Bribery "becomes way of life in Serbia"

A fish stinks from the head down. Serbia is not a functioning state. It is pretty much lawless, as the ones that are to protect society, legislators, judiciary, and police, are possibly the most corrupt in the country.

Bribery and corruption happens in places where poverty reigns over welfare, where bureaucracy is overwhelming, where the law does not provide clarity and has too many loopholes and where the system fails to prevent otherwise.
The only way to address the problem is to fight corruption from the top down and introduce severe punishments for those taking bribes.
Vucic is currently heading a campaign to tackle corruption but has a long way to go before any form of success can be achieved. This is because corruption and bribery are ingrained into society. Many people, including myself, find it normal to expect to pay bribes in certain situations. I hear business men talking of deals which involve bribes. I know it is expected to give a surgeon an envelope (with money) prior to an operation or to pay a police officer a bribe instead of a fine. Bribery and corruption are detrimental to the success of an economy because it does not encourage fair competition and development. Instead it encourages an opaque society and hinders any form of progress.
I hope Vucic and others can turn things around and make Serbia a country where others look to for encouragement instead of a country where others look to as an example of 'how not to be'.

The only surprise in the headline here is the word "becomes"!

Who deserves the blame? The WEst or Serbia's neighbors?

There need to be prison sentences for bribe takers, and fines for bribe givers.

This is a known problem, so the police need to produce results.

B92 could publish statistics about the number of bribe takers who are taken through the court system, and produce investigations of specific individuals who take bribes.

It is very depressing that this kind of thing is ubiquitous in Serbia - depressing for hardworking people who are victims of the greed of others.

Conversely however, decent salaries must be paid - it is not good enough for the state to depend on people receiving bribes in order to be able to do their jobs.

There is a rachet effect however that is good for the state - salaries can be taxed, whereas bribes are effectively a form of tax avoidance.

No surprises here.

Communism ripped the heart out of integrity and morality and it is for this reason that it's not only Serbia that is corrupt but Croatia,Bosnia,Montenegro,Slovenia,Macedonia,Hungary,Czech Rep,Slovakia,Russia,Poland,Bulgaria,Romania....the list goes on.

Bribery "becomes way of life in Serbia"

That's good. If first read that bribery become lay of wife...

Could be worse, Kosovoa (sic) or Albania. That latters upcoming elections will provide months of entertainment. Who needs hulu or netflix?

Though bribery models aren't productive on the whole this approach is deeply rooted in a many number of societies and counties. It's not isolated to any specific demographic, but generally spread across all in a relatively even distribution. However it does have different names, newer and presumably more clever implentations than simple envelopes. Buying a client dinner, a round of golf or any gift is normal practice. Corporations lobbying government offices are a modern approach to hiding bribery. It's part of the human condition, driven by greed brought on through the eternal competition of life. If you can ensure a better outcome by putting favour of any kind, you will.

What are the deeper reasons? Working places in the public sector mainly you can get only through corruption. The wages are low, the prices extremely hight due to the strength of the Dinar. In countries with a traditional corruption the higher ranks are paying hte public service badly and are expecting that the low-paid people are finding other ways to gain a proper salary. And this is only possible by extra-charges for any normal public service. And it is no difference with Western countries. It is not only cash what counts, it can be a favour to get erlier a place for an difficult surgery or a place in a top-school or university or or. And its combined with "moral corruption", to be honoured or invited to top-events. A well-informed person told me once about Germany: you cannot imagine hwat fight are going onto be on a photo together with a top-official. All this i also corruption. Possibly in France r Germany the corruptions is made more "elegant", and in Serbia it is made like the people are, sometimes a "little bit" rough. So the fight against corruption in Serbia today looks more as the fight of one group (the EU-companies) against domestic owners of property.

There need to be prison sentences for bribe takers, and fines for bribe givers.

This is a known problem, so the police need to produce results.

B92 could publish statistics about the number of bribe takers who are taken through the court system, and produce investigations of specific individuals who take bribes.

It is very depressing that this kind of thing is ubiquitous in Serbia - depressing for hardworking people who are victims of the greed of others.

Conversely however, decent salaries must be paid - it is not good enough for the state to depend on people receiving bribes in order to be able to do their jobs.

There is a rachet effect however that is good for the state - salaries can be taxed, whereas bribes are effectively a form of tax avoidance.

Who deserves the blame? The WEst or Serbia's neighbors?

A fish stinks from the head down. Serbia is not a functioning state. It is pretty much lawless, as the ones that are to protect society, legislators, judiciary, and police, are possibly the most corrupt in the country.

No surprises here.

The only surprise in the headline here is the word "becomes"!

Though bribery models aren't productive on the whole this approach is deeply rooted in a many number of societies and counties. It's not isolated to any specific demographic, but generally spread across all in a relatively even distribution. However it does have different names, newer and presumably more clever implentations than simple envelopes. Buying a client dinner, a round of golf or any gift is normal practice. Corporations lobbying government offices are a modern approach to hiding bribery. It's part of the human condition, driven by greed brought on through the eternal competition of life. If you can ensure a better outcome by putting favour of any kind, you will.

What are the deeper reasons? Working places in the public sector mainly you can get only through corruption. The wages are low, the prices extremely hight due to the strength of the Dinar. In countries with a traditional corruption the higher ranks are paying hte public service badly and are expecting that the low-paid people are finding other ways to gain a proper salary. And this is only possible by extra-charges for any normal public service. And it is no difference with Western countries. It is not only cash what counts, it can be a favour to get erlier a place for an difficult surgery or a place in a top-school or university or or. And its combined with "moral corruption", to be honoured or invited to top-events. A well-informed person told me once about Germany: you cannot imagine hwat fight are going onto be on a photo together with a top-official. All this i also corruption. Possibly in France r Germany the corruptions is made more "elegant", and in Serbia it is made like the people are, sometimes a "little bit" rough. So the fight against corruption in Serbia today looks more as the fight of one group (the EU-companies) against domestic owners of property.

Bribery and corruption happens in places where poverty reigns over welfare, where bureaucracy is overwhelming, where the law does not provide clarity and has too many loopholes and where the system fails to prevent otherwise.
The only way to address the problem is to fight corruption from the top down and introduce severe punishments for those taking bribes.
Vucic is currently heading a campaign to tackle corruption but has a long way to go before any form of success can be achieved. This is because corruption and bribery are ingrained into society. Many people, including myself, find it normal to expect to pay bribes in certain situations. I hear business men talking of deals which involve bribes. I know it is expected to give a surgeon an envelope (with money) prior to an operation or to pay a police officer a bribe instead of a fine. Bribery and corruption are detrimental to the success of an economy because it does not encourage fair competition and development. Instead it encourages an opaque society and hinders any form of progress.
I hope Vucic and others can turn things around and make Serbia a country where others look to for encouragement instead of a country where others look to as an example of 'how not to be'.

Bribery "becomes way of life in Serbia"

That's good. If first read that bribery become lay of wife...

Could be worse, Kosovoa (sic) or Albania. That latters upcoming elections will provide months of entertainment. Who needs hulu or netflix?

Communism ripped the heart out of integrity and morality and it is for this reason that it's not only Serbia that is corrupt but Croatia,Bosnia,Montenegro,Slovenia,Macedonia,Hungary,Czech Rep,Slovakia,Russia,Poland,Bulgaria,Romania....the list goes on.