"Tadić tears strips off Jeremić"

President Boris Tadic is unhappy with the work of the foreign minister, Vuk Jeremic, and told him so publicly at a meeting last week, says daily Blic. At a meeting with Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, local authority officials and Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilas, Tadic took Jeremic to task for the best part of 15 minutes, Blic understands from sources close to the meeting. "Tadic tears strips off Jeremic" As his first gripe with Jeremic, the president said he did not like the foreign minister’s way of saying that he was only implementing “ President Boris Tadic’s policy“ whenever Kosovo was mentioned. He then allegedly said he had not liked the way Jeremic had tried to score points for himself with the announcement that the visa regime would be lifted. In Tadic’s opinion, the credit for this should go primarily to Justice Minister Snezana Malovic and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, the sources say. They add that the president is annoyed that Jeremic did not make any contribution to the preparations for the summit of Central and East European leaders in Novi Sad, even though, originally, the Foreign Ministry had been earmarked to assume responsibility for the occasion. Instead, complete responsibility for the event, judged a success, was shouldered by Tadic’s adviser Jovan Ratkovic. This, however, did not stop the foreign minister, in a statement to the media last weekend, declaring that the summit had been “an affirmation of Serbia’s wise foreign policy.“ The presidency interpreted this as a ploy by Jeremic to take the credit for everything good that had occurred, while leaving himself scope to dodge any of the blame if things had gone awry, writes Blic. The president’s cabinet denies that Tadic criticized Jeremic, as “the president never does that in front of others, only face-to-face with those he intends to reprimand.“ Blic’s source says that it was Jeremic who took it upon himself to be the harshest critic of neighboring countries that recognized Kosovo’s unilateral independence. This, consequently, gave him maximum media coverage, a situation that is now changing, however. Those in the know believe future relations between Tadic and Jeremic will be reflected in the amount of media coverage the foreign minister receives, especially in state media. Vuk Jeremic, Boris Tadic (FoNet, archive)

"Tadić tears strips off Jeremić"

As his first gripe with Jeremić, the president said he did not like the foreign minister’s way of saying that he was only implementing “ President Boris Tadić’s policy“ whenever Kosovo was mentioned.

He then allegedly said he had not liked the way Jeremić had tried to score points for himself with the announcement that the visa regime would be lifted.

In Tadić’s opinion, the credit for this should go primarily to Justice Minister Snežana Malović and Interior Minister Ivica Dačić, the sources say.

They add that the president is annoyed that Jeremić did not make any contribution to the preparations for the summit of Central and East European leaders in Novi Sad, even though, originally, the Foreign Ministry had been earmarked to assume responsibility for the occasion.

Instead, complete responsibility for the event, judged a success, was shouldered by Tadić’s adviser Jovan Ratković.

This, however, did not stop the foreign minister, in a statement to the media last weekend, declaring that the summit had been “an affirmation of Serbia’s wise foreign policy.“

The presidency interpreted this as a ploy by Jeremić to take the credit for everything good that had occurred, while leaving himself scope to dodge any of the blame if things had gone awry, writes Blic.

The president’s cabinet denies that Tadić criticized Jeremić, as “the president never does that in front of others, only face-to-face with those he intends to reprimand.“

Blic’s source says that it was Jeremić who took it upon himself to be the harshest critic of neighboring countries that recognized Kosovo’s unilateral independence.

This, consequently, gave him maximum media coverage, a situation that is now changing, however. Those in the know believe future relations between Tadić and Jeremić will be reflected in the amount of media coverage the foreign minister receives, especially in state media.