"Establish control over secret services"

Unless a new government introduces three tiers of control of the secret services, they will continue to "gain independence", Blic daily says. Experts that the newspaper has talked to believe that this control should be established on the parliamentary, managing and judicial levels. "Establish control over secret services" Not only "independence", but "continued political manipulation and support for organized crime, as was the case with these services so far", can otherwise be expected, they warned. "The Serbian secret services are deeply privatized and owned by parties. When one party gets a mandate and installs its own boss, it wants to have absolute control, and with this, the services, contrary to their basic function, are generators of crime and corruption," military analyst Aleksandar Radic says. Zoran Dragisic, a professor at the Faculty of Security, points out that, "what's even worse", the only control comes from parliament's Council for Security, in other words, from persons belonging to political parties. "The council has always been partisan, and therefore its majority depends on that in parliament. Under such circumstances, it's unthinkable that ruling coalition MPs would vote against any report from services headed by much more important party people," he explains. These experts agreed that, "since parliamentary and political control is not yielding results", Serbia's secret services should be controlled through a body working as part of the government.

"Establish control over secret services"

Not only "independence", but "continued political manipulation and support for organized crime, as was the case with these services so far", can otherwise be expected, they warned.

"The Serbian secret services are deeply privatized and owned by parties. When one party gets a mandate and installs its own boss, it wants to have absolute control, and with this, the services, contrary to their basic function, are generators of crime and corruption," military analyst Aleksandar Radić says.

Zoran Dragišić, a professor at the Faculty of Security, points out that, "what's even worse", the only control comes from parliament's Council for Security, in other words, from persons belonging to political parties.

"The council has always been partisan, and therefore its majority depends on that in parliament. Under such circumstances, it's unthinkable that ruling coalition MPs would vote against any report from services headed by much more important party people," he explains.

These experts agreed that, "since parliamentary and political control is not yielding results", Serbia's secret services should be controlled through a body working as part of the government.