Left, Right, Come Together!

Draskovic’s statement set the distance the SPO has to cross to go from the biggest opposition party it once was to the SPS coalition partner. That half step practically means that many things have been agreed on the new government and that we’ll learn later just what Draskovic got and who the SPO will put into ministerial posts.

Last Monday, when he left Serbian President Milan Milutinovic’s cabinet after consultations, Draskovic seemed calm and satisfied. He told TV crews about what had been agreed and kept his hand in his pocket all the time. The next day that hand in his pocket was turned into a joke: he must have been given something and was afraid to let go of it.
Newspaper speculation, quoting well-informed sources on both sides, most often said Draskovic won the 8+1 formula. Under it, the new government would include eight SPO ministers, eight deputy ministers. The +1 means Draskovic who is rumored to be getting the post of FRY deputy prime minister charged with foreign relations. Those sources claimed that the SPO and leftist coalition struck one more deal: their partnership will spread to the local level in Serbia and to the federal level.

The next day, the agreement seemed to be functioning at a local level in Belgrade. The SPO-SPS coalition made short work of the Djindjic-Seselj coalition at a Belgrade city assembly session. Djindjic’s DS said before the session that they would be able to oust all SPO people from city government posts, primarily city assembly vice-president Milan Bozic and Studio B management board chairman Aleksandar Cotric. All the SPO assembly members showed up for the session, but five DS members didn’t and the Socialists sided with the SPO.

A VREME source from the SPS also confirmed that the deal on the new government is close. The talks on a new government were long, going on even when the press claimed they had been ended or interrupted. Several ranking SPS officials were in contact with the SPO. Beobanka director Zlatan Perucic took over for the final rounds of the negotiations after being mentioned as one of the potential candidates for Serbian prime minister.

As this article goes to print, Milutinovic still hasn’t said who the new prime minister will be . Formally, Milutinovic hcs to choose the new prime minister. Informally, and no one in the SPS is hiding that fact, Slobodan Milosevic has the final say on anything political in this country. The post of prime minister is important and the SPS has to hold onto it because the post controls the state treasury and has the right to propose the dissolving of parliament. Giving that kind of power to anyone else is unacceptable to Milosevic.
Draskovic didn’t say much about the new prime minister after the consultations with Milutinovic, but the next day he repeated his demand that the post has to go to the SPO. “The Socialists can’t count on all state posts when they have only 86 seats in the republican parliament. No one in the SPS has said my personnel demands are unacceptable or that we’re demanding more than we deserve. All that was said by the Democrats and Radicals,” he said and added that another solution is also possible, but he doesn’t want to believe in it. It’s possible that the SPO and left could agree on a program but disagree on people. In that case, the SPO could support a minority leftist government but that government could easily fall.

The VREME SPS source said Draskovic’s demands mean the agreement is more than just a half step away. “We’ll know everything once the Serbian parliament elects the MPs it’ll send to the federal parliament Chamber of Republics. If that goes easily, everything has been agreed and his statements are a last bargaining attempt. In regard to the price paid to the SPO it is certainly lower than what we gave to New Democracy. At least the SPO has 45 seats in parliament.”

Mirko Marjanovic ranked high on the list of candidates for prime minister. In the SPS there have been rumors about Milomir Minic and Zoran Lilic. Zlatan Perucic was also mentioned. Some people claim that Milosevic might introduce someone else.

Some of the press singled out Marjanovic as the sure loser and quoted the minutes of a government meeting published by Dnevni Telegraf. Marjanovic clashed fiercely with deputy Prime Minister Svetozar Krstic at the meeting. Some sources said the transcript of the minutes was leaked by JUL. Inside the SPS, everyone thinks Marjanovic is a winner because the minutes showed that he is firmly in control of his ministers. Also, Krstic’s New Democracy was humiliated. The number of people who were disappointed by Marjanovic’s performance is much lower than the number of people who liked how he handled the meeting. The one thing that did reduce his chances of staying prime minister was the regulation on the measure of financial discipline.

In the next few days, Milutinovic will release a document detailing in nine points the priorities of state interests. One of those covers national reconciliation, the flag, coat of arms, anthems. The other eight will probably be instructions on how to solve the country’s problems.

Draskovic said the SPO program was respected completely and the Socialists said this is what they always thought and they never changed course. Some of the regime media said Milutinovic’s Teclaration on national unity is a document equal to the constitution. Some even drew parallels with the Serbian parliament from early this century before WWI when a similar document on a minimum of national interests was adopted.

It’s hard to deny that the SPS-SPO love affair isn’t primarily based on those two parties’ fear of elections. The Socialists are now forced to share power for the first time. Draskovic has gotten a big chance to try to change the system from within. His political opponents are saying that the SPO won’t get any real power, only money.

The new coalition government with some 10 ministers from the biggest opposition party will be an interesting experiment. Milosevic, who loves to be in total control, now has to risk teaming up with Draskovic. If the coalition fails quickly, the coalition with Draskovic could prove expensive at elections.
Draskovic also can’t rejoice too soon. Serious economists are saying that the state is short of money.