Status Quo

Right before the March 9 anniversary, which also stands as a metaphor of the six-year-long battle for the liberation of the media, and following the conclusion of the three-month-long protest defined as the "Serbian revolution of charm", the coalition Zajedno suggested that a round table be organized on the conditions for democratic parliamentary and presidential elections in Serbia. The suggestion was signed by Vuk Draskovic, Zoran Djindjic and Vesna Pesic and forwarded to the top government circles (president of the republic, prime minister, parliament speaker) and to the parliamentary parties. It was pointed out that without meeting those conditions, the coalition Zajedno would not take part in the elections, they have not verified their mandates in the Yugoslav parliament and they did not participate in the consultation talks on forming the federal government, while the delegates of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), the Democratic Party (DS) and the Civil Alliance of Serbia (GSS) are not passing the threshold of the Serbian assembly.

At the round table they are demanding, talks would be held on the freedom and openness of state media and a balanced approach of the parliamentary parties to them, especially during the pre-election campaign. All vital elements should be ascertained for an urgent passing of the law of financing political parties, for the new electoral law, and an agreement should be reached on the time when the elections are to be held. One of the topics open for discussion would be the establishment of all necessary mechanisms of an electoral procedure control, including OSCE monitors, as well as establishing a special court which would send down verdicts on all appeals.

The government is acting as though it doesn't hear that what the opposition is really demanding is an agreement with the government's ruling circles and continues calling the opposition "for talks" at the parliamentary panel formed in December of last year.

The general secretary of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and the head of the MP club of the above mentioned party in the assembly of Serbia Gorica Gajevic states on March 14 that to hold a round table according to the coalition Zajedno suggestion would be "a step backwards" and that the coalition "wishes to procure something using blackmail which it could obtain at the panel discussion as well". She further insists that all issues proposed by them (Zajedno), including reaching decision by consensus, have been accepted at the panel, however the coalition Zajedno wishes "to replace the assembly" with the round table "which is impossible" .

Since the ruling party revels in passing laws which prohibit past occurrences, it tried to pass a restrictive law on information, and what could have been expected was a revision of the law on public transport and football rules by which the policemen and football referees would be deprived of their whistles. "Aunt Rada's law" on information however has met with the public reactions it has so that the government, pressured from outside and within, is announcing a new draft which SPS is to discuss at the beginning of this week.

Recently, a program has been allocated for party presentations on state television, however the coalition Zajedno instantly recognizes old manipulations in it - it is a derogatory program at which various regime sofa parties excel. In the middle of March the Democratic Party announced that "Milosevic's regime's actions are still spiteful towards the entire world, which is why our country has not received any trade concessions and why the outer wall of the sanctions has not been lifted".

In a many-hour-long debate in a special news show of the Belgrade BK television station on March 24, the representatives of the government and the opposition took part. As could be discerned in that and the following and yet another discussion on state television, the government representatives are defending their stand that the one who holds power "should have the last word on television", are hazily agreeing with the idea that the parties should be more equally presented on television however they, such as the Yugoslav United Left (JUL) president Ljubisa Ristic, are mincing words that simultaneously with the opening up of the "so-called state media, the so-called independent media should open up in the same manner which are strictly controlled by the opposition and from abroad".

The president of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Vojislav Seselj, siding first with the ones and later with the others, stands out in his customary fashion, and is actually working to the benefit of the government by destroying the atmosphere for talks, by shouting, interrupting those who are speaking, badmouthing the coalition Zajedno above all, and raising the spirits of the socialists as he had done in the assembly of Serbia at the time when he was the most favored MP (by Milosevic). He otherwise has taken the stand that state control in the media sphere must be radically reduced and systematically achieved by privatization, while in actual fact he is demanding that the mandates of the First December party club be returned to him, a dissident group which broke away from SRS.

Along with the assessment that the situation in the media is "worse than ever", the leader of SPO Vuk Draskovic during the BK discussion says: "We shall force Milosevic to pass another Lex Specialis. I am afraid that he did not fully comprehend the whistles". The deadline for launching the round table talks expired on March 20, speculations on major personnel shifts are expected at the end of June, Zajedno is demanding that from the moment of reaching an agreement on all the conditions until the elections are to be scheduled at least three months should elapse while certain statements suggest that whistles could be heard again at the Saint Vid's day festivities on June 28, possibly sooner.