Tadić on crisis, EU, Kosovo, Vojvodina

It is time to set the record straight and give Vojvodina the autonomy it deserves. It will surely be another EU pre-condition in the near future.

Straight talk Tadic please!
Tadić urged the six-point plan to be implemented as soon as possible, "because it was adopted by the UN Security Council".
The six point plan is a Serbian plan regarding Kosova but rejected but Kosova institututions. The plan was "accepted" by SC purely to get EULEX in Kosova because Serbia was looking for excuses not to have EULEX in. Tadic ask Kostunica because he "knows better" these matters....))

Here in Ireland our economy is going down the tubes. Serbia and all other countries in the Balkans are going to be affected. I hope that Serbia will survive this recession. But Serbia will, because the people are fantastic. God bless you all.

amazing that Tadic expects the world to respect him, when he gets up and says obvious mistruths.
anyone want to help him out and provide documentation that the Security Council adopted the 6 point plan. Preferable not a statement to Serbian press by Serbian leaders.

It has become increasingly clear to me over the past few months that Tadic does not have it in him to drive Serbia forward, as Zoran Djindjic did before him.

To be clear from the start I had many problems with Djindjic and it irritated me the way that he and people like Beba Popovic seemed to have little concern for ordinary people.

But in the end it is necessary for a government to have a motor to constantly push forward, particularly so in Serbia where so many things are left up in the air, including unsolved cases, retried cases, hidden secrets, corrupt politicians etc.

Even since 2000 there have been dozens of events going on that are worthy of an African country (with respect) rather than Serbia.

My only conclusion is that there is not the political will for change, or rather there is no passion to drive forward this change.

So with the likes of Djindjic you get policies you don't like and people you don't like doing things you don't like. But you also get results and direction and a government that is not afraid to take unpopular decisions. Vestred interests are frightened in such a situation and its no wonder the gutter press constantly ran stories against him.

Tadic you have to find somebody younger, uncorrupted and with more passion, your annointed successor if you will. This man or woman should be Prime Minister and must not be afraid to take on the sleepy concensus.

I'm afraid we are rotting here. New elections might get rid of some radicals and make things easier in parliament, but the problem is the system, or rather the attitude of those that are in the system.

In these times of crisis it is time for the Serbian people to be led, and not to pander to supposed popular opinion peddled by the popular press.

To Lambros Pandeanu:

Clearly the people of Vojvodina do not want the autonomy foreigners want Serbia to five Vojvodina:
1. The two parties advocating such an autonomy [LDP and LSV] barely get 10% of the votes in Vojvodina.
2. Their biggest potential allies, the Hungarians, vote for parties not concerned with Vojvodina's autonomy but more with increasing the powers of municipalities [ideally the ones they inhabit,but aware this is impossuble they are inclined to a support an increase in municipal power throughout all of Serbia].
- 3. The majority of people in Vojvodina are satisfied with current autonomy levels.
- 4. The majoirty vote for parties urging small increase Tadic and his allies, those in favour of the status coup -- DSS, those against autonomy SRS. All of these three groupings have more votes then the extreme autonomists.

A country as small as Serbia cannot hope to prop up it's currency if the world's currency dealers decide otherwise. Tadic will just burn away all the Russian money, leaving Serbia without 400Million from Russia and it's energy companies in foreign hands. GENIUS.

It would be better to let the dinar do find it's own level in the markets without intervening and if companies and consumers get hit by rising debt levels, spending that money helping them instead of lining the pockets of the world currency dealers and speculators.

Mr Tadic and Serbia, you have a lot to learn about free markets and this is going to be a painful lesson.

The six point plan is a Serbian plan regarding Kosova but rejected but Kosova institututions. The plan was "accepted" by SC purely to get EULEX in Kosova because Serbia was looking for excuses not to have EULEX in. Tadic ask Kostunica because he "knows better" these matters....))
(EA, 1 February 2009 17:02)

In other owrds EA, their word and signature is not worth the paper it is written on.

Also you mention that it was rejected by "Kosova". I don't recall "Kosova" being a part of those negotiations or being asked at all.

