1Friday • June 13 • 2008 NEWSNEWS

Issue No. 1 / Friday, June 13, 2008

Lure of Tadic Alliance Splits SocialistsWhile younger Socialists support joining a new, pro-EU government, old Milosevic loyalists threaten revolt over the prospect.

EDITOR’S WORD

Political PredictabilityBy Mark R. Pullen

Many of us who have experi-enced numerous Serbian elections rate ourselves as pundits when it comes to predicting election re-sults and post-election moves.

We feel in-the-know because our experience of elections in Ser-bia has shown us that (a.) no single party or coalition will ever gain the majority required to form a govern-ment, and (b.) political negotiations will never be quickly concluded.

Even when the Democrats achieved their surprising result at last month’s general election, it quickly became clear that the re-sult was actually more-or-less the same as every other election result in Serbia, i.e. inconclusive.

This is likely to continue as long as Serbia’s politicians form new political parties every time they disagree with their current party leader (there are currently 342 reg-istered political parties in Serbia).

Drawn-out negotiations are also the norm. One Belgrade-based Ambassador recently told me he was also alarmed by the distinct lack of urgency among Serbian politicians. “The country is at a standstill and I don’t understand their logic. If they are so eager to progress towards the EU and en-courage investors, how come they go home at 5pm sharp and don’t work weekends?”

Surely the situation is urgent enough to warrant a little overtime.

Costs Mounting

Economists are warning that pro-longed uncertainty over Serbia’s

future could scare off investors, lead to higher inflation and jeopardise prosperity for years to come.

“This year has been lost, from the standpoint of economic policy,” says Stojan Stamenkovic of the Econom-ics Institute in Belgrade.

Football Rebellion

While the football world watch-es events unfold at the Euro-

pean Championships in Austria and Switzerland, Bosnia is experiencing a soccer rebellion, led by fans, play-ers and former stars who are enraged by what they see as corrupt leaders of the country’s football association leaders.

By Rade Maroevic in Belgrade

Tense negotiations on a new gov-ernment have divided the ranks

of the Socialist Party, which holds the balance of power between the main blocs and has yet to announce which side they will support.

“It looks as if the Socialists will move towards a government led by the Democrats,” political analyst Mi-lan Nikolic, of the independent Cen-tre of Policy Studies, said. “But such a move might provoke deeper divi-sions and even split the party.”

Simultaneous negotiations held with the pro-European and national-ist blocs have drawn attention to a deep rift inside the Socialists.

This divides “old-timers” loyal

to Serbia’s late president, Slobodan Milosevic, and reformists who want the party to become a modern Euro-pean social democrat organisation.

After eight years of stagnation, the Socialists returned to centre stage after winning 20 of the 250 seats in parliament in the May 11 elections.

With the pro-European and nation-alist blocs almost evenly matched, the Socialists now have the final say on the fate of the country.

Nikolic believes the Socialists, led by Ivica Dacic, will come over to Tadic, if only out of a pragmatic de-sire to ensure their political survival.

“The group of younger Socialists gathered around Dacic seems to be in the majority”, Nikolic said, adding that these reformists believe the party

faces extinction unless it changes. However, a strong current also

flows in the opposite direction, led by party veterans enraged by the prospect of a deal with Tadic.

Mihajlo Markovic, a founder of the party, recently warned of a crisis if Dacic opts for the pro-European bloc, abandoning the Socialists’ “nat-ural” ideological partners.

Markovic, a prominent supporter of Milosevic during the 1990s, is seen as representative of the “old-timers” in the party who want to stay true to the former regime’s policies, even though these almost ruined the Socialists for good.

Some younger Socialist officials have voiced frustration over the con-tinuing impasse within their own

party over which way to turn. “The situation in the party seems

extremely complicated, as we try to convince the few remaining lag-gards that we need to move out of Milosevic’s shadow,” one Socialist Party official complained.

“Dacic will eventually side with Tadic in a bid to guide his party into the European mainstream, but much of the membership and many offi-cials may oppose that move.”

Nikolic agreed: “The question is will the party split or will the ‘old-timers’ back down,” he noted.

Fearing they might not cross the 5-per-cent threshold to enter parlia-ment, the Socialists teamed up with the Association of Pensioners and the United Serbia Party, led by business-man Dragan Markovic “Palma”.

Pensioners leader, Jovan Krkoba-bic, Palma and Dacic are all pushing for a deal with the Democrats.

The reported price is the post of deputy PM, with a brief in charge of security for the Socialist leader.

In addition, the Socialists are bar-gaining for other ministries, includ-ing capital investments, Kosovo and education, Belgrade media reported.

Tadic has denied talk of horse-trading with the Socialists, maintain-ing that ministries would go only to those committed to working for the government’s “strategic goal”.

At the same time, Dacic seems re-luctant to call off negotiations with the nationalists.

“If we don’t reach an agreement with the DSS and Radicals, the par-ty leadership will decide on future steps”, Dacic announced, following the first session of country’s new par-liament on Wednesday.Source: Balkan Insight (www.balkaninsight.com)

Business Insight Neighbourhood Matters

Socialist leader Ivica Dacic remains the Serbian kingmaker

page 5 page 10

THIS ISSUE OFBelgrade Insight

IS SUPPORTED BY:

ISS

N 1820-8339

97

71

82

08

33

00

0

01

Weekly Issue No. 8, Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

Serbia’s President Boris Tadic says a compromise with Brus-sels is possible over the deploy-

ment of the European Union’s new law and order mission to Kosovo.

Tadic said Belgrade wants to find a compromise over the deploy-ment of the 2,200-strong European Union mission to Kosovo, known as EULEX, but with blessing of the United Nations Security Council.

The world’s top security body re-mains divided on the issue since ve-to-wielding member Russia, strongly backs Serbia’s territorial integrity and has previously echoed Belgrade’s concerns that EULEX seeks to for-malise Kosovo’s independence.

“We are working on that in all international forums, with the UN Security Council and the EU,

Compromise with EULEX is possible but only with UN blessing, says Tadic Source: www.delo.si

with officials from Russia and the United States, with everyone who is vitally important to the future of Kosovo and Serbia,” Tadic told Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti.

However Tadic emphasised that Belgrade’s acceptance of the Euro-pean mission’s presence in Kosovo would be conditional on it being given a green light by the UN Se-curity Council, on the United Na-tions Mission retaining its neutral stance towards the status of Ser-bia’s former province and, last but not least, on the dropping of plans to implement the blueprint for Ko-sovo’s independence devised by former UN envoy and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Martti Ahtisarri.

“Anyone who finds fault with these principles has a problem with logic. There are political par-ties that are trying to fool Serbian citizens that EULEX will imple-

ment independence in Kosovo. We are going to fight to make sure that does not happen,” Tadic said.

The move towards a compro-mise between Belgrade and Brus-sels was also signalled by the EU’s special representative in Kosovo, Pieter Feith, who said that “recent consultations” between Serbia, the EU and New York opened the pos-sibility for a widely acceptable so-lution for EULEX.

“There is a possibility that con-sultations between Belgrade, the EU and New York will result in some kind of solution and the UN’s authorisation for EULEX. But I be-lieve there is no real need for that,” Feith said, adding that the EU looks forward to cooperation with Belgrade on the matter soon.

These statements were followed by warnings from international think-tanks such as the International

Crisis Group that divisions between Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority and some 100,000 remaining Serbs have widened following Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independ-ence from Serbia on February 17.

The United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, which has admin-istered Kosovo since the end of the 1998-1999 conflict between Serb forces and ethnic Albanians, has been wrapping up its mission under a procedure it calls ‘reconfiguration’.

EULEX is due to become the main international body in Kosovo, although its powers will be largely supervisory, particularly relating to the fields of policing and the judi-ciary.

But EULEX’s ability to fully deploy, some eight months after Brussels okayed its biggest ever se-curity and defence policy operation has concerned Western powers.

Critically, it lacks a mandate from the UN Security Council, since Russia has vowed to block any changes to Kosovo’s status which do not have approval from Serbia.

Belgrade and Moscow have also used this shortcoming to argue Kosovo’s independence is in fact illegal under international law.

Adding to EULEX’s woes is the question of whether it could ever deploy across the whole territory of Kosovo.

Kosovo Serbs, particularly those living north of the River Ibar, where they make up a majority, have so far defied Kosovo’s inde-pendence thanks to political and financial assistance from Belgrade.

They are also likely to put up stiff resistance to the EULEX mis-sion.

“UNMIK remains our only le-gitimate partner in Kosovo,” Ser-bia’s Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanovic said, rejecting the EU’s announcement that its mis-sion will be fully operational by December across the whole terri-tory of Kosovo.

Serbia Seeks Deal over EU Kosovo Mission

Julijana Mojsilovic speaks with Ale-ksandar Vucic about his decision to join forces with Tomislav Nikolic in the new Progressive Party.

Serbia’s banking stocks experi-ence a ‘dead-cat bounce’ late this week following early indications of a recovery.

Page 3 Page 5

Your weekly listing and guide to the arts and social scene.

Page 14

WHAT’S ON

Serbian football gives fans plenty to cheer about.

Page 13

SPORT

This week we take a walk on the wild side of one of Serbia’s most well pre-served national parks.

Page 9

OUT & ABOUT

We look into regional foods that cross ethnic and national borders.

Page 10

LIFE

Natural gas prices jump 60 per cent, while Serbian privatisation is again delayed.

Page 4

BUSINESS

POLITICS

The Croatian opposition reacts an-grily to what it sees as government inaction following the ‘mafia-style’ slaying of Ivana Hodak.

Page 7

NEIGHBOURHOOD

Four houses near a construction site disappear into a hole in a Belgrade neighbourhood, and a city bus crash-es into a photo store.

Page 6

ECONOMICS

BELGRADE

Source: www.weather2umbrella.com

By Rade Maroevicin Belgrade

Serbian President Boris Tadic said the country will accept EULEX‘s presence under certain conditions.

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 20082 advert

Think you know Belgrade?Think again!

3politicsFriday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

New Party Targets Centre Ground

To see more of the Vucic interview go to www.balkaninsight.com

When Tomislav Nikolic, long the closest ally of the war crimes suspect

Vojislav Seselj, rebelled against his jailed boss and his ultranationalist party, the main question was “what would Vucic do?”

Almost a month after the party split, Vucic, the former head of the Radical caucus in parliament, sits in the office of Nikolic’s new party, the Serbian Progressive Party, surround-ed by people who want to join.

He says his emotional nature prevented him from publicising his decision to bond with Nikolic earlier.

“But when it comes to realism, and when I started thinking where my future lies, it took me five sec-onds to decide,” Vucic, the new party’s deputy leader-to-be, adds.

“Something was brewing for quite some time,” he says, concerning the atmosphere that preceded the split in the ranks of the Serbian Radical Party. “It was as if people were wait-ing for something to happen, and not only the Radicals, but members of other parties as well,” he adds.

Newcomers to the party include former supporters of other political parties as well as those who used to be undecided.

Once the best student of his generation at the Belgrade Law Faculty, fluent in English, “good” in Russian and “not so bad” in French, Vucic, now 38, speaks in a soft voice. It sounds somehow dif-ferent from the voice that he adopt-ed during his time as the head of the Radical deputies’ club.

With the same energy that he once used to criticise his political opponents on behalf of Seselj and the Radicals, he now explains the bright future lying ahead for the new party.

Aleksandar Vucic from Progressive Party

Aleksandar Vucic, sees a bright future for the Pro-gressives, as polls indicate a surge in support.

Interview by Julijana Mojsilovic

in Belgrade

Serbia to Implement EU Deal Tadic Rejects Further Sanctions

Serbia is set to start unilateral implementation of the key Stabilization and Associa-

tion Agreement with the EU, Vice-premier Mladjan Dinkic said on Wednesday.

“Implementation of the SAA will start on January 1,” the Belgrade News Agency, Beta, quoted Dinkic as saying.

The decision to start implement-ing the key deal came as Dutch For-eign Minister Maxime Verhagen once again voiced his opposition to ratification of the agreement between Serbia and the EU, due to Belgrade’s failure to arrest Bosnian Serb war-time commander Ratko Mladic, who is wanted by The Hague Tribunal.Instead, top European officials ad-vised Serbia to begin implementing the deal unilaterally, despite the fact that there has been no EU consen-sus to back Belgrade’s drive for

Serbia’s President Boris Tadic has rejected calls for further sanctions against Macedonia

and Montenegro following their recognition of Kosovo’s independ-ence last week.

Montenegro’s President Filip Vujanovic praised Tadic’s stance as constructive and benefiting the well-being of citizens of both countries.

Tadic has been under pres-sure from hardliners who say the move by their long-time allies to recognise Kosovo’s February 17 declaration of independence from Serbia amounted to a “stab in the back.”

Some of the sanctions being touted include blacklisting Mon-tenegrin officials and other meas-ures aimed mainly against Mon-tenegrins living in Serbia.

“When, on both sides, we have anti-Montenegrin and anti-Serb sentiment as a manifestation of our relations ... then I have to ring the alarm bell and say ‘Stop!’ When Serbian lawmakers say that Mon-tenegrin government officials are not safe in Serbia, then I have to say ‘Stop!’ It is a crime to threaten others,” Tadic said to Serbian daily Vecernje novosti.

“Being anti-Montenegrin or anti-Serb is not only pointless in a historical context but is also dan-gerous”.

Tadic also condemned the vio-lence that followed this week’s pro-Serbian demonstrations in Podgorica, which resulted in doz-ens of injuries and arrests and a severe deterioration in relations between the ruling party and the opposition.

Belgrade’s reaction to Mon-tenegro and Macedonia’s decision to recognise Ko-

sovo’s independence received a stern response in Brussels, with many EU officials saying Serbia has “crossed the line” this time.

