The composition of the new Government of Serbia is finally known, but even before the first working day, by the decision of the President of Serbia, ie the President of the Serbian Progressive Party, Aleksandar Vucic, its mandate was shortened until the date of the 2022 presidential elections.
The Government faces a huge set of tasks, from agricultural reform, production of social maps, reconstruction of the entire energy sector, introduction of order in construction activities and completion of road projects, through a new restraint of public finances and all the way to labor relations. However, the artificially dictated term of the Government means that the ministers will have only a year and a half to perform those tasks. So what should be the main priorities of the new ministers?
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE
Branislav Nedimovic is one of the few ministers who will remain in the same place as in previous years. There is no information on the Ministry’s website about the new priorities in the work yet, but the last ones he announced as an old minister were three projects that should be supported by the American International Finance Corporation DFC, which concern young farmers, women’s entrepreneurship in agriculture and food industry. Support for young farmers would come from helping them buy new machines, start a business in agriculture, and DFC would only be support in a project that has already started – and that is non-refundable loans for young farmers of some 15,000 euros.
Nedimovic talked about priorities such as food safety last year. In that sector, as he said, “a very serious reform” follows.
Branislav Gulan, agroeconomic analyst
Nedimovic is the 13th Minister of Agriculture from 2000 until today and the only one who lasted the entire mandate and won the second. It takes time to do something and change something, and what are the priorities in this sector is certainly livestock, it makes up 38 percent of the GDP of agriculture, which is a characteristic of underdeveloped countries in Africa. The village must be taken care of, it was taken care of by 35 different institutions, now it will be a ministry and the third is irrigation. In our country, only 1.4 percent of the area is irrigated, the world average is 17 percent, while, for example, in Albania, 30 percent of the area is under irrigation systems. We currently have 570,000 farms and more than 217,000 producers who have less than two hectares on average. It is necessary to increase production per hectare, currently it is between four and five billion dollars a year, per one hectare it is 1,000 dollars. The Netherlands has 24,000 dollars per hectare, in Denmark it is 17,000 and we cannot be competitive with this production.
Jovica Jaksic, president of the National Association of Farmers of Serbia
We are always in favor of the person who was sent to stay in the Ministry, and it is positive that he will remain the same minister, because we would have to refer everyone to problems again and again, and we would have to start doing some things again. I think that it is necessary for the budget for agriculture to be higher and for the farmers who were left without land to be in a very unenviable situation and that they need help.
MINISTRY OF LABOR
Instead of Zoran Djordjevic, this sector will be led by Darija Kisic Tepavcevic in the next period.
What was a priority for former Minister Djordjevic and what was in the exposition of the first government of Ana Brnabic is the introduction of social cards. Although it was announced that this system will be fully implemented by the end of the mandate, that did not happen. In January last year, this ministry also formed a team that monitors economic migrations, but almost two years later, the concrete results of that team are not known.
Nebojsa Atanackovic, Union of Employers of Serbia
If we look from the angle that the old policy of giving the same to everyone should be stopped, then social cards would be there as an exceptional priority, but not only the adoption but also the application of that system. I once told Minister Djordjevic that this was his basic mission, he did not finish it, it would be good if the new minister managed to do that. It will also be important what the attitude towards trade unions and employers will be, it is necessary that there is that ability to create the right environment in that relationship.
Zoran Stojiljkovic, President of UGS Nezavisnost
The whole story is limited, that is, the use is limited to a year, a year and a half. Such a government is part of an arrangement that should show more women, the inclusion of those who could not get involved earlier. Darija Kisic Tepavcevic came to the position of Minister of Labor because there was no movement of Loncar, and this is most similar to that department. What can be done in a year – not too much. The new labor legislation is also crucial, and the question is what will happen with the regulation of pay grades. I do not expect anything, but, above all, to preserve health and employment and what kind of income, because that is, after all, the basic priority.
MINISTRY OF TRADE, TOURISM AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Nothing will be unknown to Tatjana Matic in her new position of Minister, because she has been in the responsible position of State Secretary in this ministry until now.
As she announced to the media in Serbia, the priorities will remain the same – the development of the state and society based on the modernization and digital transformation of the administration, economy, education, trade, tourism. She announced the continuation of the “Connected Schools” project, within which a local computer network has been built in some 900 schools so far. Matic told the media that the improvement of E-commerce will continue, but also that, especially due to the big problems in this sector due to the crisis caused by the Covid 19 epidemic, she will pay special attention to solving the challenges in tourism.
Aleksandar Senicic, President of YUTA
We are already sending an invitation for an urgent meeting with the new minister tomorrow, at this moment the priority is to take a stand for additional sectoral assistance, because we are very late and we expect whether we can hope for that or not. The second thing is to urgently change the regulations on travel guarantees, and the third is very important to protect the interests and money of our passengers, who paid the money through our agencies. These are the three most important topics, and the fourth, which takes more time, is the amendment of the Law on Tourism, which is quite outdated, although only two years have passed since the last amendment.
Sasa Djogovic, associate of the Institute for Market Research
In general, it is a government that will last for a year, and when you have new ministers, they need time to get used to it. That is why I do not expect anything from this government, except to continue what the previous government did. When it comes to trade, the crisis did not affect this sector much, and there were problems in tourism. The government met there, so that it was not only up to the line ministry, but also to the government, which could have been more generous, especially in the sectors that were most affected, such as tourism and catering.
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
The Ministry of Finance continues where it left off with the same minister at the helm. Sinisa Mali announced further work on the Serbia 2025 program and the goal of reaching an average salary of 900 euros and a pension of 430 euros that year. Given the deadline of the new government, the new old minister will adopt the budget for 2021, although it is already largely ready, as well as the budget for 2022.
