Learning From Mistakes

New Democracy (ND) has been a coalition partner in the Serbian government for four years. The difference in their policies is a greater level of tolerance which was correctly manifested in efforts to mediate between the Serbian authorities and the Kosovo Albanians, between the Serbian Socialist Party (SPS) and Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO) and somewhat between Serbia and Montenegro. That was the reason why VREME asked ND leader Dusan Mihajlovic for a comment of the most critical segments of political reality in Serbia and Yugoslavia.

VREME: What’s your assessment of the Contact Group stand for new sanctions against Yugoslavia due to the situation in Kosovo?
MIHAJLOVIC: “I see it as pressure on Belgrade to start resolving the Kosovo problem through political means. I hope that we’ve all learned some lesson from the failure to resolve the crisis in the former Yugoslavia, and that no one will repeat those mistakes. We’ve probably learned that there can be no change of borders without war, and that the only lasting prospect for peace, security, prosperity and democracy in this region is its integration into the EU. Without that prospect and without clearly differentiating between terrorism and human rights, there is no good solution. The international community is responsible for offering the Serbs and ethnic Albanians a good solution not a choice between Milosevic and Jashari. My choice is Serbia and Europe with Kosovo as a European region in a Serbia without borders, with a free flow of ideas, people, goods and capital.”

What would you, as a coalition partner in the Serbian government, see as the minimum which should be offered the Kosovo Albanians to not only stabilize but improve the situation in Serbia’s southern province?

“The ND was the first on the political scene with a proposal to start resolving the Kosovo problem in a dialogue between Serbians and Albanians, because we assessed that the existing situation can’t hold out for long since it doesn’t suit either side. We made our proposal three years ago in a platform for a so-called “historic agreement between Serbians and Albanians”. The basis of that platform is an orientation not to create new borders but to jointly pave the way towards a European integration and the values of west European society.”

What is the minimum the Kosovo Albanians would have to do?

“Primarily, to condemn and distance themselves from terrorism and give up the unrealistic demands for secession which they failed to get peacefully.”

Why do you think a Serbian government hasn’t been formed for almost six months?

“The government can be formed. The only reason it hasn’t been formed is because the players in that game have no clear interest in subordinating their party needs to the interests of the citizens of Serbia.”

Have Serbia and its citizens suffered political and economic damage because of that situation with the authorities?
“This is the least of the problems with the authorities. The bigger problem is the lateness of internal economic and political reforms and the existence of the outer wall of sanctions. Any government makes sense if it deals with those two issues and resolves them. I said this will be the year of a decision, because the solving of problems can no longer be delayed.”

What place do you see for the ND in the new government?

“The ND has a place only in a coalition government of democratic parties with a clear program: the lifting of the outer wall of sanctions and speedy implementation of reforms. That kind of government would be formed on a specific program under the principle of sharing power and responsibility.”

What is the first and most important condition to eradicate crime?

“Raising living standards. Without economically independent people, there can be no politically independent citizens, and without them, there can be no good political activities which should force the state to launch an efficient fight against all forms of crime.

The fight against crime can’t be used for ideological purposes and be aimed against private property, successful companies and rich individuals, because there can be no rich society without them.

We have to be aware that the witchhunt against private businessmen has a great political effect in a situation where most people have a hard life. Political demagogues know the old saying “bread and games” and when there isn’t enough bread they offer more games.”

Do you believe that the recent arrests of several well-known businessmen is the start of a real fight against crime?

“I don’t know. I said the witchhunt policy is short-term and always counterproductive. That does not mean that I’m siding with anyone, but I do respect the principal that everyone is innocent until a court rules differently. I believed that the time of sentences in the press and a lynching atmosphere were gone for good. But, poverty has its effect, and we’ve all grown used to a lack of respect for the principles of democracy and the state of law. A hunger for blood and sacrifice won’t feed the hungry, and I’m afraid justice will go hungry as well, because the people who are guilty for a criminalization of society will go unpunished.

But, I repeat, the real start to the fight against crime is true reforms, a market, competition, equal positions and the same conditions for all citizens and companies in the face of the law and state bodies. And above all, the abolishing of social property, a complete privatization.”