This behavior may also endan-ger the speed of the country’s inte-gration with the EU, they say.

“We cannot allow a country which wants to join us to behave in such a way,” Doris Pack, a member

of the European Parliament, told Balkan Insight.

“From now on, it will be more difficult for Serbia on the way to the European Union but they should have known that before they did this,” she said.

Belgrade reacted angrily to Mac-edonia and Montenegro’s decision to recognise Kosovo last week by giving the countries’ ambassadors to Serbia, 48 hours to leave the country.

The coordinated recognition of Kosovo by Skopje and Podgorica was seen by Belgrade as a “stab in the back” as it came only a day after the UN General Assembly voted in fa-

vor of Serbia`s motion for the World Court to rule whether Kosovo`s declaration of independence was in breach of international law.

The sudden recognition of Mon-tenegro and Macedonia was viewed by many as a move directed by Washington aimed to diminish the Serbian success at the UN and un-dermine the significance attached to the World Court’s examination of the legality of Kosovo`s decla-ration of independence.

Diplomatic sources in Brussels confirmed that many EU mem-ber states have used diplomatic channels to send a clear signal to Belgrade that with the decision to expel the ambassadors, Serbia has “arrived at the limits of tolerance”, as one diplomat put it.

According to the source, the UK and Germany sent the harshest warnings.

Many diplomats have for some time considered that the EU has been too lenient with Serbia, and say that such behavior may bring the “honeymoon” to an end.

“If officials in Belgrade take further steps which might destabi-lize the region and might influence good-neighborly relations, then the European Union cannot cannot look the other way any more as it has done so far,” a western diplo-mat said.

He noted that Brussels has al-ways supported the pro-European government in Belgrade, and has expressed understanding of all their actions “despite the fact that sometimes we didn’t agree”, and has prepared a plan on how to make Serbia an EU candidate as fast as possible.

The European Union decided to sign a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia in April but its implementation is conditional on the arrest of war crimes fugitive general Ratko Mladic.

Another diplomatic source from an EU member state noted that Belgrade’s speedy reaction to Montenegro and Macedonia’s de-cision is “proof that everything was

well planned in advance”. “This is totally unacceptable

and it seems that with these deeds Serbia will obscure its path towards the EU,” the diplomat said.

Other diplomats pointed out that Montenegro and Macedonia’s deci-sion is in line with decisions taken by the majority of EU member states.

And while Serbia has so far withdrawn its ambassadors from the countries that have recognised Kosovo, it never declared the rep-resentatives of those countries in Belgrade ’persona non grata’ as it did with Podgorica and Skopje’s ambassadors, a move that has at-tracted allegations of “double standards” by Serbia over the treat-ment of smaller countries

“If you are bigger you cannot behave differently towards smaller ones,” said Pack.

However, Serbia`s Foreign Min-ister Vuk Jeremic told media that the decision to expel ambassadors was “an adequate measure consid-ering the fact that all regional coun-tries have a special responsibility for preserving peace and stability in the Balkans”.

The European Commission and Council both expressed their disappointment. They noted that Serbia is breaking a key European condition, to maintain good-neigh-borly relations.

“We can understand how diffi-cult the question of Kosovo is for Serbia but only with good-neigh-borly relations we can stabilise the region,” Cristina Gallach, Javier Solana’s spokesperson, said.

“Regional cooperation and good-neighbourly relations are of paramount importance and we ex-pect that Serbia will respect these principles,” said Krisztina Nagy, spokesperson for the enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn.

For one EU diplomat Serbia’s latest move shows that country still does not understand that it cannot dictate decisions in other former Yugoslav states.

Source: BalkanInsight.com

By Gjeraqina Tuhina in Brussels

Expulsion A Step Too Far, Say DiplomatsEU diplomats warn Belgrade to stop behaving as if former Yugoslav states are its provinces.

Doris Pack, German MEP Source: www.europarl.de

membership. Only one country, the Netherlands, opposed ratification of the interim trade agreement with Belgrade.

“The trade agreement includes a reduction in import taxes for prod-ucts made in the EU. Such a move will increase competition in the Serbian market and make products made in the EU more affordable,” said Dinkic, adding that the first step will be a reduction in import taxes on personal vehicles.

Serbia’s pro-european govern-ment has made EU integration its key priority. EU officials earlier sig-naled that Serbia could achieve can-didate status next year.

When the Serbian parliament ratified the SAA, the Radicals, ab-stained from voting, a move which may be a signal of the emergence of greater national consensus on Ser-bia’s European objectives.

4 business

Photo by FoNetGovernor Jelasic is confident in the dinar’s stability

Mladjan Dinkic

Serbia’s Natural Gas Prices to Rise Nearly 60%

Opening of Serbian Factory QuestionedGovernment in Iveco Joint Venture Talks

Interventions Fail to Stop Dinar’s Slide

Serbian Privatisation May Be Delayed Serbia and Fiat Register Joint Venture

Serbia’s Srbijagas, a gas distri-bution utility, said it will in-crease monthly fees by up to

59.9 percent to compensate for the rise in raw material and transport costs, as well as the strengthening of the US dollar against the euro.

Srbijagas, which supplies as many as 60,000 households and 600 com-panies, released a statement on the price increase through the state-run Radio Beograd.

The current price of gas, mainly imported from Russia, is based on import costs of $ 250 per 1,000 cubic meters. “That price has doubled,”the statement said.

Individual comsumers account for 10 per cent of Serbia’s total imports of natural gas; the remainder goes to

heating utility companies and indus-trial facilities.

Serbia is seeking to improve its gas supplies and earlier this year it signed an agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom on the devel-opment of part of the South Stream gas pipeline and the sale of the NIS oil company.

Five interventions by the Na-tional Bank of Serbia on the domestic currency markets

aimed at halting the weakening of the dinar against the euro failed last-week, leading to a further1.5 per cent depreciation.

“The bank intervened to boost the liquidity of the market and pre-vent excessive oscillations of the ex-change rate,” the Central Bank said in a statement.

The bank intervened with 60

million on the currency market on Tuesday, and in the past week has placed as much as 80 million to counter the dinar’s slide.

The domestic currency started de-preciating late last week after foreign traders began pulling out funds amid crises in their own countries, and do-mestic traders started purchasing eu-ros in response to more demand.

This triggered additional pressure on exchange counters and late last week stoked popular fears about a

financial slump in Serbia.Central Bank Governor Radovan

Jelasic sought to assure depositors that currency savings with commer-cial banks were safe and said that Serbia has 9.6 billion in currency reserves to defend the dinar’s ex-change rate.

He also noted that commercial banks have compulsory reserves deposited with the National Bank amounting to 40 per cent of their cash assets.

Although Serbia wants to extend the number of state-run compa-nies whose shares will be dis-

tributed to as many as 4 million citizens, this initiative may be delayed because of the global market crisis, Economy Minister Mladjan Dinkic said.

Last year the Serbian government announced its intention to make an initial public offering, IPO, of some state-run assets and distribute free shares to citizens.

“It makes no sense for us to go

to the stock exchange under the cir-cumstances; it is better to wait for a recovery of the financial markets to get better prices for shares that will be distributed to the people,” Dinkic told reporters in Belgrade.

In 2007, the government said shares of the Telekom Srbije telepho-ny provider, the Elektroprivreda Srb-ije electricity utility, JAT Airways the national flag carrier, Galenika phar-maceuticals, the JAT Tehnika main-tenance company and Belgrade’s Nikola Tesla Airport would be in-cluded in the privatization program.

The government had since can-celed the sale of JAT Airways as the company failed to attract any buyers.

Officials have already indicated that the listing of Telekom Srbije on the London Stock Exchange may be delayed, but steps are underway to move ahead with privatising the re-mainder of the list.

Dinkic said that Serbia’s copper mining complex, RTB Bor, might also be included in the IPO list “if we find a serious strategic partner which will boost its (RTB Bor’s) value sig-nificantly in the coming years.”

“Some other companies that are using national resources might be in-cluded as well,” Dinkic said.

He said that people who applied for free shares will be issued with a certificate of share ownership, but they will not be allowed to use these certificates “until the end of the fi-nancial crisis.” The government had previously said that the value of each individual package would amount to some 1,000.

Dinkic said the government would consider whether it will amend the rules for privatising the remaining state-run assets. These rules allow in-vestors to purchase local companies with a grace period of five years and a 30-per cent advance payment.

The Serbian government and Italy’s Fiat Group have an-nounced that the joint venture

created in late September under the name of Fiat Automobili Serbia has been officially registered with the Registry of Companies.

In a statement, the Economy Ministry said the new company’s managing board will have seven members, two from Serbia and the remainder from the Fiat Group. The CEO of Fiat Automobili Serbia will be Giovanni De Fillipis, the state-ment said.

The Serbian government said it has provided capital funding of 231,000 to the new company, while the Fiat Group has still to make 469,000 available in order to com-plete the legal registration process.

Meanwhile, the worker’s at the Kragujevac plant have been offered a voluntarily redundancy package. However, the company’s labor un-

ion is not satisfied with the plan, has blocked it and called for an immedi-ate meetingwith management.

None of the workers have been guaranteed a job when Zastava merges with Fiat.

The opening of a textile factory in the southern Serbian town of Vranje which should em-

ploy 3,000 workers in this economi-cally depressed area has come under question.

The construction company Meteor that had been contracted to build the Zamber factory has stopped work, and says it has sued the British investor in the project for an unpaid debt worth over 900,000, that Meteor claims it has spent on building the factory so far.

In 2006 the Serbian government promised to pay 6 million towards the Zamber factory. The British com-pany has promised 3 million towards the project so far.

The construction of the Zamber

Serbia will begin negotiations with Italy’s Iveco over a joint venture, Economy Minister

Mladjan Dinkic said.Dinkic said the talks will be

based on a Memorandum of Under-standing signed between the gov-ernment and Iveco, a division of the Fiat Group and Magnetti Marelli, on September 29 that proposes the creation of two joint ventures in the southwestern city of Kragujevac.

“Our goal is to have the deals signed by the end of 2008,” Dinkic said.

Under the agreement, Iveco, Magneti Marelli and Serbian gov-ernment would form two separate joint ventures, both with 70 percent stakes owned by Italian companies.

textile factory should have been fin-ished by the end of 2007.

Vranje is the centre of the Pcinj district in southern Serbia, and was a textile centre in the former Yugo-slavia. Out of 80,000 people living in this town, 9,000 are officially unem-ployed.

Miroljub Stojcic,Vranje’s mayor, said that local authorities want this investment to go through.

“The employment of 3,000 people would mean a lot to our town. I ex-pect the state to find common ground with Zamber,” said Stojcic.

Two years ago Zamber leased a plant from the financially ruined textile giant Jumko in Vranje, which currently employs 800 people. Dis-

The initial investment of Italian partners would amount to 240 mil-lion, Dinkic said.

The prospective agreement comes alongside the September 29 deal with Fiat SpA.

The partners have pledged in-vestments of 950 million to devel-op the plant.

Iveco which already has a stake in Zastava’s subsidiary Zastava Ka-mioni, a truck manufacturer, said it would initiate production of as many as 2,200 buses and utility vehicles an-nually by 2012 and Magnetti Marelli will produce spare parts. “Both facto-ries will be based in Kragujevac’s in-dustrial area and will have a combined workforce of 2,350,” Dinkic sad.

satisfied with working conditions, workers have gone on strike on sev-eral occasions.

Nebojsa Ciric, state secretary in the Ministry of Economy and Privatisa-tion, said that the state has met its share of obligations and that it would insist that British company meet its own.

The British company Zamber de-clined to comment on the new situ-ation, while representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Local Self-Management in charge of the matter do not intend to give up negotiations with Zamber’s owner Jani Savas.

The decision on whether the con-tract will be terminated will be made in a month at the latest, representatives at the Ministry of Economy said.

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

5business

Serbia’s Currency ScareWhilst the Government assures depositors that their money is secure, many are resorting to the safety of cash.

Last week Stojanka Djeric from Belgrade withdrew her six-month term 5,000 cur-

rency deposit from a local commer-cial bank.

She lost all her interest and had to pay penalties for breaking the contract, but at least her money for rainy days was safe, back in the sock where it, as she put it, it belongs – in euros, not dinars.

“I burned myself in the inflation of the 1990’s when I lost everything, I am not falling for the same trick again,” she said.

Domestic currency started depre-ciating late last week after foreign traders started pulling out their funds amid crises in their own countries and domestic traders started purchas-ing euros to answer to more demand.

Djeric, 63, a retired administrative clerk, said that the financial slump in key markets and banks and a 2.5 per cent slide in Serbia’s dinar against the euro prompted her to act.

“If the world has to go down, it doesn’t mean I will have to go with it. Global markets fail, we fail; if we fail, there’s inflation; if inflation comes, the dinar goes to pot. That’s why I prefer euros and in cash,” she said.

Her remarks reflected the most dreaded of all fears among many Serbs who survived 13 years of ten-ure of former President Slobodan Milosevic, and the unprecedented hyperinflation in 1993 and 1994.

Back then, most who saved their foreign currency from the collapse of commercial banks during the breakup of communist Yugoslavia, lost everything in state-sponsored pyramid schemes and relentless trad-ing on the black market for the then cherished German mark.Years of

Swedish security and guard-ing company, Securitas, has completed the purchase of

Serbia’s third-largest security serv-ices firm, SCP, which has guarding and security operations in 45 towns across the country.

The purchase continues Securi-tas’ move into eastern European and Balkan markets and follows their recent purchase of Romania’s CPI Security Group. In 2007, the com-pany acquired seven other opera-tions worldwide.

