Seselj’s New Deal

This reporter noted that Zemun residents are divided on the new authorities; some welcomed and supported the general deregulation and stimulation of private initiatives, the efficiency of the town hall administration, lack of corruption and the generally relaxed approach that characterizes Zemun Mayor Vojislav Seselj’s economic doctrines. Others, angered by the chaotic destruction of the urban face of the orderly old town warned of social demagogy, Balkanization or worse, territorial expansion and the abuse of Zemun as a model municipality for the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) to base its election campaign on.

Remember that the defeated Socialists did not show too much consideration for the new SRS authorities despite their long-time political flirting (which is still in place) and they had plenty of time to take care of themselves between November 3 and the hand over. As in other municipalities, their long term in power made them careless. Zemun residents said they handed out 19 municipality-owned apartments from November 3 to 17 before they remembered that the building that was restored at a cost of 100,000 DEM for a future local radio does not meet urban standards and tore it down rather than leave it to Seselj.

Like other places in the former Yugoslavia, Zemun was the victim of a completely wrong urban policy for decades. Its infrastructure was used and neglected; savings were made on things that demanded maintenance; city rent was an unknown concept. The result was what the Radicals found: sewage and water supply system problems, as well as difficulties with traffic, telephones, the lack of maintenance of office and housing space and an urban planning nightmare.

The SRS got its hands on a nice town which functioned much better under the Austro-Hungarian empire than it does now. The moment came for Seselj to show the superiority of his SRS and its program in terms of local rule. The first thing that became obvious was the SRS sense of political marketing and propaganda. Just 20 days after the handover, Seselj was boasting that he had restored order in Zemun. His first steps were populist demagogy: restoring discipline to municipal services, searching for scandals and embezzlements committed by the previous authorities, declaring a clean hands policy, and a demonstrative auction of Communist books owned by the town hall (earning 40,000 dinars). What Seselj did was to practically declare a new deal like Franklin D. Roosevelt did in the 1930s.

Zemun residents say Seselj did achieve some things in regard to the town hall administration: the clerks are more polite, matters are settled quickly and efficiently but only those matter which are within the powers of the local authorities; the centralized republican authorities are still in the hands of the same people and their ministries can obstruct the local authorities. Money is the key issue: what percentage of taxes is channeled back into the municipalities and towns. The republican authorities and ruling party will do everything they can to make that percentage as low as possible for opposition local authorities.

A number of businessmen this reporter talked to said, with some concern, that the new Zemun authorities don’t operate with corruption or through connections. Seselj seems to have kept his promise to eradicate corruption. One Zemun businessman said he submitted a request for something and went to see his old friend, an elected municipality official, for protection. He was told that he is number 3001 in line and that he can’t be moved up the list. "This chaos suits me completely: in two or three years I’ll be rich enough to retire but I like the fact that the people in Zemun are men of principle: someone has to restore order to this state and I’m going to vote for Seselj," he said.

The next step was the sale of land to refugees, a gesture that was supposed to illustrate SRS patriotism. Construction land allotments of about half a hectare were sold for 2,500 DEM each; the buyers were promised complete infrastructure (water, electricity, sewage, phones, roads). The question is whether Seselj looked into his treasury before making that promise since the sale price can hardly cover the cost of that infrastructure. That doesn’t seem to be a problem for Seselj: hastily made promises are a part of politics here. The important thing is to turn Zemun into a model of the future SRS authorities which Seselj says will be constituted this summer once he wins the presidential elections.

If something like that happens, Seselj will face the same or similar problems as in Zemun: development, conceptual and financial problems primarily. Namely, the Radicals inherited a naturally poor and artificially impoverished environment in Zemun and they had to find money. The auctioning of Tito’s books, busts and portraits can only happen once and that leaves income from local taxes, office rent, possible loans and whatever taxes the republic gives them. Some money came in from the sale of land but the greatest fuss in Zemun was over the sale of kiosk licenses. The Radicals sold some 2,000 of those licenses at a price of 100 dinars each although a Belgrade city regulation limits that price to 50 dinars. Kiosks selling all kinds of things sprung up all over Zemun and the local inhabitants didn’t like them at all.

Zemun residents got angry because the historic image of their town was destroyed in just a few weeks, making it look like a flea market. All those kiosks are selling virtually the same things, the smell of frying meat is everywhere and the whole thing seems oriental.

Zemun’s serious businessmen are doubtful about the prospects of that laissez-faire small scale economy: will the Zemun market be rich enough for the kiosks to survive? One of them wondered whether the development concept for a place like Zemun can be built on a "kiosk economy". "The day will come soon when this state will introduce a legal monopoly on tobacco and that moment two thirds of these kiosks will disappear. They’ll battle among themselves through prices," he said.

A look into the spending power of Zemun residents confirms that pessimistic assessment: supermarkets are selling only the basic foodstuffs.

The Radicals can speed up the municipal administration and make it more polite, perhaps they can even eradicate small scale corruption; but what they can’t do is raise living standards and turn Zemun into the kind of place its inhabitants would like to have.

The fact that the municipal services have more user-friendly working hours and the fact that municipal SRS officials are working without pay is commendable but that is of little use in a system which systematically made sure local rule remained at that low level.