• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Pages 6-7 Pages clubs best Belgrade's at 2017 into Party BELGRADE INSIGHT IS PUBLISHED BY INSIGHTISPUBLISHED BELGRADE ORDER DELIVERY TO TO DELIVERY ORDER [email protected] YOUR DOOR YOUR +381 11 4030 303 303 114030 +381 Friday • June 13 • 2008 NEWS NEWS 1 9 +381 11 4030 306 114030 +381 7 Festive Guide Festive 7 1 ISSN 1820-8339 8 2 0 8 3 3 0 0 0 0 Issue No. No. Issue 1 [email protected] Issue No. 1 / Friday, June 13, 2008 Page 8 guide A beginner's Serbia: in Christmas 219 EDITOR’S WORD Lure of Tadic Alliance Splits Socialists Political Predictability 12,2017 January -Thursday, 2016 23, December Friday, 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 majority required to form a govern- Page 13 region the around Christmas for ideas Crafty 5-per-cent threshold to enter parlia- 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 Ternment have divided the ranks pean social democrat organisation. by party veterans enraged by the ing capital investments, Kosovo and disagree with their current party Photo: Flickr/Antonio Castagna Flickr/Antonio Photo: of 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, Friday, December 23, 2016 - Thursday, January 12, 2017 BELGRADE INSIGHT, Friday, December 23, 2016 - Thursday, January 12, 2017 3 FESTIVE GUIDE FESTIVE GUIDE COMMENT Serbia in 2017: Yet another year of election campaigns However, external actors, primarily The recent assessment of the Fi- Berlin and Brussels, could exert strong nance Minister that even early par- pressure on the Serbian Prime Minister liamentary elections are unlikely to to refrain from another parliamentary expand the budget deficit, projected at election in the interests of preventing 1.7 per cent of GDP, seems credible. In- momentum in the negotiations be- deed, if 2017 is anything to go by, parlia- tween Serbia and Kosovo from drain- mentary elections may even be helpful ing away. for Serbia to stick to its budget deficit targets, as a government with a techni- SLOW PROGRESS cal mandate has limited abilities to in- WITH PRISTINA LIKELY crease public spending. According to the Serbian Fiscal Another constant in 2017 will be Council, an independent government the slow but steady progress of nego- body, if economic growth remains at tiations towards normalising relations the projected level of 3 per cent, such with Pristina. a low budget deficit would help reduce With the recent telecommunications public debt expressed as a share of agreement on the way to being imple- GDP by a modest 1 per cent to 73 per mented and loose ends on integrating cent of GDP by the end of 2017. Indeed, Serbian judges into the Kosovo system the Fiscal Council’s main criticism is likely to be tied up in January, in 2017 that the government could have been the focus of international mediation more ambitious in its deficit and public efforts will likely turn to getting the Ombudsman Saša Janković has refrained from announcing he will run, in part to avoid being Photo: Media Centre Belgrade debt cutting plans in 2017. agreed Association of Serbian Munici- dragged through the political mud by tabloids. The main factor to watch for during palities off the ground. 2017 in public finances will be whether The first step will be the drafting of a tia’s decision to block the opening of elections are called for April, the EU is 2017, as was the case in 2016. According the government seeks to negotiate a statute to define the powers of the As- Chapter 26 on Education and Culture in unlikely to rush to open negotiating to IMF estimates, economic growth in new IMF program towards the end of sociation, which will then have to be December 2016, this chapter is likely to chapters with a technical government. 2016 will come in at 2.6 per cent of GDP the year. approved by the Kosovo parliament. be opened and closed in 2017. Other ne- If only presidential elections are sched- and is expected to rise to 3 per cent in The current program, begun in Feb- Pristina can be expected to drag its feet gotiating chapters likely to be opened uled, Brussels will likely be amenable 2017, though this is subject to develop- ruary 2015, is set to close in February but 2017 could be the year that the As- soon include Chapter 20, on Enterprise to opening a couple of negotiating ments within the Eurozone, where any 2018.

Load more

  9

Copy Link