Candidate from New Belgrade

Although he is entering his sixth year as the head of the municipality of Novi Beograd, the most populous municipality in Serbia, and has been active in politics for eight years, Aleksandar Šapić (39) is still portrayed in public as a former sports icon, one of the best Serbian water polo players of all time or like Gangula's character from the movie When I grow up I will be a Kangaroo.

Although his physical strength was emphasized both in the pool and in that film, he nevertheless showed in his years spent in politics, even at the local level, that he has far more intelligence and political instinct in his performance than anyone would expect.

So today, a man who won everything that could be won in sports by the age of thirty and managed to pay richly for his knowledge, which is rare for water polo, leads a local self-government, one of the few in which there is no SNS in power, and plans ambitiously to try to sit in the chair of the first man of the capital.

He is fully committed to his work at the head of the municipality and in an interview for "Vreme" he says that, if he is not elected as the first man of Belgrade, he will stay to finish what he started in New Belgrade. Those who think that he has strayed into politics will say that he is a coward and that he must not openly oppose the ruling party anywhere, and he no longer reacts to such criticism and claims that everything he does, he does within the prescribed framework, that behind him there are results that citizens can clearly see.

He has somehow managed to control his temper and is now ready to make jokes about himself, but at the same time, he looks like a man who knows exactly where he is headed and that it will be difficult for anyone to stop him from that intention. It's as if in politics he uses the instinct of a pool shooter who knows that two people will be on his back, that they will take off his underwear under the water, but that he must not give up, that he sees a goal in front of him and has a chance to score as long as he has the ball in the hands.

He says that he is aware that the public does not perceive him as a politician and that he does not get space in the media to talk about all the actions he carries out as the mayor of the municipality, but that this is the case and that he tries to do everything in such circumstances to achieve his political ambition. .

"WEATHER": The candidacy for the post of mayor is now certain?

ALEXANDAR ŠAPIĆ: I talked about it before, I talked about my ambitions when I was leaving DS in 2014, although sometimes people don't take me seriously. I repeated the same thing in 2016 after the elections in New Belgrade, and now it is relevant because of the upcoming elections, whether they be regular or accelerated due to the possible replacement of Sinisa Mali or his resignation.

I remain with that attitude because after these years spent in politics, and I have been here for eight years, the sixth year at the head of the municipality of Novi Belgrade, it is natural for me to raise what I do to a higher level. I think I have enough knowledge and experience, that's my opinion and it doesn't mean I'm right, but the capacities of a municipal president with such a Statute in the city are not something that would satisfy me and enable me to implement all the ideas and do everything that is needed by the citizens who voted for me.

The idea is to do something more than what the position of the mayor allows. What would you do as the mayor of Belgrade??

I could talk about this for a long time, but I don't want to make any kind of promises right now because if I do, then I'm just like everyone else. Here in New Belgrade, before the last election, I went before the voters without any promises, and that is my platform in connection with the elections for Belgrade. Maybe at a later stage I will come up with some proposals that are operational and realistic. The way I behaved here, how I managed the municipal budget and how I tried to return to the citizens what they invested here, it seems to me that I managed to bring local issues into the center of attention, which has not been the case in Serbian politics since the introduction of multi-party system . Here, local politics was never the center because the people who deal with the local area were not voted for, but the big parties were looked at. That is why it happened that in local elections topics that have nothing to do with the local prevail. I want to set things up in such a way that we put what we have real competence for at the center of the debate in the campaign, that we do not talk about who is good and who is not, who is a doozy and who is a progressive, who is a European and who is a nationalist, but to see what we according to the statute , laws and the Constitution we can realistically do and what we can influence.

Belgrade needs to turn to itself, to stay away from talking about how to send a "beautiful image to the world", how to make something for tourists from Bulgaria or other tourists who are all welcome, but when we make Belgrade a place that suits us, it will surely be good for others. A beautiful picture that is not sent for the sake of the world, but to clean up the city for us. We may not be able to compete in terms of investments with New York, Chicago, but it can be clean and tidy, organized, it can be much better urbanistically organized. All that does not depend on someone else, on economic circumstances, it mostly depends on us who live there. When we solve that, then depending on who will manage the city and how it will be managed, it will also be an investment.

My emphasis is on local topics, so we'll see. They didn't give me a chance even in New Belgrade, so I did something. Belgrade is a much bigger deal and I don't know if this society is ready to set things up like that. It may happen that here too we have "big parties" whose city committees are guided by the interests of local communities, and not by some global political climate. For example, it happened here that SRS representatives showed maturity after last year's elections, because they came to a meeting with me and my colleagues and were ready to support our plan for New Belgrade.

I want to introduce this principle to Belgrade, and I can do that only if I win the race for mayor. I am not interested in other functions.

