An abysmal decade’s heritage

An abysmal decade’s heritage

B92: Poligraf continues after the summer break, good evening to all. If this program was your choice last season, you have reason to be satisfied; we are on live Monday through Friday with reinforcements, that is, my colleague Antonela Riha. Our first guest in this new season and B92 TV guest is Serbian President Boris Tadić.

Mr. Tadić, good evening to you. I wanted to start this conversation by asking about your visit to the United States, but as you know it isn’t rare for events in Serbia to happen in such quick succession that they change plans and intentions. As you know, local elections were held in Novi Pazar on Sunday. Tragedy occurred during the election day, List for Sandžak candidate Ruždija Durović was murdered. The police say they have arrested two suspects, and are searching for the third. What is your reaction to this news? Six years after the democratic changes took place another Serbian citizen has lost his life in an incident with a clearly political background.

Tadić: Well, my reaction testifies to that, and my reaction is that political elections cannot and will not be a reason to endanger people’s lives. Elections are about the day when people decide where a municipality or a country should head from there, and that is decided by the citizens, but they need to be protected, not endangered on that day. I extend my condolences to the family of the victim and at the same time I appeal, just as the Serbian government has, to calm down the situation in Novi Pazar. We do not need such developments, Serbia will be a democratic country only if the voters use elections to vote, rather than perpetrate violence against each other.

B92: Mr. Tadić, who do you believe should take responsibility for the fact six years after the democratic change took place there are politically inflammable situations that can cost citizens their lives?

Tadić: Well, all those who take part in the country’s political life. On the other hand, there is this heritage, and that means all political leaders, myself included, we also have this heritage after a tragic, catastrophic, destructive and violent decade, the last decade of the 20th century, that has its consequences. There’s the hate speech on a daily bases in our political institutions, and not even the critical public opinion displays sufficient awareness in combating such hate speech. 

B92: As you mentioned hate speech yourself, let me ask you about the affair concerning Kurir and Serbian government deputy prime minister Ivana Dulić-Marković. Have you had a chance to read the article published today?

Tadić: Well, I have just returned from my U.S. visit and really have not paid attention to that development, but I have been told a new series of attacks took place, including the well-known Ustasha accusations; I myself have been subjected to such attacks.

But, in any case, our country’s public life must be arranged in a way that allows for normal argumentation, no one, whether politician or some other citizen, can be attacked without any arguments, on the other hand, hate speech threatens every citizen.

And this is not simply about words being said at that particular moment, as a result of political or other kinds of passion, it is something that brings turmoil into our lives. For this reason, everyone is obligated to combat hate speech, starting with the prosecutors and the police, including politicians and especially the media, which has an exceptional responsibility when it comes to combating hate speech.

B92: If you were to weigh good and bad news concerning Serbia, what was your mood after you returned from the U.S.?

Tadić: It was one of the most difficult visits I have ever had. What is good in these difficult circumstances is that it was an open visit, with clearly stated positions from both sides. Besides, weighing the effects of the visit will be very important in the coming days. At one point I said that I cannot reach the final conclusion while I was still in the U.S., but in the coming weeks, during my visit to the UN, at the organization’s General Assembly, we will know more.

B92: But that should not be an obstacle to helping us out with some information that we have regarding your visit. Let’s concentrate for a moment on the so-called SOFA agreement, the agreement defining the status of American troops in Serbia should they find themselves on Serbian territory. I will remind our viewers this is the agreement which was rejected by a number of parliamentary parties. You did not mention it prior to your trip, but that is less relevant, what I wish to ask is related to what the agreement in fact defines, and has it been signed with the government’s consent, since it wouldn’t be the first time for the government to go back on its previous decision, so I wish you would tell us…

Tadić: My answer’s very clear, government and government alone was authorized to make a decision on the signing of the agreement. In turn, I have been authorized by the government to sign it on behalf of the government. I will specify that the agreement deals with status of US troops in transit though a country, in this case Serbia. The United States have signed this agreement with over one hundred other countries, including those highly unlikely to find themselves in the transit path of the U.S. troops, such as Lichtenstein, San Marino, Andorra, etc.

