A few key facts from the biography of the mayor of Belgrade, Dragan Đilas, could be enough to predict the outcome of the current intra-coalition conflict over the capital's budget. The conclusion is: the dispute will be concluded successfully, i.e. without consequences for the survival of the city's ruling coalition and the function of its first person.
The logic is extremely simple: after proving that even a journalist can become a successful man - if he gives up journalism in time and makes a few more wise moves - Đilas will certainly not allow himself to be remembered only as the youngest mayor of Belgrade, a gentle pigeon and a proud heterosexual. . A little more than a year of mandate, even at the time of the economic crisis, was of course not enough to fulfill at least some of the optimistic pre-election promises. That is why, even without the technical intelligence and commercial experience possessed by Đilas, it is easy to put two and two together and conclude: the mayor must not allow the termination of his mandate before achieving at least one set goal. And that's because even after the goal there is a goal - the radicals claim that this is the function of the president of Serbia. Others, again, believe that Đilas's business-oriented personality is more suitable for the operational position of prime minister.
HIGH, BLUE, FINGERS: "Tall, blond, almost transparent complexion. When he gets angry, he explodes in all directions. He will also be remembered for the fact that his 'Dnevnik' at 17 p.m., which he edited, was once 25 minutes late," this is what his former colleague, journalist Dragan Mašić, writes about one of the founders of Radio B92, in the book Waves of Serbia, book about Radio B92 (followed by a story about an unconscious journalist, a guest-politician who takes care of her and another guest who is in a hurry to Zagreb, which all together caused a record delay in the program made by the "muscles" of a small group of youthfully confident people). In the book published in 2006, Mašić, a little later, says: "Unlike Milica (Kuburović) and me, Đilas will finish university." He will also become the leader of a student protest, he will destroy Ratko Dmitrović in an interview on RTS, and then he will go into marketing waters. He will create one of the largest agencies in Serbia, and then he will go into politics. The people's office is not the last one he will lead."
In the official biography of Dragan Đilas, published on the occasion of his election as mayor of Belgrade on August 19, 2008, it is said that he was born on February 22, 1967 in Belgrade, where he completed elementary school and high school and graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, majoring in aviation. And further: "He worked as a journalist at Radio Index and is one of the founders of Radio B92, where he was later the editor of the Information Program." He participated in opposition work as a student vice-rector, leading student demonstrations against the regime of Slobodan Milošević in 1991 and 1992. He actively participated in demonstrations against the same regime in 1996 and 2000. He has been a member of the Democratic Party since 2004. He was a member of the Executive and Main Board of the DS. From 2004 until the formation of the Government of the Republic of Serbia in 2007, he held the position of Director of the People's Office of the President of the Republic. From May 2007 to July 2008, he was a minister in the Government of the Republic of Serbia in charge of implementing the National Investment Plan. At the Assembly of the Democratic Party on February 18, 2006, he was elected as a member of the Presidium of the Democratic Party for the Belgrade region, and in June 2006, he was elected as the President of the City Committee of the Democratic Party of Belgrade. He is a co-owner of the Multikom Company, a leading company in the field of media business in the territory of the former SFRY. He is the founder and vice president of the humanitarian organization 'Our Serbia', which takes care of children who were left without one or both parents during the wars in the territory of the former SFRY. He speaks English. He is the father of two children."
OBSCENE VERB: The impressive official biography lacks details, such as, for example, Đilas's version of the meeting with Milosevic during which he told him that he should resign and thus do a great service to the Serbian people: "I got involved when it was necessary to organize a meeting between Milosevic and the students. I introduced people from B92, because there was only RTS in the hall. Then we 'fucked his mother'. Although he behaved well. I spoke as third or fourth, asked a few questions. Those were revolutionary times. We were all excited and felt very important. You're young, you don't know much about anything. You don't understand that billions are behind everything and you're trying to, like, change something" (Waves of Serbia, book about Radio B92).