The fact is that your competition will come from "big ones" parties. How will you stand up to them despite some preliminary research showing that you may have the best rating, but the post of mayor of Belgrade is a high position in Serbian political life?

When we talk about these topics from the field of high politics, of course I am ready tomorrow to defend the position of Belgrade and to fight for it to have the place it deserves in this country, and not for it to happen, as was the case a few months ago, when the mayors of the largest cities in Serbia came forward to the Government of Serbia with the story that it is good that some money was taken from them because the Government knows how to manage it better than the city administrations. I will fight for the money from the budget to be directed to local self-governments in the way it is in the EU, where the ratio is 70 to 30 percent, while in our country local governments receive less than 11 percent of the budget that this country has. On the other hand, I will not deal with the topics of whether we are for the Russians or the Americans, regardless of my opinion on that, but that is not within the scope of the city administration's competence. I will not go into the campaign with the intention of convincing anyone of anything: it is known who I am and what I have done, and let the people of Belgrade decide. If I fail, I will not fail and I will not be angry. In the campaign, I will not deal with showing how someone did something badly or well, but I will talk about how I see something that can be fixed. My strategy is not to convince citizens that I am the best.

When you are praised, they say that under your leadership, New Belgrade has become an administration that is open to citizens, the right service for their needs. When he beats you, they say all you're doing is pandering to voters with various freebies, which is evaluated as a kind of populist policy. What is your comment on that?

If populism is something that a large number of people like, I say that I wanted them to like it and to be satisfied, because the goal is to make the citizens satisfied. The question, in my opinion, is not why our programs are free, but why they are not free in others and where they spend money from the budget, because here we know where and how it goes. I tried to do visible things, to remove that abstract perception of the administration and its activities. So that people can immediately see that I did something: whether it's a park, whether it's English classes for children. I tried to work so that what we do is both visible and measurable.

What will it look like tomorrow at the level of the whole city, when you face traffic problems, suburban settlements, wild constructions...?

In the same way, I will also try to do things that can be clearly measured. I don't know if I will succeed, but I believe that I can because, compared to others, I am someone who already has good experience in this business, I have continuity, I do what I do with dedication, without a break, so we will see. Running a city is a much greater responsibility, there are many more problems, but there are also many more instruments that you can use. Again, it happened before that those who are in the opposition criticize the government for some actions, and then when they come to power, they continue with the same policy. I will not behave like that because I think it is rude.

Sometimes there are complaints that you did not always and completely protect the interests of citizens in New Belgrade in situations such as the construction of a parking lot on Zoran Đinđić Boulevard or the installation of wild objects, cafe garden and the like. Why did you not support the stronger citizens of New Belgrade in those situations?

I will cite another example, when the "Đuro Strugar" school was shut down, so they invited me to join them in the protest. I could stand with the citizens for every thing you mentioned and some others, when we mention populism, to be with them when decisions are made on something that is outside the jurisdiction of the municipality. But then I would have to follow everything that the city of Belgrade does and be either a critic or an applauder every now and then. Unfortunately, I did not edit this area, and if I were to ask, I would have much greater authority. I did not go with the citizens to those protests because I could neither influence nor have complete information about what was happening. For example, a lot of schools in Belgrade were closed due to "rationalization" and it seemed to me that it was not fair to chase votes supporting the request to "keep" a school. Second, when it comes to the parking lot you mention, I don't think it's a bad thing that it was built because there is a great need for parking spaces, and no trees were destroyed in that place. It is bad that the zone has been introduced, so the parking lot is often empty, and citizens from the blocks have nowhere to park because their places are taken by people who work there. I also complained about that to the city administration through an official channel.

Shouldn't the one who is, let's say, built a bank, buildings and parking for those who work there?

It is, but it is a question of previously made plans about where and what is being built, in what way and who initially allowed such facilities to be built without parking spaces. So, when it already exists, let them make it so that those who work can park there and let them pay for those places, so that citizens can park in the blocks as before. It is a real example when you try to do a good thing, to enable more people to park properly, but you ruin the idea with some small thing that causes citizens' dissatisfaction. In the end, no one asked me, so I didn't interfere. Populism is not when you do a good thing, but when you use the dissatisfaction stemming from a topic that interests people, which you cannot realistically influence.

In the position of the president of the municipality, you have experience both when your former party was in power and now, the last three and a half years when progressives have been in power. Is there a difference in the attitude towards someone who is at the head of the municipality??

