Issue No. 163 Friday, June 13 - Thursday, June 26, 2014 ORDER DELIVERY TO Forgotten Macedonia’s Ancient YOUR DOOR +381 11 4030 303 mall new Bač starts to [email protected] - - - - - - - ISSN 1820-8339 1 dreams government restore lost BELGRADE INSIGHT IS PUBLISHED BY 0 1 of rebirth keeps to splendour old course Page 4 Page 8 Page 9 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 Unions 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 - - - - - - - - - - Serbian PM’s blast ends fight - honeymoon with EU losingNEWS battleNEWS The Prime over “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: Minister’s explosive 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. - - - - claim that Labour - ambassadors are Law page 10 in league against Serbia’s new Labour him has stunned Law will not meet diplomats and left all the demands 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. experts worried of employers, but W Issue No. 1 / Friday, June 13, 2008 Issue No. 1 / Friday, - - - - about where this unions stand to - will lead. lose most from the proposed changes. page 5 Gordana ANDRIĆ rime Minister Aleksandar Stevan VELJOVIĆ Vučić’s recent claim that unnamed foreign ambas- fter months of tough ne- conomists are warning that pro over Serbia’s uncertainty longed “This year has been lost, from the sadors are plotting against gotiation, work on Serbia’s 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 him has caused confusion new Labour Law is com- E - - - - Pamong diplomats based in the capital. ing to an end, and the end - “We have no idea what was behind of the month is set as the this statement, or if anything was [be- Adeadline for its adoption by parliament. hind it],” the representative of one inter- However, as employers and unions Friday • June 13 2008 national organisation in Belgrade, who failed to reach agreement in the working declined to be named, told BIRN. group preparing the law, the government “We were stunned to hear the state- will have the final word on the most hotly ments. However, if there are some un- disputed provisions. THIS ISSUE OF resolved issues regarding our ambas- Unions have rejected all changes to the Belgrade Insight IS SUPPORTED BY: IS SUPPORTED sadors we are ready to sit and resolve law concerning the cuts on different pay- 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 them with Serbian government and ments, such as redundancy, and called 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 with Vučić,” says another source from for the law to ensure that obligations to Brussels. apply collective agreements remain com- pulsory for most employers. Continued on page 2 Experts fear Prime Minister is losing all sense of proportion. Photo by Beta As employers want the exact opposite, the government will have to make a rul- ing on about ten provisions. Aleksandar Vulin, Minister of Labour, Macedonia’s new government keeps to old course Employment and Social Issues, has said parliament will give the last word after If Nikola Gruevski’s new cabinet looks “The creation of new jobs, attracting “We will not see any change in the listening to unions, employers and the foreign investors and encouraging do- technology of governance and in the Social and Economic Council. remarkably like the last one, it is because he mestic investors, agriculture, education general orientation of the government,” This is the body consisting of repre- clearly feels satisfied with the way the country is and health - all this will be the focus of the political analyst Suad Misini said. While sentatives of the government, businesses new cabinet,” Gruevski told the media. government priorities “are absolutely and unions. being run. These priorities will sound like déjà the same, their realization in the pe- “As we have completely opposing vu to many Macedonians as they have riod to come remains questionable”, he views here, the government will have to Siniša JAKOV MARUŠIĆ isters, and by the priorities noted in the been listed as key issues ever since added. make a judgment and say what it consid- government platform that he submit- Gruevski took power in 2006.