B92: Are all these agreements identical?

Tadić: They are all absolutely identical, they have the form of a template, amendments are insignificant, the essence remains the same and what needs to be clarified to the citizens is that no foreign troops can enter the country without prior authorization, so that all those who think this is some kind of surrender and treason and a possibility of a capitulation, foreign troops in our county, need to be clear on this. No soldier can enter Serbian territory unless relevant institutions approve this, then, if it is approved, those soldiers enjoy a certain treatment which secures fast and safe passage to another destination, and on the other hand, makes sure that the country used in transit has its interests secured as well.

B92: You have had a busy visit, however, there’s another topic of great importance, SOFA is obviously more relevant to the U.S., we are more concerned with the Kosovo issue.

Tadić: I beg to differ, allow me to say that SOFA is and extremely important agreement for our citizens too, and for all the countries that have signed it. Above anything else, the US Congress position on financial aid to other countries influences the position of international financial institutions such as World Bank, IMF and others. Congress, on the other hand, will be hesitant to support a country without such an agreement signed. I assure you this agreement has exceptional significance, not only defense-wise, but also concerning our country’s economic interests.

B92: What I meant to say was the fact that we have not requested the passage of our troops through U.S. territory.

Tadić: Perhaps in another life.

B92: Mr. Tadić, you said in one of your statement after your meeting with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that here are significant differences in your stances regarding the future of Kosovo. What are they?

Tadić: Since the beginning of the work of the Contact Group and even today, the United States has not changed its position much, they were always closer to some form of Kosovo independence rather than essential autonomy, which is the position of the Serbian side. I spoke openly about that, however, the United States of America have not finalized their stance, speaking in sports-terms, the game is not over until the last whistle is blown. We have to fight to change that position until the last moment.

B92: Yes, but if they are leading six-nil, I’m not comparing the situation…I’ll explain why I’m making this digression.

Tadić: After the presidential elections, I told the Serbian citizens very clearly that we are down by 20 in a basketball game, and we have three minutes left and must make seven three-point shots in a row. And that is completely accurate, and we have made many quick moves, made several three-point shots, but the game, meaning this political process, is not over yet.

I apologize for using this terminology, I am trying to be as clear as possible. The situation is very serious, since the arrival of KFOR in Kosovo, majority of the world has been edging closer to a solution of Kosovo’s independence rather than Kosovo remaining in Serbia, but it is in our interest to fight against such a solution. I can elaborate why that stance is not only mine, but the stance of the entire negotiating team and the Government of the Republic of Serbia, if you would like me to.

B92: That is not new to anyone, I would like to ask you something else, and that is: why doesn’t the Government, why haven’t you personally with this kind of information come to the media months earlier, as far as I know, similar information was given to you during your official visit to France in December last year. I think it was stated to you that France supports some form of Kosovo independence.

It is not new information that a good portion of European Union member countries or the majority support Kosovo’s independence, that a good portion of the Contact Group member countries support this option and I think that the world knows this, only the Serbian citizens do not know completely what the world thinks, what the governments of these countries think.

Tadić: Over a year ago, let me remind you, I said that Serbia has not completely done away with the danger of an imposed solution for Kosovo, therefore, I openly told the citizens of Serbia this. And our public is most definitely aware of the fact that we are leading a very difficult debate to defend our interests in Kosovo and the integrity and sovereignty of our land in Kosovo. On the other hand, we never received, either in the United States of America or in France, and I tell you this openly, information from any of these countries that they support Kosovo’s independence.

I am only openly stating that my guess is these countries and their administrations, not all of them, some of them favor this kind of a solution. On the other hand, within the Contact Group you have countries that have different positions, such as Russia, and that is why you do not hold discussions with the individual countries about the future of Kosovo and it is the request of the international community to have this discussed with the entire Contact Group, so that the ambassadors of the Contact Group, the foreign affairs ministers of the Contact Group, always come with one defined stance. The Contact Group has never told the Serbian negotiation team, myself as the president, or the prime minister that they support Kosovo’s independence.

