"I can't catch snowflakes in flight," said one January, almost ten years ago, the socialist Nikola Nikodijević, the eternal Belgrade apparatchik. That's how he made excuses for accidents around town.
The technique is still not so advanced that it catches snowflakes in flight, but it seems like it is snow – in large parts actually Of Serbia only a snowball of about fifteen centimes - revealed what the government did not do in time.
We write about this in two articles in the new issue of "Vremena", which will hit newsstands on Thursday (January 15).
Trouble with electricity
At one point, more than 22.000 households were without power. Along with increased purchases and high production, hundreds of fitters and workers were sent to extraordinary actions.
"Many are risking their lives," said Economy Minister Adriana Mesaroš, who was the face of the action to save Serbia from the Christmas snow, but was mostly concerned with recalculating how many percent of consumers do not have electricity (0,68, according to her), as if this would reduce the plight of entire towns and villages.
As we write in that article, Serbia is in for a big trouble when it comes to electricity anyway - the European Union is introducing a levy on the import of dirty energy, which includes Serbian electricity, which is mostly obtained from lignite. But that's a long shot for the authorities in Serbia, who are not even able to cope with the snow.
"Things are so bad that every new problem literally turns into a disaster, and few are surprised by what a little snow can do to the former regional energy power," writes colleague Slobodan Bubnjević in the article.
They are waiting for it to melt.
At the same time, modest snow in Belgrade minimally mobilized city services and representatives of the city government. Cars were rarely seen, citizens walked on the ice, and buses with summer tires and thin patterns danced.
The city government was waiting for the snow to melt, writes Danilo Savić in another article.
"It is clear that the current city government is gambling with the lives of the citizens of Belgrade," PSG councilor Stefan Simić tells us. "Since last winter, when the machinery was returned to the garages, we have not had an overhaul. Half of the vehicles were not in proper condition. Now we see that the equipment is being installed faster and faster, which is not a good way. Instead of planning, it is done ad hoc. The system is on the edge and definitely does not work."
Read both articles and many more important texts in the new "Vremen" from Thursday (January 15) or subscribe now to digitally or printed edition
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