I cannot be objective because I was part of that government and I will say that everything was better. I broke up with DS because I wasn't ready to take responsibility for things that were beyond my control and that had nothing to do with me. I've been in a situation where I no longer agree with the majority on almost anything, and I believe it's fair to leave when that's the case. While the Democrats were in power, New Belgrade had the fourteenth budget out of 17 municipalities, and today it is the fourth, maybe that is some description. I am in a better situation today than I was then. Today, Democrats are complaining about the things they failed to do when they were in power and when more could have been done on decentralization. On the other hand, it happened at that time that the municipality of Voždovac, which was ruled by the opposition, received 40 million dinars from the reserve in one year, and I did not receive anything even though I was part of the "big government".

Also, this government didn't obstruct me either, but we didn't manage to establish some kind of cooperation. I have a correct relationship with Sinisa Mali, but that's just a correct relationship and that's it. I proposed some projects for the money earmarked for the municipalities, but I never received any response. So, if there is any difference, it is that during the time of the Democrats' rule, Zemun and Voždovac, as opposition municipalities, had a better status than is the case with such municipalities today.

With whom do you intend to participate in the upcoming elections?, who are possible partners for you?

First, I would be surprised if those elections were held ahead of time, although everything is possible in our country. The list I go with will be my list and I am not entering into agreements with anyone before the election. Neither with the party, nor with the association, because I want to measure the level of trust shown to me by the people of Belgrade. When the elections are over, I will be ready to talk with everyone about the things that are most important to me in Belgrade. If those others want to talk to me. You will remember that there was talk even before last year that I would actually perform for someone else, that I would be Đilas's candidate, Vučić's candidate, and I went out alone and achieved the result I achieved. It was the same after the election: everything that was talked about did not come true because I managed to create the kind of coalition I wanted, not the way someone told me to create it. So I'm going with my list, with people I trust and who won't be the new "preletačevići" tomorrow, that is, the ones you should be afraid of whether you have a majority in the assembly or not.

When you said earlier that Belgrade should be organized so that it first suits those who live there, it can also be understood as a criticism of the current government, which seems to be doing everything it can to make Belgrade a tourist destination where millions of tourists will come. How do you see the development of the city??

I don't understand the story that the main thing in Belgrade is for it to be a tourist destination. Maybe I'm missing the point, but I don't see why we should still adhere to the maxim of making a "pretty picture in the world". Our image to the world should be who we are, not what we would like people to think we are. I have visited almost the entire planet and Belgrade is a cosmopolitan city, open to people who come from abroad, and there is no need to deal with it additionally. Let's not do things because we assume that it will bring tourists from Bulgaria or some other tourists. If we arrange Belgrade to suit us, it will be quite good for the people from the outside as well. Conceptually, I do not agree with the current city administration, but also with the previous authorities that nurtured a similar policy.

What is it in Belgrade that bothers you and that should be changed or improved??

One of the biggest problems is that in Belgrade no administrative distinction has been made between what is an urban part of the city and what is a suburb. For example, I lived in Moscow for three years, and of course it's difficult to compare the two cities, but they have that central part, the city and sub-Moscow region, which has its own administration. People living in Kosmaj have different problems than those in New Belgrade, and it is necessary to approach those people in a different way. That is why I would advocate for legal changes that would enable Belgrade to be organized differently: ten urban municipalities and seven suburban ones. In addition, more work should be done in the field of social and child protection. Kindergartens must be free and it is feasible, just as the issue of public transportation must be finally resolved. GSP must be reformed, reorganized, but it is necessary to pay for transportation and for that service to be at a much higher level. It is necessary to urgently finish the ring road, to build at least one more bridge just so that Belgrade can breathe, because it is too congested as it is now. And, of course, many more parks and sports fields that would raise the standard of living in the city and allow citizens to feel much better. And these are all things that can be done, I repeat, without large investments from the side. And shopping centers and the like? Well, whoever pays more for the land, it has nothing to do with the politics of the city administration.

What is your view on the construction project "Belgrade on the water"? Do you see yourself tomorrow?, if you become mayor, as someone who takes the president of the state or government to visit the raised floors?

Whoever is the president of Serbia or the prime minister, if I am the mayor, that is the institution with which I have to cooperate in order to realize the interests of the city of Belgrade. When it comes to that project, it is now where it is and I neither decided on it nor assigned it, I have nothing to do with it. I could criticize, but I'll keep my opinion to myself because I don't know all the details about the project itself. I certainly wouldn't be the one to stop that project tomorrow. I think it's good that that space has been cleaned and it's commendable, because no one wanted to do it before. And when the Democrats were in power, I asked why we don't do it, and I was told that it was impossible to do it. However, I would try to offer such a location to various investors in a tender, so if no one would come forward, maybe I would look for an investor in the way this government did. Furthermore, I believe that everyone is entitled to their own vision and that people in power want to leave some kind of stamp, but I would never build a "supermodern" city in that place. All in all, that project exists and whoever comes to power tomorrow, including me, should work to complete it.