President “can’t keep up” with first deputy PM

BELGRADE Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic cannot keep up with the changes that the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) is going through, says historian Nikola Samardzic. According to him, this is widening the gap between Nikolic and First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. President “can’t keep up” with first deputy PM Samardzic said he hoped the president was a part of the political past “because he is not able to give rational and well-intentioned answers to very difficult questions he is politically responsible of”. “At some point he got political trust and I think he will slowly lose it. I see a growing gap between him and First Deputy Prime Minister and new SNS leader Aleksandar Vucic. The SNS has shown it is capable of changing, introducing new people, but I do not see that he (Nikolic) is able to follow the process,” the historian and founder of Liberal Movement of Serbia stressed. When asked what the difference was between Vucic and Nikolic, he said that it was a change of generations and that it was good that they were different. According to Samardzic, it takes a lot of time today to fix numerous disastrous moves of the previous government, including suspicious privatizations, relations with neighboring countries. When asked why he was convinced that Vucic could resolve those numerous issues, he said that he had such a big political power that it would shame if he did not use the opportunity. Samardzic admitted that he could not imagine himself saying something like that ten years ago. This society needs some sort of political amnesty, he added. “Even today you have more nonsense than real suggestions for the future,” Samardzic noted and explained he meant the media that had been “poisoning” the public ten years after PM Zoran Djindjic’s murder. “Those are conspiracy theories, pro-Soviet, anti-European concepts, that’s political religion, that’s corruption and protection of corruption, abuses we are aware of. All this has contributed to the confusion we have witnessed, that today majority of citizens believe that Kosovo is independent but when you ask them to choose Kosovo or the EU, they say Kosovo,” he underscored. However, Samardzic is not convinced that the new generation of politicians will manage to solve the Kosovo issue because it is a very complicated matter bearing in mind huge cultural differences. “Also, there is the issue of borders that politicians are closing today and they will have to be reopened during the European integration,” he said and added that Albanians would soon become victims of their own regime that had enclosed them in a small country. Tomislav Nikolic and Aleksandar Vucic (Tanjug, file) B92

President “can’t keep up” with first deputy PM

Samardžić said he hoped the president was a part of the political past “because he is not able to give rational and well-intentioned answers to very difficult questions he is politically responsible of”.

“At some point he got political trust and I think he will slowly lose it. I see a growing gap between him and First Deputy Prime Minister and new SNS leader Aleksandar Vučić. The SNS has shown it is capable of changing, introducing new people, but I do not see that he (Nikolić) is able to follow the process,” the historian and founder of Liberal Movement of Serbia stressed.

When asked what the difference was between Vučić and Nikolić, he said that it was a change of generations and that it was good that they were different.

According to Samardžić, it takes a lot of time today to fix numerous disastrous moves of the previous government, including suspicious privatizations, relations with neighboring countries.

When asked why he was convinced that Vučić could resolve those numerous issues, he said that he had such a big political power that it would shame if he did not use the opportunity. Samardžić admitted that he could not imagine himself saying something like that ten years ago.

This society needs some sort of political amnesty, he added.

“Even today you have more nonsense than real suggestions for the future,” Samardžić noted and explained he meant the media that had been “poisoning” the public ten years after PM Zoran Đinđić’s murder.

“Those are conspiracy theories, pro-Soviet, anti-European concepts, that’s political religion, that’s corruption and protection of corruption, abuses we are aware of. All this has contributed to the confusion we have witnessed, that today majority of citizens believe that Kosovo is independent but when you ask them to choose Kosovo or the EU, they say Kosovo,” he underscored.

However, Samardžić is not convinced that the new generation of politicians will manage to solve the Kosovo issue because it is a very complicated matter bearing in mind huge cultural differences.

“Also, there is the issue of borders that politicians are closing today and they will have to be reopened during the European integration,” he said and added that Albanians would soon become victims of their own regime that had enclosed them in a small country.