All Milosevic's Inaugurations

DIGITAL TELEPHONE: On July 4, 1985, as the Chairman of the City Committee of the League of Communists of Belgrade, Slobodan Milosevic had the privilege to address the War Veterans' Day rally at Zemun-Polje and inaugurate the Factory of Digital Telephone Exchanges. As it became the chief of the Belgrade Communists, on that occasion Milosevic praised the idea of socialism and self-management because "not withstanding all the difficulties it meets with in practice, it is the ideal of small peoples and the oppressed people the world over. These are the sources of energy which are sufficient to get rid of the troubles and live better".

SPANIARD'S MONUMENT: When he became the Chairman of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic's duty was to open things of republican importance. On September 15, 1986, marking the 42nd anniversary of the liberation of Valjevo area and the 45th anniversary of the Valjevo National Liberation Partisan Detachment, and the 50th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, Slobodan Milosevic spoke at the inauguration of the monument to national hero Zikica Jovanovic Spaniard and 1941 combatant Milos Misa Pantic. On that occasion, he optimistically stated that "fascism was vanquished and socialism the epoch under whose sign lives our globe". And therefore: "We shall continue to build that world heralded in Bela Crkva in 1941, and we shall succeed, among other things, because life is always on the side of those who believe in progress and their ability to contribute to the progress themselves".

THE SLOVENIAN EXHIBITION: Brotherhood and unity were a progressive, indeed a fundamental, idea as Milosevic pointed out in May 1987 opening the exhibition of Slovenian artists in Borba Art Gallery: "The brotherhood and unity of the Slovene and Serb peoples rest on the foundations which are hard to shatter. They were forged during the days and years which many Serb and Slovene families spent together in war and pain. This past is already becoming a part of the national memory of both peoples, as a historical and moral achievement which is passed from one generation to the other so as not to be ever forgotten".

MEMORIAL PLAQUE FOR KARDELJ: During that Yugoslavia, on April 11, 1988, Slobodan Milosevic unveiled the memorial plaque on Edvard Kardelj ' s residence in Uzicka Street. The occasion permitted to pay due homage to the ideologue of the self-management society and indicate further development guidelines: "Since our society is faced with serious temptations and since the present diverges from Kardelj's visions, we must respond efficiently to the challenge of the time and remove all that has slowed down the evolution of self-management and integrative ties in Yugoslavia".

DRMNO POWER PLANT: On the 6th of July of that same year, marking the Uprising Day in Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic inaugurated 350 MW Drmno Power Plant and an open cast coal mine. He disclosed that our path had no alternative: "Serbia has no choice - it will either be constituted as a republic, territorially and politically, and mobilize all its available forces for its economic and cultural development, or it will cease to exist. The question is not about the political but about the historical moment... The item on the agenda is not discussion, the item on the agenda is history".

BELGRADE RELIEF ROAD: One month before the first multi-party elections the public was advised that the construction of the relief road round Belgrade was the biggest investment effort in Serbia, for which the European Bank had granted a 100 million Ecu loan, with an interest rate of 8.85 percent. The works were to be completed in 1995 but they have not even started yet. On November 7, 1990, inaugurating the beginning of the construction of the highway section between Dobanovci and Beli Potok (37 km long), Slobodan Milosevic, as reported by Vecernje Novosti, "symbolically set in motion the pneumatic hammer placing in position the poles for the future bridge across the Sava near Ostruznica. We expect from all of you who have the privilege and responsibility to commence and complete this momentous task, to perform it successfully and without a day's delay".

OIL FIELD: The next elections Slobodan Milosevic used as an excuse to discover oil. For this sufficed a visit to Turija North, the oil field near Srbobran, which took place on November 11, 1992. Tanjug reported that it was one of the biggest oil deposits. In a television statement, Slobodan Milosevic said: "It was highly gratifying to ascertain on the spot that our oilmen's optimism did not lack foundation, that it was based on solid facts". And then promised Serbia's citizens: "There is no doubt - neither will Serbia freeze nor it will starve, and it will not agree either to call into question in any way whatsoever its state and national interests whatever the pressure".

HOT WATER: On June 27, 1993, on the eve of St Vid's Day, Slobodan Milosevic visited Vranje where he was informed about the programs of development of that part of the Republic ("Serbia's south - Switzerland in small"). He returned from Vranje and two days later paid a visit to CIP where he was "informed that during the first stage of the program a pipeline would be laid to activate one of the most attractive thermal springs in Serbia for the generation of thermal energy". Encouraging the protagonists of the program, Slobodan Milosevic said: "I hope that this example in the south of Serbia will be followed by others... In a way, this project is independent, it is not vulnerable from the point of view applied against our country, simply, it can be operationalized regardless of it. And I must tell you that you will practically have an improvement regarding the performance of Vranje economy in less than a year".

UNDERGROUND: On July 7, 1995, marking the Uprising Day in Serbia, Milosevic inaugurated the underground railway station at Vukov Spomenik in Belgrade which Politika described as the "deepest in the world".