Thursday, June 11, 2015

JVP claims MS copying MR to be lavish in ministerial appointments

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JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva addressing the media brief yesterday at its Pelawatte Head Office – Pic by Shehan Gunasekara

By Chamodi Gunawardana
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) yesterday alleged that President Maithripala Sirisena was copying former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s wrong political agenda by giving ministerial posts to Opposition MPs.
Addressing a press briefing yesterday, JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva claimed that President Sirisena had bribed those MPs by giving them ministerial posts.
“President Sirisena appointed another four MPs as Deputy Ministers last Wednesday and we believe that he is trying to increase the number of followers via these appointments. Former President Rajapaksa also followed this false method to gather more supporters during his regime,” Silva said.
He also pointed out that if the Government continued these wrong methods further for its survival, people would mete out the same punishment that they gave to the Rajapaksa Government.
“People voted for Sirisena to defeat the wrong political and economic methods that Rajapaksa used to control the country. People trusted President Sirisena and his 100-day plan. However, that trust is fading day by day,” he charged.
Silva further said that the Government was in a hurry to appoint new ministers and deputies, but it had paid no attention to introducing the Parliamentarian’s Code of Ethics which prepared by the JVP.
“President Sirisena has mentioned in his 100-day plan that he would introduce a new ethics list for Parliamentarians. However, it is still pending. We urge the Government to pass this important decision in Parliament as soon as possible,” he mentioned.
Stating that the Government’s conduct was questionable, Silva added: “President Sirisena has mentioned several times that Parliament will be dissolved soon and the election will be conducted in September. However, we do not see any preparations towards this end from the Government.”
Meanwhile, JVP Propaganda Secretary Vijitha Herath said that the Government had a secret agenda with regard to the new electoral system.
“We gave our proposals to draft the new electoral system and we participated in all discussions. However, on Monday Cabinet passed another electoral system which was different from what we discussed,” he claimed.
He also said that the Government did not inform the JVP about the reforms that were passed and that the party still had no idea about that.
“The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and United National Party (UNP) are commenting about this electoral system that has been passed, but we don’t have any idea about that. However, we believe that the Government should inform us about these reforms without following secret agendas,” Herath said. - See more at: http://www.ft.lk/article/432249/JVP-claims-MS-copying-MR-to-be-lavish-in-ministerial-appointments#sthash.RUQ5Mz3v.dpuf

N. M., Allende & Chavez: Re-reading Three Strategies For Socialism

By Sumanasiri Liyanage –June 11, 2015

Sumanasiri Liyanage

On the occasion of 110th birth anniversary of Dr. N. M. Perera, a leader of the Lanka Samasamaja Party (LSSP), commentators may praise him as a great democrat and outstanding parliamentarian. It has been generally agreed that N.M (as he was lovingly known) had contributed immensely for the development of parliamentary tradition in Sri Lanka. His critical analysis of the 1978 constitution foresaw the developments that had occurred in the last 37 years. When N.M wanted to replace it with new constitution, he did not just single out the executive presidential system as advanced in the 1978 constitution. People who has been focusing on only this aspect not only misunderstood his argument but also use his name as it was done in the discussion of the 19th amendment to inflate the validity of piecemeal amendments downgrading him just as a proponent of the Westminster tradition. N.M’s concern for democracy and the parliamentary tradition should be read not in isolation but linking them with his life-long effort and struggle to develop a system ensuring human emancipation and freedom. In this light, I propose to re-read N.M comparing him with another two great left leaders of the South, Salvador Allende of Chile and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Understanding their commonalities as well as differences would be helpful for young generation of Sri Lanka who are totally disoriented with the present system of exploitation, marginalization, and social exclusion propagated by neoliberalist globalization.

