PM promises citizens “better life in 2013”

BELGRADE PM Ivica Dacic says citizens will live slightly better in 2013 because he believes the country “will perhaps have the biggest economic growth in the region”. He told B92 that he was not thinking about early elections announced by the opposition. PM promises citizens “better life in 2013” “I think that the most important thing is for the people to have a feeling that the government understands problems the people are facing, that the government is ready to share the fate of its people when it comes to living. Meaning, it is absolutely unacceptable for the government to live better than the people,” Dacic told B92. When asked whether citizens would live better this year, he said: “I think we will because there are numerous projects and investments that will certainly be realized this year and they will inevitably lead to the GDP growth. I expect Serbia to perhaps have the biggest economic growth in the region in 2013 unlike 2012.” “But those are all minor steps forward of one, two, three four percent. We need Serbia to have at least five percent economic growth a year in 2015 and 2016, at the end of our mandate, so the people could sense that they live better. This certainly cannot happen if Serbia stops European integration,” the prime minister added. When asked about a solution for the Kosovo issue and when he expected the political dialogue to start, he said: “The political dialogue has been opened by taking the dialogue to a political level. This was proposed by President Tomislav Nikolic himself. As you know, I was not too happy about it. Topics we have discussed so far referred to the agreement on realization of what has been agreed so far. The next meeting on January 17 will be a step forward. And we will discuss the topics that are mentioned in documents that the president, government and parliament are about to adopt in early January.” Dacic stressed that the topics would be parallelism of institutions and specificity of Serbs in Kosovo. “What we manage to agree on in the talks should be turned into the law essential autonomy of Kosovo because it was defined by the (UN Security Council) Resolution 1244 and it would therefore solve the issue of whether all that is in accordance with the Constitution,” he noted. When asked when he expected Serbia to get a date for the beginning of the EU accession talks, he said: “We will get the date if we mange to make a good balance between one and the other dynamic - dynamic of the European integration and dynamic of these negotiations. However, I think it is not realistic to negotiate the issue of autonomy for Serbs in Kosovo by March. Therefore it is important not to stop all those negotiations and to have practical solutions that will allow us to move forward.” When asked whether he expected the improvement of relations in the region and whether he would meet with his Croatian counterpart, he said that the meeting should take place in the first half of the year. “I think that it is very important to do some things so we do not go too far in mutual drifting apart, which is not in our interest. Our interest is to have fair relations and good cooperation. So, I expect the meeting with (Croat PM Zoran) Milanovic in the first half of the year. The prime minister pointed out that relations in the government were very good and that all decisions were made unanimously. When asked whether he expected his cabinet to last full mandate, Dacic said: “This government should last as long as everybody is doing their job. If it does not do its job, it should not exist. This is a life test for all of us. Both for (First Deputy PM Aleksandar) Vucic and myself. And this is why it is very important not to miss this chance. We won’t have an opportunity to retake the test.” Ivica Dacic (B92) B92

PM promises citizens “better life in 2013”

“I think that the most important thing is for the people to have a feeling that the government understands problems the people are facing, that the government is ready to share the fate of its people when it comes to living. Meaning, it is absolutely unacceptable for the government to live better than the people,” Dačić told B92.

When asked whether citizens would live better this year, he said:

“I think we will because there are numerous projects and investments that will certainly be realized this year and they will inevitably lead to the GDP growth. I expect Serbia to perhaps have the biggest economic growth in the region in 2013 unlike 2012.”

“But those are all minor steps forward of one, two, three four percent. We need Serbia to have at least five percent economic growth a year in 2015 and 2016, at the end of our mandate, so the people could sense that they live better. This certainly cannot happen if Serbia stops European integration,” the prime minister added.

When asked about a solution for the Kosovo issue and when he expected the political dialogue to start, he said:

“The political dialogue has been opened by taking the dialogue to a political level. This was proposed by President Tomislav Nikolić himself. As you know, I was not too happy about it. Topics we have discussed so far referred to the agreement on realization of what has been agreed so far. The next meeting on January 17 will be a step forward. And we will discuss the topics that are mentioned in documents that the president, government and parliament are about to adopt in early January.”

Dačić stressed that the topics would be parallelism of institutions and specificity of Serbs in Kosovo.

“What we manage to agree on in the talks should be turned into the law essential autonomy of Kosovo because it was defined by the (UN Security Council) Resolution 1244 and it would therefore solve the issue of whether all that is in accordance with the Constitution,” he noted.

When asked when he expected Serbia to get a date for the beginning of the EU accession talks, he said:

“We will get the date if we mange to make a good balance between one and the other dynamic - dynamic of the European integration and dynamic of these negotiations. However, I think it is not realistic to negotiate the issue of autonomy for Serbs in Kosovo by March. Therefore it is important not to stop all those negotiations and to have practical solutions that will allow us to move forward.”

When asked whether he expected the improvement of relations in the region and whether he would meet with his Croatian counterpart, he said that the meeting should take place in the first half of the year.

“I think that it is very important to do some things so we do not go too far in mutual drifting apart, which is not in our interest. Our interest is to have fair relations and good cooperation. So, I expect the meeting with (Croat PM Zoran) Milanović in the first half of the year.

The prime minister pointed out that relations in the government were very good and that all decisions were made unanimously.

When asked whether he expected his cabinet to last full mandate, Dačić said:

“This government should last as long as everybody is doing their job. If it does not do its job, it should not exist. This is a life test for all of us. Both for (First Deputy PM Aleksandar) Vučić and myself. And this is why it is very important not to miss this chance. We won’t have an opportunity to retake the test.”