A New Mandator

Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic chose the Director of "Progres'' Mirko Marjanovic to act as the mandator of a government of national unity, one "which is expected to rally the most competent people, regardless of party affiliation or lack of it.'' In an interview to the Belgrade daily "Politika,'' Marjanovic reiterated that "party affiliation or lack of it, were not important'' for the new government.

Democratic Party (DS) leader Zoran Djindjic was vague, and said that the candidate for the post of Serbian Prime Minister was "acceptable,'' that he was not "a Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) official, but a member,'' that he was a "businessman and not a politician,'' in short that the Democrats would ask him which laws he would propose first, which probably means that they will show restraint, i.e., that they might vote in favor of, and if they don't do so, then they will vote against. The DS will retain the right to form their own judgement of the Government's proposals. This was the formula used by Vojislav Seselj's Serbian Radical Party (SRS) during its period of cooperation with the Socialists in 1992. The DS deputy group seems to have reached a decision not to accept posts in the future government.

At first glance this means that the Democrats led by Djindjic have avoided taking part in accepting responsibility for the following: Yugoslavia's losses due to sanctions which have been estimated at 25 billion dollars, 600,000 refugees, 700,000 unemployed, 700,000 of the 2.3 million employed on paid leave, a drastically deteriorated standard of living, poverty, epidemics, tuberculosis, a very large segment of the population living at subsistence level, and a chronic shortage of medicine.

But then again, Djindjic is bound by the DS Executive Committee's decision not to enter into a coalition with the Socialists, i.e., the DS leadership must meet and decide if the party will enter into a real coalition with the ruling party. Djindjic is aware that his opponents are waiting for him to make precisely this move. After the recent upheavals in the DS, Djindjic is doing his best to prevent another split in the party.

And finally, Milosevic has found a partner with lesser demands, and has given up on Djindjic. If things have really turned out this way, then Seselj summed it up best when he said that the SPS needed only three deputies in the Serbian Assembly, and nothing more.

Various combinations are making the rounds in the Assembly, all purporting that Milosevic, for some reason, still needs "a government of salvation.'' It is high time that President Milosevic's partners realized, once and for all, that he only makes concessions when he has to.

Marjanovic has started consultations, and is promising to set up a new, and unconventional government.

Ahead of the special session, which started on Thursday, the Serbian Government decided to cut down the prices of municipal services. Proposals in the draft law have decreased taxes to some extent. DEPOS (Democratic Movement of Serbia) deputy Milan Mikovic insisted that Serbian PM Nikola Sainovic's Government, which continued in office after the dissolving of the Assembly, did not have any right to propose laws, since it no longer had a mandate.

Sainovic's package will be adopted over the next few days. This means that Milosevic intends to tie Marjanovic's hands. The urgent appointment of Nikola Sainovic to the post of vicePM of the Federal Government, a man who will be remembered as being in office during hyperinflation, and his being entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of the anti-inflationary policy, means that we will be watching a replay of a by now familiar situation, which could be described as: "When Arsonists Were Called In To Put Out The Fire.''

President Milosevic believes that Marjanovic "belongs to that eminent circle of businessmen who were consulted during the drafting of the new economic program...'' (In an interview to "Srpska Rec,'' the creator of the program, Dragoslav Avramovic was told: "There are views that you have given the authorities a lifebelt...'' Avramovic said: "In a sense, I agree. I have done what I thought should be done.'' Avramovic said recently that he was opposed to the privatization of big state owned companies.

All in all, Marjanovic has been put in charge of the New Economic Policy (NEP). (Lenin's "New Economic Policy'' was introduced during the great famine which followed the October Revolution, and was abandoned under Stalin with repressive measures.)

The situation calls to mind a temporary, expendable arrangement, as is modestly, practically masochistically, explained in the publication "All Serbia's Governments'' (issued by the Serbian Ministry of Information, with Serbian Information Minister Milivoje Pavlovic acting for the publisher) which makes the following observation in the introduction: "It is a fact that History does not remember governments, but rulers.''