Issue No. 182 Friday, April 17 - Thursday, April 30, 2015 ORDER DELIVERY TO Belgrade Remote Dutchman YOUR DOOR +381 11 4030 303 pastry shop Serbia’s bites back [email protected] - - - - - - - ISSN 1820-8339 1 guards hidden at Serbia BELGRADE INSIGHT IS PUBLISHED BY 0 1 grandpa’s treasures again secrets Page 6 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 Pay and 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 - - - - - - - - - - Drugs, diamonds and bullets: pension - Balkan arms firm linked to increaseNEWS criminal investigations unlikelyNEWS despite “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: 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 Montenegrin deficit cut - government sold its multimillion Serbia’s surprise page 10 euro defence firm deficit reduction to a consortium has led to optimistic talk of hile the football world watch es events unfold at the Euro linked to a series 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 of serious criminal raising pensions June 13, 2008 Issue No. 1 / Friday, - - - - - investigations. and public sector pay to pre-austerity page 5 Ivan ANGELOVSKI Dušica TOMOVIĆ levels, but experts orruption, money laun- warn the economy dering, unpaid bills, ille- gal arms sales to Libyan remains far too Islamists and involve- conomists are warning that pro over Serbia’s uncertainty longed “This year has been lost, from the After eight years of stagnation, the pro-European and nation With Nikolic believes the Socialists, led “The group of younger Socialists ment in a cocaine smug- 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 fragile for that. E gling ring – these are just - - - - Csome of the allegations that have been - Stevan VELJOVIĆ made against controversial business- men linked to the privatisation of one etter than expected fi- of the Balkans’ most powerful arms Friday • June 13 2008 dealers. nancial results for early Montenegro Defence Industry, MDI, 2015 have given the was sold on March 4th to Belgrade- Serbian Government’s based CPR Impex and Israeli ATL At- reform programme a THIS ISSUE OF lantic Technology Ltd for €680,000 boost, allowing officials Belgrade Insight IS SUPPORTED BY: IS SUPPORTED without fanfare. to say austerity measures are now on a new gov ense negotiations ernment have divided the ranks B “It looks as if the Socialists will Simultaneous negotiations held This divides “old-timers” loyal Montenegro Defence Industry, MDI, was sold to Belgrade-based CPR Impex and the Israeli ATL Atlantic Photo by AFN-Pacific Hawaii News Bureau/Flickr 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 bearing fruit. 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. Continued on page 4 Technology Ltd, both linked to legal troubles. T The budget deficit stood at €179.2 mil- lion at the end of the first quarter of the COMMENT year, less than half of the €458m short- fall originally predicted. The deficit reduction already “equals Asylum-seekers abused by annual cuts in salaries and pensions – taxes and contributions included,” said Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, prompting him to broach the possibil- Serbian police, report claims ity of putting pensions and public sec- tor pay back up to 2014 levels. A Human Rights Watch report accused Serbian “No irregular migrant has addressed inal charges against its own officers sus- Despite growing government opti- the ministry with a complaint that they pected of taking bribes from migrants. mism stemming from these encour- police officers of abusing, beating and extorting have been harassed by police officers According to the Human Rights aging first quarter results, experts are money from migrants and asylum-seekers, but or forced to hand over money and a Watch report, abuses have been report- warning that Serbia’s public finances mobile phone nor to report that they ed all over the country but particularly remain fragile and that it is still far too the interior ministry denied the claims. were threatened with detention, depor- in Subotica, the northern Serbian town early to discuss increasing salaries and tation or physical violence,” the minis- on the border with Hungary. Subotica is pensions. Human Rights Watch “Serbian authorities should be try said in a written response. a key stop for many migrants trying to A 10 per cent cut was imposed last “The claims made by the surveyed cross Serbia and enter the EU via Hun- report on the treat- protecting asylum-seekers and im- November on civil servants with sala- migrants and asylum-seekers are not gary. ment of migrants and migrants, including children fleeing ries exceeding €210 and pensioners re- supported by facts and evidence which The report is based on interviews asylum seekers in Ser- war and persecution, not allowing ceiving monthly cheques of more than would help in the process of determin- with 81 asylum-seekers and migrants, bia that was published the police to victimize them,” said €330 as the government scrambled to on April 15th claimed Emina Ćerimović of Human Rights ing the specific responsibilities of the including 18 children, conducted in slash state spending.