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Voice of America, 02-01-04
SLUG: 5-50828 Serbia/Rule of Law DATE: NOTE NUMBER:
CONTENTS
[01] SERBIA / RULE OF LAW BY BARRY WOOD (BELGRADE)
[02] EURO / COIN COLLECTORS BY DOUGLAS BAKSHIAN (LUXEMBOURG)
[01] SERBIA / RULE OF LAW BY BARRY WOOD (BELGRADE)
DATE=01/04/02
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-50828
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: It has been fifteen months since former Yugoslav President
Slobodan Milosevic was ousted from power. Now, democratic Serbia is
still digging its way out of what observers say was the corruption and
criminalization of society, that occurred during the 12 years of his
leadership. V-O-A's Barry Wood reports from Belgrade on efforts to
rebuild the rule of law in Serbia.
TEXT: Gary Collins heads the Rule of Law department at the Belgrade
office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. His
office recently established a judicial training center, where
prospective Serbian judges and prosecutors are being tutored in their
professions.
Mr. Collins, who has done similar work elsewhere in the Balkans, says
for there to be judicial reform in Serbia, judges must be paid more
money.
///COLLINS ACT///
Judges can not live on 120 dollars per month. Any man or woman making
120 dollars a month will do what they have to do in order to survive.
So you're talking about a predisposition to corruption. Does it exist?
Absolutely. It can not not exist (under these circumstances).
///END ACT///
By all accounts the judicial system in Serbia is in desperate need of
repair. Commercial lawyer Dragan Karanovic says systemic overhaul is
required. The current system, he says, is a patchwork where even
superior courts can be over-ruled by lower tribunals.
///KARANOVIC ACT///
For us a big problem is that the judgement of the Supreme Court is not
binding on the lower court. We really have to change that. Since any
court can decide the very same matter totally differently.
///END ACT///
A case in point: The central bank and the finance ministry recently
launched proceedings against Bogoljub Karic, one of Serbia's richest
men and a close associate of Mr. Milosevic. The government sought over
25-million dollars in back taxes from Mr. Karic, whose holdings
include a television station, a bank, and a mobile phone company.
After briefly fleeing the country, Mr. Karic returned to Serbia, after
having obtained a lower court order overturning the government's
charges. He remains a free man.
Gary Collins says judicial reform in Serbia is going to be a painful
and long-term process.
///COLLINS ACT///
One of the most difficult projects for the international community
will be to assist the judiciary in getting back up on its feet so that
we can have the rule of law in Serbia, and indeed in all of
Yugoslavia. Judges, unlike a police force, can't be revamped in nine
or 12 months.
///END ACT///
/// OPT /// Another commercial lawyer, Irish national Patricia Gannon,
agrees that boosting pay is essential to reducing corruption.
///GANNON OPT ACT///
We have to look at a judiciary that is very seriously under-paid and
it hasn't attracted perhaps the best caliber of lawyer up until now.
We have to make the profession more attractive to people and this is
going to take time.
///END ACT////// END OPT ///
While many Milosevic-era judges remain in place, several have retired
and a speedier turnover is expected this year.
Serbia's judicial system is short of everything -- from computers to
skilled support staff. Public service in law has not been prestigious
and the courts had little institutional power.
Foreign legal experts concede that Serbia's judiciary is a mess and
that reforms have been excruciatingly slow. But, they add, the system
here is not that much worse than elsewhere in the region. (Signed)
NEB/BW/GE/FC
SLUG: 5-50824 Euro / Coin Collectors DATE: NOTE NUMBER:
[02] EURO / COIN COLLECTORS BY DOUGLAS BAKSHIAN (LUXEMBOURG)
DATE=01/04/02
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
NUMBER=5-50824
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: /// POSSIBLE FOR WEEKEND USE ///
INTRO: Some of the new euro coins that were introduced this week are a
bigger success than expected -- in fact collectors are buying and
selling them, often far above their face value. Douglas Bakshian
reports from Luxembourg that coins from smaller euro zone nations,
like Luxembourg and Finland, have been in great demand.
TEXT: Euro coins may look the same in the 12 countries where they are
now legal tender. But look closely. There are differences.