EA,
The 6 point plan was part of Ban Ki Moon's reprt to the UNSC, it was never accepted or rejected or an action taken. Both Serbia and Russia "mentioned" it during their part of discussions but there was never any action by the UNSC itself. The statement from the President never mentions 6 point plan when it invites Eulex into Kosovo. No one is ablt to produce legitimate documentation that the UNSC adopted the 6 point plan.

Congratulations, Mr. President! I am deeply impressed by Mr. Tadic's expertise: there seems to be no field of human activity he is not superbly knowledgeable about. I wish my country - Germany - had a politician of such competence, leadership and vision: we would never have the economic, moral and cultural downfall like the one we are currently suffering.
And the world would definitely be a better place...

@bganon
Your comment is very accurate..i would only say that here in Italy every body agree that there is a huge and i repeat huge difference between a giant like Djindic was and the 2 dwarfs THAT ARE IN CHARGE OF SERBIA NOW..
Tadic lacks of vision and guts and Jeremic is only fulfilling his own ego...
you are in big trouble...and no one can save you right now

I agree with PB that Serbia should let its currency float. With a trade deficit of nearly 10 bln dollar a year 400 million will evaporate within days.

Look to the Argentina economic crisis of 1999. They kept their currency high too - until they didn't have any money left. Then they crashed: they had to sell out the country and didn't have a penny to soften the crush.

It looks like that is the fate Tadic will deliver for Serbia too.

Also you mention that it was rejected by "Kosova". I don't recall "Kosova" being a part of those negotiations or being asked at all.
(Peggy, 1 February 2009 23:06)

That's precisely why the government of Kosova have rejected these "points" and they will never see any possibility into realization.
Nothing can be implemented in Kosova without that country's government consent.

"Also you mention that it was rejected by "Kosova". I don't recall "Kosova" being a part of those negotiations or being asked at all.
(Peggy, 1 February 2009 23:06)
Peggy,
Just to be correct with you. Kosova was asked to agreed the Serbian plan but it was rejected. It was similar scenario for Serbia to accept the Ahtisari Plan...the idea some UNSC of "accepting" the Serbia six point plan was to get EULEX in otherwise would have been a deadlock.

Why calling for a strong man in Serbia - instead of asking the souvereign = the citizens: which direction they want to go in the future ?? Such a system is called DEMOCRACY. Serbian politicians should have the courage to ask their souvereign - otherwise it will go back and forth, like it did for almost one decade. Whether the EU is the goal or not, must not be decided by the political elite. The electorate has to give them a clear order, in which direction they should push the (rest of) political energy.

Britain tried to prop up Sterling so as to keep it's value high and stay in the ERM. That failed and cost Britain £10 Billion or so. Currently Russia is trying to protect the Ruble. that is also failing as we speak and Russia has wasted who knows how many billions in the process.

Don't fritter away Serbia's tiny foreign currency reserves Mr Tadic.

I'd warn that those that advocate no intervention or letting the market take care of currency value should remember that lack of regulation and government intervention is the thing that got the world into the financial crisis in the first place.

I can understand why some advocate that Serbia does not intervene to support the dinar, but my counter argument is that it should have purchased far more euros when the dinar is overvalued. In that way Serbia would have more than enough money in its coffers to ensure that the dinar doesn't drop like a lead balloon. You have to remember this is not just about the value of the dinar, this is about the wages / pensions of Serbian citizens. They are paid in dinars and prices for goods and services are increasing all the time, the most recent excuse being the falling dinar. Basic goods like food and drink, bills that everybody has to pay - they are all affected by a weaker dinar, not to mention the monopolists who rub their hands at the prosect of yet another increase in their profit margins.

In the end saying that the market should dicate currency value is just another form of Neo-liberalism.

That is a (IMO) wicked philosophy which I am firmly against.

bganon - "lack of regulation and government intervention is the thing that got the world into the financial crisis in the first place." which do you mean? the two are mutually exclusive. either there should be regulation in which case the govt is involved or there isn't and therefore no govt intervention.

There may be a case for intervention in other markets but not for intervention in currency markets in my opinion. they work prety fine as they are now.

