Zeljko Simic, former Yugoslav vice-Prime Minister

YEAR AND PLACE OF BIRTH: 1958, Belgrade

EDUCATION: Studied Law, Philosophy and Philology. Graduated from the Belgrade School of Law, holds an M.A. in Sociology.

ACTIVITIES PRIOR TO BECOMING A POLITICIAN: Intellectual work: in the late seventies, he made a name for himself with courageous polemics in the paper "Student"; in the early eighties, he became a member of the editorial board of the magazine "Vidici" and then editor-in chief. Formally still holds this position, even though the magazine ceased publication a year ago. Holds the position of deputy editor in-chief of the journal "Marksisticka misao" (Marxist Thought), which has ceased publication. He has written three books in the field of the sociology of art.

HOW HE BECAME A POLITICIAN: "I didn't enter politics by following well-trodden, stereotypical party procedures, so that many believe that the whole thing just happened. Namely, while my peers were going into politics without any awareness of what it was all about, after having hung around in local communities gathering points for their party rating, I spent time in the 'monastic' silence of my room. Its walls were lined with books by Andric, Krleza, Crnjanski, Hegel, Kant, Nietzsche, Slobodan Jovanovic, Toma Zivanovic, Justin Popovic, Stanislav Vinaver and Dragisa Vasic..." (From an interview in the Belgrade bi-weekly "Duga", November 1989).

AND OUTSIDE HIS ROOM: Simic was Secretary of the Committee for Ideological work at the University Conference of the Belgrade Socialist Youth Union when Mirjana Markovic (Serbian PresidentSlobodan Milosevic's wife) was in charge. After this, he was Secretary of the Committee for Information and Propaganda of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia when Slobodan Milosevic headed this body. After Milosevic's election to the post of Serbian President, Simic became his main public relations advisor. He has allegedly written many of the President's speeches, and his flowery style is recognizable in many parts of Milosevic's book "The Years of Disentanglement".

PERSONAL TRAITS: Has a hypochondriacal streak and is given to harmless lying: he likes to invite acquaintances and friends to "important meetings" and then fails toshow up, while inventing stories about family and health problems. In spite of this, he is the only one of the "young guard" who has remained close to Milosevic since the days of the 8th session of the League of Communists of Serbia, which was crucial in launching Milosevic's political career.

FAVORITE SENTENCE: "Allow me to answer your question with another question."

FAMOUS SENTENCE: "I hope to jump off a mountain one day with Dusanka Djogo (young female Socialist) and with her permission, jump to the right place by parachute" (Statement made during the SPS electoral campaign).

WHEN HE BECAME A VICE-PRIME MINISTER IN KONTIC'S CABINET: After the removal of former Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Panic, on July 6, 1993.

WHAT WERE HIS DUTIES: As the coordinator of all Yugoslav negotiating committees which participated at the Geneva conference, Simic de facto took over a large part of the Foreign minister's activities, leaving Foreign Minister Vladislav Jovanovic to bite his nails. After Milosevic and Croatian President Franjo Tudjman reached an agreement on the normalization of relations, Simic led the long and delicate negotiations with the Croatian delegation.

WHY HE ISN'T PRESENT IN KONTIC'S NEW CABINET: Some believe that he has fallen into disfavor because he used an official helicopter for rendezvouses with Miss Djogo (not very likely); others think that he made a mistake in negotiations with the Croats (even less likely). The third (and most likely) version holds that this is because he clashed with academician Kosta Mihailovic over Mihailovic's unusual thesis that the "Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is the legal inheritor of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" at the Geneva Conference on succession.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD: Most likely he will return to Milosevic's cabinet and at an appropriate moment be entrusted with a more important office. Milosevic said recently that he had great regard for Simic as "a man with a marked political personality". Dejan Anastasijevic