B92: But that is a trait of good politics, to understand what is happening around you, and to understand the positions of your political partners and political opposition, and that I think was a big problem in our recent past of the past 15 years. Now, in reference to that I wish to ask you if you share the enthusiasm that the current government Media Office chief Mr.Đurić has after a quote from an interview with Russian President Putin emerged, saying Russia could veto the Security Council’s decision?

Tadić: It is not my job to be enthusiastic, but to discuss things.

B92: Do you think that this statement has any importance?

Tadić: I will clear it up for you, every statement in international politics is of great importance, that is a lesson which we all must learn together. On the other side, to clear this up again, the decision on Kosovo’s future has not been made yet. That decision and the way in which it will be made is something that is being discussed by the international public, in the Contact Group which many countries are a part of. Thirdly, it is our job to try until the last moment to convince all Contact Group member countries to reach a rationally sustainable solution, developed through compromise.

Serbia is approaching the negotiating process in a very fair way, but I will tell you that in the end, to remind you again, since the beginning of the mandate, which ended a year ago, I have been talking  about coming to terms with the great dangers during the Kosovo discussions. In order to have our positions overcome, we must make many savvy political moves, precise ones, and invest a lot of effort in destroying the very severe consequences of the politics which in effect in Kosovo during the 1990s.

B92: I can agree as a journalist that in an indirect way maybe, you warned of this, but I am asking something else, about a message that is not coded…

Tadić: You were not in the country at that moment…

B92: Well I wasn’t at one time, at one time I was following what was happening, but this problem has been going on for six years, so, for six years we have been facing a new future standing before Kosovo, before Serbia. So, my question is why the citizens of Serbia do not know what most of the planet thinks about what the future of Kosovo should be.

Tadić: I cannot take responsibility for the entire situation from the moment I was elected Serbian president in July 2004. Since then I have very openly told the citizens about the difficulties we are up against. At the same time, just to stress this, this is very important, I never give up on the job I’m doing. I have never told the citizens that something was over, I would in that way prejudge the final solution, we still have a chance to win, to fight for a solution that is beneficial for Serbia, but we must invest new effort as we are entering the finale of the entire process.

B92: Does the Serbian government and does the president have a picture, a vision of what will happen if the solution for Kosovo’s final status is unsatisfactory, if the solution is what you said it may be, will you not sign it?

Tadić: In any case we are fighting to reach an adequate solution. If we were to get involved in the inadequate scenario now, that means we would be surrendering in a way in the matter which we are currently handling. On the other side, as responsible people we are analyzing every scenario, while the Kosovo discussions are on the agenda of international politics. Not only are we doing that, the countries of the Contact Group are as well.

B92: Tomorrow’s parliament session will be dedicated to Kosovo, what do you expect from the parliament?

Tadić: I expect that several things will happen, that the report of the negotiating team will be adopted and that the politics led during the discussions recently will be confirmed as well.

B92: Mr. Tadić, let’s focus on other internal politics topics, the end of the month is approaching, the date which G17 plus set, at least according to the Finance minister who became G17 Plus’ president several days ago, that the party will leave the Government unless the stabilization and association talks between Serbia and the European Union do not continue. What are your expectations, and do you have any idea what could happen at the end of the month?

Tadić: If G17 Plus makes good on its promise then, at that moment, the Government will not have a majority in the parliament, and we will have new elections. If G17 Plus does not follow through with its promise, we will have a Government for the coming period, but that of course depends on what the decision of the European institutions will be, whether the stabilization and association discussions will move forward or not.

B92: Is it true that a kind of agreement exists between you and the prime minister concerning certain events, a sequence of events, large political events in Serbia, elections, the constitution, the Kosovo solution?

