Issue No. 185 Friday, May 29 - Thursday, June 11, 2015 ORDER DELIVERY TO Belgrade Rafting Raising YOUR DOOR +381 11 4030 303 remembers adventures a smile [email protected] - - - - - - - ISSN 1820-8339 1 Tito’s ‘golden in Serbia and at Ben BELGRADE INSIGHT IS PUBLISHED BY 0 1 age’ Bosnia Akiba Page 5 Page 9 Page 14 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 Serbia pulls 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 slides to the right back over - Right-wing parties publicNEWS sector are gaining more sackings support in Serbia, NEWS Fewer public as the country servants will be “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: struggles with an 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. - - - - axed than was - economic crisis agreed with the and the left seems IMF - as disputes page 10 barren of ideas. continue over how the layoff Gordana ANDRIĆ hile the football world watch es events unfold at the Euro figures were 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. urveys suggest that W right-oriented parties June 13, 2008 Issue No. 1 / Friday, - - - - reached. - are growing stronger in Serbia, while those who support more liberal op- Stevan VELJOVIĆ page 5 tions are becoming mar- Sginalised. erbia plans to cut 9,000 A Faktor Plus survey published on jobs in the public adminis- May 28th says the only parties that tration and in local govern- currently enjoy the support of more ment by the end of year, than 5 per cent of the voters are the almost three times less conomists are warning that pro over Serbia’s uncertainty longed “This year has been lost, from the ruling Progressive Party, their coali- than was previously an- 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 tion partner, the Socialist Party, the Snounced and agreed with the IMF. E opposition Radical Party, the con- - - - - Kori Udovički, deputy prime minis- - servative Democratic Party of Serbia, ter and the minister of public adminis- DSS, with their partner Dveri, and the tration and local government, said on Democratic Party. May 25th that the state administration Friday • June 13 2008 The survey, conducted in May with had a surplus of around 4,600 people, 1,150 participants, put the Progressives while local governments have a sur- way ahead of all other parties, with plus of about 4,478. Another 5,000 are the support of 50.6 per cent of voters. expected to retire, Udovički said. It gave the Socialist Party of Serbia, SPS, THIS ISSUE OF The number of employees in the ad- Belgrade Insight the support of about 9.5 per cent. BY: IS SUPPORTED ministration will thus fall by 2.6 per cent 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 by the end of 2015, instead of 5 per cent, 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 Vojislav Šešelj, the leader of the Radicals, managed to increase his party ratings to Photo by Beta as agreed with the IMF. Continued on page 3 above 5 per cent for the first time since 2012. Employees from public companies will not be included in this reduction. Experts say the government’s pro- posal to cut 9,000 jobs is more realistic ISIS killed Albanian than the number agreed with IMF, as ax- ing a higher number could dramatically worsen the quality of public services. However, they say Serbia’s more jihadist who wanted out modest plan contains shortcomings, as rationalisation will not necessarily lead Ervin Hasanaj, an Albanian jihadist recently ists who have travelled to Syria to join with knowledge of Syrian jihadi groups to a more efficient public administra- the conflict, was killed on April 1st in told BIRN. tion. executed by ISIS, was apparently killed be- circumstances that have yet to be clari- Such a claim is difficult to verify, and Analysts fear that the goal of sack- fied. Hasanaj’s family remain unclear about ing public servants is aimed only at cause he was trying to go home. The 24-year-old left for Syria three the circumstances of his death. meeting the requirements of the IMF years ago and was there with his wife, Hasanaj’s mother is also struggling and fails to address the actual overall Aleksandra BOGDANI The 20-year-old, who works as a mi- Nexhmije, and two daughters and was to come to terms with the death of her reform of the administration.