New premier says he'll achieve "more than expected"

BELGRADE Serbia's newly elected PM, Ivica Dacic, told B92 TV in an interview late on Friday that every minister in his cabinet "will be responsible for what they do". He added, however, that members of the government would not be allowed to lead their own policies. New premier says he'll achieve "more than expected" “Crucial decisions should not be made without coordination with the government and the prime minister,” Dacic told B92. “But it will not longer happen to have somebody from the outside decide how the government will function,” he said in his first interview as a prime minister. When asked how he was going to make decisions, working with Deputy PM and Defense Minister Aleksandar Vucic, the prime minister said: “We have talked about this, about working together, there is no different policy there. I think that the two of us will have the best cooperation in the government, it’s our job”. Commenting on the fact that he and Vucic had traded accusations during the election campaign, the PM said: “This is not about love, we have a job to do. I am known as a man who devotes himself to work, if we get an opportunity, then we need to do everything to do the job well”. Dacic said that he had had a good cooperation with former PM Mirko Cvetkovic. “Times have always been difficult in Serbia. I will do more than it is expected from me. I have not promised anything unrealistic,” he said. Commenting on reports in foreign media that he “is a little Sloba (Slobodan Milosevic) who wants to provoke new wars”, he said that it was pure nonsense. “I tried to have a different angle of approach in my expose. Serbia should be based on different foundations than it has been so far. Aside from the European pathway, it needs to protect its national interests, avoid having meaningless victims and ask itself who our ally on the pathway is and for what kind of society we are advocating. I wanted to come up and say – I advocate this kind of Serbia and to call on the people to reach an agreement. The government is not a bunch of accountants, the government is a political organ, the highest organ of the executive power,” the PM explained. When asked where he would find money for the country’s survival, he said the money would have to be found somewhere. When asked whether the money would come from Russia, Dacic said that “nobody discussed it with Russians”. “But the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) are coming next week, we will talk to China, we will talk to Russia,” he added. The PM stressed that Serbia’s economy needed a jumpstart and that it was impossible to think about the freezing of wages and pensions “because the citizens cannot pay the price of the economic crisis”. When asked what he would do if the IMF requested that the wages and pensions be frozen, Dacic said that “EUR 1bn is a small price for such huge conditions”. He said that he was not happy about the fact that “Serbia has the highest interest rates, that our national currency is sliding and that we have the lowest wages and subsidies” and pointed out that the government needed to work on it. When asked who would control him and Vucic, since they were in charge of the Interior Ministry, Defense Ministry and the security services, he said that there was no reason for concern. When asked whether he would use his position to fight against his political opponents, Dacic said: “If I wanted to, I could have already done it,” adding that there was civilian control in parliament. He stressed that he wanted Serbia to have a realistic policy, both internal and foreign and when it comes to Kosovo. “A realistic approach is to continue the talks with Pristina, to honor the agreements we reached. We need to define things in accordance with the situation in the field. There are some things I proposed earlier, demarcation. I have never talked about the partition, only about a way to approach the problem but it is not all right for me as a prime minister to promote my positions now,” Dacic noted. Ivica Dacic (Tanjug) B92

New premier says he'll achieve "more than expected"

“Crucial decisions should not be made without coordination with the government and the prime minister,” Dačić told B92.

“But it will not longer happen to have somebody from the outside decide how the government will function,” he said in his first interview as a prime minister.

When asked how he was going to make decisions, working with Deputy PM and Defense Minister Aleksandar Vučić, the prime minister said:

“We have talked about this, about working together, there is no different policy there. I think that the two of us will have the best cooperation in the government, it’s our job”.

Commenting on the fact that he and Vučić had traded accusations during the election campaign, the PM said:

“This is not about love, we have a job to do. I am known as a man who devotes himself to work, if we get an opportunity, then we need to do everything to do the job well”.

Dačić said that he had had a good cooperation with former PM Mirko Cvetković.

“Times have always been difficult in Serbia. I will do more than it is expected from me. I have not promised anything unrealistic,” he said.

Commenting on reports in foreign media that he “is a little Sloba (Slobodan Milošević) who wants to provoke new wars”, he said that it was pure nonsense.

“I tried to have a different angle of approach in my expose. Serbia should be based on different foundations than it has been so far. Aside from the European pathway, it needs to protect its national interests, avoid having meaningless victims and ask itself who our ally on the pathway is and for what kind of society we are advocating. I wanted to come up and say – I advocate this kind of Serbia and to call on the people to reach an agreement. The government is not a bunch of accountants, the government is a political organ, the highest organ of the executive power,” the PM explained.

When asked where he would find money for the country’s survival, he said the money would have to be found somewhere.

When asked whether the money would come from Russia, Dačić said that “nobody discussed it with Russians”.

“But the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) are coming next week, we will talk to China, we will talk to Russia,” he added.

The PM stressed that Serbia’s economy needed a jumpstart and that it was impossible to think about the freezing of wages and pensions “because the citizens cannot pay the price of the economic crisis”.

When asked what he would do if the IMF requested that the wages and pensions be frozen, Dačić said that “EUR 1bn is a small price for such huge conditions”.

He said that he was not happy about the fact that “Serbia has the highest interest rates, that our national currency is sliding and that we have the lowest wages and subsidies” and pointed out that the government needed to work on it.

When asked who would control him and Vučić, since they were in charge of the Interior Ministry, Defense Ministry and the security services, he said that there was no reason for concern.

When asked whether he would use his position to fight against his political opponents, Dačić said:

“If I wanted to, I could have already done it,” adding that there was civilian control in parliament.

He stressed that he wanted Serbia to have a realistic policy, both internal and foreign and when it comes to Kosovo.

“A realistic approach is to continue the talks with Priština, to honor the agreements we reached. We need to define things in accordance with the situation in the field. There are some things I proposed earlier, demarcation. I have never talked about the partition, only about a way to approach the problem but it is not all right for me as a prime minister to promote my positions now,” Dačić noted.