Council: Cut pensions and salaries by 15%

"With the current state of public finances, Serbia has to take out loans worth around EUR 5 billion every year, so as to finance the deficit and loan installments"

Taking out a loan to pay for a loan, so once the first loan is paid off Serbia will need to take another loan to pay the next loan, so once the second... :O

What is the profile of the members of the Fiscal Council . Presumably, they must have high wages, over 2000 euros, so no austerities measures can affect their quality of life . Their stance is : ‘’ The rich man dines when he wants, but the poor man eats when he is given a piece of bread.’’
They are trying to persuade trade unions and citizens that the austerity measures are the only means to save the country from total bankruptcy, but their chances to persuade poor workers and pensioners are slim. Obviously ,it is not easy to bring down the deficit of more than almost two billion euros. The projecting public expenditure exceeds revenue ,but wages in Serbia hardly cover shopping basket essentials. On the other hand ,a lot of money is squandered through corruptions as in public procurements , money embezzlement in public- sector firms, bad managements ,squandering of millions of euros by politicians, executives ,vice-executives various counselors ,unnecessary agencies, unrealistically high wages and all sorts of thieves. Besides , tax evasion?! A lot of retail shops do not give us fiscal receipts. The thieves and those who are bad managers, squanderers, should recover the embezzled and dissipated money

Why don't we collect first the taxes from the biggest tax debtors and the ones who don't pay their personal income tax in Serbia, as priority?

It is important to have the broad population behind all saving efforts, then normal people like you and me would be more solidaric to drastic salary and pension cuts...

Be under no illusion, these are just the starting moves in the game of EU accession. Those whom the Government can take money from (pensioners and state employees) will be hammered and yet it is this category of person who is least likely to benefit from any upturn in the economy if and when it happens. It is always a different group of already well off people who reap the rewards of a recovery and the same soft targets who are hit when austerity is called for; in the UK it is called capitalism, in Serbia you can throw rampant corruption and nepotism into the mix. In Serbia's defence they are not alone in these practices, they go on everywhere across Southern Europe and to a lesser but still unacceptable extent elsewhere too. Still want to join the EU?

Implementing austerity without broad consensus is not really smart, but most important, there is no willingness for change. It is not rocket science to collect taxes and to fight against corruption on all levels. I have followed a bit the protest movement and the latest comments of the Japanese Ambassador to Bosnia. Nice to see that people there are fed up of "parades of nice cars and fat men in shiny suits doing nothing".

Where are sj, rote and Ari Gold, members of Russia's thirty ruble army, to explain that Serbia has a booming economy and the Serb people are living better than those in the U.S.These experts have probably never been to Serbia, yet they seem to know better than the average citizens that have commented on this topic of B92. I'm sure sj will clear up the misconceptions of those commenting below.

"With the current state of public finances, Serbia has to take out loans worth around EUR 5 billion every year, so as to finance the deficit and loan installments"

Taking out a loan to pay for a loan, so once the first loan is paid off Serbia will need to take another loan to pay the next loan, so once the second... :O

Why don't we collect first the taxes from the biggest tax debtors and the ones who don't pay their personal income tax in Serbia, as priority?

It is important to have the broad population behind all saving efforts, then normal people like you and me would be more solidaric to drastic salary and pension cuts...

Where are sj, rote and Ari Gold, members of Russia's thirty ruble army, to explain that Serbia has a booming economy and the Serb people are living better than those in the U.S.These experts have probably never been to Serbia, yet they seem to know better than the average citizens that have commented on this topic of B92. I'm sure sj will clear up the misconceptions of those commenting below.

What is the profile of the members of the Fiscal Council . Presumably, they must have high wages, over 2000 euros, so no austerities measures can affect their quality of life . Their stance is : ‘’ The rich man dines when he wants, but the poor man eats when he is given a piece of bread.’’
They are trying to persuade trade unions and citizens that the austerity measures are the only means to save the country from total bankruptcy, but their chances to persuade poor workers and pensioners are slim. Obviously ,it is not easy to bring down the deficit of more than almost two billion euros. The projecting public expenditure exceeds revenue ,but wages in Serbia hardly cover shopping basket essentials. On the other hand ,a lot of money is squandered through corruptions as in public procurements , money embezzlement in public- sector firms, bad managements ,squandering of millions of euros by politicians, executives ,vice-executives various counselors ,unnecessary agencies, unrealistically high wages and all sorts of thieves. Besides , tax evasion?! A lot of retail shops do not give us fiscal receipts. The thieves and those who are bad managers, squanderers, should recover the embezzled and dissipated money

Implementing austerity without broad consensus is not really smart, but most important, there is no willingness for change. It is not rocket science to collect taxes and to fight against corruption on all levels. I have followed a bit the protest movement and the latest comments of the Japanese Ambassador to Bosnia. Nice to see that people there are fed up of "parades of nice cars and fat men in shiny suits doing nothing".

Be under no illusion, these are just the starting moves in the game of EU accession. Those whom the Government can take money from (pensioners and state employees) will be hammered and yet it is this category of person who is least likely to benefit from any upturn in the economy if and when it happens. It is always a different group of already well off people who reap the rewards of a recovery and the same soft targets who are hit when austerity is called for; in the UK it is called capitalism, in Serbia you can throw rampant corruption and nepotism into the mix. In Serbia's defence they are not alone in these practices, they go on everywhere across Southern Europe and to a lesser but still unacceptable extent elsewhere too. Still want to join the EU?