A LIFE magazine image of the former Finance Minister Dr. N M Perera. Photo Credits - James Burke

A LIFE magazine image of Dr. N M Perera | Photo Credits – James Burke

I may do an injustice to N. M. Perera and Salvador Allende since I propose to engage in this comparison from the perspective of what is called the 21st Century Socialism, the phrase widely used by Hugo Chavez, the youngest of the three. Nonetheless, from the futuristic point of view, I trust that 21st Century Socialism represents a better perspective. N.M. Perera and Salvador Allende operated in ‘late capitalist’ environment that in multiple ways differs from the current neoliberalist global environment. What are the critical features of the 21st century socialism? Chavez had identified three features: (1) economic transformation; (2) participative and protagonistic democracy in the political sphere; and (3) socialist ethics based on “love, solidarity, and equality between men and women, everybody”. Marta Harnecker has outlined what 21st century socialism should not entail in the following words: “we rejected any lack of democracy, totalitarianism, state capitalist methods, and bureaucratic central planning. We opposed collectivism that sought to standardize without respect for differences, and productivism that emphasized the expansion of productive forces without taking into consideration the need to preserve nature. We also wanted nothing to do with dogmatism, intolerance towards legitimate opposition, attempts to impose atheism by persecuting believers, and the belief that a sole party was needed to lead the process of transition.” In a more constructive sense, she identified five main characteristics of 21st Century socialism as advanced by Bolivarian revolutionaries:Read More

Female accountant caught bringing 100 gold biscuits

By Madura Ranwala-June 10, 2015

Customs at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) yesterday morning arrested a 31-year-old accountant at the Arrival Lounge with 100 gold biscuits weighing 10 kilos worth Rs. 50 million concealed in her bag.

She was returning from Dubai and arrived at the BIA around 1.10 a.m.

Customs Media Spokesman Leslie Gamini told The Island that the officers had detected her after a long investigation launched on a tip-off.

According to her passport, she was an accountant, Gamini said.

Customs Spokesman, however, refused to divulge her identity.

She was a frequent traveller, he said.

The contraband would be confiscated and the investigations were being conducted, he said.

PSD chief directed ‘mud story’ – ex-addl. Sec.

Thursday, 11 June 2015
It has now transpired that senior DIG S.M. Wickramasinghe, head of the presidential security division then and now, is the director of the ‘mud story’ that had been planned and telecast under the supervision of Sudharman Radaliyagoda with the aim of tarnishing the image of president Maithripala Sirisena during the last presidential election.

This became known in a confession made to his friends by additional secretary to the former president, lawyer Sepala Ratnayake, who is now in Great Britain.

During the final stages of the Rajapaksa regime, Sepala was sent to the Sri Lankan high commission in London as the minister counsellor, but he remains there even after his contract expired in March. There is an international warrant for his arrest. The accusation against him is that he had made all the arrangements to produce this ‘mud story.’ Over this issue, former deputy general manager of ITN Sudharman Radaliyagoda, Samitha Nandasiri who had led the propaganda campaign of the ex-president, and several others are out on bail. The CID wants Sepala for questioning over this issue.

However, he says a totally different story. When senior DIG Wickramasinghe came to London in March to make arrangements for the president’s visit there a week later, he had personally met Sepala. Wickramasinghe made sure the meeting did not take place at the high commission.

At this meeting, Wickramasinghe had specifically told Sepala not to participate in any of the functions in Britain to be attended by president Maithripala Sirisena. He also said, “You have been recalled to Lanka. You know what will happen if you return to Lanka? Therefore, you need not come to Lanka. Stay here. If things become worse apply for (political) asylum.”

Wickamasinghe so tried to keep him in Britain in order to cover up the truth behind the ‘mud story.’ Mahinda Rajapaksa had personally entrusted this task to Sepala and Wickramsinghe. Wickramasinghe has instructed Sepala not to return to Lanka, as he fears that if he comes back home, a statement recorded from him will lead to the exposure of his involvement too.

Sepala can stay in Britain until the end of this year, but the high commission has informed the British Home Office that he is no longer in its employment.

Even after the exposure of the ‘mud story’, Wickramasinghe remains trouble-free after betraying Sudarman, Samitha and Sepala for his existence. In that, he is supported by IGP N.K. Illangakoon. Wickramasinghe hopes to succeed him once Illangakoon retires. He will gain that position by betraying anyone. That prey will likely be even the incumbent president.

Police hunt kidnappers of Vavuniya businessman’s son

June 11, 2015

Police have launched investigation into the kidnapping of a businessman’s five-year-old son in Vavuniya, seeking a ransom of Rs 3 million.

The boy was reportedly abducted by a group of individuals on Tuesday (09) while returning home after preschool.

The kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs 3 million from the businessman for the safe return of his son.

However, the businessman had proceeded to make a ransom payment of Rs 1 million to the kidnappers, who had dropped off the child in close proximity to his home.

