Issue No. 218 Friday, December 02 - Thursday, December 22, 2016 ORDER DELIVERY TO City prepares Master Tech-savvy YOUR DOOR +381 11 4030 303 for a month shoemaker Tesla-inspired [email protected] - - - - - - - ISSN 1820-8339 1 of New Year’s reboots the play premieres BELGRADE INSIGHT IS PUBLISHED BY 0 1 celebrations family business in Belgrade Page 5 Page 6 Page 13 9 7 7 1 8 2 0 8 3 3 0 0 0 Even when the Democrats longas continue to likely is This also are negotiations Drawn-out Surely the situation is urgent Serbian Many of us who have experi We feel in-the-know because bia has shown us that (a.) no single no (a.) that us shown has bia party or coalition will ever gain the governa form to required majority negotiations political (b.) and ment, will never be quickly concluded. achieved their surprising result at last month’s general election, quickly itbecame clear that the re sult was actually more-or-less the result election other every as same in Serbia, i.e. inconclusive. as Serbia’s politicians form new political parties every time disagree with they their current party reg 342 currently are (there leader political parties in Serbia). istered the norm. One Ambassador Belgrade-based recently told me he was also alarmed by the distinct lack of urgency among politicians. Serbian “The country is standstill at and a I don’t understand their logic. If they are so eager to progress towards the EU and en theycome how investors, courage go home at 5pm sharp and don’t work weekends?” overtime. little a warrant to enough Brawling MPs leave EDITOR’S WORD Predictability Political By Mark R. Pullen elections Serbian numerous enced rate ourselves as pundits when it comes to predicting election re sults and post-election moves. our experience of elections in Ser - - - - - - - - - - savers - Serbs feeling shamed keepNEWS faith with Serbia’s parliament NEWS is turning into a banks and bear pit, marked by “The situation in the party seems “Dacic will eventually side with Nikolic agreed: “The question is Fearing they might not cross the Pensioners leader, Jovan Krkoba The reported price is the post of In addition, the Socialists are bar Tadic has denied talk of horse- At the same time, Dacic seems re reach an agreement “If we don’t Source: Balkan Insight (www.balkaninsight.com) Balkan Insight (www.balkaninsight.com) Source: property party over which way to turn. extremely complicated, as we try to convince the few remaining lag gards that we need to move out of one Socialist shadow,” Milosevic’s Party official complained. in a bid to guide his party into Tadic the European mainstream, but much of the membership and many offi cials may oppose that move.” will the party split or ‘old- back down,” he noted. timers’ threshold to enter parlia 5-per-cent ment, the Socialists teamed up with Association of Pensioners and the the led by business United Serbia Party, man Dragan Markovic “Palma”. bic, Palma and Dacic are all pushing for a deal with the Democrats. of deputy PM, with a brief in charge security for the Socialist leader. gaining for other ministries, includ ing capital investments, Kosovo and education, Belgrade media reported. trading with the Socialists, maintain ing that ministries would go only to those committed to working for the “strategic goal”. government’s negotiations with luctant to call off the nationalists. with the DSS and Radicals, par ty leadership will decide on future steps”, Dacic announced, following par new country’s of session first the liament on Wednesday. violent arguments, - - - - insults and curses Despite the - - leaving many dismally low page 10 citizens wondering interest rates on where this will all savings, most end. hile the football world watch es events unfold at the Euro Serbs still keep a strong current also However, Mihajlo Markovic, a founder of Markovic, a prominent supporter Some younger Socialist officials Neighbourhood Matters faces extinction unless it changes. flows in the opposite direction, led by party veterans enraged the Tadic. prospect of a deal with recently warned of a crisis the party, if Dacic opts for the pro-European “nat bloc, abandoning the Socialists’ ural” ideological partners. of Milosevic during the 1990s, is seen as representative of the “old- timers” in the party who want to stay policies, true to the former regime’s even though these almost ruined the Socialists for good. have voiced frustration over the con tinuing impasse within their own Football Rebellion Football pean Championships in Austria and pean Championships in Switzerland, Bosnia is experiencing led by fans, play a soccer rebellion, enraged ers and former stars who are by what they see as corrupt leaders football association of the country’s leaders. W Natalia ŽABA June 13, 2008 Issue No. 1 / Friday, - - - - their spare