Commenting on further expan-sion plans, Pavel Rafalski, vice president of Securitas for Eastern Europe, said that his company knew which companies it could take over, but that they were in no rush to com-plete further acquisitions.

The full details of the purchase have not been released, but the deal is reputedly valued at around 3.8 million.

Jelen Pivo, the local division of international brewing giant InBev, whose brands include

Stella Artois, Leffe, Hoegaarden, and Becks, has begun exporting beer to Cuba.

The deal, which forsees Jelen becoming a major player in the Cu-ban market, initially involves the export of 33 cl cans of the brew to Havana. The Apatinska brewery has so far shipped 100,000 litres of beer.

Jelen exports grew by some 28 per cent last year and total produc-tion gew to 350 million litres, an increase of 6 per cent.

InBev is the world’s largest brewer, producing 273.9 million hectoliters in 2007. Currently, the company is completing a bitterly contested $52 billion ( 38.6 bil-lion) take-over deal of Anhauser-Busch, the brewer of Budweiser.

The Belgrade Stock Exchange said on Wednesday it would narrow the price band for

shares which govern the maximum allowed fluctuation in traded prices, with new bands effective as of Oc-tober 16.

“The price band for listed shares will be +10/-8 percent, while prices in the unregulated market can move in a +20/-12 percent range,” the

What looked like a develop-ing recovery in the bank-ing sector in the early part

of the week, proved itself to be little more than what UK traders often call a “dead-cat bounce”.

By mid afternoon on Thursday, shares in all of the banks listed on the exchange were looking dis-

tinctly unhealthy, with many off by more than 10 per cent on the their Wednesday close.

Cacanska Banka in particular, had fallen off a cliff, trading more than 11 per cent off Wednesday’s close, rep-resenting a 52 week low at less than 17,000, against a price, less than a year earlier, of 102,000.

bourse said in a statement.The bourse did not say whether

the new rule was permanent.Serbia’s stock market regulator

said that the measures would help to avoid sharp price swings and protect small shareholders from speculators.

The bourse has so far only changed the way it calculates the published closing price of equities to take in all transactions in a session,

rather than just those in the last 30 minutes of trading.

It is also expected to set the mini-mum transaction size, to minimise sharp price swings during the 30-minute blackout at the end of the trading day.

The market has seen some deep declines this year, with the value of the main index of most actively trad-ed assets falling 65 per cent.

effort by pro-Western governments that succeeded Milosevic in 2000 re-sulted in inflation dropping to single digit figures and people returning to the banks, seeking loans and partici-pating in retirement plans and fund management.

Efforts by the country’s central bank Governor Radovan Jelasic to dissipate fears of the collapse of the banking system were not sufficient for Djeric.

“That’s it. I am safer this way,” she said.

Jelasic said that the National Bank of Serbia has as many as 9.6 billion in cash and securities to defend the dinar’s value. In the past two weeks, the bank placed some 80 million to boost liquidity of the currency market and halt the dinar’s slide from 77 to the euro last week to 81.9 on October 15.

Marko, a financial advisor in a Belgrade-based commercial bank said that Djeric’s move was “nothing unexpected.”

“People are clearly afraid and for some there are no arguments I could use to explain to them that their money is safe with us,” he said. Marko used only his first name because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

Although measured in hundreds, the number of people who pulled out their savings from his bank after the dinar started depreciating last week, “is not as big as it was when Kosovo declared independence” on Feb 17, Marko said.

In a move to stave off the imme-diate effects of the crisis, the central bank decided to maintain its two-week reference benchmark rate at the current 15.75 per cent.

Although Serbia’s core inflation used for setting monetary policies dropped this month by 0.1 per cent to 10.2 per cent, Jelasic remained opti-mistic that it would fall below 8.7 per cent by the end of 2008.

Veroljub Dugalic of the Associa-tion of Banks said that “commercial

banks have funds of some 515 billion dinars against total savings on depos-it of 430 billion.”

“This means we can service our customers at any time,” he told re-porters.

However, many including Stojan, 56, a small entrepreneur from Bel-grade, say the state should do more to assure people their savings are genuinely safe.

“I have 6,600 in the bank and less than half is insured by the state. And they expect me to trust them 100 per cent. I am very worried,” he said.

Under Serbian law, private sav-ings of up to 3,000 are completely covered by state insurance.

“That is about 80 percent of all savings,” said Slobodan Ilic, State Secretary of the Finance Ministry.

He said that some 13 per cent of private savings are between 3,000 and 5,000, while only 7 per cent of deposits are more than 5,000.

In recent weeks, economists and several political parties have raised the issue of whether the state should increase insurance of deposits, after the United States increased it’s guar-

antee to $250,000 and the European Union to 50,000.

Dejan Soskic of Belgrade Uni-versity’s School of Economics said that “the financial system is based on trust.”

“As long as people trust it, it’s solid,” he said.

He suggested that the “state should send a signal to the people that their money is safe by increasing the insured sum.”

“The state said there’s no risk banks will run out of cash and they should prove it,” Soskic said.

By Aleksandar Vasovicin Belgrade

Source: www.fitnessessentials.caIn safe hands: Central Bank Governor Radovan Jelasic sought to reassure investors

Securitas Completes Purchase of SCP

BELEX Report: Bank Recovery Falters

Beer Unites Belgrade and Havana

Bourse Narrows Share Price Bands

Companies & Markets

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

6 belgrade chronicle

The first tram to take to the streets in Serbia’s capital did so 116 years ago last Wednesday.

On June 22, 1892, the first tram took off on the Kalamegdan-Slavija line. The first tram was horse-drawn. Belgrade was among just a few cities at the time with horse-drawn trams, alongside New York, Paris, London and Berlin.

Two years later, on the Terazije-Top-cider line, Belgrade got it’s first electric tram and in 1904, Belgrade finished full

electrification. Bus traffic was introduced to the

city in 1928. However, it wasn’t until 1936 when the city started seriously investing in it’s bus lines and got a fleet of Mercedes buses.

Today, over 1.6 million people travel on a total of 144 Belgrade pub-lic transport routes, which include 12 tram and 124 bus lines. The city’s public transportation service, Be-ograd, employs over 6,000 people, has over 1,200 vehicles.

It’s a miracle that no one was hurt! Tuesday at 5:15 p.m. a bus crashed through three rubbish

skips and broke through the wall of a store called Kolor 2010.

The bus on line 75, was on Jug Bogdanove street with thirty pas-sengers, and four people were in the store at the time. No one was hurt in the accident.

At the moment of the crash, the driver of the bus was not in the ve-hicle. Further investigation will show whether the driver forgot to apply the brake, or whether the bus’ brakes failed.

“I was scared like I’ve never been before in my life,” said an employee of Kolor 2010.

Four houses were completely de-molished on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. when the earth be-

low them caved in. The houses were destroyed in only five minutes and fell into a 15-metre hole.

No one was hurt in this strange and unusual occurrence on Cubura, but the residents of the houses expect that the accident was caused by under-ground water deposits, which softened the ground. This destroyed the support systems of the houses, they say.

“It was unbelievable! Everything happened in under five minutes! I was talking in my back garden with my neighbor, Grandma Milka, when suddenly her house started crashing down,” said Vlada Lazic, one of the owners of the destroyed houses talk-ing to Serbian daily Blic.

“In 30 seconds her house was completely underground. We didn’t even get a chance to understand the situation before another house started disappearing. In a five-minute period, four houses including my own, ended

up in the whole. Practically nothing is left of my house.”

Two houses on Dubljanska street were destroyed. A construction site is located on this street. Two other houses from Stojana Protica street, located on the other side of the con-struction site, were also destroyed. One more house tilted over, and there exists the possibility that it will have to bedemolished.

“I was sitting in my house when I heard a really loud noise. It sounded like an explosion. I went outside to see what had happened, and when I saw that a house was crashing down, I couldn’t believe my eyes,” said the owner of a neighboring house that was not destroyed, Danijela Bozovic.

“We can not allow the residents of neighboring houses to stay here because of the possibility of danger. However, the investors have an obli-gation to find places for these people to stay,” says Dragana Pesic from the Construction Inspection Agency.

Optos, a construction company, is

planning to build a four story apart-ment building on the site, which would also have four underground levels for parking.

“It’s been at least a month since underground water had appeared on the construction site. The investors told us that a pipe had burst and that they had protected the construction site from potential dangers. It is in-

teresting that they started digging over two years ago, but on the sign at the site says that they got a licence to start building this year” says one resident of the neighborhood who asked to remain anonymous.

Nedeljko Prelic a spokesperson for the company, appeared on the site shortly after the incident and declined to comment “at this early stage”.

“I was in the store with my col-legue and some customers when all of a sudden there was a huge noise. Everything was shaking. Supris-ingly, something hit the wall of the store and it collapsed. For a second, I was paralysed and terrified. I had no idea what had happened. When I calmed down, I went outside and saw the devastation. I don’t wish to think about what could have happened. It’s good that no one was hurt.”

Serbian daily Blic reports, mo-ments before the accident the driver left the running vehicle on the bus stop at Zeli Venac and went to a nearby grocery store. The bus start-ed out on Jug Bogdanova street, travelled a few metres, turned left

and crassed into three containers, one of which was completely ru-ined. After that, the bus hit the wall of Kolor 2010.

Blic reports that according to the driver, he stopped the vehicle and applied the emergency brake before

getting out, and further investigation of the bus itself will show whether his statement is valid.

“I was hardly able to avoid the bus crashing into me,” said a man who was on the street at the time of the crash, Bozdar V.

You know how difficult it is to find good books in English, even in Serbia’s largest city.

Though you may find a fair as-sortment of English classics or sci-ence fiction in local bookstores, the city is lacking in other genres.

However, the book-lover’s woes may soon be lessened with Monday’s opening of Belgrade’s only English bookstore, English Book, on Kralja Petra 51.

English Book, carry over a thousand titles, published mainly by the Oxford University Press and McMillan.

“You can find books from all pro-fessional fields like chemistry, maths and physics. Also, we have diction-aries from all publishers, literature, books of general interest, and a very rich selection of childrens’ books,” said the manager Bojan Hiti for Ser-bian daily 24 Sata.

Hiti said that all of the books are in English and suited for all ages.

The store is open daily from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

New Bookstore in Town

Four Houses Disappear in Five Minutes

116 years of Belgrade trams

Driverless Bus Crashes into Store

The mysterious depths of the average Serb’s obsession with ‘real’ brands.

There is a word we use in Ser-bia as a mark of quality, which does not get used in many parts

of the world nearly as much as here. It designates the distinction we draw between the products we buy, the food we eat, the cigarettes we smoke and the perfume we wear, and raises those mundane, ordinary commodities to higher levels. We distinguish between what is original and what is not.

A lingering remnant of the days of sanctions still remains among us in Serbia, and no matter how much the holders of brands try, they cannot shake it. It is the concept of fakes and counterfeits on sale instead of the bona fide Real Thing.

Case in Point: Last year my clean-ing lady decided that she would no longer use the brand of laundry deter-gent which I had bought. In a hushed and secretive tone she confided that it was INFERIOR. It was not the same Tide that Procter & Gamble sell in other countries. I asked where she came upon this information. “We know,” she said.

When pressed, she pointed out the bar code, noting that it was preceded by the number 5. To her, this meant inferior-and-possibly-toxic-product-to-be-sold-in-the-former-Yugoslavia. The bar code I wanted, she told me, was 4. That was what Italian, French, and German clothes get washed in. Not this rip-off 5 stuff.

Case Two: As I often travel to Italy, I am put upon to purchase products that are readily available there and “smuggle” them home in my suitcase. A certain night-cream, for example. The one we buy here “must be a fake”. I brought one back. I put it next to another that I had bought here. Aside from the Ital-ian language instructions, there was no difference between them. But one – I was informed – would give me a deadly rash. And the other… well, it’s original.

Case Three: My neighbour, whom we shall call “Mikica,” steadfastly refuses my offer of a cigarette. It is a Marlboro, made in Nis. He would rath-er walk back to his desk, take his own brand (marked Duty Free) and come back to complain about my fakes.

Trust in brands has been dealt a severe blow in Serbia. We like our brands and we buy our brands, but se-cretly we know it is all a Big Lie. The West (or so goes the thinking) must be dumping their left-overs and factory defects here, while keeping the origi-nals for themselves. It is all part of the Great Conspiracy. Or so they say.

What is real and what is not? The main point is that we cannot know for certain where the truth lies. But if you ask me, I would rather buy Novi Pa-zar Levis and live with the illusion of originality than know better and trav-el to San Francisco to buy a pair of jeans touched by the heirs of Mr Levi Strauss. And by the way, Levi was not his ORIGINAL name. It was Loeb.

Chris Farmer is the founding partner of Farmer & Spaic, Business and Me-dia Consulting, and a regular com-mentator in various Belgrade media.

More consumer hell from Chris Farmer

Feeling Original

Consumer Watch

The destruction on Jug Bogdanova street

The15 metre hole engulfed four houses

Source: www.blic.co.yu

Source: www.blic.co.yu

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

Croatian Gangster Style Killing Sparks AngerThe killing of a 26-year old trainee lawyer has prompted many Croats to question their government’s law and order credentials.

The investigation into the ma-fia style execution in broad daylight of the daughter of

a prominent Croatian lawyer has ignited a political storm and left many questioning the government’s commitment to combat organised crime.

The murder prompted the big-gest ever government reshuffle in Croatia. In an effort to deflect criti-cism, only nine hours after the mur-der, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader dismissed Interior Minister Beris-lav Roncevic, Justice Minister Ana Lovrin and Chief of Police Marijan Benko.

Sanader then set a precedent by appointing people for these posi-tions who were not from the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ.