The dinar is dropping because of all the foreign currency exposure Serbia as a whole has and it's poor current account situation. Is that the forex markets fault? NO. This is where your government intervention should be taking place, i.e. controlling the amount of foreign currency loans relative to domestic currency loans. that imbalance is coming home to roost. it was tempting to borrow in Euro's when the rates were much lower but a lot of people didn't take the currency risk into account. Serbia isn't the only country in this mess, most of eastern Europe did the same trick.

It would be better if Tadic stamped out the monopolies which make Serbia more expensive than western Europe and also to banish the laws which Allow Serbian citizens/companies to charge more to foreigners in Serbia than serbian citizens.

maybe you'll attract foreigners into Serbia who'll bring their hard currency with them. Until Serbians learn not to rip off foreigners, maybe more will come to the benefit of the economy. For god's sake, put a government in power who knows how to stimulate the economy instead of pandering to big business interests.

until then, serbia doesn't have any sympathy from me. It created its own mess and could reverse this situation if it wanted to.

Does Serbia want to though?

Luigi,

Imagine: both these "dwarfs" are actually titans compared with what politicians many neighbor countries have to deal with. Knowing that somewhere else is worse does not make the situation is Serbia better. It is actually worse because today everything in economy does not know country borders.

@Ataman
Yes i recognize that in the neighbourhood the situation is bleak...and i have also to apologize that this kind of comment comes from Italy...better looking at our "dwarfs"...any way opinion on the "dynamic duo" maybe is harsh but many people (as i ) was expecting something more from them...

bganon - "lack of regulation and government intervention is the thing that got the world into the financial crisis in the first place."

I agree. But that is not an excuse for ignoring the fundamentals. The market pressure on the dinar is not just speculation. It is grounded in the realisation that Serbia is living far above its means, as can been seen in its trade deficit and budget deficit.

You can fight against the market, but in the end the market will win. Not only because it has more money: Serbia is living no on foreign credit. This can't go on forever and at some point Serbia will find that nobody wants to give it yet another loan.

I understand that a devaluation of the dinar will mean higher prices for Serbia's citizens. Sometimes the world is hard. But in the long term a lower dinar is better for them too: it will increase Serbia's exports that will and that will help to prevent a further decline.

It is time to set the record straight and give Vojvodina the autonomy it deserves. It will surely be another EU pre-condition in the near future.

Congratulations, Mr. President! I am deeply impressed by Mr. Tadic's expertise: there seems to be no field of human activity he is not superbly knowledgeable about. I wish my country - Germany - had a politician of such competence, leadership and vision: we would never have the economic, moral and cultural downfall like the one we are currently suffering.
And the world would definitely be a better place...

The six point plan is a Serbian plan regarding Kosova but rejected but Kosova institututions. The plan was "accepted" by SC purely to get EULEX in Kosova because Serbia was looking for excuses not to have EULEX in. Tadic ask Kostunica because he "knows better" these matters....))
(EA, 1 February 2009 17:02)

In other owrds EA, their word and signature is not worth the paper it is written on.

Also you mention that it was rejected by "Kosova". I don't recall "Kosova" being a part of those negotiations or being asked at all.

Here in Ireland our economy is going down the tubes. Serbia and all other countries in the Balkans are going to be affected. I hope that Serbia will survive this recession. But Serbia will, because the people are fantastic. God bless you all.

Straight talk Tadic please!
Tadić urged the six-point plan to be implemented as soon as possible, "because it was adopted by the UN Security Council".
The six point plan is a Serbian plan regarding Kosova but rejected but Kosova institututions. The plan was "accepted" by SC purely to get EULEX in Kosova because Serbia was looking for excuses not to have EULEX in. Tadic ask Kostunica because he "knows better" these matters....))

amazing that Tadic expects the world to respect him, when he gets up and says obvious mistruths.
anyone want to help him out and provide documentation that the Security Council adopted the 6 point plan. Preferable not a statement to Serbian press by Serbian leaders.

