I Have Marshall Plan for Serbia

Aleksandar Vucic: “People from abroad – Serbs and foreigners – will be appointed to ministerial and advising offices in the reshuffled government''. ''The idea is to bring the best, those that we can learn something from and who will help us in moving this country forward. Here you are, we have brought Lazar Krstic, a professional.'' I Have Marshall Plan for Serbia This is the first time that someone brought an expert, first time that a political party did not claim the finance sector for themselves”, the first Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and the leader of Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) said in an interview in Friday’s issue of Kurir. What did you advise Krstic when you offered him the office of minister of finance? What did you warn him of? “I told him: ‘Son, you will face a number of problems’. I told him everything would be much worse than he imagined. I told him that moments of glory were short and that they were followed by criticism because in Serbia everyone showed their strength if they cursed someone stronger. ‘Son, this waits for you. If you are ready to accept, enter the arena. If you are not, then do not enter at all. You will not be cared for in a glass bowl, you will not be protected. I will help you, I will protect you from all the difficult moves, I will tell this is our mutual idea and they will use it to strike me. But you will have to grow stronger, to struggle, to fight, because all the reforms we have in mind to implement are painful and difficult, but they will make a normal country for us’’. Some say that Lazar Krstic is too young to be in charge of public finances? “When we mentioned we wanted to bring foreigners, the first they said - don’t do it because someone is a sexual predator. Then I heard: don’t do it because they are foreigners. I didn’t know that xenophobia was so pronounced with someone who swore by Europe. Then I heard a proposal from them that I should bring our young experts. So we brought him, and now he turned out to be too young. It is impossible to please all the Serbs – they will always find countless faults with you’’. What is the aim of bringing foreigners? “We tried to find the best. Even during the campaign, I was thinking what could be the good news for Serbia, and I brought (ex Mayor of New York), Rudolph Giuliani to Belgrade. Unfortunately, many did not acknowledge it. And then I saw that some people simply cannot bear successful people coming to this country and working with us. But this is my commitment that I am not going to give up – to look for the best people, our people or foreigners that we can learn from. Some countries that used to be even poorer than us thrived by bringing the people who knew something, who were responsible and serious. They changed awareness of their population for several decades, they changed working habits and therefore they managed to achieve a lot. The best example is Singapore (…)’’. Architect of modern Singapore, ex-prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, made the economic boom within a generation. What is the realistic deadline for improving the economy? “I think by the end of the year, with knowledge, skills and engagement of a large number of people, foreign and domestic experts, we can make some kind of ‘Marshall plan’ – what we must and can do in the next 10 years. There will be many difficult parts, but we can and must do it for the people. We have to tell the people clearly what we will do. But then, someone should say that we are strong in energy, mining, agriculture”. What will be most painful points in your Marshall plan? “The fact that we will have to implement the reform of the public administration. This means that some people will have to look for another job. We will have to do restructuring of the public enterprises, which means that party officials will not be able to do what they have done so far. Pension reform will also be hard – you will be able to retire with more age, and not as it has been done so far – that someone who is 35 finds a way to retire without justification. No more! A modern and serious state cannot take it any more…” Vucic said to Kurir. Beta/file/ VIP

I Have Marshall Plan for Serbia

This is
the first time that someone brought an expert, first time that a
political party did not claim the finance sector for themselves”, the
first Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and the leader of Serbian
Progressive Party (SNS) said in an interview in Friday’s issue of
Kurir.

What did you advise Krstic when you offered him the office of
minister of finance? What did you warn him of?
“I told him: ‘Son, you will face a number of problems’. I
told him everything would be much worse than he imagined. I told
him that moments of glory were short and that they were followed by
criticism because in Serbia everyone showed their strength if they
cursed someone stronger. ‘Son, this waits for you. If you are ready to
accept, enter the arena. If you are not, then do not enter at all. You
will not be cared for in a glass bowl, you will not be protected. I will
help you, I will protect you from all the difficult moves, I will tell this
is our mutual idea and they will use it to strike me. But you will have
to grow stronger, to struggle, to fight, because all the reforms we
have in mind to implement are painful and difficult, but they will
make a normal country for us’’.

Some say that Lazar Krstic is too young to be in charge of public
finances?
“When we mentioned we wanted to bring foreigners, the first
they said - don’t do it because someone is a sexual predator. Then I
heard: don’t do it because they are foreigners. I didn’t know that
xenophobia was so pronounced with someone who swore by Europe.
Then I heard a proposal from them that I should bring our young
experts. So we brought him, and now he turned out to be too young. It
is impossible to please all the Serbs – they will always find countless
faults with you’’.

What is the aim of bringing foreigners?
“We tried to find the best. Even during the campaign, I was
thinking what could be the good news for Serbia, and I brought (ex Mayor
of New York), Rudolph Giuliani to Belgrade. Unfortunately,
many did not acknowledge it. And then I saw that some people simply
cannot bear successful people coming to this country and working
with us. But this is my commitment that I am not going to give up – to
look for the best people, our people or foreigners that we can learn
from. Some countries that used to be even poorer than us thrived by
bringing the people who knew something, who were responsible and
serious. They changed awareness of their population for several
decades, they changed working habits and therefore they managed to
achieve a lot. The best example is Singapore (…)’’.

Architect of modern Singapore, ex-prime minister Lee Kuan
Yew, made the economic boom within a generation. What is the
realistic deadline for improving the economy?

“I think by the end of the year, with knowledge, skills and
engagement of a large number of people, foreign and domestic
experts, we can make some kind of ‘Marshall plan’ – what we must
and can do in the next 10 years. There will be many difficult parts,
but we can and must do it for the people. We have to tell the people
clearly what we will do. But then, someone should say that we are
strong in energy, mining, agriculture”.

What will be most painful points in your Marshall plan?

“The fact that we will have to implement the reform of the
public administration. This means that some people will have to look
for another job. We will have to do restructuring of the public
enterprises, which means that party officials will not be able to do
what they have done so far. Pension reform will also be hard – you
will be able to retire with more age, and not as it has been done so
far – that someone who is 35 finds a way to retire without
justification. No more! A modern and serious state cannot take it any
more…” Vucic said to Kurir.