Weary Demagogues

All Serbian governments have shown impatience with MP questions (those under Prime Minsters Dragutin Zelenovic, Radoman Bozovic, Nikola Sainovic and Mirko Marjanovic) even the federal government under Radoje Kontic. The most cynical answer to a MP question was probably given in May 1992 to Dragan Jevtovic (Serbian Renewal Movement - SPO deputy, and later Democratic Party - DS deputy; the text cited the MP's party allegiance at the time when he asked the question) who asked if the Government had made any moves under pressure from the opposition, as was often claimed. The reply said that "the government and its Prime Minister were working in accordance with the Constitution, the law and its program and they had never, and would never work under anybody's pressure, even that of the opposition". Opposition deputies often pointed out various cases of abuse by the authorities, but more often asked questions through which they promoted their party programs.

Some of the questions concerned scandals which will drag on for years: Vojislav Nedeljkovic (SPO) asked on 15 April 1991 when the villas in Dedinje (exclusive Belgrade residential suburb) would be returned to their real owners and what was being done to prevent the selling of nationalized houses at minimal prices. Zoran Horvan (SPO) wanted to know how many villas the Serbian Government had sold, and who had bought them. Tode Vojvodic (SDS) asked who had given permission to a certain Goran Ilic from Belgrade to lease the building of the former Communist Party Municipal Committee, and who stood behind his firm GOMA. On 21 June 1991, Jovan Babic (SPO) asked for information on the activities of Borka Vucic and Teodosija Celenkovic in Cyprus, and which of the Serbian firms had capital abroad, whose firms were Veljkovic and Kostic representing in the Soviet Union...

Zoran Cirkovic (SPO) asked on 26 December 1991: "When will those patriotic citizens who gave money for the Loan for Serbia's Renaissance be given their money back?" The same day Tode Vojvodic (SDS) asked: "What has happened to the foreign currency savings of citizens who had accounts with Serbian banks?" Some questions received indirect answers, while the others have remained unanswered to this very day.

There were questions in which the opposition did the accusing at the beginning, only to end up as the accused party by the end of their mandates. Democratic Party (DS) leader Zoran Djindjic asked the government on 27 November 1991 what was happening with premises owned or leased by Croatian or Slovenian firms, he also asked who had been given building sites by Belgrade municipalities and for what purposes...

From the beginnings of pluralism and to this very day, the authorities have behaved as if the opposition and its organization and the free media were the result of someone's mistake. Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) deputies, some of the deputies representing a group of citizens, and the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) deputies during their "Praetorian Guard" period, used counter-questions in order to discredit and intimidate opponents and silence the press.

On 5 March 1993 Lazar Marjanski asked: "What is the Ministry of Information doing about the hostile media campaign against our country, above all against the Serbian people? I'm thinking particularly of Studio B and certain hostile papers."

On 24 March 1993, the Ministry of Information had the pleasure of replying: "It must not be forgotten that some of the grossest lies about Serbia have be spoken and written by our journalists, or published by the domestic press and then cited abroad. This alleviates the job of foreign propaganda kitchens and makes it much more difficult for us who work for the state bodies. It is not easy to correct assessments which have first been launched by Belgrade papers, which are falsely called free and independent. The Ministry of Information will soon carry out a detailed analysis of media activities in Serbia, from the point of view suggested by the deputy".

Questions asked by pro-regime MPs were "prophetic" and announced the authorities' future moves, and through them the authorities gauged the situation.

Socialist deputies asked more well-intentioned questions of a general social nature than the opposition deputies: why pensions were late, or why there was a milk shortage. They were rather put out when Milomir Babic (The Farmer's Party) asked some rather pointed questions about the price of milk or wheat.

MP questions most often took the form of individual attacks, which were provoked by something that had been written by the papers a few days before; and were never the beginning or end of some campaign with public or party membership participation. This is why the questions asked during the first four years didn't become a means of controlling the government, but a tiresome manifestation of demagogic battles, which with time lost all impetus, as do all actions by the opposition.

Antrfile

In the hope of finding more interesting questions than those asked by MPs, VREME turned to persons in various professions with the question: "What question would you ask?"

Slobodan Vucetic, Constitutional Court of Serbia Judge:

State of Emergency

"The Serbian Assembly, the Serbian Government and the public are familiar with the fact that the Constitutional Court of Serbia sent a letter to the Serbian Assembly two months ago in connection with the constitutionality of the Law on a State of Emergency, which gives great competencies to the Republic of Serbia President, and allows him to introduce a state of emergency at the proposal of the Government, thus suspending a number of important political freedoms and rights of citizens for its duration. The Constitutional Court has warned the Serbian Assembly that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia foresees the introduction of a state of emergency solely as a federal competency, and that the Federal Assembly has dealt with the matter entirely in the Law on Defence adopted in May 1994. This is why the Constitutional Court would like to draw the Serbian Assembly's attention to the fact that it is necessary to declare void the Serbian Law on a State of Emergency and thus remove all inconsistencies with the Federal Constitution and the Federal Law on Defence.

Bearing this in mind, I would like to ask the following question: What has the Serbian Government done so far in implementing the stand of the Serbian Constitutional Court, i.e., when will the Serbian Assembly debate the Government's proposal on annulling the Serbian Law on a State of Emergency?"

Rodoljub Draskovic, VIK Corporation President:

Internal Sanctions

"What is the Serbian Government doing about the lifting of internal sanctions, in order that the international community might lift its sanctions? By 'internal sanctions' I mean protectionism, monopoly, lawlessness, the buying of social peace, the humiliation of the population with the electricity cuts, the attitude to the media and all other system obstacles to normal business and a normal life for which we cannot blame the international community's sanctions."

Srdjan Maric, bass guitar player and front man of the Belgrade rock group Direktori:

Electricity and Ceausescu

"It is a fact that electricity is being exported. I would like to know if the money acquired this way is being used to pay off state debts (as was done in Rumania during Ceausescu's rule), or is it being spent on something else, and what."

Tomislav Popovic, Director of the Institute of Economic Sciences:

Ignoring experts

"Why is the Serbian Government more inclined to improvisation and why does it systematically ignore the economic analyses and forecasts of the Institute of Economic Sciences in its implementation of macro-economic policies, even though our analyses have been assessed by experts at home and abroad as being absolutely reliable, and were confirmed in the past 12 months?"

Borka Pavicevic, dramaturge, Director of the Center for Cultural Decontamination:

Responsibility for War Crimes

"How long will the Government and Parliament be services of the ruling party and when will Serbia's responsibility for the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the war, the policy of ethnic cleansing and war crimes be put on the agenda? Without a catharsis, without facing these questions there can be no progress. The state cannot be built on war crimes."

Vladimir Arsenijevic, winner of NIN's Best Novel in 1994 Award:

No questions

"I really have no questions I'd like to ask the Serbian Government. It can't answer any of the questions I'd really be interested in, and on the other hand, I don't wish to meddle in something about which I don't have enough information, or interest.