Festive Guide Festive +381 11 4030 306 114030 +381 2018 Serbia in Facing Challenges Page 2 Issue No. No. Issue [email protected] 242 Friday, December 22, 2017 - Thursday, January 11,2018 January -Thursday, 22,2017 December Friday, Parties Year of End Best All The aBang: With Belgrade Pages 8-9 Pages BELGRADE INSIGHT IS PUBLISHED BY INSIGHTISPUBLISHED BELGRADE ORDER DELIVERY TO DELIVERY ORDER [email protected] YOUR DOOR YOUR +381 11 4030 303 114030 +381 Friday • June 13 • 2008 NEWS NEWS 1 9 Photo: Flickr/Kevin Dooley Flickr/Kevin Photo: 7 7 1 ISSN 1820-8339 8 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, Friday, December 22, 2017 - Thursday, January 11, 2018 BELGRADE INSIGHT, Friday, December 22, 2017 - Thursday, January 11, 2018 3 FESTIVE GUIDE FESTIVE GUIDE Former Democratic Party leader and businessman Dragan Djilas announced in December that he will make a political comeback in the Belgrade mayoral elections in 2018. Photo: Beta CONSTITUTIONAL The deadline for amending the con- which was passed the year before, “Yet the National Assembly elects, di- vember, the press service of the Coun- REFORM ON HOLD stitution has already passed, according had “all the hallmarks of an over-hasty rectly or indirectly, all members of the cil of Europe also said it had agreed to the European Movement in Serbia. draft”. High Judicial Council proposing judges with the Serbian Justice Ministry to In order to implement the judicial Even though recommendations for “The main concerns with respect for appointment and in addition elects send a former member of the Venice reforms necessary to be admitted into amendments were laid out by the Council to the constitution relate, on the one the judges,” it said. Commission as an adviser to Serbia. the EU, Serbia has to amend its constitu- of Europe's Venice Commission in 2007, hand, to the fact that individual mem- It criticised the lack of opportunity They will assist the ministry in drafting tion, which includes holding a referen- no changes have yet been implemented. bers of parliament are made subservi- for public discussion and said the pro- constitutional amendments. dum on the proposed changes. The Council of Europe recently an- ent [...] to party leaderships and, on the cedure raised “questions of the legiti- Stojanovic, however, says that stag- Stojanovic says that so far the pub- nounced that the Venice Commission other, to the excessive role of parlia- macy of the text with respect to the ing early parliamentary elections could lic debate on constitutional changes will be involved in drafting recom- ment in judicial appointments,” the general public”. push implementing constitutional has not addressed the crux of the is- mended constitutional changes that it document said. The Venice Commission found it changes back “a couple of months”. sue. hopes will pave the way for judicial re- The commission said that judicial inde- “particularly surprising” that the consti- “However, I don't think that [the rul- “The debate has been pretty sluggish, form in Serbia in 2018. pendence is “wholly necessary to ensure tution is “extremely rigid and that large ing coalition] sees this as a factor that Constitutional reform, talks on Kosovo and Belgrade mayoral elections are some of the issues that await the Serbian government in 2018. Photo: Beta and invisible [to the public],” Stojanovic In its opinion published in 2007, the that the constitution is not merely a paper parts are very difficult to amend”. would make them postpone the elec- told BIRN. council states Serbia's constitution, exercise but will be enforced in practice”. In its written response to BIRN in No- tions,” Stojanovic said. Challenges Facing Serbia in 2018 Some, including Boban Stojanovic, join the UN “while Serbia is friends with Others from the opposition, however, In the coming an assistant lecturer at the Belgrade Russia”, which has the power to “veto have warned that the Progressives can year, Serbia Faculty for Political Sciences, believe that decision”.