Tadic: Serbia's economic development is priority issue

Serbian President Boris Tadic has stated that as long as there is crisis, which every citizen is deeply experiencing, everyone has to be patient and there can be no bigger salaries for the authorities. "That is why as long as there is crisis and as long as I am the president, neither I nor the prime minister or any other minister will receive a bigger salary, and measures of saving in all state institutions will be even more rigorous. As far as other employed Serbian citizens, I completely agree that their salaries should increase in accordance with possibilities," Tadic stated in an interview for the Friday issue of the Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti.

Tadic said that he is not completely satisfied with how the government is handling the economic crisis, even though "there is no doubt that, at one point, the government managed to prevent the economic breakdown that many other countries have suffered." "This is when a country admits that it is not able to fulfil its international financial obligations. Greece has experienced it, as well as Hungary, and many other countries. People nowadays live hard, but we earn as much as we produce. That was not the case earlier and we are paying the price now," Tadic said.

Assessing that the government could have done a lot more, Tadic said that the time behind us should have been used for significant improvements in agricultural production. "There should have been much more progress in infrastructure, and excuses such as that projects were late do not help, as it is obvious that the northern sections of Corridor 10 will not be built on schedule. The shortage of milk and oil is particularly disturbing for the citizens, as that reminds them citizens of the recent past, which is absolutely inadmissible. The work of inspection services and fight against corruption also prove that not enough effort is being made," Tadic stressed. He added that "someone will have to be held responsible, when this year ends and when the new budget is approved. All coalition partners have to take responsibility. There is simply no sector without problems and it is clear that they are not being solved fast enough. That is why we all have to find ways how to fix things."

News source: EMG.rs link: article