It didn't take long for Djilas to amass the billions thing. And he also had a good recommendation: "When I was dismissed from the post of vice-rector, then the rector and his team were also dismissed." Then all of them silently left that session of the University Council, which consisted of the worst JUL and SPS members, from Radoman Božović to Mira Marković. And I went to the lectern and said: 'Thank you for this, because I can't get a better recommendation for my future life, when people like you replace me.' They all freaked out and I walked out of there happier. I'm not for turning around and walking away. At least tell them something, at least argue with them."
Đilas demonstrated his ability to argue with his opponent particularly convincingly and vividly in numerous conflicts with Velimir Ilić, the leader of New Serbia and former Minister of Capital Investments. In the time before he became mayor, Đilas also knew how to enter into a TV duel with Ilic, thanks to which, in the general uproar and the exchange of curses and insults, viewers managed to understand that the president of the People's Office and the Minister of Capital Investments were accusing each other. for theft.
"You are racketeering the 15 largest companies and banks in Serbia! You control 80 percent of the media! You have increased the turnover of your company 232 times, and financially 1,282 times since Tadić appointed you as the head of the People's Office," Ilić shouted on TV Pink on one such occasion. Đilas responded with a similar number of decibels and a story about the purchase of trains and other affairs related to Ilić and his party friends. So he made a point: "You are a thief!" I entered politics when I made money, and you entered with nothing, and now you are building mansions and swimming pools!”
WINDOW WASHER: Đilas claims that he earned the initial capital abroad - first by washing windows in London (which part of the media regularly associates with the story of Marko Milošević who wears suitcases) and then by founding a company in the Czech Republic (where, according to "Kurir", he produced costume jewelry). He then founded a company that operates in several countries in the region - Multikom Group (which also owns Direct Media and Spark Event Promotion). The company Multikom, which, among other things, deals with the lease of media space, is still occasionally mentioned by Ilić in his announcements, in which he demands an audit of the business of the company "Tadić's advisors, Đilas, Srđan Šaper and Nebojša Krstić". The operations of Multikom, but also of another company in which Đilas owns, Emotion Production (which made Serbia happy with the license for Big Brother and other similar consequences of losing one's mind), were particularly thoroughly investigated by the media during last year's election campaign. "Kurir" even calculated that Djilas "earns EUR 40.134 every hour" through those companies alone, but that is not all, because it does not include the operations of companies in which Djilas is the hidden owner. As an example of such "additional jobs", "Kurir" mentioned the PR agency "Olaf i McAteer", which, according to the source, Đilas founded with Srđan Đurić, former adviser to Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica, and Ivan Radovanović, another former journalist who understood that there are also jobs that make a better living (Radovanović's "Borba" later confirmed the story of Đilas' ownership in the aforementioned agency).
The question of Đilasa's property was also raised by others: the Liberal Democratic Party, the current partner of the DS in the Belgrade government and a party that opposes the proposed budget revision, accused Đilasa of being a "tycoon" who, among other things, along with Milka Forcan, the vice president of Delta, has owner's share in the tabloid "Press" (after that graffiti "Đilas the tycoon" appeared on the streets, to which the latter replied that there was a typographical error and that he a "typhoon" that, when a million and a half people stand behind it, will blow away all those working to the detriment of the citizens of Belgrade). And Kostunica's DSS said this summer that it can only negotiate with the DS on cooperation in the Voždovac municipality when Boris Tadić "announces to the public how much Đilas' property is and whether it has increased and by how much since he became mayor."
PROUD: There is no secret, replied Đilas, all information about (his) companies is public: "I am proud of the fact that this company is the owner of a dozen companies outside of Serbia, that all profits made anywhere in the world end up in Serbia and that pay taxes fairly." There is also an addition: "The company that I created is the largest in half of Europe, it is the largest in Bosnia and Macedonia and in Montenegro and everywhere it exists, and Dragan Đilas does not engage in politics there."