Tadić: There is no question that we must first adopt a new constitution. My proposal, which I made public a long time ago, was to reach a solution which calls for elections and the constitution’s adoption to take place simultaneously, in other words, a constitutional assembly.

I do not have the support of the parliamentary majority for that proposal, and there is a majority in the parliament for adopting the new constitution first, before the elections, so I will respect the principle of political reality and we will start on this road, first the constitution and then elections, but there is still no final agreement on how this will take place.

I am pushing now for the constitution to be adopted as soon as possible, and new elections, so that Serbia can have a very stable situation in the coming process, especially before the final status solution for Kosovo, the stabilization and association discussions and the further European and Euro-Atlantic integrations.

B92: Have you revised that position? Didn’t you at first insist on having elections announced and then having the constitution adopted?

Tadić: No, my stance was to hold elections for the constitutional assembly, let me remind you, that is a unison solution. That is one, in a legal sense, drastic step, but at the same time it secures Serbia creating distance between itself and the Milošević politics. On the other hand, it would be a chance to form a new parliament and a new democratic government. After adopting such a constitution, this parliament would be able to publicly discuss this during the election campaign. However, today, obviously, there is not a parliamentary majority for such a solution, and without a majority this scenario will not play out.

B92: Let’s focus on the constitution for just one moment. Parliament speaker Mr. Marković said the Constitution was mainly… that most of it was harmonized. My next question pertains to segments that have not been harmonized, or to put it more bluntly, how will this new compromise version regulate the election of the president, what sort of autonomy will it grant Vojvodina and what will be the identity of the state of Serbia?

Tadić: Well, first of all, it is well-known that some of the solutions I have been advocating in public are in line with the state belonging to its citizens, with as much autonomy as possible for Vojvodina and a decentralization process which allocates more jurisdiction to municipalities even when it comes to finance, and even if today we have a decentralized state, which is a consequence of previous governments and different constitutional solutions. I believe we could take an entirely different direction, which would translate in a new democratic capacity for Serbia and a position closer to the EU. As for the president of the republic, I believe presidents should be elected in a direct vote. I am, generally speaking, in favor of…

B92: Forgive me for interrupting, but is this a joint proposal at this time?

Tadić: Generally speaking I’m in favor of, allow me to say this, in favor of politicians… as many politicians as possible being elected directly and being called to account to the citizens who had elected them. Otherwise, there will be a parliament citizens can’t decide on, since it would be up to the political parties to decide on its composition. Such lawmakers would not feel obligated or responsible toward the citizens, and then there is the public debate on the members of parliament’s salaries, whether or not citizens are satisfied with their representatives.

I believe a combination model would be suitable for our country, allowing for a number of the members of parliament to be elected from party lists, while another part would be elected directly, the direct elections should not be reserved for the president only. At this moment there is an ongoing constitutional debate and I couldn’t possibly guess the result of it, but the political approach we, the so-called Democratic Bloc parties, have cultivated so far has been that of decentralization, broad autonomy for Vojvodina, direct elections for the president’s office. Others have been leaning toward a parliament-elected president, although I must note here they favored such solutions when they had a presidential candidate.

B92: In other words, the degree of agreement on this is not as yet that high…?

Tadić: The final version still doesn’t exist, but all the important issues, as well as the property issues and the character of the state will need to be discussed quickly so that we can adopt the new constitution as soon as possible, so that we can have a new government as soon as possible, a  government that will work using its full capacity, rather than as a minority government, one that can make decision regarding the European Union.

B92: You still haven’t answered my question, have you reached an agreement with the Prime Minister regarding the constitution and the elections?

Tadić: No, I have reached an agreement with the Prime Minister that we need to adopt the constitution first and right after that to call an election, should we fail to secure a parliamentary majority to form a Constitutional assembly. I regret that there is no such majority, once again, that has been my policy, but since there is the majority to support this solution I agree with that as well, but I wish to see us start this procedure as soon as possible.

