MPs react to reports PM might reshuffle cabinet

MPs react to reports PM might reshuffle cabinet

Jovičić was last month quoted as using strong language while criticizing the leader of the Socialists (SPS), Serbia's serving foreign minister, Ivica Dačić.

Jovičić noted that he was "stating his personal stance" when he said Serbia will not make progress "while hardened criminals Ivica Dačić and Branko Ružić are in the government," and described the latter - a former minister without portfolio in charge of EU integration - as "a well known tycoon bootlicker."

Speaking for B92 on Sunday, he said there would be changes in the cabinet, but could not specify when, noting that his party, the Serb Progressives (SNS), announced when they came to power that the work of the ministers would be evaluated "about every six months."

Asked whether the ministers in the current cabinet - which took over in April - have had enough time to prove their efficiency, Jovičić said the reshuffle "won't happen tomorrow" - but advised them "to be careful."

Asked whether Dačić would keep his job in a reshuffled cabinet, he reiterated that when he referred to the first deputy prime minister and foreign minister as "a hardened criminal" he was expressing his personal position "and is always free to express it."

"Somebody else will deal with the work of the minister and the first deputy premier," he noted.

The Belgrade daily Večernje Novosti reported over the weekend that Vučić would make some changes to his cabinet "most likely in January."

SPS MP Đorđe Milićević said on Sunday that "only the prime minister has the right and legitimacy" to speak about this subject, and added that the government "has shown it is solving problems."

"As for the SPS, as a party that said it very clearly in the beginning we wish to share the values and responsibilities of this government, I can say we are satisfied with what this government has done until now," he stated.

According to him, the cabinet is "moving along the way charted by the expose of PM Aleksandar Vučić" and enjoys "complete unity, agreement and determination in the realization of its goals and principles."

Labor Minister Aleksandar Vulin, whose party was in pre-election coalition with the SNS, told B92 on Sunday that "things should not be taken out of context."

"Conclusions should not be reached prematurely about whether a reshuffle will take place," he said.

Defense Minister Bratislav Gašić (SNS) commented to say that he "agreed that cabinet ministers should be evaluated," while Interior Minister Nebojša Stefanović (SNS) said he "had no information about any deadlines."

Meanwhile, opposition Democratic Party (DSS) official and deputy in the national assembly Borislav Stefanović said this was about "yet another in a series of government reshuffles that Premier Vučić and the authorities want to use to conceal their incompetence." According to Stefanović, "it is the citizens who suffer the most" under such circumstances.

Vučić's cabinet has already seen changes since it was voted in last April - in July, Finance Minister Lazar Krsrtić resigned. Economy Minister Dušan Vujović was then given his job, while Željko Sertić took over as new minister of economy in August.