The boy’s father filed a complaint with Vavuniya Police regarding the incident following the release of his son while several special police teams have been assigned to conduct investigations and apprehend the suspects.

We Should Commend President Sirisena – US Senator

Senior U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee, speaks on Sri Lanka at U.S. Senate on June 9, 2015

( June 11, 2015, Washington DC, Sri Lanka Guardian) Mr. President, I want to speak briefly about recent developments in Sri Lanka where the new government of President Maithrapala Sirisena has taken several important and encouraging steps to promote good governance, human rights, and reconciliation since his election on January 8.

We Should Commend President Sirisena – US Senator.odt by Thavam Ratna

Beyond rescuing migrants, we must recognize and share their humanity

Stephen Cornish is executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders Canada.

Migrants wait to disembark from a ship after arriving in the port of Augusta on the eastern coast of Sicily on June 7, 2015, after a weekend in which nearly 6,000 people were rescued from small boats off Libya-(GIOVANNI ISOLINO/AFP/Getty Images)

Jun. 11, 2015

Of the 92 people pulled from a small inflatable boat on the Mediterranean sea by a Doctors Without Borders team one day last month, one was an eight-months-pregnant woman named Sandra who was fleeing the violence in Libya. “It is risky for women to travel, but they do what they do because they are not safe where they are,” she said. “We take the risk of entering this water to look for a better life.”

Sandra is just one of millions of people around the world who have left their home countries in search of a safer, better life. She is among the luckier ones. On the Mediterranean so far this year, more than 1,800 migrants have died. In Central America, thousands of migrants are killed each year, and many more are raped, robbed or assaulted. A vessel filled with starving Rohingya Muslims fleeing persecution in Myanmar made headlines recently when it was trapped at sea; on land, Malaysian authorities revealed mass graves where the remains of other migrants were buried.

These tragedies expose the appalling human consequences of our approach to migration. Much of the reaction suggests we are unwilling to accept the idea that someone in search of a better life deserves to die on the way. And yet that sense of moral indignation seems strangely lacking when it comes to the conditions that drive migrants to make such dangerous journeys in the first place, or of the heavy-handed treatment they receive at our borders. We seem to recoil at the thought of people being left to drown in the Mediterranean, but seem less concerned if they drown in the hopelessness and despair of a life sentence in a refugee camp, despite international obligations to care for and resettle those who have been displaced by conflicts.

Our policies on migration, and our overall understanding of the issue, clearly need a rethink. The people who undertake these harrowing journeys are human beings fleeing miserable situations. Some are economic migrants seeking real futures for their children, while others are refugees trying desperately to escape violence and misery. They come from failed states, or countries ripped apart by war or by violence, such as Somalia, Libya or Mexico. (The number of deaths caused directly by armed violence in Mexico last year was 15,000, the third-highest in the world after Syria and Iraq.)

Their plight is a humanitarian crisis that should have no place in our globalized and interconnected world. By viewing migration solely through a macro-economic or political lens, we are losing sight of the individuals who are risking their lives to escape persecution, misery and violence. Instead of empathy, we offer obstacles and brute force. To stop the drownings at sea, Europe discusses blowing up smugglers’ boats. To stem the migrant flow on the roads north through Mexico, U.S. pressure led to detentions and forcible clearing of rail lines. This despite all the evidence that repressive policies and bigger barriers do not deter migrant activity, but push it farther underground and into the control of violent criminals.

For many in Canada, it is easy to assume these issues exist only in other countries. We do not have boatloads of people perishing off our shores, nor do we wrestle with hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants crossing our southern border every year. We feel that we are a welcoming country, our doors open to the world.

But Canadians must reflect upon our role in the migrant tragedies. As a free-trade partner with Mexico, we are happy to let goods flow between our countries to create more wealth – but we rarely consider the movement of people in that system. Those who arrive here for non-economic reasons, such as fleeing persecution and war, are often treated harshly and with little care for their well-being. And when we face the mass arrival of refugees on our shores (as in 2010, when the MV Sun Sea appeared off the coast of British Columbia carrying hundreds of Sri Lankan Tamils) we have not always responded with openness.

Doctors Without Borders works in many countries where migrants start their journeys. We operate in refugee and displacement camps where people are forced to shelter due to war, conflict and violence, and we see first-hand the squalor, despair and hopelessness of life in such places. Many of our patients suffer from deprivation or assault while trying to move toward better lives.

