Serbian Leader Calls For National Reforms

Serbia must reform its government and society because the entire Balkan region lacks institutions and infrastructure of stable democracy, said Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in an address Friday at the Kennedy School of Government’s ARCO Forum.

But Djindjic, one of the founders of the Democratic Party in Serbia and the first democratically elected mayor of Belgrade, offered an optimistic assessment of his country’s prospects.

To bring about reform, though, he said politicians will have to sacrifice popularity. The Serbian public does not have a perspective of long-term democracy and stability to call for proper reforms on its own.

“It is very different than in usual and normal situations,” he said. “The changes now are like surgery, and you cannot have surgery without pain.”

“The problem is how to manage the pain of reform and the benefits that are in the future,” he added. “My idea now is to exchange emotional support through rational support.”

He said he was looking to the European Union (E.U.) as a guide for his nation’s rebuilding.

“We should base our ways on European ways,” he said. “I am committed to higher standards and values, and I ask daily how I can harmonize with Europe.”

Djindjic said although Serbia needs international assistance, fundamental changes need to take place, not simply negotiations over money.

“We don’t have structures in society,” he said. “We don’t have a constitution. We don’t have institutions.”

“The system cannot just start to work,” he added. “You have to do it daily. This applies to all countries in transition.”

Along with strengthening national institutions, Djindjic said economic reform—including increasing international trade—was a high priority.

President of the Harvard Serbian Society Ivana Tasic-Nikolic ’03-’04 attended Djindjic’s speech and said she was very pleased with his goals for Serbia.

“I really agree with what he was saying,” Tasic-Nikolic said. “If you look at the election that’s coming up in a few days, Djindjic represents the pro-Western [and] modern.”

“He’s been doing a great job,” she added. “The problem now is maintaining the popular support of the people.”

Tasic-Nikolic said that Djindjic was a positive force of reform—especially in his efforts to normalize relations with the West following the extradition of former President Slobodan Milosovic.

While he avoided discussing issues of ethnicity in Serbia and the conflict in Kosovo in his speech, several members of the sizeable crowd questioned him on the controversies.

Djindjic said that he is working with the other countries and provinces in the Balkans to stabilize the region economically and politically.

“The first step should be to start to discuss,” he said. “The second step is to make small projects. We need to find mutual interests like joining the E.U.”

Djindjic said he was optimistic that, if given the opportunity to prove itself, Serbia could be welcomed into the E.U. by 2012.

“Since we have achieved some huge evils in recent years, it’s time to show what good we can achieve,” he said.

Accordingly, Djindjic said that if any of the suspected war criminals from the Bosnian war or the Kosovo conflict are apprehended, his government would immediately send them to the War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague.

Under Serbian law, such an extradition procedure is illegal, but Djindjic said breaking with the constitution and conceding to international law was important to show that Serbia is a “credible partner.”

Establishing credibility is important, he said, because over the past six centuries, his country has seen only civil war and dictatorship.

“That we have people working to change that is new,” he said.

—Staff writer Katherine M. Dimengo can be reached at dimengo@fas.harvard.edu.