After almost a month and a half of negotiations on forming the parliamentary majority, the media in Serbia speculate that the new government will be comprised of the Progressive Party, the coalition around the Socialist Party and the United Regions of Serbia; but also that the number and distribution of ministries within such government has been agreed upon already. However, it is communicated from the Socialist circles that no agreement on forming the government has been achieved, while the Democratic Party has called upon leader of the socialists Ivica Dacic to state his stance on the issue. Duro Malobabic has more on the subject.
According to the “Politika” daily, Dacic would be a prime minister and keep the position of the minister of interior; acting president of the Progressive Party Aleksandar Vucic would be a deputy prime minster and minister of European integrations, while the other deputy prime minister would be leader of the United Pensioners Party Jovan Krkobabic. The same paper has it that leader of the United Regions Mladjan Dinkic would hold the ministry of economy and regional development, while Vice President of the Progressive Party Jorgovanka Tabakovic would head the ministry of finance.
Socialist leader Ivica Dacic has stated that he believes the essential question for his group of parties is why be in someone else’s government, when they can lead their own? “The issue is not who will have how many ministries, but rather the strategic interest of our coalition. Also, not personal issues, but the political position of our coalition”, Dacic specified. He sad, however, that he had not yet made the decision with whom to form the government, adding that his coalition has the chance, in case of heading the government, to end the period of two-partite rule in Serbia. Dacic has denied the media speculation and emphasized that no offer from the potential coalition partners has been accepted yet, but the party bodies will be soon deciding on it. He says that the official offer from the Progressive party only came in a few days ago, envisaging him as the prime minister in the future government, and adds that the decision will be passed soon and not in secrecy. The leader of the socialists has repeated that he did not ask the Democratic Party for the position of the prime minister, as it would not be correct toward their leader Boris Tadic. But, the decisions that have to be made are beyond personal relations and have to do with the strategic interest of parties. Dacic has concluded that there is the general interest to form the government as soon as possible, but also points that the experience from earlier negotiations proves it has never been easy to establish the ruling majority.
Deputy President of the Democratic Party Dragan Djilas has invited the Socialist Party of Serbia to openly ask for the spot of the prime minister, and added it is fair to hand the economic competencies over to Mladjan Dinkic, if that is the reason for procrastinating the talks. In a written statement, Djilas said that if those ambitions were not the reason for failing to form the government, i.e. if the Democratic Party is to blame, it would then be a matter of decency to clearly and openly point to the problem. “The Socialist party has the right to end the coalition agreement, but has no right of accusing the Democratic Party for breaking it”, Djilas underlined. He has underlined that the agreement is lacking although the Democratic Party has spent 50 days on trying to form the government with the socialists, in line with the agreement of these two sides from May 8, and in the meantime the principles and program of the future government have been defined, too. According to him, however the negotiations may end, it is important for the future processes in the country to be honest, and to clearly and loudly tell the truth to the voters and coalition partners, both past and future ones.