cash in - n the month of November alone, the banks or invest Serbia’s parliament was the scene of a series of scandalous in real estate, page 5 events that saw ruling and oppo- sition MPs on the brink of coming partly because Ito blows. Debates on important laws as well as they fear – or do on the latest European Commission re- conomists are warning that pro over Serbia’s uncertainty longed “This year has been lost, from the port were marred by images shown live not know about – After eight years of stagnation, the pro-European and nation With Nikolic believes the Socialists, led “The group of younger Socialists Business Insight Costs Mounting future could scare off investors, lead investors, lead future could scare off to higher inflation and jeopardise prosperity for years to come. says standpoint of economic policy,” Econom the of Stamenkovic Stojan ics Institute in Belgrade. to Serbia’s late president, Slobodan to Serbia’s Milosevic, and reformists who want the party to become a modern Euro pean social democrat organisation. the Socialists returned to centre stage after winning 20 of the 250 seats in elections. parliament in the May 11 alist blocs almost evenly matched, the Socialists now have the final say on the fate of country. by Ivica Dacic, will come over to if only out of a pragmatic de Tadic, sire to ensure their political survival. gathered around Dacic seems to be adding said, Nikolic majority”, the in that these reformists believe the party on TV of MPs throwing insults, waving E - - - - pictures of belly dancers and cursing the alternatives. - one another. While MPs from all parties trade blame over who provokes such inci- Stevan VELJOVIĆFriday • June 13 2008 dents, ordinary people are becoming DISCLAIMER ever more disillusioned in their repre- In the previous issue of Belgrade Insight, published on No- or most Serbs with cash, sentatives. vember 18th, the photo caption on the front page incorrectly analysts say, keeping stated that the person in the image was Serbian Prime Minis- ter Aleksandar Vučić, when it was Aleksandar Đorđević, the their money safe is far THIS ISSUE OF Continued on pages 2 and 3 head of the Security Information Agency, or BIA. more important than Belgrade Insight IS SUPPORTED BY: IS SUPPORTED The president of the assembly, Maja Gojković. Photo: Beta making potential gains. on a new gov ense negotiations ernment have divided the ranks “It looks as if the Socialists will Simultaneous negotiations held This divides “old-timers” loyal Socialist leader Ivica Dacic remains the Serbian kingmaker Socialist leader Ivica Dacic remains Lure of Tadic Alliance Splits Socialists Tadic Lure of government, old pro-EU While younger Socialists support joining a new, over the prospect. revolt Milosevic loyalists threaten in Belgrade By Rade Maroevic That is why holding which holds of the Socialist Party, the balance of power between the blocs and has yet to announce main which side they will support. move towards a government led by the Democrats,” political analyst Mi lan Nikolic, of the independent Cen tre of Policy Studies, said. “But such a move might provoke deeper divi sions and even split the party.” with the pro-European and national ist blocs have drawn attention to a deep rift inside the Socialists. T savingsF in banks and in real estate is still preferred to riskier alternatives, or to alternatives that require a deeper Puhalo: Bosnian Salafists’ knowledge of financial services. The stock market in Serbia offers few opportunities for the average investor terror tag is ‘malicious’ due to the perception of high risk. Other alternatives, such life insur- After spending two months with members habis and Salafis. They simply call This hardline Muslim movement, ance policies and pension and invest- themselves ‘Muslims,’” Puhalo said. a fundamentalist strain of Islam that ment funds are also still in develop- of the Salafi movement in Bosnia, social Puhalo conversed over lunch with adheres strictly to the Prophet Mu- ment as attractive option for people Salafis in Maglaj. In Ključ, a Salafi fam- hammad’s teachings, has been feared seeking to profit from their savings. psychologist Srđan Puhalo says it is time ily welcomed him into their home. In in Bosnia since the 1990’s war, but has One secure but low-yield alternative to stop demonizing the community as Sarajevo, he enjoyed a risotto with 20 recently become notorious throughout to savings is state securities, which are a Salafi members. In Ošve, they took Europe after a number of its followers common choice for institutional inves- terrorists. selfies together. In Maglaj, he attended left to fight in Syria and Iraq. tors, such as banks, insurance compa- a Jumu'ah, a regular Friday congrega- But Puhalo says the fear of Bosnian nies and private pension funds.