Ivan Nikolic, Director of Research at the Institute of Economics
The most important priorities of this, as I understood from the address, crisis government, ie the Ministry of Finance, will be to try to keep the public debt below 60 percent of GDP next year. In addition, it was said that work will be done on raising the efficiency of state and public companies that are under the jurisdiction of the ministry. Also, it is necessary to continue the reform of the Tax Administration and the reduction of the gray economy.
ENERGY
In the new composition of the Government, the Ministry of Mining and Energy will be led by the new old Minister Zorana Mihajlovic. She has already announced on the occasion of the new appointment, saying that “if you are not energy safe, then you are sensitive, and that has other consequences for the state. I will work on having quality electricity, enough derivatives, to deal with renewable energy sources, but also with the technologies used and new investments.”
Petar Djukic, professor at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy in Belgrade
The shortened term of the new government is a big limitation. Only cosmetic changes are possible in the energy sector, and that has nothing to do with who the minister is. In 15 or 17 months, not much can be changed in energy, and the needs are great. It is necessary to increase economic efficiency, to make real better results, technological efficiency, to make better use of energy and to get closer to EU standards. Sulfurization plants are needed, reducing emissions of harmful substances in thermal power plants. To establish a system where everyone pays their bill and to restructure the situation in the energy sector, where EPS with over 25,000 employees is losing. None of this can be done in a year and a half.
Jelica Putnikovic, editor of the Energy Balkans portal
First of all, it is necessary to complete the construction of the Kostolac B block, as well as the desulphurization in EPS. It is also necessary to define the status of electricity production from renewable energy sources. In order to keep up with Europe, it is necessary to organize an auction sale of electricity from RES and thus relieve both EPS and end consumers. New capacities are certainly needed for the production of electricity, primarily hydroelectric power plants, and it would be great to complete the reversible HPP Bistrica for which projects have already been done. The announced gasification in the gas sector should be completed. Of course, the Turkish Stream needs to be brought to an end and used to build a gas-fired power plant. Also, to complete the gas connection Nis-Dimitrovgrad.
ECONOMY
The new Minister of Economy will be Andjelka Atanaskovic, a mechanical engineer from Trstenik who spent her entire working life in this factory, and since 2014 she has been the general director of PPT “Namenska”, which she said she raised to her feet. She was named the best manager of Southeast Europe in 2016.
Dragoljub Rajic, founder of the Business Support Network
The Ministry of Economy should put pressure on the Ministry of Finance, Customs, Inspections to abolish or simplify the administration, primarily for foreign trade. There are parafiscal levies that are not reduced, but new ones are added. Both the number and amount of parafiscal levies must be reduced, so that our economy can match the surrounding economies. Also, it should represent the interests of the economy, namely the private economy, and in state agreements, when a loan is taken, a good part of the business should be given to domestic companies. We now have a situation where imports from China are increasing in the railway, and our companies are not getting jobs on railway construction projects.
Zoran Vujovic, President of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Craftsmen and Entrepreneurs
The new government and the new minister, who was the director and knows what parafiscal charges are, must start solving that problem immediately. We are negative champions in the number of these charges. Entire areas are crunching at the time of the corona, and the dumb still remain. Everyone talks about how SMEs are the locomotive of the economy, if they are flexible, they can adapt, they can export, but first a business environment must be created so that they can work. The situation is alarming.
VILLAGE
Milan Krkobabic is the new Minister for the Care of the Village, which is one of several new departments in the next Government of Serbia.
Tomislav Zivanovic, professor at the Faculty of Agriculture
If the Ministry for the Village had been established 30 years ago, I would have been able to say what should be a priority in the work. Now, I am afraid that the village is so dead, that most of them do not have even three percent of the population younger than 30 and only a few children, schools are closed, there are no young people who could bring development. Until they find a way to finance life in the countryside without interest, for example through the formation of cooperatives, there will be no survival.
Milan Prostran, agroanalyst
You have a lot of work to do. The new minister will rely on the National Program for Rural Revival, a document created as a consequence of many years of SANU activity, especially since one segment from that document, the renewal of cooperatives, has already started in the previous mandate without a portfolio.
– First, they will have to create good expert teams for several important segments, such as infrastructure, then to sociologically design a set of measures and propose systemic solutions. That ministry will certainly not have too many original, legislative functions, but it would have to establish very good cooperation with other departments, the ministries of finance, agriculture, infrastructure, and trade.
BUILDING
From Zorana Mihajlovic, the department of the building will be taken over by Tomislav Momirovic, general manager and owner of the Mona hotel, for whom this is the first public function.
Milan Kovacevic, investment consultant
Among the first tasks should be to improve the procedures for arranging the space so that what is being built is not ugly. We also need clearer safety procedures at work because we have too many deaths, then incentives for domestic construction companies to return to foreign markets. Much better planning is needed, now it only occurs to someone to build a highway, and at the same time our side roads are in a very bad condition.
Goran Rodic, Construction Chamber of Serbia
The most important thing is to send the started works, from the Moravian corridor, to the bypasses. He will be able to do that only if the minister forms an expert team, an operational headquarters, and as a young man, regardless of the fact that he is not from that branch, he coordinates with other ministries and ensures that the deadlines are met. Another problem is the cadastre, which is reflected in the legalization process. And he shouldn’t be so slow. The mass of buildings, millions of square meters are in the procedure and are not in circulation, and that is money. He has to do it with a team from his own and other ministries, primarily with people who are “fat” in the matter, Danas reports.