B92: Mr. Tadić, moving on to partisan issues, does your party, the Democratic Party, cultivate a partnership, or should I say, is it cohabitating with the Democratic Party of Serbia?

Tadić: First of all, the party has policies of its own and the party harmonizes its policies with its program and with that part of the population which has certain interests and whose interests the party reflects. I have that portion of the population that votes for the Democrats in mind, and the same goes for all the other parties. Now, if I were to tell you there is an extremely difficult, ongoing discussion on many of the issues promoted by this government as its decisions, I wouldn’t tell you anything new.

As far as the president goes, he has a constitutional obligation to constantly cooperate with the government. If things were different, if there were a country without such an obligation, that country would be in serious internal trouble that would translate to the lives of its citizens or the quality of their lives. Therefore, the president is obligated by the constitution to cooperate with the government in the interest of the citizens and the country as a whole, while the party conducts its party policies, which is also in the citizens’ interest, but within the scope of a different debate. The party policies are conducted by my deputy, Dušan Petrović, who is de facto running the party at present, and on behalf of the DSS by those people or candidates designated by Prime minister Koštunica.

B92: So how do these policies differ, I’ll bring up only a few of the most relevant problems for Serbia today: Kosovo, Montenegro, the Hague, the Republic of Srpska, the EU. I can’t see the difference between the DS and the DSS positions on any of these issues.

Tadić: I can. As far as Kosovo goes, differences aren’t all that significant, we have a common policy which has been constantly growing closer since the presidential elections, meaning, we made compromises, both sides have, and we found common ground. As for Montenegro, we had very different positions on how to act politically, I visited Montenegro immediately after…

B92: You too favored the state union...

Tadić: That’s a different question, you can support the state union as a general solution, but you can at the same time conduct different policies toward that state union. On the other hand, you can make practical moves that have… that testify clearly to the way in which you see politics and how to conduct it in the future. My objective, my task was, and I fulfilled it, to make the post-referendum relationship between Montenegro and Serbia as relaxed as possible, and that gave us an additional democratic capacity, but, we’re moving on, one thing at a time. 

B92: The Republic of Srpska.

Tadić: As for the Republic of Srpska, the thing is quite simple, as far as I’m concerned anything that the three nations in Bosnia agree on is acceptable to me, that’s the basic democratic principle. As far as Bosnia-Herzegovina goes, I support its integrity, and I don’t see that the Serbian government’s position differs greatly. I don’t believe the government, if it is responsible, DSS included, can say anything else.

As for the Republic of Srpska itself, we have different, so to speak, strategic partners there. The DS has a strategic partnership with Mr. Dodik’s party there, the Serb Democratic Party. We have different ideology, the DS is a party of the so-called left and is more dedicated to social issues, just as Mr. Dodik’s party in the RS. Meanwhile, the DSS is in the so-called populist bloc, and cooperates with its counterpart in the RS.

As for the Hague, I am satisfied that the government has changed its policy toward the Hague, which has, as far as the DS is concerned, always been more than obvious in principle, as a matter of values, and political reality.

Now, I wish the government would do away with this great burden we are carrying, and that is Ratko Mladić. I will insist on this until the very last moment, because our country’s future is at stake. If you will, our capacity to undertake Kosovo negotiations depends on solving the Mladić problem. I say this quite openly, Serbia with Ratko Mladić at the Hague tribunal, which is our international, but also our national obligation, will have a much better chance of protecting its national interests in Kosovo than it does today.

B92: Is the Serbian government democratic? Is the DSS democratic enough in your opinion?

Tadić: Serbian government is democratic, but I believe it would be even more democratic and would have a greater democratic capability if it weren’t forced to secure the Socialists’ support, which is a party far removed from the democratic character concerning all today’s important issues. You have the Hague Tribunal, and now the election of the Foreign minister, and so on.

