Former minister predicts "mass dismissals next year"

BELGRADE Bozidar Djelic says the new austerity measures constitute an attempt of the incompetent government to shift the burden of its own errors to citizens and Serbia. The MP of the opposition Democratic Party and former finance minister told B92 that next year Serbia will see mass dismissals and sale of assets in the public sector. Former minister predicts "mass dismissals next year" Serbia needs snap elections so as to stop the government from wandering aimlessly, Djelic said. According to him the country was not on the verge of bankruptcy one year and a half ago, when the DS lost the elections, but that this government caused this situation because "it is a record-holder in indebtedness and is introducing austerity measures so as to survive for a while longer.” "For just a year and a half, Serbia has an additional debt of EUR six billion," Djelic said, noting that it is a record in itself. Serbia must turn to domestic economy, and create conditions for employment in that domain, Djelic said. Commenting on Tuesday's call of President Tomislav Nikolic for identifying who is responsible for Serbia's economy being in such a bad state, Djelic said that is a political persecution targeted against the DS. (file) "Unrealistic" The savings that the Serbian government expects from a set of economic measures that has been put forward are not realistic, Bojan Djuric, MP for the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said Wednesday and called for discussing the measures in the parliament. Djuric told reporters in the Serbian parliament that the LDP will make an official request for a parliament meeting to be convened to discuss the matter, stressing that he does not see how the government expects the proposed measures to receive the support from all political players when it is unwilling to debate them in the parliament. Criticizing the measures, Djuric said that salary cuts in the public sector are not a good idea and it would be better if instead of punishing top professors and doctors, the government made cuts in the number of party officials in the public administration, as that would bring much greater savings. He said that the measure proposing to reduce subsidies has been put forward only to ease citizens’ dissatisfaction with the other measures. Djuric also believes that the subsidy reductions will not save the country a penny in 2013 and it is now necessary to embark on restructuring of enterprises. He also criticized the measure to raise the VAT rate from eight to 10 percent, believing that it could entail grave economic and social consequences for Serbia B92 Tanjug

Former minister predicts "mass dismissals next year"

Serbia needs snap elections so as to stop the government from wandering aimlessly, Đelić said.

According to him the country was not on the verge of bankruptcy one year and a half ago, when the DS lost the elections, but that this government caused this situation because "it is a record-holder in indebtedness and is introducing austerity measures so as to survive for a while longer.”

"For just a year and a half, Serbia has an additional debt of EUR six billion," Đelić said, noting that it is a record in itself.

Serbia must turn to domestic economy, and create conditions for employment in that domain, Đelić said.

Commenting on Tuesday's call of President Tomislav Nikolić for identifying who is responsible for Serbia's economy being in such a bad state, Đelić said that is a political persecution targeted against the DS.

"Unrealistic"

The savings that the Serbian government expects from a set of economic measures that has been put forward are not realistic, Bojan Đurić, MP for the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) said Wednesday and called for discussing the measures in the parliament.

Đurić told reporters in the Serbian parliament that the LDP will make an official request for a parliament meeting to be convened to discuss the matter, stressing that he does not see how the government expects the proposed measures to receive the support from all political players when it is unwilling to debate them in the parliament.

Criticizing the measures, Đurić said that salary cuts in the public sector are not a good idea and it would be better if instead of punishing top professors and doctors, the government made cuts in the number of party officials in the public administration, as that would bring much greater savings.

He said that the measure proposing to reduce subsidies has been put forward only to ease citizens’ dissatisfaction with the other measures.

Đurić also believes that the subsidy reductions will not save the country a penny in 2013 and it is now necessary to embark on restructuring of enterprises.

He also criticized the measure to raise the VAT rate from eight to 10 percent, believing that it could entail grave economic and social consequences for Serbia