We do not have all the answers, but we are part of a global system that we can see is failing large numbers of people seeking to live free from violence, poverty and misery. That is why we launched our first maritime medical operations on the Mediterranean in the spring, to remind everyone that migrants’ health and human needs are just as important as those of everyone else.

One of the physicians aboard our search-and-rescue boat is Simon Bryant, a physician from Canmore, Alta. In a recent dispatch, he explained why he wanted to help those struggling to reach Europe: “It’s not about simply rescuing them from dehydration, hypothermia and drowning, but sharing one’s humanity. Giving a damn. About a couple of young men in our clinic, quietly weeping, telling a tale I can’t imagine living.”

Thousands are dying at sea, in detention and on the way to what they hope are better lives. They are people struggling to develop futures for themselves and for their children, and they deserve more than our empathy, understanding and compassion. They also deserve – and need – a helping hand along the way, and a far more humane welcome than our global world has so far been able to muster.

China’s former security chief given life sentence for corruption

Zhou Yongkang – a key adversary of Chinese president Xi Jinping – is most senior Communist party official ever to have faced corruption charges

Chinese security chief Zhou Yongkang standing trial at the Intermediate People’s Court in Tianjin today Photograph: CCTV/AFP/Getty Images

Tom Phillips in Beijing-Thursday 11 June 2015

China’s former security chief and the arch-rival of president Xi Jinping has been sentenced to life in prison for corruption following a secret trial.

Zhou Yongkang – one of the Communist party’s most powerful and feared figures until his retirement in 2012 – was a key adversary of the Chinese leader and some experts had predicted he would be executed for his alleged crimes.

Following the closed-door trial, the 72-year-old was convicted of bribery, abuse of power and leaking state secrets, Xinhua, China’s official news agency,announced.

He is the most senior Communist party figure ever to have been convicted of such charges.

“I realise the harm I have caused to the party and to the people,” a silver-haired Zhou told the court, according to CCTV, the state broadcaster.

“I broke the law and party rules incessantly and the objective facts of my crimes have resulted in grave losses to the party and the nation,” he added, according to Xinhua.

Zhou’s trial, which was held about 80 miles from Beijing in the north-eastern city of Tianjin, began on 22 May but was only revealed on Thursday evening.

The fallen Communist party titan was convicted of taking 129m yuan (£13.4m) worth of bribes as well as leaking “top secret files”, Xinhua reported.

While Zhou had taken “particularly huge bribes”, he had also “truthfully confessed, pleaded guilty and repented his wrongdoing when brought to justice”,the court said.

The son of an eel farmer, Zhou was born in Jiangsu province in 1942, seven years before Mao Zedong’s Communist troops swept to power.

He joined the party in 1964 and forged a successful career in the oil industry, eventually becoming the general manager of CNPC, the state-run energy giant. Some knew him as China’s Dick Cheney.

Zhou went on to reach the highest echelons of the Communist party.

He was named minister for public security in 2002 and then head of the party’s political and legislative affairs committee, giving him control over China’s courts, police and secret police. His position at the helm of the country’s feared security apparatus meant he was widely loathed by human rights activists but also immensely powerful. In 2007 he became one of nine members of the elite politburo standing committee, the body that rules China, a position he held until his retirement in 2012.

By then, Zhou’s future appeared to be in jeopardy. He was last seen in public in October 2013, amid frantic speculation that his purge was imminent.

Zhou was eventually indicted on corruption charges in April this year, after months under house arrest.

Xi, who became Communist party chief in late 2012 just as Zhou stepped down, has been portrayed as China’s most powerful and authoritarian leader since Mao Zedong. Xi has been waging a high-profile war on corruption, vowing to eliminate thieving “tigers and flies” from the Communist party.

Some experts described the verdict as a victory for a president Chinese spin doctors call “Xi Dada”, which translates as Uncle or Big Daddy Xi.

However, Steve Tsang, an expert on Chinese politics from the University of Nottingham, said Beijing’s decision to try Zhou in secret suggested Xi was not as dominant as some observers suggest.

“He is still powerful, he is still confident – but not as much as we were all giving him credit for,” Tsang said.

