Ambassadors recalled for political reasons, daily claims

BELGRADE Despite assurances that a series of recalls of Serbian ambassadors has no political background, there are examples which speak to the contrary, a daily writes. The Serbian Presidency, which is in charge of appointing and recalling diplomatic representatives as well as the Foreign Ministry which, in agreement with the government proposes candidates for ambassadors, claim that there is no political revanchism. Ambassadors recalled for political reasons, daily claims However, in the last eight months more than 20 ambassadors have been recalled, which means that the replacements included almost a third of the total number of 65ambassadors that Serbia has, daily Politika writes. "Even though there are recalls which fulfill the condition that the ambassador's mandate is a minimum of three and maximum of four years, or it is a case of diplomats who are not doing a satisfactory job, some cases drastically deny this. Dusan Spasojevic was an ambassador in Ankara for exactly 25 months, therefore less than the foreseen minimum. An internal analysis showed he had received top marks. Therefore Trade Minister Rasim Ljajic last week walked out of the government session in protest after it had been decided that Spasojevic would be recalled, the daily claims. "Ljajic should know best. He is the one in government in charge of cooperation with Turkey and has direct insight into the kind and quantity of Spasojevic's contribution to the development of cooperation between the two countries. The replacements of diplomats were carried out in a very ugly manner since the new government doesn't have personnel that is nearly as capable,” Politika was told by a former ambassador who wished to remain anonymous. “Spasojevic, our best ambassador of the younger generation, had had the biggest production of very good quality memos on different subjects, he also revived economic cooperation with Turkey. This is pure political revenge. He has been working in foreign policy for more than ten years and is highly competent. Perhaps he was replaced for being so. The ambassador before him didn't even speak English,” he added. A similar example is the revocation of Serbian ambassador to the UN in Geneva Ugljesa Zvekic, whose mandate has not expired either and on whose work there has been no complaints. “Zvekic is the chairman of the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and chairman of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), two prestigious functions never before held by a Yugoslav or Serbian diplomat and which cannot be transferred to Zvekic's successor. Could he not be allowed to complete his mandate,” wondered the daily’s source. “The impression is that politics, the ruling coalition and their desire to satisfy their members and sympathizers at least to a certain extent, are behind all this. Not much is left of the promises of depolitization of the diplomacy. It all seems to point towards the practice of arbitrary decision making," writes Politika. VIP

Ambassadors recalled for political reasons, daily claims

However, in the last eight months more than 20 ambassadors have been recalled, which means that the replacements included almost a third of the total number of 65ambassadors that Serbia has, daily Politika writes.

"Even though there are recalls which fulfill the condition that the ambassador's mandate is a minimum of three and maximum of four years, or it is a case of diplomats who are not doing a satisfactory job, some cases drastically deny this.

Dušan Spasojević was an ambassador in Ankara for exactly 25 months, therefore less than the foreseen minimum. An internal analysis showed he had received top marks. Therefore Trade Minister Rasim Ljajić last week walked out of the government session in protest after it had been decided that Spasojević would be recalled, the daily claims.

"Ljajić should know best. He is the one in government in charge of cooperation with Turkey and has direct insight into the kind and quantity of Spasojević's contribution to the development of cooperation between the two countries. The replacements of diplomats were carried out in a very ugly manner since the new government doesn't have personnel that is nearly as capable,” Politika was told by a former ambassador who wished to remain anonymous.

“Spasojević, our best ambassador of the younger generation, had had the biggest production of very good quality memos on different subjects, he also revived economic cooperation with Turkey. This is pure political revenge. He has been working in foreign policy for more than ten years and is highly competent. Perhaps he was replaced for being so. The ambassador before him didn't even speak English,” he added.

A similar example is the revocation of Serbian ambassador to the UN in Geneva Uglješa Zvekić, whose mandate has not expired either and on whose work there has been no complaints.

“Zvekić is the chairman of the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and chairman of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), two prestigious functions never before held by a Yugoslav or Serbian diplomat and which cannot be transferred to Zvekić's successor. Could he not be allowed to complete his mandate,” wondered the daily’s source.

“The impression is that politics, the ruling coalition and their desire to satisfy their members and sympathizers at least to a certain extent, are behind all this. Not much is left of the promises of depolitization of the diplomacy. It all seems to point towards the practice of arbitrary decision making," writes Politika.