Serbia's Delicate Russia
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Issue No. 196 Friday, December 04 - Tuesday, December 22, 2015 ORDER DELIVERY TO Crafting a Occupy: The Merlinka YOUR DOOR +381 11 4030 303 new ceramics activists film festival [email protected] - - - - - - - ISSN 1820-8339 1 culture in reviving arthouse ‘is for BELGRADE INSIGHT IS PUBLISHED BY 0 1 Belgrade cinema everyone’ Page 5 Page 6 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 Mystery 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 - - - - - - - - - - Serbia’s delicate Russia- surrounds - fundingNEWS of West balancing act Albanian NEWS While Belgrade in- jihadists “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: sists it will remain 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 source of - - - - - militarily neutral, the funds for many believe the the travel and page 10 country will even- living expenses tually be forced to of Albanian choose sides. militants heading 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. W to the war in Syria June 13, 2008 Issue No. 1 / Friday, - - - - Dušica TOMOVIĆ - Saša DRAGOJLO remains unclear to lthough the Serbian investigators. page 5 government claims that joining NATO is not yet an issue, the Aleksandra BOGDANI fact Montenegro was Flamur VEZAJ invited to join the al- nd conomists are warning that pro over Serbia’s uncertainty longed “This year has been lost, from the liance on December 2 has focused man in his fifties was After eight years of stagnation, the pro-European and nation With Nikolic believes the Socialists, led “The group of younger Socialists A 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 minds on how much longer Belgrade filmed in the hall of E - - - - can maintain its military neutrality and Mother Teresa Airport - delicate balancing act between Russia in Tirana, teaching and the West. three young men how When it comes to military coopera- to act on boarding their first ever flight. AFriday • June 13 2008 tion, Belgrade rather shyly made public That was back on January 2nd, 2014, the number of joint activities it has car- when Albanian police stopped the ried out with NATO over the past few young men from heading towards the years. On the other hand, defence co- battle fronts of Syria. THIS ISSUE OF operation with Russia is presented as a One of them carried a handwritten Belgrade Insight IS SUPPORTED BY: IS SUPPORTED strategic priority for Serbia. letter in his pocket, reading: “Tirana- 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 Istanbul-Gaziantep-Kilis. $750 belong 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 Continued on page 2 Stoltenberg and Vučić during the November visit. Photo: Flickr/NATO to Ebu Amar’s family.” The note described the route that three young men needed to follow to reach the war in Syria. As for the mon- ey, that was a contribution from “Mus- Land lease changes split lim brothers” in Tirana to the widow and orphans of Diamant Rasha, who still live in camps in Syria. Rasha – who took the religious name Serbian farmers of Ebu Amar – was a pizza delivery man in Tirana who died on December 28th, Move to bring more clarity to agricultural having been adopted by the Govern- though this would go against the terms 2013, fighting in Syria for ISIS, the so- ment. of Serbia's Stabilisation and Association called Islamic State. land use laws has upset some farmers - who The key amendment being sug- Agreement, SAA, with the EU. Tracing the source of funding for Al- claim the changes favour the big players. gested is a provision that will allow big Signed on April 28th, 2008, the terms banian jihadists fighting in Syria from investors to lease up to 30 per cent of of the SAA state that foreigners will 2012 to 2014 has proved a challenge state-owned arable land in each munic- be entitled to buy farmland in Serbia for Albania’s office for the Prosecution local roads for the past ten days, with ipality for up to 30 years, without going without restriction from September of Serious Crimes, as it investigates a Stevan VELJOVIĆ the number of industry associations through a public procurement process. 2017, which some farmers strongly op- group of 13 suspected Islamists arrest- Katarina MARKOVIĆ involved in the protest growing.