B92: Mr. Tadić, some of your attitudes and opinions are quite inconsistent. For example, I came across your article in the Washington Post dated June 8 this year, where you speak in positive terms about the Serbian government and its, so to speak, democratic potential. I have a few quotes from the domestic press as well, one from Glas Javnosti daily, where you say that Serbia today is a democratic country. Why then does your party boycott the parliament if Serbia is indeed a democratic country and if the Serbian government is democratic enough to prompt you to publish that in the Washington Post?

Tadić: I’ll explain, because countries lose their democratic capacity when too many of the decisions taken in those countries are anti-democratic. At the moment, we are faced with a stabilization of democracy in this country, a process that is not in the least simple. But it is doubtless Serbia is a legitimate democracy, in other words, there are parliamentary elections where we choose our government, there is the president elected directly in a democratic election, there’s the media taking part in the campaigns in a manner different to that of the Milošević era.

There are the state institutions not liable to beat our citizens in the streets for displaying their political opinion, there are the state institutions that do not kill their political opponents. I’m making a list here, to remind all of us of what it means to be a democratic country, which does not kill its political opponents if the president or the president’s wife so wish, as was the case during Milošević’s reign. There is a general legal trend that according to the EU and the international democratic institutions brings Serbia closer to being qualified as a democratic country. However, there are some things that do not confirm such character and I fight them.

One example is the revoking of parliamentary mandates. Unfortunately, as a consequence, there are court processes and lawsuits on that subject. It would be much better if there weren’t, these problems were present even after the democratic changes took place and the Democratic Party bears responsibility for those problems in the past, but this was also present during Milošević’s time when parliamentary mandates were stolen in unlimited amounts.

What we need to do is finally establish all the democratic standards in this country, but generally speaking, today Serbia is a democracy… Serbia as a state is a democratic state. But if you expect the president to go into every tiny detail in his article in the Washington Post, without expressing the general attitude, that Serbia is a democracy today…

B92: No, you referred to the government.

Tadić: Not only to the government, naturally, I speak about Serbia. Each country in the world is represented by all its institutions, the government, the president, the parliament, but also the judiciary and the media. All these institutions are measured to determine whether a country is democratic or not. No country can have a one-hundred-per-cent perfect record, but the important thing is to have a positive process and to be able to generally speaking confirm that our country is a democracy. That is positive.

B92: Are all these reasons working in favor of bringing the Democrats back to the parliament, since you said yourself your party left over a distinctly non-democratic practice, that of illegal revoking of mandates?

Tadić: The parliamentary battle is a part of the democratic procedure, taking away mandates is not a democratic procedure and we want the Parliament to be on a level that is demanded by every democratic nation. And I hope that the next parliament will be like that. The Democratic Party has now chosen to fight for such a democratic parliament, which it is demonstrating  by refraining from parliamentary debates, and that is a problem. When there is full legitimacy, then we will be able to praise Serbia as a democratic country.

B92: One more party-related question, is the Democratic Party today closer to the Democratic Party of Serbia or the Liberal Democratic Party?

Tadić: In what regard?

B92: Regarding the basis principles of your programs.

Tadić: The Democratic Party is edging closer to the so-called national parties. The Democratic Party is a party of socialist orientation, social-democratic orientation, the Liberal Party is a liberal party. As far as Kosovo is concerned, we have a very close and united program and the prime minister and president of the Democratic Party of Serbia and I are united on this.

As far as the economy and economic development is concerned, we are closer to the liberals. As far as the work of the parliament is concerned, I, as the president of Serbia and the Democratic Party am trying to implement a new principle of parliamentary work. Not the return to the past, to debating what was and what is now, and so forth.

B92: If I asked you to give a general evaluation, generally, what party is the Democratic Party…

Tadić: Very simply, from issue to issue. I said that regarding economics we are closer to the Liberal Democratic Party, Kosovo – the Democratic Party of Serbia.