But these moves have failed to stem the criticism. Despite the new appointees’ non-partisan and pro-fessional background, some ana-lysts doubt that the new appoint-ments will be enough to uncover Croatia’s criminal underground.

Ivana Hodak’s murder at around 11 o’clock on October 6 outside her parents’ apartment in the centre of Zagreb shocked the public, caus-ing demands for the government`s resignation. Angry demonstrators asked how the killer could get away with such ease when Hodak lived only 100 meters away from the po-lice station.

The 26 year-old legal trainee working at her fathers practice was what the local media have dubbed one of the country’s “golden youth” – the offspring of Croatia’s new po-litical and business elite.

The daily newspaper `Jutarnji List’ wrote that investigations dur-

ing the first week were impeded by the governmental shuffle.

Mafia-style Attacks The murder was the latest in a se-

ries of mafia-style attacks that have taken place in recent months. An official from Zagreb’s City Coun-cil, a journalist and the CEO of the building company Industrogradnja, have all been physically attacked in recent months. The police still don’t know who ordered these attacks and why. In addition, there have been two teenage murders in Zagreb during the same period.

Ivana Hodak’s mother, Ljerka Mintas Hodak, held several impor-tant posts, including that of deputy prime minister in HDZ governments during the 1990s. Her father, Zvon-imir Hodak, is a prominent lawyer, who is currently defending Vladimir Zagorec, a Defence Ministry official during the 1990s.

Zagorec was extradited to Croatia three days before Ivana Hodak’s mur-der to be tried for allegedly stealing five million dollars worth of jewelry intended for the defence of Croatia during the war.

Many believe that his forthcom-ing trial will open the way for a series of revelations about war profiteering. Ranko Ostojic, a chief of police dur-ing the last government of the Social-Democratic Party, SDP, told Balkan Insight he had “documents proving that 150 million euros of citizens’ money ended up in the pockets of cho-sen HDZ officials and businessmen”.

Revelations during Zagorec’s trial could also be dangerous for Hrvoje Petrac, the alleged leader of the Za-greb mafia in the 1990s.

Petrac is currently serving a six-year prison sentence for abducting Za-gorec’s son. He is also the one who ac-cused Zagorec of stealing the jewels.

The link between Zvonimir Hodak and Hrvoje Petrac has raised suspicions about the murder because

the victim was dating Petrac’s lawyer Ljubo Pavasovic Viskovic.

Zvonimir Hodak said “the person who, three days after my client came to Croatia, decided to execute my daughter, was afraid that, because of her relationship with his lawyer, she could have told him some facts that she would then tell me.”

Political Spin

The controversy is being used by politicians to call for early elections and talk about war-time crimes.

Zoran Milanovic from the SDP ac-cused Sanader’s government of “not doing anything in the fight against or-ganised crime,” and announced he will ask Parliament to call new elections.

“The foundations of the state sys-tem have been shaken,” he said.

Jadranka Kosor, the Vice-Presi-dent of the Government, was quick to reply, noting that in order to call

for new elections “Milanovic would have to have a majority in the Par-liament, something he never wanted to admit he doesn’t have”. Kosor added that the Prime Minister has the support of not only his coalition partners, but also “citizens, who have been sending telegrams of support”.

Milanovic’s initiative has not won the support of the other parties. The Opposition Croatian People’s Party, HNS called it “irrelevant” and argued that “the ongoing crisis is no time for political rivalries”.

The Istrian Democratic Union has called for a government of national unity to be established, while the In-dependent Democratic Serbian Party, SDSS, which is HDZ’s coalition part-ner, has dismissed the call for new elections, insisting instead that “the new appointments clearly show that the Government wants to protect the state system, institutions and citizens and create a sense of security”.

Vesna Pusic from the opposition HNS took more cautious stance, expressing her confidence that the new ministers “will be more com-petent than the previous ones”. She told Balkan Insight that the removals came too late and noted that only a week ago former Minister of the In-terior Roncevic “boasted in the Par-liament with shining statistics that allegedly prove Croatia is one of the safest countries in Europe”.

Hannes Swoboda, European Parliament’s special rapporteur for Croatia said that he “doesn’t have doubts about the former ministers’ good will, but does have them when it comes to the government’s deter-mination and capabilities to imple-ment measures and actions”. Swobo-da added he hoped the new officials would be “more successful than the previous ones”.

Source: BalkanInsight.com

Bosnian Serbs Send Demands to Federation

Hodak, the father of the victim, and Zagorec former Defence Ministry official

Milorad Dodik UAE recognises Kosovo

Source: www.dnevnik.hr

7neighbourhood

By Tena Erceg in Zagreb

Pristina_The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday recognised the independ-ence of Kosovo, becoming the first Arab country to recognise Kosovo’s secession from Serbia.

“The UAE declares its recogni-tion of Kosovo as an independent sovereign state,” the official WAM news agency said.

The move is in line with the UAE’s “support for peoples’ legitimate right to self-determination”, WAM said.

Fifty countries, including several European Union members and the United States, have so far recognised Kosovo’s unilateral secession from Serbia on February 17.

Kosovo’s Foreign Minister has not responded to the announcement yet.

The UAE, which is an ally of the United States and has contributed a contingent to the NATO-led interna-tional force deployed in Kosovo since 1999, is the first Arab country to rec-ognise Kosovo’s independence.

Serbia still considers Kosovo as one of its provinces and Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN

Banja Luka_The assembly of the Serb-dominated Bosnian entity of Republika Srpska ended a tense session by drawing up a long list of tough requirements designed to strengthen the entity’s position with-in the Bosnian state.

The conclusion which was adopt-ed on Wednesday stopped short of mentioning a referendum for inde-pendence from Bosnia and Herze-govina.

Wednesday’s session was a con-tinuation of an extraordinary session called on Monday, after the Bosniak member of country’s tripartite presi-dency, Haris Silajdzic, in speeches to the UN and EU that had not been agreed to by the other members of the presidency, blasted Republika Srpska for genocide committed dur-ing the 1992-95 war.

This infuriated Bosnian Serb pol-iticians, who threatened to use “all legal and political means, including the right to a referendum” for the protection of their entity. The situ-ation was further aggravated by the

Republika Srpska Premier Milorad Dodik, who in a TV interview said he was ready to “wrestle around” with any western troops to lead his entity “to independence.”

Western and other local officials reacted strongly to this provocation, which apparently persuaded Bosnian Serbs to tone down the conclusions of their assembly session.

The final conclusion denounced Silajdzic’s speeches and demanded the Serb member of the presidency Rajko Kuzmanovic block any future public appearances by Silajdzic with-out having previously agreed to a joint platform. Kuzmanovic was also tasked to put together and submit to the Assembly a platform for future constitutional changes.

The Assembly ordered the RS government to analyse all entity responsibilities that were in the past transferred to the state level, and demanded that entity and state institutions establish a legal frame-work for any such transfers in the future.

The conclusion also criticized the BiH Federation for falling behind in economic, legal and social reforms, thus jeopardizing the entire country. It also stated that the Office of the High Representative has been “ex-hausted” and demanded all foreign judges and prosecutors to leave Bos-nia’s judicial system.

The demands are likely to trigger further tussles between Republika Srpska and international and local officials.

Security Council, has backed its ally Belgrade in the dispute.

The International Court of Jus-tice said on Friday it had received a request from the UN General As-sembly to examine the legitimacy of Kosovo’s secession from Serbia.

First Arab Country Recognises Kosovo

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

8 neighbourhood

Macedonian Reporters Held in Greece

Bosnian Serbs Ban Dutch Ambassador

Skopje _ Several Macedonian jour-nalists trying to investigate reported arrests of ethnic Macedonians from northern Greece ended up being de-tained by police themselves, local media reported.

Reporters from A1 TV, A2 TV and the Nova Makedonija daily were de-tained, questioned and later escorted by Greek police to the nearest border crossing near the northern Greek vil-lage of Lofi close to the border with Macedonia, A1 reported.

The journalists were investigating reports of arrests of ethnic Macedo-nian villagers from that region after they allegedly tried to stop the Greek army from conducting exercises.

“This is shocking news. This cross-es all boundaries,” Macedonia’s PM Nikola Gruevski Tuesday said to local Sitel TV in reaction to the reports.

Macedonia’s Foreign Ministry sent an official protest note to the Greek liaison office in Skopje. In it, Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki stated that the Greek move represent-ed an `uncivilised act’ against press freedom.

The Greek liaison office explained that the journalists were detained be-cause they were filming near strate-gic military instalations. A1 reported that after checking their footage they were immediately released

The incident has come at a time of worsening relations between Skopje and Athens. Both countries are en-gaged in UN sponsored talks to find a solution to their long standing dis-pute over Macedonia’s name which the Greek government believes im-plies sovereignty over their northern province of the same name.

Sarajevo _ The government of Bos-nia’s Serb-dominated entity has banned the Dutch ambassador from its territory after he likened the en-tity’s Prime Minister to the President of Belarus.

The Embassy of the Netherlands in Bosnia and Herzegovina had no official comment on the matter, while a spokesman for the Dutch Foreign Ministry at The Hague told Balkan Insight that that their ambassador will talk to Bosnian authorities about the situation.

The incident was triggered after the Dutch Ambassador to Bosnia, Karel E. Vosskuhler, in an interview published by Sarajevo daily Dnevni Avaz, claimed Milorad Dodik, the Prime Minister of Republika Srpska, is worse than the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko.

Lukashenko’s regime was previ-ously described by the United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as “the last dictatorship in Europe.”

“Dodik is worse than Lukash-enko,” Avaz quoted Vosskuhler as saying. Later, he added that after international pressure and sanctions, Lukashenko has “learned the lesson” and improved his behavior.

On Wednesday evening they an-nounced that the Dutch Ambassa-dor is “not welcome” in Republika Srpska. The government also said that Bosnian Serb representatives in the Bosnian presidency and foreign ministry will demand Vosskuhler to be proclaimed a persona non grata across the whole of the country.

“Obviously Mr. Dodik didn’t ap-preciate this interview,” the spokes-man for the Dutch foreign ministry,

Aad Meijer, told Balkan Insight. He refused to say whether the

comparison with Lukashenko rep-resents an official position of the Dutch government.

Albania Whistleblower’s Death ‘Accident’Tirana _ The Prosecutor’s office in Korca, in southeastern Albania, has closed an investigation into the death of Kosta Trebicka, a key figure in an arms trafficking case.

The case was closed after a number of experts, including a US investiga-tor, concluded that his death was as a result of a car accident.

The sudden death of the Albanian businessman on Sept 12, well known for having denounced a shady arms deal between the Tirana government and a US arms contractor, caused a political and media frenzy.

The businessman was considered an important witness in a corruption scandal that has reached the doors of the Prime Minister’s office.

Trebicka had helped the New York Times investigate an article published on March 27, accusing Albanian of-

ficials of murky deals with Miami-based Pentagon contractor, AEY Inc.

Recently, the firm had its contract with the US military to supply the Af-ghan army revoked, amid claims by the newspaper that it supplied ammu-nition that was decades old.

It is alleged that the Tirana govern-ment and AEY used a third company, Cyprus-based Evdin Ltd, a company subcontracted by Albania’s trading giant, MEICO, to coordinate the deal between the Albanian military and the US company.

Trebicka, in the New York Times article, claimed the Head of MEICO, Ylli Pinari, doubled the real price of the munitions and pocketed the dif-ference, sharing the proceeds among Albanian politicians.

Pinari is under arrest on mass mur-der charges following a deadly am-

munitions blast near Tirana on March 15. He has denied any wrongdoing over the arms transfers.

A federal grand jury in Miami, indicted four officials from AEY for fraud on June 21.

Trebicka was allegedly involved in repackaging the ammunition sold by Tirana to AEY. He turned whistleblow-er after the Albanian defence ministry pushed him out of the contract and ap-pointed another in his place.

In a taped telephone conversion be-tween him and Deviroli, published in the New York Times, Albanian lead-ers are suspected of profiting from the arms deal.

The trafficking row followed a deadly explosion in the village of Gerdec on March 15, which left 26 people dead, 350 wounded and more than 3,000 displaced.

Clashes Erupt in Montenegro over Kosovo RecognitionPodgorica_Blasts were heard and ambulances streamed to the centre of Montenegro’s capital as pro-Serb dem-onstrators clashed with police during a rally against Montenegro’s recognition of Kosovo’s independence.

Some 10,000 pro-Serbian protest-ers took to the streets of Podgorica for a rally against the government’s deci-sion last week to recognise the inde-pendence of Kosovo, as the opposition harshly criticised the ruling coalition for “stabbing Serbia in the back.”

The protesters chanted “Treason! Treason!” and “Kosovo is Serbia!”, as opposition leaders gave Premier Milo Djukanovic a 48 hour deadline to annul the recognition of Kosovo, or face a referendum on the issue.

Both demonstrators and police offic-ers were among the injured and witness-es saw a number of ambulances taking the wounded to a nearby hospital.

It is not clear what exactly trig-gered the clashes, but the violence broke out as protesters marched by the government building, reportedly throwing firecrackers and molotov cocktails towards the police cordon which was securing the area.

Demonstrators also demolished the fence around the government building, and police responded by firing the tear gas into the crowd.

In addition, police helicopters hov-

ered over the centre of Podgorica.Police have made at least a doz-

en arrests.Following the violence, protesters

dispersed across the capital but spo-radic clashes were reported late into the night.

Miodrag Vukovic, a high-ranking official from the ruling Democratic

Party of Socialists, blamed the inci-dents on the opposition, saying his political rivals have chosen a poor tactic to express their dissatisfaction.

“This looks like the 1997 attempt to overthrow the government... But Montenegro has matured since then,” Vukovic said.