One side of each coin is distinctive and different from country to
country, on the other side of each coin are national images, like a
national leader or a distinct local plant.
The paper money, however, is the same in every nation.
These national differences in coins make the euros from smaller
countries - like Luxembourg, population 440-thousand and Finland, with
just over five-million people - quite rare and it turns out, very
collectable.
The Luxembourg coins, for instance, feature a profile of one of their
national figures, Grand Duke Henri.
The Finnish coins are more varied with three designs. /// OPT /// The
two-euro Finnish coin shows cloudberries - a type of hardy wild
raspberry - and their flowers; the one-euro Finnish coin reveals two
flying swans; and the lower denomination coins feature the heraldic
lion. /// END OPT ///
Euro starter kits containing basic sets of coins were first issued in
mid-December to help get people used to the new money. This apparently
caused some intense on-line trading among coin collectors at E-bay and
other Internet sites.
Luxembourg collector Francois Besch says that when the Luxembourg kits
first came out, they were bringing big money.
/// BESCH ACT ///
Luxembourg starter kits have been sold on on-line auction houses for
up to 131 euro per kit, and the kit has been sold at the banks and the
normal prices is 12-point-40 (euros). So they have been up to more
than 10 times their value.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// Mr. Besch is also a collector of antique enameled tin
signs used to advertise products like Coca Cola, cigarettes, and
laundry detergent. He follows on-line collector sites, and that is
where he came across the Luxembourg euro starter kits. Sensing a good
value - and a way to make some money - he says he has sold about 100
of them, but kept another hundred. /// END OPT ///
According to Mr. Besch, starter kits for other small countries were
also bringing high prices in the beginning, especially the euro coins
from Finland.
/// BESCH ACT ///
You have starter kits for other countries, which are paid much higher
than the Luxembourgish ones. For example, the Finnish starter kits
have been paid up to 400 euro in the first days.
/// END ACT ///
But prices have dropped considerably. A recent check of E-bay showed
asking prices for Finnish kits between 100 and 200 euros and many
Luxembourg kits around 25 euros. The kits have to be in their original
plastic issuing bags to have collector value.
Regardless of price, the Luxembourg euro coin kits are making their
way around the world - even to villages in Scotland. Nick Weston, a
Scottish computer programmer who works in Luxembourg, says when he
went home for Christmas to his village of Annan, population
two-thousand, people were fascinated with the euro.
/// WESTON ACT ///
Everyone wanted to see the euro, everyone wanted to touch a euro,
everyone wanted to know how much the euro worked out into (British)
pounds. There was so much enthusiasm. /// OPT /// I thought the great
opportunity to give the ideal Christmas gift to my father so I brought
him back a little bag of euros. I think it was the best gift I ever
got him. /// END OPT ///
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// Even Mr. Weston's mother was caught up in euro fever and
proclaimed the new currency to be the greatest thing money-wise since
the ancient Roman empire.
/// WESTON ACT ////// OPT ACT ///
On New Year's day she was celebrating the fact that the euro was, in
her opinion, one of the greatest days Europe's had. And she was just
ashamed that Britain wasn't part of it. She said it's the first time
since the Roman Empire that we've actually had a single currency.
/// END ACT ////// END OPT ///
Britain, Sweden and Denmark are the three European Union countries not
taking part in the euro.
Despite about all the talk of gifts and collector sets, the Luxembourg
government says the money is for use by consumers. Treasury Minister
Luc Frieden says there are about 390-thousand Luxembourg starter coin
kits and most of them were sold in the country.
/// FRIEDEN ACT ///
Well, these starter kits were not meant to be collection items, but
they were meant to be used by the citizens, especially to buy smaller
items and to use them in order to have not only major denominations of
euro in circulation. /// OPT /// And I must say that 90 percent of
these starter kits were sold in Luxembourg, there were about
390-thousand starter kits and that means that they will not be used
for collection purposes, but that they will be used for purchasing.
/// END OPT ///
/// END ACT ///
Whatever the popularity of the Luxembourg euro coins several local
café operators say people are not using them enough. According to
waiters and managers many customers have stopped tipping because they
do not yet fully understand the value of the money and so they give
exact change. Café workers hope this will change in a few weeks.
(Signed)
NEB/DB/GE/KBK
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