B92: Mr. Tadić, in the first weeks of your presidential term in 2004, you spoke very often about the economy, among other things, you said – I will be the ambassador of Serbian economy, and some of your visits to some countries were of that character, and your many statements, and I wanted to take a look at the jurisdiction of the President of the Republic and here in front of me I have Article 83, which you probably know well, which defines the jurisdiction of the president. Economy is not mentioned anywhere, I of course cannot talk about the right of a president to help his country, even in this field, however, I wanted to compare these types of activities with another type mentioned in the constitution. Your first responsibility is to nominate a prime minister, and the second, according to the constitution, to nominate a parliamentary speaker candidate and the judges for the Constitutional Court. This is one of the two most important courts in the country. I wanted to ask why, since your election, has the Constitutional Court been incomplete, which is your direct responsibility, and as far as I know there are now nine judges, while there were only six earlier.

Tadić: I have answers for all these questions, so that we have more time, as you said.

B92: Yes, why is the Constitutional Court incomplete, when you are by law responsible for that?

Tadić: In order for someone to be elected as a member of the Constitutional Court, they must meet two necessary conditions, for the Serbian President to propose a member to the Constitutional Court, or any other court, and for the Parliament to elect such a citizen as a member of the Constitutional Court. But one more thing is necessary, for a citizen to accept his or her nomination to become a member of the Constitutional Court.

As far as this third thing goes, all potential candidates have a problem with the fact that their mandates last until the adoption of a new constitution, and no one wants to take risks at this time, very few people want to risk their professional careers, for example a university professor, to perhaps be elected as a member of the Constitutional Court for several months, and then have to lose their position and job.

B92: Let’s go back to 2004.

Tadić: Let’s move ahead, so in 2004, no one did anything, in the past six year we had…he had a decision to make about passing a new constitution and when you make the proposal to any citizen who works in jurisdiction and could be a potential candidate, he will say – but I will be a judge in the Constitutional Court until the constitution is passed, and then my professional career will be jeopardized, because I had to resign from the university I was teaching at, and say, he was a constitutional law professor.

So we have been waiting on the decision to pass a new constitution since 2000, but we will finish this now. In the meantime, I proposed two candidates for the Constitutional Court with intention of nominating more, because I found two competent attorneys who would be able to do this. However, the parliament would have to vote in favor of their election. Unfortunately, these two candidates, we already held discussions about this earlier so that the potential candidates would not be compromised, who were acceptable after the preliminary parliamentary discussions, were not elected, one of them was not elected and at that moment I found myself in a very strange position as the president, because that which was acceptable in the first discussions was not followed through.

So unfortunately I do not have the parliamentary majority, the parties that support the Government have the majority, so you should not be asking me, you should be asking those who have the parliamentary majority, and as soon as we get a good candidate, taking into consideration that we will soon adopt a new constitution, and as soon as the parliamentary groups reach an agreement on the election of these people as not to compromise a very important legal expert, I will do this.

B92: Mr. Tadić, I will remind you have been president since 2004, that is one thing, another is…

Tadić: If you would let me answer…at this moment, I have opened a competition for attorneys who want to be Constitutional Court and at this moment I am expecting a report from my legal council on this topic about the best candidates, I will recommend them as soon as I get the report. I am working on this constantly.

And now, just for a moment let me go back to what you said, so it does not remain unclear to the Serbian people, regarding my constitutional responsibilities. Article 83 defines my constitutional responsibilities while the economy and the economic life of the citizens and their existences are not mentioned. Article 86 includes a regulation that a part of the Serbian Constitution, in which it is stated that the president will swear to protect the rights of the citizens, and these rights relate to their human rights and their right to existence.

In this sense, any president of any normal nation is not only responsible for the defense and foreign politics, but let me remind you, he is responsible for the economic development, and in this sense, every president is obligated to be an ambassador of his economy. And when I tell you that the presidents of France, Russia, the United States, any president, travel to another country, they will always pose the question in discussions – what about the economy of your country, what will happen with investments in our companies in and how will our economy improve for our citizens. I will be a normal and regular president like all the others.