About a third of Montenegro’s

population declare themselves as Serbs, while ethnic Albanians make up around seven per cent of the popu-lation of this small coastal republic.

Montenegro was in a loose fed-eration with Serbia up until a refer-endum on independence in 2006.

Podgorica recognized Kosovo`s independence on October 9, leading

Belgrade to expel Montenegro’s am-bassador.

Montenegro’s decision came just a day after the United Nations Gen-eral Assembly voted in favour of Bel-grade’s request for the International Court of Justice to give an opinion on the legality of Kosovo’s unilaterally declared independence.

Riots in Podgorica went on long into the night

Martti Ahtisaari

Photo by FoNet

Ex-Kosovo Envoy Ahtisaari Wins Nobel PrizePristina _ The former United Na-tions envoy for Kosovo’s final status, Martti Ahtisaari, has won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has announced.

“Ahtisaari is an outstanding in-ternational mediator,” a committee spokesman said, announcing his win.

The committee cited Ahtisaari’s “significant” role in establishing Na-mibia’s independence and his “central” part in mediating the conflict in the In-donesian province of Aceh in 2005.

In winning the prize, the former Finnish President joins the ranks of Mother Teresa and Martin Luther King.

The laureate wins a gold medal, a diploma and ten million Swedish kronor (just over 1 million).

In 2005, Ahtisaari was appointed as the United Nations special envoy for talks on the final status of Kosovo,

seven years after he played a key role in bringing an end to hostilities there.

Following the stalemate in the talks between Serbian and Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian officials he recommended ‘supervised independence’ for Kosovo.

The Ahtisaari plan served as the basis for Kosovo’s declaration of in-dependence from Serbia on February 17, and the reforms it prescribed were pursued in the following months by Kosovo’s government.

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

9out & about

Take a Walk On The Wild Side of TaraBy Aleksandar Vasovic

Standing an average of 1,500 metres above sea level, the Tara National Park is one of

only a few wild places in Serbia that remain untouched by mass tourism.

Legends say Tara received its name from the Slavic tribes who named it after the friendly god Tar who, enchanted with its beauty, chose to spend his divine life there.

The park is bordered by the Drina river to the north, the Derventa and Beli Rzav to the west, the ravines of Mokra Gora and Kremna to the south and the rivers Pilica and Solotuska Reka to the east. It covers an area of

Enjoy the stunning views, pine-scented air and chuckling rivers in this pristine national park - just don’t get eaten by the bears!

19,175 hectares, including the moun-tains of Tara, Crni Vrh, Zvezda, Stol-ac and the Drina canyon, the world’s third-deepest.

The mountain range is not espe-cially high – the highest peak at Kozji Rid is 1,591 metres above sea level. As a result, although it has significant snowfall, it is covered in forest and has never gained a reputation as a skiing centre, unlike Kopaonik.

Tara is a getaway of choice be-tween May and the end of the Indian Summer in October. “Kopaonik or Zkatibor may be more famous but Tara is for connoisseurs,” says Zoran Dimitrijevic, a regular visitor from Belgrade.

The centre is the Kaludjerske Bare plateau, which is home to three of the park’s largest hotels and the bulk of the park’s services and facilities. The Tara Hotel, still owned by the mili-tary, the Omorika, the Beli Bor and the Javor offer decent food and ac-commodation and are open all year round. Other nearby hotels include the Mitrovac and a children’s camp of the same name.

Tara covers a large area, and most of it is not accessible by road. Entire areas are not visited by anybody, ex-cept an occasional ranger, from one year to the next. “When I want to es-cape, I come here, take a tent, inform the rangers where I will be and van-

ish for a few days,” says Strahinja, a backpacker from Belgrade.

The hills are clad in dense forest where visitors may spot Panciceva Omorika, a variety of spruce unique to the Balkans. The forest is also abundant in wildlife and is among the few places in Serbia with large populations of bears, roe deer, wild boar, wolf and wild cat.

Faced with overpopulation, after bears fled to the area from Bosnia during the 1992-1995 war, environ-mental organizations have relocated some bears to Mt Juzni Kucaj, in east-ern Serbia.

“Bears mainly live in the canyons of the Raca and Derventa, but some-

times they wander around campsites looking for food, so campers should never leave food in the open,” Stra-hinja says.

For birdwatchers, Tara is a para-dise. “Take a stroll for a few kilo-metres with a pair of binoculars and just enjoy,” says Wayne a US orni-thologist now living in Ukraine. He regularly sees golden eagles, harri-ers, peregrine falcons, grouse and woodcock.

“I came here in 2001 to visit a friend and now come back every spring – the bird watching here is so good that I don’t mind the 1,700 kilometre trip for a one-week stay,” he adds.

Tara offers some of the best hik-ing and trekking routes in Serbia. A few hours of relatively easy walk-ing will bring visitors to impressive viewing points from the Banjska stena at Mitrovac, Biljeska Stena, some six kilometres from Predov Krst, Crnjeskovo Kaludjerske Bare, and Omar and Zboriste.

The waterfalls on the river Rzav in Peruca and others on the Derventa are also worth seeing. All hiking paths are clearly marked, but “make sure you bring plenty of water and a sandwich or two,” says Nebojsa, a local ranger. “Make sure you tell someone which direction you are going and stay on the path. Tara is big and people may get lost,” he adds.

Hunting is banned in most parts of the Tara but can be arranged in near-by areas operated by hunting clubs in nearby Bajina Basta and Uzice. Fishermen can try trout fishing or fishing for grayling in the Rzav, Raca and Derventa and pike and catfish in the Perucac artificial lake.

Those keener on adrenaline-loaded sports can go rafting down the Drina canyon. Perhaps it is little slower than the now-famous rafting down the river Tara in Montenegro, but the canyon itself offers stunning views.

Trips on log rafts last from be-tween two hours to a full day depart-ing from the starting point in Perucac down to Bajina Basta, Rogacica or as far as Ljubovija. Every July the tourist board stages the Drina River Grand Regatta along the 25 kilome-tre route from Perucac to Rogacica. Tara is conveniently close to Zlati-bor, the ethno-villages of Sirogojno and Mećavnik, owned by the film director Emir Kusturica, and many picturesque villages and medieval monasteries.

Aleksandar Vasovic is a reporter for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network and balkaninsight.com.

www.tara-planina.com/mitrovac.htmlwww.tara.org.yu

HOTEL OMORIKA 31250 Bajina Basta, Tara Tel: 031 593901

HOTEL BELI BOR31250 Bajina Basta, TaraTel: 031 593852

TOURIST GUIDESMilos NesovicTel: 064 2456969 Nedeljko StamenicTel: 064 5700552

A picturesque waterfall on the Rzav Rafting on the Tara

The park is accessible by road from Belgrade in around 5 hours

Source: www.sxc.hu

Source: www.sxc.hu

Photo by Sandra Uzelac

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

10 life

Beans with smoked ribs, Serb style

Serb and Albanians Taste the Difference

When several years ago we, in South Serbia, hosted Adem Demaci, a dissident

in the time of Josip Tito, and the chief ideologist of the Kosovo Liberation Army in the time of Slobodan Mi-losevic, he open-heartedly asked for “soupy beans with no meat” for lunch. The grey-haired old man ate his portion with delight, and com-mented between mouthfuls that while Albanians also cooked beans, they could not make it as well as Serbs.

Poor Demaci did not even suspect that his lunch had been ordered at the Narodna kujna (People’s Kitchen), a place run by a Gorani, after we had been through all the Serbian restau-rants in vain and where grilled meat prevailed.

This may not be to the liking of national purists and professional pa-triots of all ethnicities, but beans are not the only dish prepared in both Al-banian and Serb homes.

Same beans, different twist

The Serbs, of course, prefer the dish with smoked pork ribs, some-thing the Muslim faith does not permit their Albanian neighbours. The Alba-nians, though, serve it with sudzuk, a delicate beef sausage, which requires particular skill for preparation.

Pilaf, the famous Turkish spe-cialty, is made, according to custom, with mutton, and Elbasan Stew with lamb, over which scrambled eggs and yoghurt are poured. Everything is the same in Serbian and Albanian kitchens except the chosen meat. However, the Serbs also like aveal, chicken and particularly lamb.

According to Albanian tradition, enshrined in the The Code of Leke

They may be at odds over most things, but these two peoples do share a love of soupy beans and tender kebabs. We tuck in.

Dukagjini, an Albanian’s home be-longs to God and his guest. Hence, a guest will be properly welcomed and entertained at an Albanian home, even if it only means a cup of cof-fee. If you happen to be formally in-vited, you will not be able to leave the house without partaking in a feast held in your honour.

As a rule, women do not sit in the reception room with guests, but, to-gether with the children, serve them.

In addition to the delicacies al-ready mentioned, laknur on the table is a must. This is a traditional pie, which Serbs also like. And then roast chicken or leg of lamb, it doesn’t mat-ter which, and finally baklava, a pas-try dessert with chopped, not ground, walnuts – served widely in Albanian homes. And, of course a variety of salads – that goes without saying.

However, what Albanians particu-larly take pride in is a recipe that can-not be found on the menus of any of their Serbian neighbours. A delicacy that Albanians call flija which is pre-pared in a deep round baking dish.

Flija is, made with batter simi-lar to that used for pancakes which is applied in layers as the cooking progresses and is then covered and baked over an open fire.

Italy in Bujanovac

The current vogue among the Al-banians in Bujanovac is for pizzerias where you can also order grill spe-cialties. As a rule, these restaurants bear the names of Italian or other cit-ies and towns where the owners once earned their living as guest workers.

Thus, in Bujanovac, you can have a meal in Toscana, Verona or Düssel-dorf, while watching a horse-drawn cart followed by the most recent Mer-cedes model pass by in the streets outside. This sort of contrast does not seem to strike the locals as unusual.

The culinary repertoire also fea-tures veal and chicken in all forms, but both communities love to spit-roast out in the open on a grill in front of the restaurant. Albanians and Serbs are attached to their respective cultural mythology and traditions so it may well happen that you order Albanian Skenderbeg (Skenderbey) or get a schnitzel named after the fa-mous Serbian leader of the uprising against the Turks, Karadjordje.

Let’s not forget tea, which Alba-nians drink with particular pleasure and a ritual almost like the British. This is a very strong and aromatic “Russian” tea, prepared in special teapots. It’s drunk from small glasses like those used for rakia, the strong local brandy. Albanians often have curd cheese with their tea.

Now let’s go back to the Gorani people that I mentioned at the begin-ning. The Gorani are a Muslim Bal-

kan ethnic group who many believe pre-date the Slavs in the region and who have long lived in the mountain regions of Albania, Macedonia and Southern Serbia. Their cafes and restaurants are famous in this mul-ticultural southern part of Serbia and bring people of different nationali-ties together. Their kebab places and pastry shops are frequented by both the Serbs and the Albanians - good food transcends any ethnic differ-ences, it seems.

Of great note are the Zvezda pas-try shop and the Kod Prizrenca kebab restaurant.

When you set your foot in Zvezda, your first impression is that you have stepped back in time to the Ottoman east. The interior and furnishings have been refurbished and updated very lit-tle over the past half-century, and the staff still wear white aprons and trian-gular caps. Golden tulumbas, baklavas

and kadaifs, the best of desserts with walnuts and raisins - unbeatable.

Zvezda, Bujanovac’s star baker

At Zvezda, the finest burek, a traditional dish of meat and filo pastry, is served in the morning with yoghurt. Don’t miss out on the local version of a spritzer or salep, a fabulous oriental beverage still made at Zvezda.

Prizrenac’s kebabs melt in your mouth and are served on small metal plates together with legendary flat round bread just baked by Kamer, the Albanian baker.

Nothing goes better with one of Prizrenac’s kebabs than a beer, preferably drunk straight from the bottle! After ten of Nesa’s kebabs, all the problems of this multiethnic community suddenly appear easier to cope with.

By Nikola Lazicin Bujanovac

Albanian style beans with sausage

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

11the belgrader

The ultimate Serb comfort food, Burek, comes in endless variations. Source: www.chron.com

from the carton. Make sure it leaves a white moustache, too.

Although traditional burek usu-ally offers savoury fillings, there are sweet versions with sour cherry or apple, and oddly enough, empty (prazan) burek but in my opinion, if you’re going to down a lot of white flour, fatty cheese, and lard, you might as well go ahead and put some-thing in it. I have heard rumors of a pizza burek, but I’m hoping that’s not true, and if it is, I’m going to boycott it. Sacrilege.

Burek isn’t just for breakfast, be it a European one at 7 or 8am or a Serbian one at 10.30am. It’s also the equivalent of French onion soup after the theater, the pastrami midnight snack, the little something you want at any hour just to hit the spot. It’s the ultimate Serbian comfort food, so popular that it’s lent its name to one of the largest internet communities in southeastern Europe, www.burek.co.yu.

Now, although I’ve been here quite some time, there’s one thing lots of Serbs love that I do not. On friends’ insistence, “Oh, you have

to try the one they make in (name of shop) on (name of street) in (name of neighbourhood). Theirs is the best!” Maybe so, but I don’t like it. But popular it is, and so I must tell you about boza.

Boza is a popular fermented bev-erage in Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro, parts of Romania, and of course Turkey.

You could perhaps grow to like it, but I think you have to grow up with it. It’s an acquired taste, like peanut butter, root beer, or Marmite.

Boza is made from corn, wheat, and in some areas millet flour. It has a thick consistency and a low alco-hol content (usually around 1 to 4 per cent), and a sweetish-sour fla-vour, just enough to make me think I’m drinking something rancid. You can easily find it in sweet shops and ice-cream parlours.

