Photo: Sava Radovanović/Tanjug"Little Sloba", as he was once mockingly called, managed to survive three decades in politics. He says that Serbian socialists were "attacked because of the color red, but that it is not the color of the Socialist Party of Serbia, but of the labor movement and the blood that was shed for workers' rights", but also "the color of Christianity and Easter eggs". Opponents would say that he too itself coated with all colors, or that Easter eggs are like SPS: red on the outside, white and yellow on the inside
Ivica Dacic was born in 1966 in Prizren. In Belgrade, he graduated from journalism at the Faculty of Political Sciences, and he says that he was among the four best students of this faculty ever.
He began to deal with politics while still at the university, and in 1990 he became the first president of the Young Socialists of Belgrade. During Milosevic's management of Serbia, he reached the position of spokesman of the Socialist Party of Serbia, and it seemed that this was his political ceiling. As he later said, "he was not friends" with the ruling family, but "he did not betray them either." Slobodan Milosevic would not agree with that.
After the democratic coup in 2000, in 2003 he was elected president of the Main Board of the SPS. Milošević then demanded from the Hague prison that he be expelled from the party. That did not happen thanks to Dacic's internal party resourcefulness, which enabled him to win over a good part of the SPS old guard. Milošević dies in 2006, and Ivica Dačić formally becomes the first man of the Socialists.
Reconciliation with Boris Tadic
His political journey since Slobodan Milosevic, across Boris Tadić leads to Aleksandar Vučić.
The reform of the SPS under his leadership led to a new growth in support for the party, which was also seen in 2008 when he signed an agreement with Boris Tadić on the political reconciliation of the Democratic Party and the Socialists. That year, he entered the Government under the leadership of the DS as Minister of the Interior. He abandons the terminology "NATO criminals" and together with "domestic traitors", as he used to call them, begins to see Serbia's future in the European Union.
He welcomed the next elections in 2012 with even more self-confidence, so before the election results he said that "it may not be known who will be the president, but it is well known who will be the prime minister". His coalition potential was at its peak, it was felt that without SPS no one would be able to form a government.
Prime Minister without power
His predictions came true, SPS is after it Tomislav Nikolic defeated Boris Tadić in the presidential elections, defected to the side of the Serbian Progressive Party and became prime minister, but without a portfolio: the "first deputy prime minister" (PPP) Aleksandar Vučić, whose unstoppable political rise then began, wondered about everything.
His biggest (failure) success was the signing of the Brussels Agreement on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina in 2013, but his role in all of this was no greater than signing the document. The union of Serbian municipalities presented as a great Serbian victory in the agreement has not been formed to this day. On one occasion, he told the then high representative for EU foreign and security policy, Catherine Ashton, "we have a problem with you every day" and added that she "looks at Serbia with different eyes" since then. Dacic never learned English.
He was in the post of formal Prime Minister for a short time because the progressives are already calling for extraordinary parliamentary elections next year. Dačić and Vučić are doing a handshake, the leader of the SPS becomes the Minister of Foreign Affairs and "first deputy prime minister", only now it was known that the power was in the hands of the prime minister.
Elite singer
When he appointed him as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vučić said that "they could hardly have found a better one". In diplomacy, they certainly are, but in singing on the political stage, they may not even be. He sang for Turkish President Erdogan, so Rasim Ljajić gave him a tip, but he also "cheered" Putin with the famous "Kaljinka". To those who find it funny, he says that "if you think it's easy, try it".
He lobbied the countries of the third world to withdraw the recognition of Kosovo, but he repeatedly advocated for it to be divided. He did not have the support of Pristina, the European Union, or Belgrade for such a thing. He did it on the order of Vučić.
Suitcase and banana
He was guilty of several serious affairs, but he emerged from them as well as from every crisis since he has been swimming in the political waters of Serbia. He almost "fell" with his friends in "Suitcase" affair, and he was also on the video where you can see how dinner in the company of Rodoljub Radulović aka Miša Banana, connected to the Darko Šarić clan. Dacic explained that they talked about "music and sports".
After the parliamentary elections in 2020, he was elected President of the National Assembly. In the meantime, the SPS has sunk into the opaque progressive waters, Dacic is not even trying to get out of the shadow of Aleksandar Vucic.
The Socialist Party of Serbia is going to these elections in a traditional coalition with the United Serbia of Dragan Marković Palma, but this time not on the list of the Serbian Progressive Party. The post-election coalition is not in question, it is estimated that this way it will win more votes and that the SPS will certainly succeed in passing the 3 percent threshold.
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