Issue No. 169 Friday, October 03 - Thursday, October 16, 2014 ORDER DELIVERY TO Last Hidden October Salon: YOUR DOOR +381 11 4030 303 pre-war treasures of Snapshots of a [email protected] - - - - - - - ISSN 1820-8339 1 salon is Kalemegdan disappearing BELGRADE INSIGHT IS PUBLISHED BY 0 1 hair to stay world Page 4 Page 9 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 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 Serbia’s 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 - - - - - - - - - - Putin tests Russian - ‘grey’NEWS economy power on Belgrade visit resistsNEWS Vladimir Putin “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: reform 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. will be using his - - - - - forthcoming visit to Reducing the grey or shadow page 10 Serbia to showcase economy could Russia’s continuing add millions of influence in euros to Serbia’s hile the football world watch es events unfold at the Euro Eastern Europe, 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. budget - but the W Issue No. 1 / Friday, June 13, 2008 Issue No. 1 / Friday, - - - - experts say. results so far - Gordana ANDRIĆ have not been page 5 erbia is preparing a red- encouraging. carpet welcome for Russia’s Vladimir Putin on October Katarina MARKOVIĆ 16, promising a victory pa- Stevan VELJOVIĆ rade on a scale not seen in conomists are warning that pro over Serbia’s uncertainty longed “This year has been lost, from the Sdecades. fter years of unsuccess- 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 Putin’s visit and the parade form part fully hunting for work, V. E th - - - - of celebrations marking the 70 an- Pavlović, 31, a graduate - niversary of the liberation of Belgrade manager from Belgrade, from Nazi German occupation. got an opportunity to work “President Putin is coming as a rep- as a salesman in his cousin’s private firm. AFriday • June 13 2008 resentative of the army that participat- He was warned that he would not get ed in the liberation of Belgrade,” said a contract and that his salary would not Milovan Drecun, one of the organisers include any welfare contributions, but he of the parade, recalling the key role still accepted it. THIS ISSUE OF of the Soviet Red Army in 1944. “We “I did not hesitate because I had no Belgrade Insight IS SUPPORTED BY: IS SUPPORTED also invited veterans from other allied choice,” he said. “I have little work experi- 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 countries,” he added. ence, and no one helped me get a job in 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 Experts believe Putin arrives in Serbia to test his influence on Belgrade’s government. Photo by Sergei Chirikov/AP a state-owned company, so this was the Continued on page 2 best I could get,” he said. He is pleased that the work seems to be going well - but doesn’t expect to get a regular contract any time soon. “The situ- Talk show’s death raises ation on the market is difficult, so I don’t hope too much,” he concluded. With 769,000 people officially seeking jobs in Serbia - an unemployment rate of fears for Serbia media 20.3 per cent - Pavlović is one of many people who are content to work without B92’s decision to ditch the iconic politics show “You have a media landscape where station in the commercial sector, ana- contracts, as long as they get paid. all the televisions belong to one man,” lysts are worried that the gap will be not A recent survey of the labour force ‘Utisak Nedelje’ will impoverish the media in Bećković told RTV Vojvodina, concern- be filled. showed that around a fifth of all those in Serbia, analysts believe. ing Vučić. B92 is one of four TV stations with work in Serbia work in the grey, or “shad- Bećković is not alone in her concerns national coverage in Serbia. The other ow”, economy – which means they do not Gordana ANDRIĆ Milosevic didn’t do - something that about the fate of the Serbian media gen- three are the state-funded broadcaster, show up in job statistics.