The golden age of boza was un-der the Ottomans, and boza-making became one of the principal trades in towns. Until the 16th century it was drunk freely everywhere, but the custom of making opium-laced Tar-

tar boza brought the authorities down on the drink, foreshadowing the fate of absinthe in France.

Like beer, boza allegedly has the ability to enlarge women’s breasts, stimulate lactation, and is healthy and nourishing. One litre has a thou-sand calories, four types of vitamins A and B, and vitamin E, and during fermentation, lactic acid is formed, which facilitates digestion. That’s fine, but I’ll stick to beer.

Boza’s fame has reached far and wide. In January 2007, an Austral-ian newspaper reported the follow-ing: “European men are flocking to Bulgaria to buy ‘breast-boosting beer’ after the country’s accession to the EU has meant that customs’ duties on this drink have been abol-ished... Now thousands of tourists are traveling to buy boza for their wives and partners.” So there you go. If Serbia manages to get into the EU, it’s got another source for the tourist trade.

Pat Andjelkovic is a teacher, writer, and long-term expat.

same craving, and is off somewhere, munching blissfully.

Burek is a type of pie popular throughout the former Ottoman Empire, and we all know that Serbs are constantly reminding us that the Turks were here for 500 years. It’s made from thin, flaky filo dough, and filled with salty, fatty cheese, minced meat, potatoes, spinach, mushrooms, or any combination of those. Serbia has modified burek to suit itself, and here it’s prepared in a large, round pan and cut into portions after bak-ing. The recipe for modern round burek was developed in Nis, where it was introduced by a Turkish baker in 1498.

Burek is available at most regu-lar bakeries and is usually eaten as a “fast food,” often accompanied by yogurt, but the best burek is sold in specialised stores called buregdzin-ice. Such stores are typically the no-frills kind - just white tiles, neon lights, and aluminum fixtures.

Employees in white aprons greet you with a smile, ask you if you want your burek “za ovde” or “za poneti” (for here or to take away), and then slice you a big hunk of golden, steaming-hot burek. If you’re dining in, they’ll plop the burek on a plate, give you a fork and maybe a napkin, and off you go to either sit at a small table or stand at a counter in front of the shop window to watch passers-by stare back at your greasy lips.

The best way to eat burek, some say, is to just ask for it “za poneti.” It will be handed to you wrapped in paper. It’s heaven, say those con-noisseurs, to eat it warm directly off the paper, either on a park bench or even in the buregdzinica, suck your fingers, and slurp thick, cold yogurt

We all have our comfort food, that little something that we just have to have

when a craving strikes, be it plain spaghetti with garlic, gobbled at midnight, coffee ice cream devoured directly from the carton, or hot, fried sardines washed down with cold beer. To each his pleasure. So, what are some typical Serb cravings?

Some mornings my brain awakes before my eyes open, alerting my stomach that breakfast is near. My stomach rumbles in response, de-manding to know what’s on the menu: crunchy, warm toast, eggs once over easy, crispy bacon, a warm, flaky croissant, or cereal. “No!” screams my stomach, and my eyes flash open. Burek and only bu-rek will do this morning! Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night will pre-vent my trek to the bakery. No matter how early I get there, there’s already a slice missing from the round burek pan. Some Serb has awoken with the

Some of us can’t start a day without a slice of Serbia’s fa-vourite, finger-lickin’, flakey pie, but are less addicted to the pleasures of the country’s traditional breast-boosting beverage.

By Pat Andjelkovic

Burek and Boza

Eyes on the prize?

My grandfather had a very tough war. A sergeant in a front line infantry regi-

ment, he was captured during the British Army’s retreat from France in the early days of the Second World War and sent to a German prisoner-of-war camp, where he was treated appallingly.

Along with several of his com-rades, he eventually escaped through a tunnel dug under the fences, and some-how made his way back to England in a small sailing boat. He was permit-ted only a few days of compassionate leave with his family before reporting back to his regiment for duty.

That duty soon involved a long journey to the new theatre of war, in

South East Asia. After a few weeks of vicious jungle fighting, he was cap-tured once more, and spent the rest of the war in a Japanese prison camp.

I was born just 10 years after the war ended. Like most young boys at the time, war was a glamorous thing for me and I remember often trying to get my grandfather to tell me stories of his heroic exploits. He refused to say anything, except that he wished he had never escaped from the Ger-man camp.

Until he died, he was unable to be in the same room with anyone from Japan, or even watch movies that fea-tured them. But despite his personal memories of horror, he never once tried to turn my young mind against the nations that had tortured him.

In the 1970s, my father’s job in early computers took him many times to Germany, by now on the way to becoming the economic miracle of Europe. He made Ger-man friends. They came to visit us on holidays, and we went camping there, in our new Volkswagen camp-er van. I learned German in school. As Japan’s economy also boomed, we bought Japanese consumer elec-tronics and aspired to drive their cars, which were so much more reliable and packed with features than our own. In just a few years, everything

Japanese was “cool”. Last week, some 13 years after

the war in Bosnia ended, I attended a major conference on regional de-velopment and European integra-tion in Sarajevo. The great and good from (almost) every country in the region debated how the Balkans can move ahead. But there was one glar-ing omission, from both the delegate list and the speakers’ platform – not a single senior Serbian representative appeared. How can any regional de-velopment programme that excludes

a major player like Serbia expect to be taken seriously? Either Serbian representatives were not invited, or they were invited and chose not to attend. Both explanations are equally retrogressive and shameful.

The point about conflict resolu-tion is that all parties win. To find a path towards a better future for (all) our children does not disrespect the suffering of our forefathers – even if it means sitting down with those whose forefathers killed and maimed our own. If we fail to do so, we have

learned nothing, and they suffered in vain. Surely, that would be real disrespect. In the Balkans, it is all too easy to position the carrying of a sword of revenge down the genera-tions as an honourable thing. But it’s the breaking of the cycle that takes real courage. As Ghandi said, “An eye for an eye will just make the whole world blind.”

David Dowse, is a Senior Partner at Webb Dowse Intelligent Corporate Communications.

Conflict resolution involves mak-ing tough and painful choices but the prize is worth it in the end.

By David Dowse

Sergeant Dowse: a P.O.W. in both Germany and Japan Photo by David Dowse

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

12 the belgrader

Dining out

Pire Slow Food

Ona a Ne Neka Druga

By “Trencherman”

By Sophie Cottrell

Pire: chic, contemporary dining

Guys, please, no dancing on the tables

Source: www.nadlanu.com

Source: www.nadlanu.com

“It’s been here a year,” he said. So why had no one ever told me? It’s not that it was quiet.

On the contrary, we were lucky to get a table. It’s hidden away, so it was a pure accident that I saw the place as I was searching out a parking space late last week. But I can’t believe that I am so without connections in this town and so uncool that no one had ever told me it was there.

Anyway, that must indeed be the case.

Now my opening is perhaps a lit-tle breathy, so you can probably tell that I was fairly impressed by Pire, which isn’t to say that it doesn’t have its faults, just that it’s the most com-plete package that I’ve come across in town so far. A stylish, modern environment - as you’d expect from a restaurant backed by Dragana Ogn-jenovic, one of the country’s top fashionistas - contemporary food, a serious wine list and excellent serv-ice. Let me take you through it…

Tucked away on Cara Lazara, with perhaps not more than 5 me-tres of frontage to the street, this is not a big place. Inside, it’s all white walls, soft lighting and mellow mu-sic. Someone with an eye for design has been involved.

At the back are low tables and comfy seating. There are perhaps just 20 covers at the front of the res-

The invitation for my first girls’ night out in Belgrade did not sound too promising. It’s not

that I’ve completely grown-up, it’s not that I have to dress up to have fun, it’s not that I have to have male company, it’s just that a place where unaccompanied men are banned, where ‘jeans are just fine’ and where the rules (yes there are rules) dictate that ‘only girls are allowed to dance on the tables’ was sounding just a little bit too much like ‘structured play’. And the kindergarten feel was reinforced when I learnt that the place has a live internet feed so that your boyfriend/husband/mother can watch and keep tabs on your behaviour.

So you’ll understand that I ap-proached the night with a little trepi-dation. My mood did not improve

when we pulled up outside what appeared to be a shabby house in a residential district of Zemun. And to all intents and purposes that’s en-tirely what it was. Two main rooms with shabby furniture and less than skillfully painted flowers on deep red walls. The larger room has a bar and a small space for a band. There’s a toilet and very little else.

I can’t understand really why, given this unpromising set of cir-cumstances, I had such a good night. Maybe it’s just that everyone seemed determined to have fun. Maybe something rubbed off on us from the Hen Party in the corner or maybe it was just the shots of Baileys, but within what seemed like no time at all I was singing along to the band (I don’t sing) and doing that self-con-scious shuffle that I try and pass off as dancing.

This you’ll gather is not a so-phisticated place – no checking to

see if the mojitos are as good as the cosmos because a cocktail bar this ain’t. Stick to beer, reasonable qual-ity vranac and chardonnay, rakija and throw in some Baileys and the world will be just fine! Oh and eat before you come, because unless you’re a big fan of peanuts you’ll be going home hungry.

The band was playing Serbian folk from from Haris Dzinovic and Toma Zdravkovic with the occasion-al Beatles or other classic thrown in to please the few of us English speak-ers and everyone, and I do mean eve-ryone, was singing along. When the band was off, the music continued in a similar vein.

What an unusual mix of people! There were black Audi’s parked out-side alongside the Skala’s, D&G and discount store inside and no barriers, everyone, it seems, was letting their hair down.

Misbehaviour is positively encour-aged by the friendly staff who always seemed to be there whenever another unnecessary shot of rakija was called for and when, many, many shots past all reasonableness, the night came to a close, the bill was not too much of a shock either. Our night of excess

sent us home happy for around 2,500 dinars each following the course of 3 or 4 solid hours drinking.

Some tips I picked up from regu-lar visitors. Don’t go before about 10:00 - 10:30 because it doesn’t pick up until then; make a reservation – this place gets busy; ask the staff where the cameras are pointing be-fore you misbehave!

I’ve had more sophisticated nights, and I’m not especially proud of the way I staggered out at the end of the evening but it’s been a long time since I had this much fun anywhere.

Oh, and was I dancing on the ta-bles? You should have been check-ing the internet feed.Sophie Cottrell is studying in the UK, but is a regular visitor to Belgrade.

taurant and comfort levels are low – these tables have been shoe-horned in. But somehow that doesn’t seem to matter. The tables are set with quality cutlery and big glassware and the overall impression is classy.

The English-speaking staff were friendly and we were greeted by the Maitre d. on arrival, who also of-fered us aperitifs and took us briefly through the menu. The menu is big on interesting salads - five leaves, five herbs – fennel carrot and apple – mango almond and shrimp, and big on soups – leek and potato (vi-chyssoise) - sole and shrimp – miso, and then leads into pasta and risottos, before taking us into fish and meats.

On his recommendation we or-dered some focaccia, and then a warm potato, cheese and leek salad, and a tomato and basil soup. The focaccia, when it came, was not fo-caccia at all but strips of pizza-style dough, but it was nevertheless good – hot, with a crispy crust and doughy interior, baked with fresh herbs and it went well with the oil and balsamic dip that came alongside. The soup was prepared with a good stock base, no cream, no roux, just fresh tomato, with a hint of acidity and a very up-front kick of basil. The potatoes, leeks and cheese were bound with a light mayonnaise and although the curd cheese chunks would perhaps have been better substituted with a firmer cheese with a more upfront flavour, say a nutty Gruyere or even perhaps a Roquefort, the combina-tion worked well.

“Integral?” “That’s wholemeal”, I said, so why she was surprised when the spaghettini with calamari and shrimps came with wholemeal spaghettini is anybody’s guess. Now

I’m not normally a fan of ‘healthy food,’ to me it smacks of ‘bor-ing food’ or ‘diet food’ neither of which, in my mind are reasons to spend good money in a restaurant and which are best left for periods of post-Christmas abstinence. But, you know, it really wasn’t bad. Al dente, with some good olive oil and heavy with calamari and shrimp. As for me, I took marinated steak with mash, a la Karpov. Karpov, it seems, as well as being our Maitre d. also doubles as the executive chef. Now, I’m not too sure what the steak was marinated in, I detected just salt and pepper, but it was a good piece of fillet, cooked as ordered and the mash, well the mash was the business. A smooth puree not too runny, not too stiff, creamy and just, well, ‘potatoey’!

Now given that “pire” is Serbian for mash, it would have been a serious issue had it not been good, I suppose,

but it most certainly was. Eight other variations on the mashed potato theme are on the menu, including ‘with crispy bacon, garlic and parsley’, ‘with horseradish’, and ‘with truffle’.

Deserts did not, unfortunately meet the same high standards. The apple pie was not spectacular and came at room temperature with no accompaniment and precious lit-tle apple, and whilst the chocolate mousse had a hint of orange to make it a little out of the ordinary, it was turgid and heavy.

Regular readers will know that I’m a little sceptical about the value for money offered on most wine lists in town but whilst nothing in Pire is a bargain, someone has made an ef-fort to put together an interesting selection of wines from across the world and priced them, in the main, at just below the pain threshold. On the Maitre d.’s recommendation we

took a Bovin Disan 2003. From Macedonia, made with the Vranac grape, this was a serious wine, with depth, and fullness, still with some tannins up front and a lingering ber-ries and cherry finish. At 3,300 di-nars it wasn’t cheap, but it was value for money.

The combination is so very nearly right. Great atmosphere, polished service, chic surroundings, a quirky, interesting menu and cooking which, deserts aside, is worthy of note.

Price Guide: approximately 3,000 dinars per head, for three courses with a modest wine.

