Master and Crocodiles

Those familiar with what is going on in the new government of Serbia claim that the first to arrive every morning in the building on the corner of Nemanjina and Knez Milosa Streets are the ministers from the black side of the “red-black coalition”, that is to say the Radicals.  Among the first is one of the five vice-presidents of the government — Ph.D. Vojislav Seselj.  A little after eight o’clock, Seselj “lines up” all the Radicals in the government and checks what each one is doing that day.  When he is finished playing “premier” with his people, Seselj sometimes calls up the real premier, Mirko Marjanovic, again according to those who are in the know, and somewhat sarcastically asks him: “Mirko, where are your ministers?”

Regardless of the total truthfulness of this story about the dialogue which takes place between the members of the “red-black coalition”, it is a fact that a number of “Mirko’s people” really do come to work extremely late.  Out of 20 members of the Government from SPS and JUL, seven of them are at the same time directors of certain firms and members of executive boards of various companies or representatives of important public institutions.  Along with all that, there’s talk of “ministerial companies”, especially of those registered in the names of wives, children, sisters-in-law, etc.  In any case, many of “Mirko’s people” have places to visit before they come to work at parliament. This practice was also quite widespread in Marjanovic’s previous cabinet, which many in the opposition (including also at the time Vojislav Seselj) called the “government of directors”.

PERSONAL EXAMPLE: At one of the first sessions of the new government, it is said that Seselj demanded from his colleagues in SPS and JUL to submit resignations to all directorial positions they hold parallel with their ministerial posts. As soon as he became vice-president of the government, Seselj withdrew from his position as mayor of Zemun.  The same thing was done by Aleksandar Vucic, minister for information, who submitted his resignation as director of the “Pinki” Sports-Business Center in Zemun, as well as by Gordana Pop-Lazic, minister for local self-government, who was until recently employed in the Zemun Community Government.

The personal examples set by the Radicals do not appear to have made much of an impression on the ministers-directors from the other side of the coalition, who are not even dreaming of the possibility of “taking a break” from the other positions they hold.  Seselj’s question, “Mirko, where are your ministers”, has for now been taken up by members of the government from the ranks of the left as merely the first skirmish.  Which does not mean that when the time is right, it could not be used opportunely.  At that time Vojislav Seselj himself could revert to his former “foul-mouthed manner”, so detrimental to the socialists, which until recently produced such statements as: “The Socialist government is incapable of stopping crime because it is itself steeped in it up to the neck and right up to the highest levels of authority.”

Otherwise, the news that ten days ago the government had appointed ministers’ deputies and assistants, as well as secretaries and directors of other state agencies and organizations, has been slightly overshadowed by the referendum and preparations for the historical “no”.  In the official report from this session, it is stated that “with the executed appointments, maximum professionalism and efficiency will be ensured in dealing with questions under the government’s jurisdiction.”  It seems that behind this well dressed truth lies the fact that copy machines in the government building will be working overtime in the future.  The newly appointed deputies and assistants will represent a specific kind of control over ministers.  Thus, for instance, an SPS minister most often received two deputies — one from JUL, and the other from SRS.  And it works the other way around--the work of radical ministers will be monitored by four eyes.  All that could look something like this: as soon as a socialist minister hops over to his company, the radical assistant could hop over to the copy machine to copy the document which the minister just signed — just for insurance, because you never know when it could come in handy.  Thus the new Serbian government of 36 ministers in all got an entire attendant, administrative army of various assistants, deputies, and professional associates who will, among other things, follow with one eye what the other side is doing.

COLLECTED WORKS: Such a division of ministerial jurisdictions and allotment of their assistants and deputies was promised to Vojislav Seselj at the time of the formation of the new government.  The Socialists knew that the coalition will have a price, and that this time its cost will be disproportionally higher that it was on any other previous occasion.  This time Seselj is getting more than he ever did before.  At present, his team is spreading throughout the government, and it will soon infiltrate the executive boards of big public enterprises.  This is still going quite slowly, perhaps because the Left is having more difficulty in permitting the Radicals access to the exclusive domains of public enterprises than it did in letting them into the government.  Even though he has not requested that yet, Seselj could later demand a division of diplomatic assignments.
The jobs of people who sit on executive boards of public enterprises are otherwise not unimportant or small.  They decide on the companies economic policies, appoint directors, decide on cash flow, and investments.  Not too long ago, Marija Milosevic, the daughter of the president of FRY, admitted in a newspaper interview that she received part of the money for her Radio “Kosava” from friends at Jugopetrol.  Recently, it was also announced that Jugopetrol will finance book publishing, and that it will be possible to purchase works by many important Yugoslav and foreign authors at their gasoline stations — the foremost among them being Ph.D. Mira Markovic.  With the entry of the Radicals into the executive board of the oil men, perhaps even Seselj could see the day when his collected works will be sold at gasoline stations.  Besides the opportunity of influencing important business decisions, sitting on an executive board is also a very lucrative affair.  Concretely, in the gasoline industry, that job brings in 4,000 dinars a month, that is to say 25 percent of the salary of the general director of the entire system.

STAFF SHORTAGE: Even though they know that entering the muddy and cold water of sharing power with the Radicals also includes permitting entry into executive boards of public enterprises, the Socialists are ever more frequently in their private conversations pointing to the fact that Seselj in fact does not have enough “politically well-versed” people.  They claim that the Radicals barely pulled together a team for the government, having to appoint people who until yesterday were community government secretaries.  At the same time, they are clearly forgetting that many SPS ministers come with similar “pedigrees”.  At least among the Socialists it was possible to become minister of health after being director of a community health center, or the position of minister of education was filled by someone who was barely more educated than your local shopkeeper.  The story that the Radicals do not have enough quality people is in recent days particularly current with the case of Radio Television Serbia.  According to this story, in the absence of his own qualified staff, Seselj is even ready to look outside his party for people who could ensure equal coverage in the TV news with the one his coalition partner is getting.

Since the day the new government was formed, stories of Seselj having bit the hook given him by Milosevic have not stopped.  According to such theories, the Radicals will only get crumbs from the table in the end, because the Left is still not allowing anyone close to where real power is concentrated, nor to where money is actually counted.  However, the majority of Socialists (and they know best and first hand where power and money are) do not think that the Radicals are at the present picking mere crumbs from the table.  On the contrary, Ph.D. Borisav Jovic, a man who knows the “inside” exceptionally well as one of the former Socialist insiders, claimed several days ago that at the present, behind the facade of understanding, SPS and SRS are actually competing in proving who is paying more attention to national concerns.  Behind it all there is a concern as to how to increase their electoral body can so that they can cause a crisis in the government, a new election, and in this way to get rid of the present, unpleasant coalition partner, states Ph.D. Jovic.

The former mayor of Belgrade, Nebojsa Covic, another person who has been near the top for some time, recently took a similar look at what is happening between the Left and the Radicals after they began sharing power at different levels.  “For the left it was a marriage of convenience which they could not avoid, while for the Radicals it was an obligation toward their progenitor and an estimate that sitting next to the very feet of the leader on the throne, they can size up the situation better and take over power at the opportune moment.  For the technique of a coup d’etat to be successfully applied, it is necessary to hold certain reigns in one’s hand and that is what the Radicals have in mind,” stated Covic.