President announces higher wages and pensions

Foto: Tanjug/Dragan Kujundžić

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic expects the average wage in our country to reach between 500 and 510 euros in the next three months, and points out that by the end of the year, both wages and pensions will be higher.

He also pointed out the importance and magnitude of Japan's investment in Indjija and the construction of Japan's first Toyo Tire factory in Europe, where the average wage will be about 60 percent higher than the Serbian average.

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He also said that Serbia would become the leader in the region in terms of earnings.

"Today, Serbia has a regulated macroeconomic and fiscal scene, we have no structural problems. From 2008 to 2012, our highest growth was 1.9 percent. Only in 2014, because of the horrific floods, we had a minus of 1.6 percent, while for all other years we had a plus. The average salary in Serbia at the moment is around 510 euros and is among the highest in the region. The average wages are much lower in Bosnia and in North Macedonia," the president said.

Photo: Tanjug/Dimitrije Goll

Vucic reiterated that by the end of the year salaries and pensions will be increased again, that Belgrade and Novi Sad in particular will see higher wages, but that Nis was getting closer.

According to him, Serbia is the best in the region in terms of the unemployment rate.

Speaking about the methodology and the parameters based on which the position of a country is determined in relation to others, he said Serbia is better than Croatia in some of those parameters - but that "if we work hard and diligently" our country will reach the standard of Croatia in 15 years.

"They produce more than we do, but we are catching up to them," Vucic estimated.

The president of Serbia says that our country wants to compete with those who are better than us.

"We are making rapid progress today and that is our goal. We have a solid dinar (Serbian currency), the exchange rate has not changed for seven years. I am proud that we have, as the world puts it, carried out better reforms than the previous governments," Vucic said.

Vucic emphasized that we have had a solid and stable dinar for seven years, which was not the case in Serbia before.

Photo: Tanjug/Dimitrije Goll

ON HIS FAMILY MEMBERS BEING FOLLOWED

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed today the media reports that said certain persons were following his daughter Milica and photographing his son in his workplace, and added that the attacks on his family come due to the atmosphere created by the opposition, that is ingratiating itself to extremists on social networks.

"It's true that certain persons followed Milica. I thought it was an exaggeration ...," Vucic told TV Pink.

He said he would not reveal which party the person who had previously said that his daughter should be raped belongs to, and that he didn't think the president of that political party, regardless of being his political opponent, thinks the same.

"Perhaps the atmosphere created by the ingratiating to anonymous and other extremists on certain social networks is to blame. But that is their problem and that's why they can't get more votes. I never ingratiate myself to anyone, I was elected to conduct a policy and that's what I'm doing - not to crawl before those who are extremists," is Vucic's message.

He said that he also saw that his son, Danilo, was allegedly a businessman and a football and basketball manager, and that he did not educate his children.

"I'd like to see if many people would agree with that if they met him," says Vucic, adding that the whole thing had gone so far that he had a chance to read the claims that Vukan, his other son, was not his child.

The older son, Vucic continued, was photographed by foreign services in his workplace, and Danilo works as a regular worker, with a salary of 500 euros.

He says that although he believed his daughter to be very strong and not affected by everything that's written and said, she was not immune to the sort of things that can be found on social platforms.

Vucic said that there used to be a rule not to go into personal relations during political fights, and reiterated that he would never do that, and that the citizens of Serbia are most important to him.

"I'll never take part in it. We will do our job," said Vucic.

Reacting to the claims that he orchestrated and organized attacks on his own children, Vucic said that this was claimed by prominent members of the "1 out of 5 million" movement.

"Then why are you asking to talk with such a monster, that started the story about the raping of his own child?," Vucic asked.

Photo: TANJUG/ ZORAN ZESTIC

ON ELECTIONS

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic says the opposition will not be allowed to halt and prevent elections.

"That's a movie you won't see. To stop people from taking part in a regular election because you are small and powerless to win the trust of the people? All of them put together cannot get 10-12 percent of the vote. Other than Sergej Trifunovic and the PSG (opposition movement) who are on the (5 percent) threshold - none of them exceed the threshold. Some have 3.2, others 2.8, or 0.8 percent, and all put together that's about 10, 11 percent... 'and now we'll prevent you, who have 70, 80 percent, from going to the polls'?," Vucic told Pink TV.

He stressed that PSG and the Democratic Party (DS) would, if they merged, be stronger than the opposition Alliance for Serbia.

"What's the essence? They want to prevent everyone from going to the polls, but you have to come out before the people, and you can't if you are going to beat someone, if young people are going to be arrested... I believe that most people will know how to choose their future. We will accept any judgment of the people," said Vucic.

When it comes to the dialogue and the conversations held at the FNP (Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade), the president said that his ruling SNS party was damaged when it comes to representation - but that it was important to talk.