Pire Slow FoodCara Lazara 11011 2634994Monday to Saturday 08:00 -24:00

“Trencherman” is Belgrade Insight’s resident gourmand.

Already well known to Belgrade’s cognoscenti, it seems, this little restaurant has clearly been influenced by some of Lon-don and New York’s trendiest eateries.

It’s not everybody’s idea of a fun night out but if you’re pre-pared to let your hair down,t it’s a riot.

Going out

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

13sport

Blatter Relishing Trip To Uncharted Territory

Partizan, Red Star Off To Perfect Starts Jankovic’s Hat-Trick Selected

Events

By Zoran Milosavljevic

“See you in South Africa. That, of course, is a wish, while the will should be yours,” FIFA

President Sepp Blatter told the Ser-bian Football Association’s (FSS) top officials during his brief visit to Belgrade last week. Where there is a will there is a way and Serbia duly obliged with a 3-0 win over Lithuania that put them top of Europe’s quali-fying Group Seven before Wednes-day’s clash with Austria in Vienna. Serbia’s most impressive perform-ance of late reinvigorated hopes that Blatter’s wish, shared by millions of soccer fans in a country so deprived of international success, may become reality at the end of a long road into uncharted territory.

For Blatter, Serbia and everyone else involved that is, as the 2010 tournament in South Africa will be the first to be staged in a continent where the passion for soccer is as awesome as the poverty engulfing most of its population.

Blatter is nevertheless confident it will be a trouble-free tournament in a country with a staggering crime rate and hopes it will provide a beacon of

By Zoran Milosavljevic

If the opening three rounds of this season’s regional NLN Basket-ball League are anything to go

by, it could develop into the most fas-cinating battle yet as 14 teams from the former Yugoslavia aim to reach the Final Four in April. Defending champions Partizan Belgrade main-tained their perfect start with a 74-73 win at 2005 winners and fellow Ser-bian rivals Hemofarm Vrsac thanks to an outstanding performance by their power forward Novica Velicko-vic, who scored 20 points with 8-of-11 shooting from the field. The lead changed hands several times in the see-saw thriller and Hemofarm guard Nebojsa Joksimovic missed a base-line jumper at the buzzer that would have clinched it for Hemofarm had it gone in.

Croatian champions Zadar also improved their record to 3-0 with a 101-57 whitewash of Bosna Sara-jevo, with Macedonian centre Todor Gecevski pouring in 23 points and Julius Johnson adding 22 to boost their confidence ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Partizan in Bel-grade’s Pionir Sports Arena (4 p.m.). Montenegro’s Buducnost Podgorica retained their own 100 percent record after strolling to an 85-68 defeat of Split as did Red Star Belgrade with a hard-fought 84-77 home win over plucky customers Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia.

By Zoran Milosavljevic

Only an unlikely late dip in form can prevent Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic from ending

the 2008 tennis season as the world number one after she won her third straight title with a 6-2, 6-4 rout of Russia’s Vera Zvonareva in the Kremlin Cup final in Moscow last weekend.

Following her conquests at the China Open in Beijing and the Stutt-gart Grand Prix, Jankovic continued to torment her rivals in the Russian capital and appears set to produce more of the same when she enters the WTA tournament in Zurich as the top seed. Compatriot Ana Ivanovic, on the other hand, continued to strug-gle as she bowed out of the Kremlin Cup with a second round defeat to Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova. The two may well cross swords in Zurich and it would be their first meeting since their epic French Open final in June, when Ivanovic overpowered her compatriot to go top of the world rankings.

Jankovic’s surge to the top was recognised by Zvonareva, who praised the impeccable performance that condemned the Russian to her third successive defeat by Jankovic in just two weeks. “She can adapt her game to any opponent and it’s no fluke that she is the world number one at the moment,” said the de-spondent Russian. “She was ready

Friday, Oct 17: Tennis: ATP Masters in Madrid (Sport Klub 2.00 p.m.), WTA tournament in Zurich (Eurosport 2.00 p.m.); Basketball: NBA preseason (Wizards v Hornets OBN 9.30 p.m.)

Saturday, Oct 18: Basketball: Partizan Belgrade v KK Zadar (FOX Serbia 4.00 p.m.); Soccer: Manchester United v West Bromwich (RTS 2 6.30 p.m.), Atletico Madrid v Real Madrid (FOX Serbia 8.00 p.m.), Espanyol v Villareal (FOX Serbia 10.00 p.m.)

Sunday, Oct 19: Formula 1: China Grand Prix in Shanghai (FOX Serbia 9.00 a.m.) Soccer: Indoor World Cup Final (Eurosport 2 2.30 p.m.), FK Napredak Krusevac v Red Star Bel-grade (RTS 2 2.00 p.m.), Stoke City v Tottenham Hotspur (RTS 2 5.00 p.m.), Roma v Inter Milan (Avala, 8.30 p.m.), River Plate v Boca Jun-iors (Sport Klub + 9.20 p.m.)

Monday, Oct 20: Handball: Barcelona v Kiel (Eurosport 2, 5.00 p.m.); Soccer: Premier League High-lights (RTS 2, 8.00 p.m.).

Tuesday, Oct 21: Soccer: Euro-pean Champions League: Juventus v Real Madrid (B 92, 8.45 p.m.)

Wednesday, Oct 22: Soccer: Eu-ropean Champions League: Chelsea v Roma (B 92, 8.45 p.m.)

Thursday, Oct 23: Tennis: WTA Tournament in Linz, Austria (Eu-rosport, 2.00 p.m.), ATP Tournament in Basel, Switzerland (Eurosport, 6.15 p.m.); Soccer: UEFA Cup: Di-namo Zagreb v NEC Nijmegen (HRT 2, 8.45 p.m.), Partizan Belgrade v Sampdoria (RTS 2, 9.00 p.m.) UEFA Cup highlights (Eurosport 11.00 p.m.)

The FIFA President expects Ser-bia to qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa and hopes for a trouble-free tour-nament, the first be held in the impoverished yet soccer-crazed continent.

light for millions of South African soccer fans and those expected to flock in from abroad.

“I am convinced it will be a su-perb tournament and that South Af-rica will do a great job organising it,” he told reporters in Belgrade. “What is more, I have every confi-dence the entire infrastructure will be completed in time for next year’s Confederation Cup,” he added. In-deed, the 2009 dress rehearsal, fea-turing the six continental champions, the hosts and world champions Italy will provide some of the answers to a range of questions raised over South Africa’s readiness to stage an event of this magnitude.

Does Serbia have the mettle to get there?

One must imagine so, after living up to their potential against Lithua-nia, the surprise package of the open-ing two rounds who failed to muster a single shot on target at Red Star’s Marakana stadium. Coach Radomir Antic’s no nonsense policy of picking form ahead of reputation has paid in-stant dividends and produced the con-sistency Serbia so sadly lacked in Euro 2008 qualifying, having missed out on the finals after an embarrassing 2-1 de-feat by Kazakhstan and turgid goalless draws with Finland and Armenia.

Croatia’s fate hangs in the balance following an equally drab 0-0 stale-mate in Ukraine which put Croatian coach Slaven Bilic in the line of fire from the country’s media, insensed by his cautious approach in Kharkiv. Once-bitten twice-shy Bilic deployed

Red Star’s close season acquisi-tion Andre Owens, a former NBA prospect, led his team with a majes-tic performance capped by a game-high 24 points and 6-of-7 shooting from three-point range. However, it was FMP Belgrade centre Miroslav Raduljica who earned the week’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award after registering 22 points and 11 re-bounds in their 99-90 overtime win against Vojvodina Novi Sad. “He had a brilliant second half and that swung the tie our way,” FMP coach Slobo-dan Klipa said after seeing his side snatch victory from the jaws of de-feat. (For detailed statistics, results and standings go to www.adriatic-basket.com)

for whatever shot I threw at her and had me on the back foot throughout,” she said.

However, Jankovic is still to capture a Grand Slam event and the Australian Open in January appears to be the perfect opportunity for the 23-year old to silence her critics, who argue that she is not worthy of the WTA pinnacle unless she wins one of the season’s four biggest tournaments.

a single striker in Ukraine after a painful 4-1 home defeat by England in September and his men must now find their Euro 2008 form to keep their proud record of reaching every major tournament since they became an in-dependent country but one, the Euro 2000 finals when they were eliminated by the former Serbia and Montenegro state union then playing as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

England seem to have no such

worries after cruising to a 5-1 drub-bing of Kazakhstan at Wembley, where 90,000 or so home fans showed little appreciation for a third consecutive win under Fabio Capel-lo, albeit one the pundits must have chalked up even before the kick off. Instead, they lambasted left back Ashley Cole for handing the Kazakhs their goal on a platter with an aimless back pass, prompting a fiery response from the Italian and captain Rio Fer-

dinand, who got a timely reminder what a hard bunch to please football fans can be at times.

Especially in places like England and the Balkans, where football has the reputation of being the “most im-portant trivial thing in the world.”

Trivial? No way. Zoran Milosavljevic is Belgrade Insight’s sports writer and also a regional sports correspondent for Reuters.

Photo by FoNetThe Serbian team gave their fans plenty to cheer about against Lithuania

Jankovic was unstoppable in Moscow Red Star edged Olimpija in a tight game

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

14 the belgrader

Cruising around BelgradeVictims of FascismMake the most of the Indian Sum-

mer by spending an hour or two cruis-ing the Sava and the Danube. Boats leave from the port on the Sava and will take you past Ada Ciganlia, back down to the Danube and over to Ze-mun, returning to the port in around 2 hours. The city takes on a whole new

perspective from the river. Some boats offer refreshments or even a buffet style lunch or dinner. We recommend the Sirona which ties up just below the Brankov bridge. Prices start from 600 dinars for a daytime cruise through to 2,000 for a night cruise with dinner.Tel: 011 2610308

Museum of Banjica’s concentration camp victims.

This memorial museum is dedi-cated to the victims of Nazi regime in Serbia during WWII.

Over the course of the Nazi oc-cupation more than 250.000 people

passed through the camp and 30.000 were killed in Jajinci, near Belgrade.

A sombre place to reflect on the past, the Museum holds a huge range of artefacts from the camp and be-longings from some of the victims and has faithful re-constructions of facilities of the concentration camp.

Located near the the FC Red Star stadium in northern Banjica, the mu-seum is a must-see for anyone wish-ing to better understand this harrow-ing period of Serbian history.

Address: Pavla Jurisica Sturma 33Tel : 011 3674877

Must-Sees

What’s On

CINEMAS RODA CINEPLEXPožeška 83A , tel: 011 2545260

Turneja(The Tour) 18:00, 20:15 & 22:30Wall - E 16:00Mirrors 22:00Journey to the Center of the Earth 16:15Mamma Mia! 18:00Star Wars: The Clone Wars 16:30Ljubav i drugi zlocini (Love and Other Crimes) 20:00Max Payne 18:30, 20:30 & 22:30

DOM SINDIKATATrg Nikole Pašića 5, tel. 011 3234849

Star Wars: The Clone Wars 16:15Mirrors 20:15 & 22:15Ljubav i drugi zlocini (Love and Other Crimes) 18:15, 20:15 & 22:15Turneja (The Tour) 16:00, 18:00, 20:00 & 22:00Mamma Mia! 16:15 & 18:15Max Payne 16:30, 18:30, 20:30 & 22:30 STER CITy CINEMADelta City, Jurija Gagarina 16 (Blok 67), tel: 011 2203400

Turneja (The Tour) 12:10, 13:10, 14:20, 15:50, 16:40, 18:10, 18:50, 20:20 & 22:30Star Wars: The Clone Wars 13:30, 15:30 & 17:30Wall - E 12:30, 14:30 & 16:30Tropic Thunder 19:40 & 21:50Max Payne 12:50, 15:00, 17:00, 19:10, 21:20 & 23:00Mirrors 21:00 & 23:10You Don’t Mess with the Zohan 18:30, 20:40 & 22:50Mamma Mia! 13:00, 15:10, 17:20, 20:00 & 22:10

TUCKWOOD CINEPLEXKneza Miloša 7, tel: 011 3236517

Star Wars: The Clone Wars 17:00 & 19:00Mirrors 16:30, 18:50, 21:15 & 23:30Tropic Thunder 15:30 & 17:45Milos Brankovic 21:00 & 23:15Max Payne 15:45, 18:00, 20:15 & 22:30You Don’t Mess with the Zohan 20:00Turneja (The Tour) 15:30, 18:00, 20:30, 22:15 & 23:00

CONCERTS BIZARRE CONTACTPsychedelic sounds from this Israeli DJ Duo.

Student Cultural Centre (SKC)Kralja Milana 48October 18, 22:00Tickets available at SKC ticket office

ANIMAL COLLECTIVEAvant-garde US musicians who claim to perform “psych folk” or “noise rock”.

Student Cultural Centre (SKC)Kralja Milana 48October 19, 21:00Tickets available at SKC ticket office

NATIONAL ENSEMBLE “KOLO”Renowned Serbian dance ensemble repre-senting and showing folk art and cultural heritage of Serbian people and ethnic groups.Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation HallStudentski trg 5October 21, 20:00Tickets available at Ilija M. Kolarac Foundation Hall ticket office

ANNUAL EVENTS53RD INTERNATIONAL BELGRADE BOOK FAIR

More than 800 local and international publishers will participate in 53rd Inter-national Belgrade Book Fair. Belgrade Fair, Halls 1 and 14Bulevar Vojvode Misica 14October 20 - 26, 10:00 - 20:00Tickets available at Belgrade Fair ticket office

BALLET

NATIONAL ThEATRETrg Republike 1a

GiselleBallet by Adolphe Adam, featuring inter-national ballet star Anton Bogov.

