Belgrade Welcomes Putin with Showpiece Military Parade
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Issue No. 170 Friday, October 17 - Thursday, October 30, 2014 ORDER DELIVERY TO Serbian media Student Belgrade Jazz YOUR DOOR +381 11 4030 303 takes freedom risks all to Festival [email protected] - - - - - - - th ISSN 1820-8339 1 fight off the patch up celebrates 30 BELGRADE INSIGHT IS PUBLISHED BY 0 1 pavement beloved city anniversary Page 2 Page 4 Page 10 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 New 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 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 - - - - - - - - - - Belgrade welcomes recession - testsNEWS Putin with showpiece Serbia’s resolveNEWS on military parade “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: austerity 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. - - - - The Russian leader - As Serbia heads arrived in Belgrade page 10 to attend a military again into extravaganza negative growth, th marking the 70 the challenge is hile the football world watch es events unfold at the Euro However, 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. anniversary of to find ways to W Issue No. 1 / Friday, June 13, 2008 Issue No. 1 / Friday, - - - - the liberation of stimulate growth - and production Belgrade. page 5 while cutting Gordana ANDRIĆ public spending. ussian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Belgrade on th conomists are warning that pro over Serbia’s uncertainty longed “This year has been lost, from the October 16 to be the guest Stevan VELJOVIĆ 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 of honour at a lavish military E th - - - - parade marking the 70 an- fter experiencing modest - Rniversary of the liberation of the Serbian growth in 2013, Serbia’s capital from Nazi German occupation. economy is on a verge About 20,000 people gathered to see of another recession, the Friday • June 13 2008 the first military parade in the city since third since 2009. 1985, which began with a gun salute and AThe International Monetary Fund, the Serbian anthem. IMF, predicts that Serbia will have nega- The crowd on onlookers meanwhile tive GDP growth of 0.5 per cent in 2014, THIS ISSUE OF chanted slogans like “Serbia, Russia!”, “We while in 2015 growth of only 1 per cent Belgrade Insight IS SUPPORTED BY: IS SUPPORTED do not need the [European] Union!” and is expected. 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 “Putin’s a Serb!” On current predictions, last year’s 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 Russian President was the guest of honour at a lavish military parade. Photo by Darko Vojinović/AP spurt of 2.5 per cent of GDP looks like a Continued on page 3 short break between two recessions in 2012 and 2014. Most economists have welcomed the government’s intention to tackle the Serbia counts cost of Albania soaring 8-per-cent budget deficit and public debt with austerity measures. But, for the measures and the bat- tle against recession to succeed, they football match mayhem counsel additional efforts to boost growth and production. UEFA reaction awaited after the Serbia-Albania “Football is supposed to bring peo- portraits of independent Albania’s two The grim economic outlook also ple together and our game should not founding fathers, Ismail Qemali and Isa makes it more challenging for the gov- Euro 2016 qualifier in Belgrade had to be be mixed with politics of any kind. The Boletini. ernment to push for its announced aus- abandoned amid fights on the pitch. scenes in Belgrade were inexcusable,” After Serbian player Stefan Mitrović terity measures. Michel Platini, UEFA President, said. pulled down the banner, a scuffle In an interview for the public broad- Besar LIKMETA, Nektar ZOGJANI, tion”, fireworks being set off, missiles On October 14th, the first football broke out between the two teams, as caster RTS, Prime Minister Aleksandar Gordana ANDRIĆ being launched, a crowd disturbance, match ever held between Albania and Albanian players grabbed the flag from Vučić reiterated his plans to cut pen- a field invasion by supporters and the Serbia in decades ended in chaos and Mitrović. sions and salaries in the public sector ollowing the brawl at the Serbia- use of a laser pointer, the Albanian as- violence in the 41st minute, after a small The scuffle turned into a worse brawl in order to tame the budget deficit.