Commotion Among The Socialists

Our main daily has published an economic sensation on its thirteenth page: the February inflation in the dinar area has reached 47%! That practically means that, if the Serbian government goes on with its economic policy, the annual inflation will reach a rate of 15, 20 or several thousand.

The fact that the Serbian leadership has been covering up the results of its economic policy is no accident, although it is important to say that that can have a certain effect only at home, but not in other countries whose denial to inject fresh capital here would make it impossible to achieve a significant progress in normalizing our national economy. True, in the eyes of the world capital the Serbian position is neither better nor worse than that of other republics of the former Yugoslavia, and it will not improve until at least the outlines of the Yugoslav partition balance can be discerned. At any rate, if we are talking only about the politics of the Serbian government, it will be enough to remember how the foreign exchange part of "the Serbian Loan" has fared: the deposits did not reach even 10% of the projected amount, although the prospective lenders had been offered extremely favourable economic conditions.

Bearing in mind the entire situation, it becomes clear why the severest public criticism of the Socialist Party and its government have been voiced these days by experts who have placed their economic skills at the disposal of that same party in the past few years. This concerns Jurij Bajec and Oskar Kovac, doctors of economic sciences and professors at the Belgrade Faculty of Economics.

In his interview given to "Borba" in which he said that he had been offered the post of vice-president in Bozovic's government, Dr. Bajec explained why he had turned the offer down: "Above all, the government should be really competent, independent and responsible, and thus authoritative. Then it must be prepared to check its politics before the critical opinion of the Parliament, expert circles and the entire public. And lastly, it must find a governor of the National Bank who will be independent and who will have political and legal guarantees for his independence to be able to stand up to any pressure, to the extent that when the president of the republic phones him he can say 'not at home'." Bajec then goes on to say that he is "disappointed with the ruling party", and that Serbia in the future deserves to have "a strong left".

Speaking before the Parliament Oskar Kovac said that there was a series of conditions under which Serbia could count on economic relations with the West, which seemed like an official propaganda about "splendid" relations with international financial institutions, but it was also a true warning that for various reasons there is not a chance that it could get a cent for new investment cycles.

In that respect Kovac is extremely open, as regards both the economic and political spheres. "One does not build market economy by nationalizing the property of legal entities and by turning companies into state-owned. There is no legal state in which the constitutional law is used to change the Constitution and where the property of the companies is expropriated without compensation". Only a completely ignorant observer of Bozovic's politics can remain "deaf" to these warnings of the experts who until recently believed that "something could be done with Milosevic and the exponents of his politics. The trouble is in the fact that the opposition is not interested in the economic problems of their electorate.

The new Reformist Party has announced a serious attitude in relation to economic issues, even a "shadow government", which would be a great step forward in relation to the existing opposition parties whose interest in the living standard of the Serbian people seems to be as pronounced as that of the ruling party, and that means - not a bit.

The "exposure" of the ruling party made by the two economists indicates, among other things, a possible embarrassment for the opposition. The rebellion comes from the ruling party and not the formally democratic concepts. If the overthrow of the "Milosevic-Bozovic government" succeeded right away, the Serbs would have to opt for the experts, who until recently believed in the Socialist Party of Serbia, to shape their future, at least until someone more competent appears.

If Oskar Kovac accuses the ruling party with good reason for not only betraying its electoral programme but also for violating the Constitution any time it finds suitable, which is one of the levers of the totalitarian regime, than there is no other way but to turn to foreign lenders and ask of them to block the accounts of all the "nouveaux riches" from the socialist Croatia, Serbia and other republics who have been wasting their time and energy hating one another.