"It's great to talk in every place, parliament it is the best. You said - you won't talk to Vucic, for you that's treasonous. I say - thank you, I am honored and by law I don't have to talk to you, and if that happens I will invite you and fulfill my constitutional obligation," he said.

He added that a conversation is always healing, that he is always in favor of these talks taking place within the constitutional and legal framework, and that the SNS has always been in favor of dialogue - but that his political opponents have not been the same way so far - but now, they are.

When asked to comment on media reports that US State Department official Matthew Palmer told them they needed to talk, Vucic said:

"Maybe he told them, he didn't mention it to me, he talks about Kosovo 99.9 percent of the time. I didn't release that information. I don't get orders from Palmer, with whom I always have good conversations. Even when we disagree, those conversations are good, because they are sincere. What Palmer told them can be revealed by his new pet, Obradovic. They didn't invite Seselj, Canak or Jovanovic," the president said, referring to other Serbian opposition figures.

He emphasized that the opposition doesn't find the electoral law or the electoral roll to be a problem - but the fact the people don't want them, and emphasized that our country enjoys a greater degree of democracy than many other European countries.

Vucic said that members of the opposition are neither being arresting nor mistreated in Serbia.

He recalled that all election laws had been enacted during the time of now opposition leaders Djilas, Jeremic and Lutovac - and that none of these laws have since been changed.

"None have been changed except that we reduced the money set aside for political parties to 33 percent, because we wanted the people to have more. With this we damaged the SNS the most because we did it when the SNS had the most deputies (in the Serbian National Assembly). We brought a very logical rule that parties can spend the money they have on their accounts on elections, and that they can do it also for humanitarian purposes, which was forbidden before," he explained.

But, as he underlined, there have been no essential changes.

As for the voter lists, they have undergone minimal changes in order to remove the names of persons who had passed away.

"There is certainly much more that can be done about voter lists. I told the opposition, everyone from Seselj to Jeremic, to arrange the electoral roll as they wish. Make it yourselves, reduce it, expand it, we have no problem with that," he said.

Vucic stressed that the opposition's problem was not the electoral roll, but the knowledge that the people don't want them.

As an example of misinformation, he mentioned the opposition's claim that a 154-year-old voter had cast his ballot in Kosovo.

He said the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) was asked to analyze the electoral roll, while the opposition was also free to go through it - but only so long as it doesn't turn out that those who are alive and have residency in the territory of the Republic of Serbia are not in it.

He further stated that the opposition claimed that parliament was a problem, adding that from the beginning, the SNS was not doing what the opposition did while they were in power.

"No law was passed during the time of Djilas in any other way except under an emergency procedure. After speaking with me, (Assembly President) Maja Gojkovic said that there were no emergency procedure laws, nor emergency ratification of contracts. Also, the budget is a separate item, instead of being lumped in with others," he explained.

Whatever they asked for - has been introduced, Vucic concluded.

Photo: Tanjug/Dimitrije Goll

ON "OPERATION STORM"

President Aleksandar Vucic today called on all Serbs, especially those hailing from the Krajina region in Croatia, to come to the Krusedol monastery on Sunday, August 4 and mark the anniversary of Croatia's Operation Storm, which targeted ethnic Serbs in that country, and which he said was the largest ethnic cleansing since World War II.

"This is the fifth or the sixth year that we are marking the Storm (anniversary) through tears, but also with pride that we can speak openly about our pain, without ingratiating ourselves to someone and without keeping quiet about the crimes committed against our people," Vucic told TV Pink.

He stated that Serbia accepts that it had committed crimes in certain places and is not running away from responsibility, but that he is proud that we are marking Jasenovac, Operation Storm, the suffering of Serbs in the Podrinje region, the tragedy of the NATO aggression, and the suffering of other nations.

"These are the things that speak to Serbia's stronger position, because we can talk about ourselves, our pain and our suffering," Vucic said.

He also stated that he is proud that a large number of people from Krajina are a part of Serbian society, that they are fighters who have created their homesteads in every part of Serbia, who love Serbia and the Serbian kind.

"We will never forget the most serious ethnic cleansing that was committed after World War II, which was (Operation) Storm," says Vucic.

Vucic added that Serbia needs to build better relations with Croatia, regardless of the fact that they are looking forward to the Storm anniversary.

"We will look to the future, Serbia and the Serb people have a good future," says Vucic.

He says he is particularly happy that Serbia was marking these difficult anniversaries for the Serb people together with Republika Srpska, the Serb entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The president also says that Serbia will strengthen its military, which is a contribution to the preservation of peace, because, as he noted - the less of a target to others we are, the more safe everyone will be.

(Source: Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)