October 18, 19:30Ticket available at National Theatre ticket office

THEATRESTERAZIJE ThEATERTerazije 29

Two Scents of a RoseMusical melodrama based on the story by contemporary Mexican author Emilio Carballido.

October 19, 19:30Tickets available at Terazije Theatre ticket office

MADLENIANUMGlavna 32

QuartetHeavyweight drama on exploring the tran-sience of opera by Ronald Harwood.

October 20, 19:30Tickets available at Madlenianum ticket office and Billet Service, Trg Republike 5

STUDENT CULTURAL CENTRE (SKC)Kralja Milana 48

Harlequin\Don GiovanniItalian production company Patakin da Venezia with a show they bill as “art comedy”.

October 23 - 25, 20:30Tickets available at SKC ticket ofice

EXHIBITIONSMUSEUM OF APPLIED ARTVuka Karadzica 18Tuesdey, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday 10:00 - 17:00Thursday. 12:00 - 20:00Sunday 10:00 - 14:00

Dusan Petricic: a retrospective exhibition of works by this renowned Serbian car-toonist and illustrator.

October 1 - 23

EXhIBITION OF JAPANESE POTTERSby Niimi Takatoshi and Ito Hitoshi

October 15 - 22

BELGRADE FAIR, hALL 14Bulevar Vojvode Misica 14Mon - Sun 10:00 - 20:00

Photo exhibits “Kyoto” and “Contempo-rary Architecture”

October 20 - 26

GALLERy ChAOSDositejeva 3Mon - Sat 12:00 - 20:00

Dark side of the oceanExhibition of drawings by renowned Ser-bian artist and Academy professor Zoran Vukovic.

October 14 - November 1

GALLERy PROGRESZmaj Jovina 8 - 10Mon - Fri 10:00 - 21:00Saturday 10:00 - 16:00

“Monastery Hilandar - photographs on canvas” by Misa Brankovic

October 9 - 22

JAPANESE CINEMA WEEK

Museum of Yugoslav Film Archive in association with 53rd International Bel-grade Book Fair presents a week of Japa-nese cinema.

Museum of Yugoslav Film ArchiveKosovska 11October 25 - 30, 18:00Tickets available at Museum of Yugoslav Film Archive ticket office

OPERA

NATIONAL ThEATRETrg Republike 1a

Cavalleria rusticanaFamous opera in one act written by Pietro Mascagni.

October 19, 12:00 & 19:30Tickets available at National Theatre ticket office

DON PASqUALEComic opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti

October 22, 19:30Tickets available at National Theatre ticket office

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

15directory

TAXI SERVICES

Beo Taxi 011 9801Blue Taxi 011 555999 Joker Taxi 011 3971174Lux Taxi 011 3033123Pink Taxi 011 9803Taxi Bell 011 9808Yellow Taxi 011 9802

BEAUTICIANS

MIOLIFT STUDIOTrg Nikole Pasica 8Tel: 011 3340554 www.centarlepote.co.yu NENATerazije 42, 1st floorTel: 011 3619115, 011 619577WELLNESS CENTAR ZORICADobracina 33, Bulevar Despota Stefana 71, 2nd floorTel: 011 3285922, 011 3243940, 063 356001 www.zorica.co.yuSPA CENTARStrahinjica Bana 5Tel: 011 3285408www.spacentar.co.yuoffice@spacentar.co.yu

BUILDERSENJUBBulevar Mihajla Pupina 20Tel: 011 2601673www.enjub.co.yuinfo@enjub.co.yu

COSMETIC & HEALTH SERVICESKOMNENUS Kraljice Natalije 19Tel: 011 3613677 www.komnenus.comoffice@komnenus.comANTI-AGING CENTARNikolaja Ostrovskog 3Tel: 011 2199645www.aacentar.com EPILION dermatological laser centreAdmirala Geprata 13Tel: 011 3611420, 011 3615203 www.epilion.co.yu, info@epilion.co.yu

DENTISTSBIG TOOTh Mite Ruzica 10aTel: 063 8019190 www.big-tooth.comdr.ilic@beotel.yuFAMILy DENTISTBulevar Dr Zorana Djindica bbTel: 011 136437 www.familydentist.co.yuordinacija@familydentist.co.yuBELDENTBrankova 23Tel: 011 2634455APOLONIJAStevana Sremca 13, Tel: 011 3223420DUKADENTPariske Komune 11Tel: 011 3190766

ESTATE AGENTSAS-YUBC ESTATEBul. Mihajla Pupina 10aTel: 011 3118424, 063 371 879as.yubc@sbb.co.yuEURENT Dobracina 21Tel: 011 3038662 www.eurent.co.yuinfo@eurent.co.yu

EVENTS & CATERERS

VILLA CATERINGKrunska 69, BeogradTel: 011 3442656, 3835570, 063 207976www.villa-catering.comoffice@villa-catering.com

PARTy SERVICE Tel: 011 3946461GODOSavski kej bbTel: 011 2168101BUTTERFLy CATERINGTel: 011 2972027, 063 7579825office@butterfly-catering.rsAlEkSANDRA-ANAIS Tel/fax: 011 4898173 063 7775889 office@aleksandra-anais.co.yu CATERING CLUB DBTel. 065 8099819Fax: 011 2980800cateringclubdb@eunet.yuCATERING PLUSPalmira Toljatija 5 Tel: 011 2608410 office@catering.co.yuDIPLOMAT CATERINGJosipa Slavenskog 10Tel: 011 3672605diplomatcatering@icomline.netEURO CATERING Prve pruge 211080 ZemunTel/fax: 011 3190469office@eurocatering.co.yu

FLORISTS

MALA VRTNA RADIONICA Spanskih boraca 22g Tel: 011 3130300www.mvr.co.yumvr@verat.net CVET EXPRES Rajka Od Rasine 28Tel: 011 2545987 INTERFLORAVojvode Stepe 405Tel: 011 462687 TELEFLORASvetogorska 11Tel: 011 03030047/048

HAIR STYLISTShAIR FACTORyKosovska 37/10Tel: 011 3227775www.hairfactory.co.yuvlada@hairfactory.co.yuEXCLUSIVE UNISEX hAIR SALONEALEKSANDARBulevar Despota Stefana 96Tel: 011 2087602 www.aleksandar.weebly.comfsaleksandar@gmail.com

NTERNET HOTSPOTS123 wap Vase Pelagica 48Absinthe Kralja Milutina 33 Backstage Restaurant Svetogorska 19BAR Central Kralja Petra 59Bistro Pastis Strahinjica Bana 52BBizzareZmaj Jovina 25Café bar MODA Njegoseva 61Café Biblioteka Terazije 27Café koeficijent Terazije 15-23Café Nautilus Turgenjeva 5Café Paleta Trg Republike 5Celzijus Dzordza Vasingtona 12Coffee dream Kralja Petra 23Café Pianeta 27. Marta 141Colonial Sun Bul. Vojvode Putnika 32-34Cuba Café Kneza Viseslava 63Extreme kids Cvijiceva 1Gradski Macor Svetozara Markovica 43Ice bar Kosovska 37Idiott Dalmatinska 13Insomnia Strahinjica Bana 66AIpanema Strahinjica Bana 68Journal Kralja Milutina 21Koling Klub Neznanog junaka 23Kontra Bar Strahinjica Bana 59 Langust Kosancicev venac 29Mart Caffe Krunska 6Monin Bar Dositejeva 9AMonument Admirala Geprata 14New york, New york Krunska 86Oktopus Brace Krsmanovic 3O’Polo Café Rige od Fere 15Pietro Dell Oro Trnska 2Pomodoro Hilandarska 32que pasa Kralja Petra 13Rezime Centar Cafe Kralja Petra 41Veprov dah Strahinjica Bana 52Vespa Bar Toplicin venac 6Via Del Gusto Knez Mihailova 48

GYMS, LEISURE & SPORTS CENTRES

EXTREME GyM TC ABC Cvijiceva 1Tel: 011 2768255www.x3mgym.comextremegym@x3mgym.comLPG CENTARYU BIZNIS Centre, Bulevar Mihaila Pupina 10bTel: 011 3130806lpgstosic@eunet.yu, www.lpgsalon.co.yu

RELAX PLATOBeogradjanka Tower Masarikova 5, 5th floorTel: 011 3061765www.relaxplato.comGOLF CLUB BEOGRAD Ada Ciganlija 2Tel: 063 8963816 PARTIZAN ShOOTING CLUB Tel: 011 2647942, 064 801 9900Fax: 011 2647261www.partizanshooting.rs info@partizanshooting.rshIPPODROME BELGRADEPastroviceva 2Tel: 011 3546826

LEGAL SERVICESILS LTD. IN ASSOCIATION WITh CLyDE & COGospodar Jevremova 47Tel: 011 3038822www.clydeco.co.ukclyde@clyde.co.yu hARRISONS SOLICITORSTerazije 34Tel: 011 3615918 www.harisons-solicitors.com KARANOVIC&NIKOLICLepenicka 7Tel: 011 3094200www.karanovic-nikolic.co.yuinfo@karanovic-nikolic.co.yu

MASSEURS

BEAUTy CENTAR Traditional Thai Massage CentreKnez Mihajlova 2-4Tel: 011 3030003www.menta.co.yumenta_bg@ptt.yu

MOVERSALLIED PICKFORDS SERBIAZarka Obreskog 23Tel: 011 8487744www.alliedpickfords.co.yumovers@alliedpickfords.co.yuAGS BELGRADENiski autoput 17Tel: 011 3472321www.agsmovers.combelgrade@agsmovers.com

OPTICIANS

EUROOPTICBulevar kralja Aleksandra 278Tel: 011 2415130www.eurooptic.co.yuOPTIKA BEOGRAD A.D.Cara Urosa 8-10Tel: 011 2629833

PRINTERSDIGITAL PRINTING CENTARCvijiceva 29Tel: 011 2078000www.dpc.co.yu office@dpc.co.yuDIGITAL ARTTel: 011 3617281

HEALTHCAREBEL MEDICViktora Igoa 1Tel. 011 3065888, 011 3066999,063 206602www.belmedic.comBEL MEDICKoste Jovanovića 87Tel. 011 3091000, 065 3091000www.belmedic.comDr. RISTIC hEALTh CENTRENarodnih Heroja 38Tel: 011 2693287 www.dr-ristic.co.yuzcentar@dr-ristic.co.yuLABOMEDICABulevar Kralja Aleksandra 193aTel: 011 3088304www.labomedica.netklinika@labomedica.netPRIVATNA PRAKSA PETROVICKralja Milutina 10Tel: 011 3460777DOM ZDRAVLJA “STARI GRAD” Obilicev venac 30Tel: 011 635236 DOM ZDRAVLJA “VRACAR” Kneginje Zorke 15Tel. 011 2441413

PLUMBERShAUZMAJSTORFrancuska 56Tel: 011 3034034 office@hauzmajstor.co.yuhIDROTEKLjutice Bogdana 2Tel: 011 2666823kontakt@hidrotek.co.yu

SOLARIUMSSUN FACTORy MEGASUNMaksima Gorkog 82Tel: 011 3440403 sun.factory.megasun@gmail.comORNELA MEGASUNNjegoseva 56Tel: 011 2458398 ornelakbl@eunet.yuSTUDIO MIOLIFT Beograd, Trg Nikole Pašica 8 Tel: 011 3033211, 064 2351313 ALEKSANDAR TEAM Bulevar Despota Stefana 34a Tel: 011 3225632 www.aleksandar-team.co.yu SUN LOOK Makedonska 5 Tel: 011 3343810 www.sunlook-bg.com

TICKET SERVICESBILET SERVICETrg Republike 5IPS & MAMUTMEGASTOREKnez Mihajlova 1Tel: 011 3033311www.ips.co.yu

TRANSLATORSTODOROVIC AGENCyTel: 011 2188197BELGRADE TRANSLATION CENTREDobracina 50/11Tel: 011 3287388www.btc.co.yunatasa.ralic@btc.co.yuLEXICA TRANSLATION AGENCyBeogradska 35Tel: 011 3222750www.lexica.co.yuoffice@lexica.co.yu

VETS&PETS

NOVAK VETERINARIAN CLINICVeselina Maslese 55Tel: 011 2851856, 011 2851923www.vetnovak.co.yunovak@ptt.yuVETERINARSKA STANICA LAZAREVIC Zrenjaninski put 30 Tel: 011 3319 015, 063 216 663Fax: +381 (0)11 2712 385OAZA Miklosiceva 11, Tel: 011 4440899

BOOKSTORES

AKADEMIJA Knez Mihailova 35 Tel: 011 2627846 ANTIKVARIJAT Knez Mihailova 35 Tel: 011 636087 BEOPOLIS Makedonska 22 Tel: 011 3229922 DERETA Dostojevskog 7 Tel: 011 3058707, 011 556-445 Kneza Mihaila 46 Tel. 011 3033503, 011 3030 514, 011 627-934 GECA KON Kneza Mihaila 12 Tel. 011 622073 IPS Mercator, Bulevar umetnosti 4 Tel: 011 132872 SUPER VERO Milutina MIlankovica 86a Tel: 011 3130640 IPS BOOK & MUSIC STORE Beoizlog, basement, Trg Republike 5 Tel: 011 3281859 PLATO Knez Mihailova 48 Tel: 011 625834 SKZ Kralja Milana 19 Tel: 011 3231593 STUBOVI KULTURE Knez Mihailova 6 Tel: 011 3281851, 011 632384 ThE OXFORD CENTER Dobracina 27 Tel. 011 631021

We welcome suggestions for inclusion in the directory.Please send details to:belgradeinsightmarketing@birn.eu.com

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008

16 advert

Friday, Oct. 17 - Oct. 23, 2008