Economy Minister Sasa Radulovic resigns

(Sasa Radulovic)

Serbian Minister of Economy Sasa Radulovic resigned on Saturday, people at the Economy Ministry told RTS.

The reason for Radulovic`s resignation is the lack of political will for the implementation of necessary reforms, the Ministry noted.

Over the past few days, Radulovic said that the fate of all reforms in Serbia depended on the amendments to four key laws: labour law, privatization law, bankruptcy law, and the law on planning and construction.

- If the bills are adopted, it will send a clear sign that early elections should not be called and that the government will do what it promised and conduct reforms in 2014 so as to meet the conditions for economic growth in 2015 - he said.

- In case the adoption of the bills is delayed, it will be a certain sign that there is no political will to conduct reforms, that the process has been renounced and that early parliamentary elections will be held - Radulovic noted.

He underscored that in case reforms are not implemented, there is no point of him holding a seat in the government any longer.

Politicians, economists, businessmen and trade union representatives voiced different opinions regarding the decision of Serbian Minister of Economy Sasa Radulovic to resign on Saturday.

President of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia (SSSS) Ljubisav Orbovic underscored that trade unions expected Radulovic to be dismissed because his economic policy completely blocked Serbia's economy.

President of the United Branch Trade Unions (UGS) Independence Branislav Canak believes that it is positive that Radulovic resigned because he does not have sufficient knowledge of macroeconomics and public finance which is necessary for economic reforms.

On the other hand, the Serbian Association of Employers (UPS) stated that Radulovic's resignation entails an interruption of necessary economic reforms and this would deepen the crisis, reduce the number of active economic subjects and contribute to unemployment increase.

UPS regrets that short-term political interests once more overpowered the efforts to create normal conditions for regular business operations in Serbia without which there can be no economic development or new jobs.

In a statement for Tanjug, UPS President Nebojsa Atanackovic said that the minister of economy who succeeds Radulovic will have to carry out similar reforms because there is no other alternative in the situation the country is currently facing.

Economist Milojko Arsic believes that the reforms Radulovic proposed are essentially positive but the incumbent heterogeneous government can hardly carry them out.

He expressed the belief that after the early parliamentary elections, a more efficient government could be set up which would be capable of conducting thorough reforms.

Arsic said that a large number of provisions from the draft laws on bankruptcy, privatisation and labour would be adopted within the reforms as was proposed by Radulovic as these are very important for the Serbian economy.

Vice President of the Association of Small and Mid-Size Enterprises Milan Knezevic stated that Radulovic's resignation came as expected because he was appointed for the office as a non-party candidate and he “even dared to conduct real reforms”.

- He remained alone in his intentions because his reform moves threatened to jeopardize the public sector - Knezevic told Tanjug.