To Lambros Pandeanu:

Clearly the people of Vojvodina do not want the autonomy foreigners want Serbia to five Vojvodina:
1. The two parties advocating such an autonomy [LDP and LSV] barely get 10% of the votes in Vojvodina.
2. Their biggest potential allies, the Hungarians, vote for parties not concerned with Vojvodina's autonomy but more with increasing the powers of municipalities [ideally the ones they inhabit,but aware this is impossuble they are inclined to a support an increase in municipal power throughout all of Serbia].
- 3. The majority of people in Vojvodina are satisfied with current autonomy levels.
- 4. The majoirty vote for parties urging small increase Tadic and his allies, those in favour of the status coup -- DSS, those against autonomy SRS. All of these three groupings have more votes then the extreme autonomists.

It has become increasingly clear to me over the past few months that Tadic does not have it in him to drive Serbia forward, as Zoran Djindjic did before him.

To be clear from the start I had many problems with Djindjic and it irritated me the way that he and people like Beba Popovic seemed to have little concern for ordinary people.

But in the end it is necessary for a government to have a motor to constantly push forward, particularly so in Serbia where so many things are left up in the air, including unsolved cases, retried cases, hidden secrets, corrupt politicians etc.

Even since 2000 there have been dozens of events going on that are worthy of an African country (with respect) rather than Serbia.

My only conclusion is that there is not the political will for change, or rather there is no passion to drive forward this change.

So with the likes of Djindjic you get policies you don't like and people you don't like doing things you don't like. But you also get results and direction and a government that is not afraid to take unpopular decisions. Vestred interests are frightened in such a situation and its no wonder the gutter press constantly ran stories against him.

Tadic you have to find somebody younger, uncorrupted and with more passion, your annointed successor if you will. This man or woman should be Prime Minister and must not be afraid to take on the sleepy concensus.

I'm afraid we are rotting here. New elections might get rid of some radicals and make things easier in parliament, but the problem is the system, or rather the attitude of those that are in the system.

In these times of crisis it is time for the Serbian people to be led, and not to pander to supposed popular opinion peddled by the popular press.

A country as small as Serbia cannot hope to prop up it's currency if the world's currency dealers decide otherwise. Tadic will just burn away all the Russian money, leaving Serbia without 400Million from Russia and it's energy companies in foreign hands. GENIUS.

It would be better to let the dinar do find it's own level in the markets without intervening and if companies and consumers get hit by rising debt levels, spending that money helping them instead of lining the pockets of the world currency dealers and speculators.

Mr Tadic and Serbia, you have a lot to learn about free markets and this is going to be a painful lesson.

EA,
The 6 point plan was part of Ban Ki Moon's reprt to the UNSC, it was never accepted or rejected or an action taken. Both Serbia and Russia "mentioned" it during their part of discussions but there was never any action by the UNSC itself. The statement from the President never mentions 6 point plan when it invites Eulex into Kosovo. No one is ablt to produce legitimate documentation that the UNSC adopted the 6 point plan.

Also you mention that it was rejected by "Kosova". I don't recall "Kosova" being a part of those negotiations or being asked at all.
(Peggy, 1 February 2009 23:06)

That's precisely why the government of Kosova have rejected these "points" and they will never see any possibility into realization.
Nothing can be implemented in Kosova without that country's government consent.

Why calling for a strong man in Serbia - instead of asking the souvereign = the citizens: which direction they want to go in the future ?? Such a system is called DEMOCRACY. Serbian politicians should have the courage to ask their souvereign - otherwise it will go back and forth, like it did for almost one decade. Whether the EU is the goal or not, must not be decided by the political elite. The electorate has to give them a clear order, in which direction they should push the (rest of) political energy.

@bganon
Your comment is very accurate..i would only say that here in Italy every body agree that there is a huge and i repeat huge difference between a giant like Djindic was and the 2 dwarfs THAT ARE IN CHARGE OF SERBIA NOW..
Tadic lacks of vision and guts and Jeremic is only fulfilling his own ego...
you are in big trouble...and no one can save you right now

"Also you mention that it was rejected by "Kosova". I don't recall "Kosova" being a part of those negotiations or being asked at all.
(Peggy, 1 February 2009 23:06)
Peggy,
Just to be correct with you. Kosova was asked to agreed the Serbian plan but it was rejected. It was similar scenario for Serbia to accept the Ahtisari Plan...the idea some UNSC of "accepting" the Serbia six point plan was to get EULEX in otherwise would have been a deadlock.