B92: Mr. Tadić, I do not want to focus on responsibilities right now, but let’s tell the citizens clearly that Serbia has a Constitutional Court that should have nine judges but has seven, and recently had six, not counting Ms. Dragica Marjanović who was elected in the parliament, the other five judges were proposed by officials of the Slobodan Milošević regime, and by the former Serbian president, Mr. Milutinović, who is a Hague indictee today. That is the same Milutinović who once fired eight professors from the Law University, including your father. So, I am not commenting on the quality of judges but about the position of the Constitutional Court in our country.

Tadić: All my efforts will be focused on creating a better Constitutional Court, like I told you before, and as I swore to do as president, but I cannot do it alone, I need the parliamentary support.

B92: Mr. Tadić, do you as president of the Serbian people still feel that way? Maybe this will be a strange question to you, but Mr. Petrović, who operatively lads the Democratic Party as you have mentioned, said that this is political nonsense, that you are the president of the citizens that voted for you, and not the ones who voted against you. How do you see this?

Tadić: Firstly, constitutionally and in every other way I have to care about the well-being of every citizen in the country, those who voted for me and those who did not. At the same time, I cannot be a man that represents all of the politics of the country because other political parties exist, which present their politics, you have to be a candidate as a citizen of one set of politics, then these politics either receive the majority or do not.

Once they have been supported, they have an obligation to represent, and in that sense, those citizens who voted for these politics are in a better position that those whose candidate lost, but the basic issue here is that every president must care for all citizens; their economic interests must be protected, their human rights, their abilities to defend themselves before the state institutions, and that is what I do. And in this sense I am the president of all of Serbia’s citizens.

B92: Those who watched the European championships in water polo in which we became European champions, had the chance to see their president sing the national anthem and more specifically the verse “God guard the Serbian king, guard the Serbian people.”

Tadić: If you paid close attention, you would have seen that I said “Serbian lands.”

B92: Oh, Serbian lands, you know I can’t lip-read, what I meant was…

Tadić: But I do read lips.

B92: But in that anthem where the Serbian king is mentioned, what kind of feeling do you have as the president of a Republic that is singing the anthem, which mentions a king?

Tadić: I don’t have to remind you that a regulation was adopted for the lyrics and an anthem with lyrics that directly read only “Serbian lands,” and that this change was made many years ago. I think that it is very important for the new constitution to precisely state the lyrics of the anthem, which is very important, regardless of whether Serbia will be a republic or a monarchy.

I will openly state that I think it should be a republic, but the citizens will make a decision on that once the constitution is passed. And the lyrics of the anthem must satisfy the entire nation, not only Serbs, there must be one anthem, one set of lyrics that will include our regional responsibility and give us a chance to have everyone feel like a citizen of this country, the state of Serbia.

B92: I want to use the last seconds of this discussion to mention sports once again, this time karate. I do not know whether you are aware that our karate team did not participate in a big competition in Italy because the members of the team could not get visas from the Italian embassy.

Tadić: Well I am not aware of the problems of every individual and every sport as far as visas are concerned, but I know we have great problems with that…

B92: I know you like sports, this is why I ask. Thank you for your time you have given to our viewers…

Tadić: Visas are a problem that we must face soon. One condition for that is to complete our international obligations toward the Hague Tribunal, and the other is to reform our political system and harmonize the borders regime with European regulations, so that we avoid having long lines of trucks, like what we saw recently, and on the other side of the border, in order to have equal treatment for everyone coming into our country.

And, well,  if I can criticize the country whose president I am, I appeal to those dealing with border control to make changes. Crossing into Serbia from Croatia, there is this big billboard that says “Goodbye, we are happy that you visited Croatia, come back soon.” And when you arrive in Serbia, it doesn’t say anywhere, “Welcome to the Republic of Serbia.” I would like those in charge to put up a message like that.

B92: We had many more questions, but unfortunately our time has run out.

Tadić: I will come again.

B92: Thank you for the time you dedicated to the B92 TV viewers.