Communist party leaders appeared to have struck a “political deal” with Zhou, said Wu Qiang, a politics professor from Beijing’s Tsinghua University.

“Judging from the fact that Zhou has decided not to appeal and from his final statements, the trial could be understood as a pre-arranged political deal.”

Striking such an agreement was probably intended to spare Communist party’s blushes, said Zhang Lifan, a prominent and outspoken Beijing-based historian.

As the former head of China’s domestic spy network, “Zhou might hold the secrets of many VIPs which he could be use as his bargain chips,” said Zhang.

Xi has made the fight against corruption a key theme of his presidency, vowing to drive thieving “tigers” such as Zhou from the party.

But the decision to topple Zhou was largely a political one, said Tsang, who claimed that Xi saw the former security tsar as an obstacle, preventing him from asserting “his supremacy within the party”.

“We don’t know what Xi Jinping wants to do in China yet but we do know that he is ambitious. We do know that he wants to leave a mark.”

Additional reporting by Luna Lin

Iran envoy declines to commit to nuclear transparency measures

Iran's envoy to the U.N. nuclear agency declined on Thursday to commit to nuclear transparency measures that were part of a preliminary deal Tehran and world powers reached in April, deflecting U.S. demands to implement such provisions.

The flag of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) flies in front of its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, May 28, 2015.

BY SHADIA NASRALLA- Thu Jun 11, 2015

The United States urged Iran to implement the so-called Additional Protocol, which allows more intrusive access to Iranian sites, and Code 3.1, which requires from Iran early notification of the construction of any new nuclear facilities.

"These are the issues still under discussion and I believe we should wait to see the final text... and before that, we cannot prejudge anything," Reza Najafi told reporters.

He added that Iran and the powers could seal a final deal by their self-imposed June 30 deadline, despite lingering disputes over the capacity of Iran's uranium enrichment programme, the extent of U.N. inspections and sanctions relief for Tehran.

Iran has long denied Western suspicions that it has used its declared civilian nuclear energy programme as a front for developing the ability to make atom bombs. To prevent any such outcome, the powers want Iran to accept unfettered inspections.

Laura Kennedy, U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, told a session of the IAEA's 35-nation governing board that it "remains critical for Iran to implement the provisions of Modified Code 3.1 ... without delay".

Kennedy also said it was important for Iran to implement the IAEA's Additional Protocol, which allows U.N. inspectors under specific circumstances to visit Iranian sites with as little notice as two hours' notice.

The Additional Protocol also permits the U.N. watchdog to collect environment samples like soil that can yield information on nuclear activities years after they have taken place.

Kennedy further said Iran had still not resolved longstanding IAEA questions about the "possible military dimensions" (PMD), mainly before 2003, of its nuclear programme.

Najafi reiterated Tehran's stance that some of the IAEA's documents supporting concerns about PMD are intelligence fabrications. He also repeated that there will be little progress in the IAEA's inquiry into Iran's nuclear past unless the agency stops using these documents.

He referred to a case related to a former CIA officer who was convicted in January of leaking classified information to a reporter about a failed U.S. effort to undermine Iran's nuclear programme, which it says is entirely peaceful.

"We can discuss new practical measures provided that the inauthentic documents and information would be put aside," Najafi said. The IAEA has said it carefully reviews information provided for its investigations and takes nothing at face value.

Iran and the powers - the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany -- reached a framework deal on April 2 in Switzerland and are seeking to strike a broader settlement by June 30 under which Iran would curb its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Mikheil Saakashvili Launches His New Career as a Ukrainian Reformer

BY IEVGEN VOROBIOV-JUNE 10, 2015

In his first press conference as governor of Ukraine’s Odessa region yesterday, Mikheil Saakashvili unveiled an ambitious program. The former president of Georgia, known for his reformist zeal, promised an overhaul of Odessa’s police force, measures against corruption, and improvements in the business climate.

Mikheil Saakashvili Launches His New Career as a Ukrainian Reformer by Thavam Ratna

Thai junta says no immediate plan to scrap $9-a-day minimum wage

Thai laborers and factory workers gather during a 2012 rally in Bangkok to demand that the government deliver on its minimum wage promise. Pic: AP.

By Asian Correspondent Staff Jun 08, 2015

Thailand’s ruling junta said Monday that it has no immediate plans to scrap Thailand’s 300-baht-a-day (approx. US$9) minimum wage.

