slander the Prime Minister at all costs, who, unlike them, enjoys prestige on the European floor. Apparently, they simply do not understand that reputation is not gained by smiling and posting pictures on social media, but by pulling state moves that involve hardening in diplomacy.