THE GOVERNMENT OF NATIONAL UNITY

The reception in audience

Is Milossevicc taking the idea about a Government of National Unity in Serbia seriously?

Summary: In the afternoon of January 21, the President of Serbia invited representatives of several opposition parties to talks about a government of national unity. Vuk Drasskovicc, the President of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), Zoran Djindjicc of the Democratic Party and Andrass Agosston, the President of the Democratic Community of Hungarians from Vojvodina, accepted the invitation. But Vojislav Kosstunica, President of the Democratic Party of Serbia and a representative of the Serbian Radical Party did not accept the invitation.

AIM, Belgrade, January 22, 94.

President of Serbia, Slobodan Milossevicc, in the afternoon of January 21, 1994, offered to all the parties to give their support to a government of national unity, without mentioning the name of the possible candidate for the prime minister. He received the President of the SPO, Vuk Drasskovicc, the holder of all election lists of the Democratic Party, Zoran Djindjicc, the President of the Democratic Community of Hungarians from Vojvodina, Andrass Agosston and Secretary General of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), Milomir Minicc. The all readily accepted the invitation only several hours after the invitation was handed to them.

Vojislav Kosstunica, the President of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) refused the invitation under the pretext that he was "busy", but the same evening it baceme clear that he did not wish to attend such an improvised meeting. Tomislav Nikolicc, the leader of the Group of Deputies of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), did not agree to meet President Milossevicc until the attacks against the SRS stopped on state television and until the invitation was sent to the President of his Party, Vojislav Ssessell (ultarnationalistic Radical Party was until recently the unofficial ally of the ruling Socialists, until they separated not long ago exchanging severe accusations).

After the talks with Milossevicc, Djindjicc and Agosston made a positive assessment of the possibility of forming a government of national unity, while Drasskovicc refused to comment on President's proposal, stressing that the government would be more stable if a man from the opposition were chosen to be the President of the Assembly.

At the exit of the building of the so-called New Royal Court where the Presidency of Serbia has its headquarters, Vuk Drasskovicc also made a favourable assessment about Slobodan Milossevicc, saying that he was "nice " and "pleasant to talk to", and to a question how he could have talked to him when he had called him "Saddam" (alluding to Saddam Husein), Drasskovicc answered that he had never said anything bad about Slobosan Milossevicc personally, but that he had rather criticized his moves. Drasskovicc was obviously meaker than usual because he had tried to reach an agreement with President Milossevicc about choosing a deputy from the Depos for the post of the President of the Assembly of Serbia.

However, after he had settled his impressions, two hours later in a debate in an Independent Sudio B program, Drasskovicc was hard again - he said that, motivated by the interests of his party and the people, he had, personally, generously pushed aside the fact that he had been arrested and beaten up, but that he did not notice that there was any good will to compromise on the part of Milossevicc.

It might be said that Drasskovicc has reached the stage where he is ready to actually accept the idea of a government of national unity, but that he is trying to get something in return. Vojislav Kosstunicc, however, had no illusions about the intentions of the Socialists - they are short of three deputies in the Parliament, and there is nothing more to it. Dr. Milan Bozzicc, a deputy of the DEPOS (Democratic Movement of Serbia), evaluates that Milossevic is trying to trick the opposition, that this a "maneouver of distraction" and that the main idea is to obstruct reaching of any firm agreement of the opposition about the President of the Assembly.

Is the President of Serbia on his way to reach a solution for the composition of a government and to ovecome the blockade of the newly elected Parliament in which neither the opposition nor the Socialists have the majority? He did not meet party leaders right after the elections, but first introduced the program for cutting down hyperinflation which should the future government is expected to carry out.

The Socialists are trying to buy time, assuming that at least for a certain period of time the opposition will not attack the program of the monetary reform which they had demanded themselves, and that they will not be able to reject a formula they had asked for in the first place. (The government of national unity was demanded way back in summer 1991 by the opposition)

Since a number of renowned economists claim that Avramovicc's anti-inflation program is based on wrong presumptions, a government of national unity could in fact be the stake for a future scapegoat. The authorities believe that, should it reject the government of national unity, the opposition will be proclamed guilty for the failure of the program, and should it accept it - it will be guilty again for the failure of the program it did not participate in planning and the policy it did not conceive. But, Kosstunica is already openly attacking Avramovicc's program as an expensive deception. Similar is done by the Serbian Radical Party whose leader, Dr. Vojislav Ssesselj is calling Avramovicc "a ridiculous old man". There is a growing number of the members of the opposition who claim that the regime is trying to improvise a monetary reform in a hurry and that it is hoping to get hold of the foreign currency reserves held by the citizens in this way.

For a solution for such a situation, a serious and not a provisional consensus of all political forces is necessary, of the trade unions and the state and it is still nowhere in sight. A political concensus implies, among other, division of power, which obviously the regime is not ready to agree to. Milomir Minicc, Secretary General of the SPS, stated after the talks with President Milossevicc, that the Socialists intend to keep the post of the President of the Parliament for themselves, and reminded that even the present Socialist Government has ministers who are not members of the SPS, implying that the Socialists still intend to have a government they could control.

Milossevicc's call for cooperation addressed at the opposition can be explained also by what will follow, should the program for overcoming the inflation begin to be implemented. One of the items which will have to be reduced is the outflow of money to the Serbs out of Serbia (every fourth dinar of the national product goes to the Krajina). A radical reduction of the military budget was also planned (it seems that the Army did not agree to this, so after a meeting with the heads of the Army the implmentation of the program was postponed.) The authorities managed to declare publicly that the number of the unemployed will increase at least by 400 thousand.

After the talks with Milossevicc, discussions among the opposition parties continued, but Djindjicc did not attend such a meeting, and the opposition did not reach an agreement about a common candidate for the President of the Parliament.

A constituting session of the Republican Assembly is scheduled for January 24. In the next few days it will become clear whether the authorities and the opposition will share the risk for the difficult days which are in line for Serbia.

MILAN MILOSSEVICC