Reports emerged a the weekend that the Ministry of Labor had agreed to introduce a “floating” minimum wage.

The Bangkok Post reported that the minimum wage was to be “replaced by the old system where wages vary by each province based on the cost of living”.

However, the junta insisted Monday that no consensus had been reached.

“There has been news that the committee on labor wage has reached a consensus to abolish the national 300 baht minimum wage, and will introduce a ‘floating’ system of wage,” Arak Prommanee, deputy secretary of the Ministry of Labor, said today. “That news is not true.”

The introduction of a minimum wage was a key part of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s 2011 election campaign. It was introduced in 2013 and meant a significant increase in wages for many poorer rural Thais, though it was strongly criticised by employers.

Khaosod English reported Monday: “Arak clarified today that there has been no formal decision to revoke the former government’s policy. The Ministry’s committee on labor wages will decide on the matter this October, he said. He also said the daily rate will not drop below 300 baht.”

Yingluck Shinawatra was removed from power ahead of a military coup just over a year ago. The junta has been strongly critical the Yingluck government’s policies and has taken significant steps towards removing the popular Shinawatra family from politics.

European commission hails 'fiddled' Serbian climate pledge

The Serbian flag waved outside European Union headquarters in Brussels. Photograph: Olivier Papegnies/EPA

Arthur Neslen Brussels-By Asian Correspondent Staff Jun 08, 2015

Serbian pledge to the Paris climate summit that would involve a de facto 15% increase in CO2 emissions is called ‘exemplary’, but also ‘fiddled’ by EU sources

Serbia’s new climate pledge for the coming UN summit in Paris has been hailed by the European commission as an “exemplary” step towards EU accession, even though official figures show that it involves a 15% increase in the country’s emissions by 2030.

A Serbian headline pledge to cut emissions 9.8% by 2030 – as measured against 1990 levels – was announced on Thursday at a press conference in Belgrade, with the commission’s vice-president for energy union, Maros Sefcovic.

But according to a Serbian government report sent to the UNFCCC in April, Serbia’s emissions have already fallen by a quarter since 1990, because of the collapse of heavy industry after the communist era.

“Emissions of greenhouse gases in 2013 decreased by 3.5% compared to 2010, and 25.1% in relation to 1990,” the paper says. A 9.8% cut in emissions would thus allow a de facto 15.3% rise.

EU sources confirmed that Serbia’s pledge could be even worse than it appeared, as the 1990 baseline figures counted high-emitting Kosovan coal plants, which will almost certainly not be included in the 2030 statistics.

Sefcovic praised Serbia’s offer regardless, and promised strong backing for its bid to join the EU, whose members are committed to a 40% CO2 cut by 2030. “The EU will continue supporting Serbia – on climate and energy as well as in other fields,” he said. “Your success today in adopting Serbia’s INDC is an exemplary step on this path.”

The bloc’s controversial climate commissioner, Miguel Arias Canete, also tweeted praise to Belgrade for having shown “leadership in the region” which its neighbours would soon follow.

‘The Serbian offer is a joke, but no one’s laughing now that the commission says it is an exemplary step on the path to EU membership,” said Garret Tankosić-Kelly, the director of SEEChange, a Bosnian thinktank, focused on sustainable development in the Balkans. “How is the rest of the world supposed to take EU climate promises seriously, when it is demonstrably allowing its candidate countries to cook the books of their climate policies, hoping that no one will notice?”

A spokesperson for Canete and Sefcovic declined to comment on the new pledge, saying that the two officials had merely “welcomed the fact that Serbia, being the first country of the region to announce its INDC, has moved forward in the global climate process”.

But other commission sources were less guarded. “This is kind of a fiddle,” one said. “It is actually a very poor announcement and by making it, Serbia is free-riding on the back of countries that are prepared to be much more ambitious.”

Ambitious counter-offers from less developed Balkan countries would probably not be triggered by Serbia’s announcement, the source said. “My gut feeling is that they will say: ‘if Serbia has made such a poor pledge, why should we suffer?’,” the source added.

Serbia is dependent on coal for around 70% of its energy, and is heavily invested in what campaigners say will be a new wave of coal builds to replace ageing infrastructure. A $600m deal was recently signed with China to build a new 350MW plant in Kostolac.