SNS and SPS "not at odds with each other"

BELGRADE SNS MP Milovan Drecun said on Thursday that he "sees no problems in the relationship between the two leading parties of Serbia’s ruling coalition." He was referring to the Progressives (SNS) and the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), led by Ivica Dacic. SNS and SPS "not at odds with each other" This is true, according to Drecun, even though on Wednesday Parliament Speaker and top SNS official Nebojsa Stefanovic harshly criticized the SPS, while PM Dacic rejected the criticism as unfounded. Drecun told the Belgrade-based TV Pink that the SNS and SPS "are not falling out with each other," adding that different opinions about ways to solve a problem can crop up in every coalition. Drecun said that the key to the survival of the government is in how much the coalition partners, primarily the SPS, will be able to follow the SNS in the efforts to conduct essential society reforms, adding that they have clearly shown that they are able to. "The SNS has shown over the past year and a half, starting from the very creation of the current coalition government, that it is fully committed to the fight against corruption and to resolving the most difficult economic issues, and the SPS has been there all along," Drecun said. Drecun made the statement after Stefanovic sharply criticized the SPS for the way in which SNS leader and Deputy PM Aleksandar Vucic was mentioned in a blog post, where the SPS was responding to statements that businessman Milan Beko had made for TV Pink. Stefanovic told reporters that the SPS blog post contains “arrows shot at Vucic.” “Sometimes I am astonished to see how insolent certain parties can be towards him (Vucic) and to see that today, in certain statements, some unfair people, who enjoy three or four times less support than the SNS, can treat him, the president of the biggest party, in such a way,” said Stefanovic. The SPS blog says that Beko "wants to create yet another strong leader who, by coincidence, happens to be the very man who is at the head of investigations into controversial privatizations, some of which, by a strange coincidence again, are in connection with Milan Beko.” Prime Minister Dacic reacted strongly to Stefanovic’s statement late on Wednesday, stressing that the SPS blog was "not about the SNS, but rather about Beko." “Everyone is entitled to speak their minds, but not to twist the meaning. Nobody talked about the SNS, the post was about Beko,” Dacic told reporters. Dacic said that "a false impression was being created" that the only thing he and Vucic are thinking about was "whether they will have a fight over something and when the next elections will be called." “If the most important thing is what Beko thinks of the prime minister or the SPS, or what Ivica Dacic or the SPS thinks of Milan Beko, then Serbia is a country of distorted values,” said the prime minister. Dacic added that he "does not want to be part of a political reality show." He said that there is no conflict whatsoever between him and the first deputy prime minister, but a situation has been created in which any sentence one may utter is interpreted in a wrong way. “I am calling on everybody to stop being preoccupied with the relationship between me and Vucic. I guess that as adults, the two of us can determine our relationship on our own,” Dacic said. (Beta, file) Tanjug TV Pink

SNS and SPS "not at odds with each other"

This is true, according to Drecun, even though on Wednesday Parliament Speaker and top SNS official Nebojša Stefanovic harshly criticized the SPS, while PM Dačić rejected the criticism as unfounded.

Drecun told the Belgrade-based TV Pink that the SNS and SPS "are not falling out with each other," adding that different opinions about ways to solve a problem can crop up in every coalition.

Drecun said that the key to the survival of the government is in how much the coalition partners, primarily the SPS, will be able to follow the SNS in the efforts to conduct essential society reforms, adding that they have clearly shown that they are able to.

"The SNS has shown over the past year and a half, starting from the very creation of the current coalition government, that it is fully committed to the fight against corruption and to resolving the most difficult economic issues, and the SPS has been there all along," Drecun said.

Drecun made the statement after Stefanović sharply criticized the SPS for the way in which SNS leader and Deputy PM Aleksandar Vučić was mentioned in a blog post, where the SPS was responding to statements that businessman Milan Beko had made for TV Pink.

Stefanović told reporters that the SPS blog post contains “arrows shot at Vučić.”

“Sometimes I am astonished to see how insolent certain parties can be towards him (Vučić) and to see that today, in certain statements, some unfair people, who enjoy three or four times less support than the SNS, can treat him, the president of the biggest party, in such a way,” said Stefanović.

The SPS blog says that Beko "wants to create yet another strong leader who, by coincidence, happens to be the very man who is at the head of investigations into controversial privatizations, some of which, by a strange coincidence again, are in connection with Milan Beko.”

Prime Minister Dačić reacted strongly to Stefanović’s statement late on Wednesday, stressing that the SPS blog was "not about the SNS, but rather about Beko."

“Everyone is entitled to speak their minds, but not to twist the meaning. Nobody talked about the SNS, the post was about Beko,” Dačić told reporters.

Dačić said that "a false impression was being created" that the only thing he and Vučić are thinking about was "whether they will have a fight over something and when the next elections will be called."

“If the most important thing is what Beko thinks of the prime minister or the SPS, or what Ivica Dačić or the SPS thinks of Milan Beko, then Serbia is a country of distorted values,” said the prime minister.

Dačić added that he "does not want to be part of a political reality show."

He said that there is no conflict whatsoever between him and the first deputy prime minister, but a situation has been created in which any sentence one may utter is interpreted in a wrong way.

“I am calling on everybody to stop being preoccupied with the relationship between me and Vučić. I guess that as adults, the two of us can determine our relationship on our own,” Dačić said.