Progressives celebrate five years since founding

BELGRADE President Tomislav Nikolic said on Monday evening that the SNS party was calling on its members and supporters "to make sacrifices for the benefit of Serbia." Their reward, said Nikolic, will be "the state's prosperity." Progressives celebrate five years since founding At a ceremony marking five years since the founding of the SNS in the packed Kombank Arena, Nikolic, a founder and the former leader of the Serb Progressive Party (SNS) - reproached certain party officials because "they stepped back and left the fight to several officials who are the most courageous - primarily Aleksandar Vucic." During one year in power, the SNS showed that it is possible to achieve concrete results in many fields, including the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, which "was shunned for decades and that is why it grew bigger and bigger, and a just solution for Serbia was not even mentioned." When it comes to successes in the fight against organized crime and corruption, Nikolic said that he "would not have known to whom to entrust this fight had Aleksandar Vucic refused to take up the responsibility." "Many are disproving his fight as their goal is to ensure that everything returns to the previous state, in which politics was synonymous with crime, but we will not let that happen," Nikolic said. He pointed out that his goal, as head of state, and that of the SNS, as the strongest party in the ruling coalition, was "to remedy injustice and introduce order in Serbia." SNS leader and Serbia's First Deputy PM Aleksandar Vucic addressed the gathering to first ask for "a thunderous round of applause" for Tomislav Nikolic - "for everything he did" as the party's president. According to Vucic, the party was formed "out of the need for Serbia to survive," while the goal in front of it now was the country's membership in the EU - "by 2020." (Tanjug) In his speech, he emphasized the economy as the key priority of the party's policy. "We have reached the bottom and now we must build the house once again," the SNS leader said. He stated that "corruption would be eradicated," adding that sacrifice and a change in method were necessary where Kosovo and unemployment were concerned. He added that people "would put up with hardship if they saw justice, social equality and lawfulness." According to Vucic, it was "important that the entire people support the policy of change, declaring that the time when jobs went to officials' relatives was past." At the start of the ceremony, a telegram sent by Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, who was in Luxembourg, was read out. Dacic's message said that the victory of Tomislav Nikolic in the presidential elections last year and the SNS in the parliamentary elections "paved the way for the formation of the government that has restored Serbia's position in the company of dignified and respectable countries." “This has given us hope to do what no politician before has ever done- to refuse to hide problems but to face them and start solving them one after the other,” Dacic said. The SNS anniversary was attended by former Italian foreign minister and Vucic's adviser Franco Frattini, President of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly Jean-Claude Mignon, former Slovakian prime minister Mikulas Dzurinda, special envoy of the Russian president Alexander Mikhailovich Babakov, and Austrian Minister of Agriculture Niki Berlakovich. The event is also being attended by RS President Milorad Dodik, former president of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro Svetozar Marovic, leader of the New Serb Democracy from Montenegro Andrija Mandic, vice president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party from Croatia Milorad Pupovac and officials of the ruling coalition parties and a majority of opposition parties in Serbia. The SNS was founded on Oct. 10, 2008, when a faction around Nikolic split from the Serb Radical Party (SRS). (Tanjug) Beta Tanjug

Progressives celebrate five years since founding

At a ceremony marking five years since the founding of the SNS in the packed Kombank Arena, Nikolić, a founder and the former leader of the Serb Progressive Party (SNS) - reproached certain party officials because "they stepped back and left the fight to several officials who are the most courageous - primarily Aleksandar Vučić."

During one year in power, the SNS showed that it is possible to achieve concrete results in many fields, including the issue of Kosovo and Metohija, which "was shunned for decades and that is why it grew bigger and bigger, and a just solution for Serbia was not even mentioned."

When it comes to successes in the fight against organized crime and corruption, Nikolić said that he "would not have known to whom to entrust this fight had Aleksandar Vučić refused to take up the responsibility."

"Many are disproving his fight as their goal is to ensure that everything returns to the previous state, in which politics was synonymous with crime, but we will not let that happen," Nikolić said.

He pointed out that his goal, as head of state, and that of the SNS, as the strongest party in the ruling coalition, was "to remedy injustice and introduce order in Serbia."

SNS leader and Serbia's First Deputy PM Aleksandar Vučić addressed the gathering to first ask for "a thunderous round of applause" for Tomislav Nikolić - "for everything he did" as the party's president.

According to Vučić, the party was formed "out of the need for Serbia to survive," while the goal in front of it now was the country's membership in the EU - "by 2020." In his speech, he emphasized the economy as the key priority of the party's policy.

"We have reached the bottom and now we must build the house once again," the SNS leader said.

He stated that "corruption would be eradicated," adding that sacrifice and a change in method were necessary where Kosovo and unemployment were concerned.

He added that people "would put up with hardship if they saw justice, social equality and lawfulness."

According to Vučić, it was "important that the entire people support the policy of change, declaring that the time when jobs went to officials' relatives was past."

At the start of the ceremony, a telegram sent by Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić, who was in Luxembourg, was read out.

Dačić's message said that the victory of Tomislav Nikolić in the presidential elections last year and the SNS in the parliamentary elections "paved the way for the formation of the government that has restored Serbia's position in the company of dignified and respectable countries."

“This has given us hope to do what no politician before has ever done- to refuse to hide problems but to face them and start solving them one after the other,” Dačić said.

The SNS anniversary was attended by former Italian foreign minister and Vučić's adviser Franco Frattini, President of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly Jean-Claude Mignon, former Slovakian prime minister Mikulas Dzurinda, special envoy of the Russian president Alexander Mikhailovich Babakov, and Austrian Minister of Agriculture Niki Berlakovich.

The event is also being attended by RS President Milorad Dodik, former president of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro Svetozar Marović, leader of the New Serb Democracy from Montenegro Andrija Mandić, vice president of the Independent Democratic Serb Party from Croatia Milorad Pupovac and officials of the ruling coalition parties and a majority of opposition parties in Serbia.

The SNS was founded on Oct. 10, 2008, when a faction around Nikolić split from the Serb Radical Party (SRS).