18.11.2009.

The Belgrade dailies are mostly writing of their front pages about the preparations for the funeral of Serbian Patriarch Pavle. The highlights in the Press Review prepared by Mladen Bijelic.

The VECERNJE NOVOSTI reports that the funeral will be done tomorrow in the monastery of Rakovica. The paper adds that according to the assessment from the Ministry of Interior, at least half a million people will attend the funeral, as well as leaders of three Orthodox churches  – the ecumenical patriarch and metropolitans of Albanian and Czech Orthodox churches. The day of mourning has been declared on Thursday in Belgrade and the Republic of Srpska, and the Serbian Government has recommended the employers to give a day-off to the workers who would like to attend the funeral, reads the VECERNJE NOVOSTI.

The POLITIKA daily writes about the possible successor of Patriarch Pavle, while noting that more than 30 episcopes meet the conditions to be elected for the 45th patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The election could be realized by February 15, 2010, concludes the daily. In his interview for this paper, Minister of Kosmet Goran Bogdanovic has stated that in the Serb community in Kosmet there are those who wish for the split between the Serbs. He explained that the Serbian Government had given the recommendation to the Kosmet Serbs to boycott the local elections in the Province, held on November 15, after the assessment that “there are no conditions to turn out for the elections”. “We did not run an anti-campaign or threaten those who believed that approaching the elections might improve their economic existence and survival in that region”, said Minister Bogdanovic.

The POLITIKA also reports that the regular report of Chief Hague Prosecutor Serge Brammertz to the UN Security Council will be most favorable for Serbia so far. The document will claim that Brammertz is satisfied with the efforts of the Serbian authorities and expects further ones aimed at the arrest of the two remaining Hague indictees – Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic. Therefore, the report will probably be good enough to change the stance of Holland towards the unblocking of Serbia’s European integrations.

According to the DANAS daily, Holland has the intention of loosening its position towards Serbia at the EU summit on December 10, i.e. it means that the Interim Trade Agreement is close to unfreezing. The journal also writes that the Serbian authorities are resolute to submit the candidature for the membership in the Union in December, regardless of the fact that the Interim Agreement will not be ratified by then.

The VECERNJE NOVOSTI reads that famous Serbian film director Emir Kusturica has received the “eight and a half” award, entitled after the work of a legendary Italian director Federico Fellini. On that occasion, a party was organized for him in the Italian Embassy in Belgrade. Ambassador Armando Varicchio has assessed that film is the expression of art that everybody understands and that Fellini and Kusturica are parts of the world heritage. He added that the peoples of Italy and Serbia are very close “among other things, because of the culture as well”. The Italian Ambassador, Kusturica and Serbian Minister of culture Nebojsa Bradic have underlined that at the moment the two nations are united in mourning the death of Serbian Patriarch Pavle.