any stories on reconstruction or anydisputes”. on reconstruction any stories in herself agencythat she“didn’trecognize news Beta told Mihajlovic Zorana +381 11 4030 306 114030 +381 Political Tides Political Shifting Serbia’s Amid Easter Orthodox Page 5 [email protected] Issue No. No. Issue 249 Thursday, April 5 - Thursday, April 19, 2018 19, April 5-Thursday, April Thursday, Photo: Beta Photo: Serbia’s public broadcaster RTS, after a after RTS, broadcaster public Serbia’s ascendant. isinthe these interests of which showing government, in the influences Western and Eastern tween be battle the on light fresh cast to likely power. to came Party SerbianProgressive the since W Maja Prime Minister Ana Brnabic told told AnaBrnabic Prime Minister are changes latest the Moreover, ZIVANOVIC Museum National the in Treasures Must-See Five Page 13 ‘battle’ between pro-Russian pro-Russian between ‘battle’ ANNOUNCED ANNOUNCED reshuffle is widely seenas a widely is reshuffle the fifth in six years years fifthinsix the willbe government of the Serbian fle reshuf announced the happens, it hen RESHUFFLE RESHUFFLE and pro-Western options. pro-Western and EAST-WEST EAST-WEST because of tensions with with tensions of because Temporarily postponed postponed Temporarily government’s planned planned government’s REFLECTS REFLECTS Kosovo, the Serbian Serbian the Kosovo, SERBIA’S SERBIA’S - - BELGRADE INSIGHT IS PUBLISHED BY INSIGHTISPUBLISHED BELGRADE BATTLE to May. May. to postponed had been reshuffle the that 26. March on Djuric, Marko Kosovo, for Serbian office of head the deported and arrested Kosovo after caused tension the and reshuffle the thanever.” more ready be must thisteam and asateam, tion func “We added: She times inKosovo”. stable more “for wait to have would fle reshuf the 1that April on Vucic sandar Alek President with meeting lengthy The daily Blic reported on April 2 April on reported Blic daily The both to discuss met officials two The ORDER DELIVERY TO DELIVERY ORDER [email protected] YOUR DOOR YOUR Continued on on Continued +381 11 4030 303 114030 +381 Friday • June 13 • 2008 NEWS NEWS 1 9 7 7 1 ISSN 1820-8339 8 page 2 2 0 8 3 3 - - - 0 0 0 0 1 Issue No. 1 / Friday, June 13, 2008 EDITOR’S WORD Lure of Tadic Alliance Splits Socialists Political Predictability While younger Socialists support joining a new, pro-EU government, old By Mark R. Pullen Milosevic loyalists threaten revolt over the prospect. party over which way to turn. “The situation in the party seems extremely complicated, as we try to convince the few remaining lag- gards that we need to move out of Milosevic’s shadow,” one Socialist Party official complained. “Dacic will eventually side with Many of us who have experi- Tadic in a bid to guide his party into enced numerous Serbian elections the European mainstream, but much rate ourselves as pundits when it of the membership and many offi- comes to predicting election re- cials may oppose that move.” sults and post-election moves. Nikolic agreed: “The question is We feel in-the-know because will the party split or will the ‘old- our experience of elections in Ser- timers’ back down,” he noted. bia has shown us that (a.) no single Fearing they might not cross the party or coalition will ever gain the 5-per-cent threshold to enter parlia- majority required to form a govern- ment, the Socialists teamed up with ment, and (b.) political negotiations the Association of Pensioners and the will never be quickly concluded. United Serbia Party, led by business- Even when the Democrats man Dragan Markovic “Palma”. achieved their surprising result at Pensioners leader, Jovan Krkoba- last month’s general election, it bic, Palma and Dacic are all pushing quickly became clear that the re- for a deal with the Democrats. sult was actually more-or-less the Socialist leader Ivica Dacic remains the Serbian kingmaker The reported price is the post of same as every other election result deputy PM, with a brief in charge of in Serbia, i.e. inconclusive. By Rade Maroevic in Belgrade to Serbia’s late president, Slobodan faces extinction unless it changes. security for the Socialist leader. This is likely to continue as long Milosevic, and reformists who want However, a strong current also In addition, the Socialists are bar- as Serbia’s politicians form new ense negotiations on a new gov- the party to become a modern Euro- flows in the opposite direction, led gaining for other ministries, includ- political parties every time they ernment have divided the ranks pean social democrat organisation. by party veterans enraged by the ing capital investments, Kosovo and disagree with their current party Tof the Socialist Party, which holds After eight years of stagnation, prospect of a deal with Tadic. education, Belgrade media reported. leader (there are currently 