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The former head of the Alliance for Serbia committee group in the Belgrade City Assembly, Nikola Jovanovic, after leaving the committee group and the People’s Party of which he was vice chairman, resigned on Monday, while announcing that he had founded the Local Government Center. He says on H1 that he continues to fight for the interests of citizens, for Belgrade, and pointing out the problems and bad actions of the government.
“I need to fight in another way for my city, which gave me everything, but far from being ashamed of what was done in the previous two years, on the contrary. Belgrade won opposition in that period, we managed to mobilize a critical mass for change,” I look back on those two years with a sense of pride. In order not to be the subject of inter-party skirmishes, I retired from party politics, but my love for Belgrade remained, “Jovanovic told Dan live.
When asked if the video that recently appeared in the tabloids and on social media was “the end of his political career,” Jovanović said that ending was not important.
“I do not think that the question of whether this is my political end will interest people, in the end it does not matter, but that each one of us helps our city, our country in some way, so this story was not a personal adventure for me but trying to give back something I received from my city, “he said.
He adds that it is time to “turn a new page”, which, as he says, will also be useful for the people of Belgrade.
Jovanovic founded a citizens’ association called the Local Autonomy Center, through which he will try to return to the public scene after the affair with, as he said, “fabricated tavern conversations.”
“I believe that local problems are the basis and foundation of every society. If you have information that 48 percent of the population of Serbia does not have sewage, that even in this phallic assembly, 100 deputies come from the district of Belgrade, who do not all municipalities have their representatives, that mayors and mayors do not elect directly, so there is no political responsibility and democracy, all these are reasons why we do not resemble European society ”, said the guest of H1.
He says he will try to propose solutions, write laws, teach others to write petitions …
“It is a kind of hand stretched out to the citizens, to be aware that everything depends on them, that they are not powerless, even in a system like this,” he added.
As part of his activities, he previously spoke about the rebalancing of the Belgrade budget.
“I wanted to inform everyone that the new rebalancing is presented as a savings measure, 20 billion is less in the budget, but in fact the operating costs of the city government are not reduced, investments in vital aspects of the lifetime. There is no sewerage in Borca, on the left bank of the Danube. Vesić boasts that he made 1,200 meters of sewage in Krnjača … and I pointed out to him that the bureaucracy is constantly inflated, that new people are hired, “Jovanović emphasized.
Sale of a Belgrade woman and Sava Center
Jovanovic also says the sale of the Sava Center should be abandoned.
We are in the middle of the crown, we do not know if the second wave will pass, it also causes an economic crisis, so there is definitely a time when the price of city property is low, whenever there is an economic crisis, prices are lower … bad weather for sale. This was acquired by generations before us, if we cannot get good prices it is better to leave it for other generations ”, says Jovanović.
And the sales procedures themselves indicate, he says, that the buyers know each other in advance.
“As in the case of the Belgrade woman, the buyer knows in advance. Short terms, a large deposit, so that the price drops until it suits a selected buyer, and the citizens of Belgrade are the least they benefit from that, “he said.
Today, he says, it was announced that a building near the Mostar circuit, owned by the city, is for sale.
“If the price falls to 60 percent, it will be 345 euros per square meter. I ask city leaders: would they sell their property at that price? If they didn’t, they shouldn’t sell city properties either,” he says. Jovanovic.
He adds that it should be discussed whether the city should opt for a public-private partnership.
“If Belgrade needs a congress center, if it has to sell its property and if this is the right time, there is no discussion about it,” said the former councilor at the Belgrade Assembly.
He sees this role of his newly established center as a corrective function.
“I think that the role of the profession, the media, the public is to criticize the government, to do better. It is not their role to flatter the government to have some benefits … I see our association as a corrective factor, I will not politicize, no I will speak without verifying. ” things, when I have something to say, I will find a way to make it public, “explained Nikola Jovanovic.
And he adds: he will not deal with the opposition.
“I have never dealt with the opposition and I have no intention of doing so, the government is dealing with it enough for me to join in that persecution. Even when I left the Popular Party, I said that I was leaving it for political reasons, disagreeing over future performance in Belgrade. ” about priorities, that was the tip of the iceberg of my discontent ”, about which, he says, he did not want to speak in public.
He regrets, he emphasizes, that the whole matter has been made public.
“It was not my choice. If I wanted to harm my colleagues, I would speak publicly. I did not, even after publishing those illegal recordings, I did not criticize my colleagues. I think everyone has the right to a private conversation in a cafe, in the family, with his wife in bed, and that should not be used to do personal accounts, “says Jovanović.
He also hopes that this does not become a practice in Serbia.
“Yes, the opposition also has its UDBU. Because, if we want to change the system, we must not act like a government and settle accounts with dissidents in such a brutal way. When the recordings were edited and sent to the tabloids, I already I had left the Popular Party, “I told them. All that I resent, I have expressed myself positively for the president of the party, who I think deserves a prominent place in this society, who is a democrat, I hope the moment will come when who filmed me, who planned it … it is inadmissible for one UDBA to replace another, ”concluded Jovanović.
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