The Force Majeure

Anyone, but not Nikola Stanic!

That's the Montenegrins view on the Serbian proposal that the current CEO of Investbanka become the governor of the National Bank of Yugoslavia (NBJ). The strong Montenegrin stance on this issue - although in their particular diplomatic way - was confirmed also by Svetozar Marovic, the president of the Montenegrin Parliament, in his interview with the TV station BK early last week. There's the rumor too that even the Prime Minister Radoje Kontic has found the strength to present such an uncompromising demand to the representatives of the Serbian political elite.

The NBJ has been without a governor for over a year: after the picturesque dismissal of Dragoslav Avramovic, this role was overtaken by Bozidar Gazivoda since he was the deputy governor at that time. Nobody was worried about it until several months ago, not even after Gazivoda became the Federal Minister of Finance, and he found himself carrying out two important functions which by world standards frequently means the conflict of interests (while ministers of finance are inclined to spend money, governors favor the opposite attitude). Then, the question of the governor was raised again, somehow around the time when the question of the new Yugoslav President came up.

However, the Montenegrins are not the only ones against Stanic as the governor. Neither part of the Serbian establishment likes him (it can even be heard that he is "a bad man", "capable of anything"), and the bankers are not delighted either. Only the staff of Investbanka is happy and they are getting ready for a big celebration if Stanic leaves.

Stanic himself has been hoping for this office for years now (Ljuba Mihajlovic, the director of the Komercijalna Banka, is maybe the only one who desires the office more than Stanic). How far he is willing to go in order to realize his aspirations was obvious at the recent meeting of the Assembly of Beogradska Banka, when almost the entire meeting hall was intimidated by the servility of his attitude toward Borka Vucic, the director of this bank and the authority among bankers and in the presidential circles. Ms Vucic will say that Stanic will be the governor as far as she is concerned, but it is believed that she is more inclined that the office of the governor be given to Milorad Skrbic, the director of the insurance company Dunav. Milos Milosavljevic is also mentioned as the man from the shadows who may spoil the game for the present candidate.