I agree with PB that Serbia should let its currency float. With a trade deficit of nearly 10 bln dollar a year 400 million will evaporate within days.

Look to the Argentina economic crisis of 1999. They kept their currency high too - until they didn't have any money left. Then they crashed: they had to sell out the country and didn't have a penny to soften the crush.

It looks like that is the fate Tadic will deliver for Serbia too.

Luigi,

Imagine: both these "dwarfs" are actually titans compared with what politicians many neighbor countries have to deal with. Knowing that somewhere else is worse does not make the situation is Serbia better. It is actually worse because today everything in economy does not know country borders.

Britain tried to prop up Sterling so as to keep it's value high and stay in the ERM. That failed and cost Britain £10 Billion or so. Currently Russia is trying to protect the Ruble. that is also failing as we speak and Russia has wasted who knows how many billions in the process.

Don't fritter away Serbia's tiny foreign currency reserves Mr Tadic.

@Ataman
Yes i recognize that in the neighbourhood the situation is bleak...and i have also to apologize that this kind of comment comes from Italy...better looking at our "dwarfs"...any way opinion on the "dynamic duo" maybe is harsh but many people (as i ) was expecting something more from them...

I'd warn that those that advocate no intervention or letting the market take care of currency value should remember that lack of regulation and government intervention is the thing that got the world into the financial crisis in the first place.

I can understand why some advocate that Serbia does not intervene to support the dinar, but my counter argument is that it should have purchased far more euros when the dinar is overvalued. In that way Serbia would have more than enough money in its coffers to ensure that the dinar doesn't drop like a lead balloon. You have to remember this is not just about the value of the dinar, this is about the wages / pensions of Serbian citizens. They are paid in dinars and prices for goods and services are increasing all the time, the most recent excuse being the falling dinar. Basic goods like food and drink, bills that everybody has to pay - they are all affected by a weaker dinar, not to mention the monopolists who rub their hands at the prosect of yet another increase in their profit margins.

In the end saying that the market should dicate currency value is just another form of Neo-liberalism.

That is a (IMO) wicked philosophy which I am firmly against.

bganon - "lack of regulation and government intervention is the thing that got the world into the financial crisis in the first place." which do you mean? the two are mutually exclusive. either there should be regulation in which case the govt is involved or there isn't and therefore no govt intervention.

There may be a case for intervention in other markets but not for intervention in currency markets in my opinion. they work prety fine as they are now.

The dinar is dropping because of all the foreign currency exposure Serbia as a whole has and it's poor current account situation. Is that the forex markets fault? NO. This is where your government intervention should be taking place, i.e. controlling the amount of foreign currency loans relative to domestic currency loans. that imbalance is coming home to roost. it was tempting to borrow in Euro's when the rates were much lower but a lot of people didn't take the currency risk into account. Serbia isn't the only country in this mess, most of eastern Europe did the same trick.

It would be better if Tadic stamped out the monopolies which make Serbia more expensive than western Europe and also to banish the laws which Allow Serbian citizens/companies to charge more to foreigners in Serbia than serbian citizens.

maybe you'll attract foreigners into Serbia who'll bring their hard currency with them. Until Serbians learn not to rip off foreigners, maybe more will come to the benefit of the economy. For god's sake, put a government in power who knows how to stimulate the economy instead of pandering to big business interests.

until then, serbia doesn't have any sympathy from me. It created its own mess and could reverse this situation if it wanted to.

Does Serbia want to though?

bganon - "lack of regulation and government intervention is the thing that got the world into the financial crisis in the first place."

I agree. But that is not an excuse for ignoring the fundamentals. The market pressure on the dinar is not just speculation. It is grounded in the realisation that Serbia is living far above its means, as can been seen in its trade deficit and budget deficit.

You can fight against the market, but in the end the market will win. Not only because it has more money: Serbia is living no on foreign credit. This can't go on forever and at some point Serbia will find that nobody wants to give it yet another loan.

I understand that a devaluation of the dinar will mean higher prices for Serbia's citizens. Sometimes the world is hard. But in the long term a lower dinar is better for them too: it will increase Serbia's exports that will and that will help to prevent a further decline.