342 reg- the balance of power between the the Socialists returned to centre stage Mihajlo Markovic, a founder of Tadic has denied talk of horse- istered political parties in Serbia). main blocs and has yet to announce after winning 20 of the 250 seats in the party, recently warned of a crisis trading with the Socialists, maintain- Drawn-out negotiations are also which side they will support. parliament in the May 11 elections. if Dacic opts for the pro-European ing that ministries would go only to the norm. One Belgrade-based “It looks as if the Socialists will With the pro-European and nation- bloc, abandoning the Socialists’ “nat- those committed to working for the Ambassador recently told me he move towards a government led by alist blocs almost evenly matched, ural” ideological partners. government’s “strategic goal”. was also alarmed by the distinct the Democrats,” political analyst Mi- the Socialists now have the final say Markovic, a prominent supporter At the same time, Dacic seems re- lack of urgency among Serbian lan Nikolic, of the independent Cen- on the fate of the country. of Milosevic during the 1990s, is luctant to call off negotiations with politicians. “The country is at a tre of Policy Studies, said. “But such Nikolic believes the Socialists, led seen as representative of the “old- the nationalists. standstill and I don’t understand a move might provoke deeper divi- by Ivica Dacic, will come over to timers” in the party who want to stay “If we don’t reach an agreement their logic. If they are so eager to sions and even split the party.” Tadic, if only out of a pragmatic de- true to the former regime’s policies, with the DSS and Radicals, the par- progress towards the EU and en- Simultaneous negotiations held sire to ensure their political survival. even though these almost ruined the ty leadership will decide on future courage investors, how come they with the pro-European and national- “The group of younger Socialists Socialists for good. steps”, Dacic announced, following go home at 5pm sharp and don’t ist blocs have drawn attention to a gathered around Dacic seems to be Some younger Socialist officials the first session of country’s new par- work weekends?” deep rift inside the Socialists. in the majority”, Nikolic said, adding have voiced frustration over the con- liament on Wednesday. Surely the situation is urgent This divides “old-timers” loyal that these reformists believe the party tinuing impasse within their own Source: Balkan Insight (www.balkaninsight.com) enough to warrant a little overtime. THIS ISSUE OF Business Insight Neighbourhood Matters Belgrade Insight IS SUPPORTED BY: Costs Mounting Football Rebellion conomists are warning that pro- hile the football world watch- longed uncertainty over Serbia’s es events unfold at the Euro- Efuture could scare off investors, lead Wpean Championships in Austria and to higher inflation and jeopardise Switzerland, Bosnia is experiencing prosperity for years to come. a soccer rebellion, led by fans, play- “This year has been lost, from the ers and former stars who are enraged standpoint of economic policy,” says by what they see as corrupt leaders Stojan Stamenkovic of the Econom- of the country’s football association ics Institute in Belgrade. leaders. page 5 page 10 2 BELGRADE INSIGHT, Thursday, April 5 - Thursday, April 19, 2018 BELGRADE INSIGHT, Thursday, April 5 - Thursday, April 19, 2018 3 SERBIA SERBIA Continued from page 1 COMMENT Serbia’s Announced Reshuffle Serbia is Sealing its Reflects East-West Battle Position as Russia’s embers of the rul- The Progressives seal their control ing Progressives are on power on all levels this time. Best Friend meanwhile busy lob- Four months later, in August 2016, bying for who should Serbia gets a new government, with stay or go. some new names. However, all of them Belgrade and MVladimir Djukanovic, an MP known are members of the parties of the old for his pro-Russian views, has already ruling coalition between the Progres- warned that he will resign if the Infra- sives and the Socialists. Moscow need structure Minister, Zorana Mihajlovic, Vucic replaces the Justice Minister, seen as a pro-Western voice, keeps her the Economy Minister, the Education each other more post, claiming that she caused “the Minister and the Culture Minister. worst possible disharmony in the gov- Although Vucic does not publicly than ever right ernment”. criticise previous ministers, on August “She's not a team player, it’s been my 8 he says that “we need fresh blood”, ac- now – Russia opinion for a long time,” he told N1 tel- cording to Nova ekonomija. evision on March 26. “The new government will be a com- because it is Djukanovic was part of a delegation bination of success, experience and of Serbian MPs that went to Russia in freshness.