The story about the origin of the property is not the only reason to check Djilas's resistance to criticism: in the first year of his mandate, the mayor managed to become a prominent negative hero in the eyes of human and minority rights fighters. First, with decisions and statements related to the displacement of Roma from the Belleville settlement, and then with the attitude towards the announced but not held Pride Parade. "I think that everyone's sexual orientation is a private matter and should remain within four walls." I don't see any reason why someone would show sexual inclinations in that way", is one of the mayor's statements that have provoked a barrage of criticism from non-governmental organizations and individual journalists. But in vain, one would say: there were no public indications that the mayor took any of those words seriously.
With the unjustified decision to dismiss Igor Miklja from the position of city secretary for sports, Đilas scored another public own goal: the president of the Olympic Committee of Serbia (OCS) Vlade Divac, former football representative Savo Milošević and Igor Miklja held a press conference in which they requested the mayor's explanation . "Personal vanity and personal frustration ruled, and Đilas proved his arrogant behavior by not wanting to receive us when we demanded an explanation," Milošević said on that occasion, while Miklja assessed that the decision to dismiss him was the result of "one man's arbitrariness." .
The man whose one of the prominent pre-election promises was to return the Port of Belgrade to the ownership of the citizens, then managed to come into conflict with the Council for the fight against corruption, that is, Verica Barać. To her claim that the city government is negotiating with the Port of Belgrade on the repurposing of the land on which that company is located, he replied in the style of "either she, or me". "If I broke some law, then I should be in prison." But, if it turns out that I'm not, then the people (from the Anti-Corruption Council) who wrote it shouldn't be allowed to stay in those positions," said Djilas, recalling his previous fight for the land of Luka to belong to the citizens of Belgrade.
CARE OF THE BASE: All these conflicts, however, do not call into question the assessment of Djilas' serious readiness to realize his serious ambitions. In parallel with the conflicts (which he justifies by claiming that, as a "business man working temporarily in politics", he speaks his mind, unlike professional politicians), Đilas also works on collecting points: there he is, at night, with the workers of the Parking Service, aiming to the shamelessly expensive cars arrogantly parked on the Zemun quay, there he is removing gambling houses that are opened too close to schools, calling out the National Bank and the state to "prevent banks from taking euros out of Serbia", checking documentation on the construction of the "Ušće" Shopping Center, calls out to Minister Milutin Mrkonjić for the reconstruction of the Gazela Bridge, demands a ban on the sale of alcohol to minors, protects citizens from another change of documents that could be caused by listening to the Russian ambassador's wish to return the names of deserving Russians to the streets in the city center... And it seems that he is not always angry: even as a minister for the NIP, he threw himself into the cold river Luznica to rescue a journalist, whose car failed to overcome the ice, and the noble he also promoted this side of his personality with the story of the Guti pigeon that landed in his cabinet and became so at home that he did not want to leave it...
Djilas also showed that he thinks long-term with his wise internal party positioning. He joined the DS only in 2004, after, as he claims, he refused Đinđić's invitation to be his deputy in the DS, telling him that he first wanted to finish college and earn money. Nevertheless, he avoided the danger of being recognized in the "party base" as a "courtier" who reached the party position exclusively through a shortcut - namely, he did not find "pedestrian" party work difficult, so he visited municipal committees and built solid positions "in base", which is also indicated by the election for the president of the largest, Belgrade board of the DS.
The mayor also has a message for the wider voting base. "The economic crisis exists, that is not in dispute, but I think that certain politicians use it to justify their inability and unwillingness to do some things that may not be popular at first... We will continue all the projects: this year we will build 12 kindergartens, the bridge is already slowly visible, we will also sign the contract for the second bridge if everything goes well, we will continue to pave the streets and build schools and health centers. We have the means for that. If the crisis drags on, we won't have the means to start new projects, because perpetuum mobile doesn't exist, although some behave the opposite...", Dragan Đilas, who is not related to Milovan, said in an interview with "Vremen" in April. Đilas, a former Yugoslav politician and dissident.
