Dušan Bajatović (Serbian Cyrillic: Душан Бајатовић; born 29 November 1967) is a Serbian politician and entrepreneur. He has served in the National Assembly of Serbia since 2007 as a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia and is a former member of both the Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro and the Assembly of Vojvodina. Once an ally of Slobodan Milošević, he was later a prominent advocate of moving the Socialist Party away from Milošević's legacy. Since 2008, he has been the general manager of the powerful public utility Srbijagas.

Dušan Bajatović
Душан Бајатовић
Bajatović in 2012
General Director of Srbijagas
Assumed office
November 2008
Preceded bySaša Ilić
Personal details
Born (1967-11-29) 29 November 1967 (age 56)
Ravno Selo, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Political partySocialist Party of Serbia
OccupationPolitician, businessman

Early life and private career

edit

Bajatović was born in Ravno Selo, Vrbas, Vojvodina, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He has a degree in electrical engineering with a major in systems management and a degree in economics with a major in agro-economics.

In 2003, Bajatović purchased TV Most in Novi Sad from the Socialist Party for three million dollars (which he acknowledged was on loan). He was awarded a regional broadcasting permit in 2007, even as many other stations with a similar ideological perspective were being shut down.[1]

Sometimes criticised by rivals for his perceived level of wealth, Bajatović once remarked, "I am a Socialist, but I do not want to be a social case."[2] On another occasion, he said, "I have no doubt that I am one of the most strongly attacked and criticized figures in the country, who is believed to be immensely rich. Sometimes I am accused of being overbearing because I am opinionated and do not flinch from expressing my views. I have no problem with all the criticism nor the harsh accusations in some media against me. I have no problem with my big mouth either."[3]

Early political career

edit

A member of the Youth Council of Serbia before the break-up of Yugoslavia, Bajatović was a founding member of the Socialist Party of Serbia in 1990. During the period of Slobodan Milošević's rule, he was known for maintaining good relations with the independent, anti-Milošević media and for being able to express his party's views on difficult questions.[4] In the late 1990s, he served on the executive of the Socialist Party's provincial committee in Vojvodina and was a spokesperson for the party's city council group in Novi Sad. In June 1999, in the midst of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, he announced a humanitarian aid package organised by the party destined for Priština.[5]

Bajatović later became the chair of the Socialist Party in Vojvodina and a member of the party's executive committee in Serbia as a whole. He emerged as a high-profile spokesperson for the party in 2001, debriefing the media on such matters as Slobodan Milošević's state of mind in the buildup to his arrest,[6] the party's June 2001 rally and its demands for the government to release Milošević and end the extradition of Serbian citizens to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague,[7] and Milošević's decision to remain as Socialist Party leader in the aftermath of his eventual extradition.[8] Bajatović addressed several Socialist Party rallies in support of Milošević during this period.[9]

In August 2001, Bajatović was appointed to a new nine-member body in the leadership of the Socialist Party known as the secretariat, which was entrusted with deciding on "the most important strategic issues for the party."[10] The following May, he became a party vice-president.[11] Bajatović informed the media in 2002 that Socialist Party politicians Nikola Šainović and Vlajko Stojiljković would not voluntarily surrender to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague;[12] he later indicated that he did not believe former Serbian president Milan Milutinović would surrender voluntarily either.[13]

Notwithstanding his general support for Milošević in this period, Bajatović ultimately became aligned with a reformist faction in the Socialist Party led by Ivica Dačić. He remarked in September 2002 that the party's relationship with Milošević would need to become more reciprocal, noting that some of Milošević's recent communications to the party could be perceived as dictates. He accused Milošević's wife Mirjana Marković of trying to take over and radicalise the party,[14] and he opposed Milošević's efforts to place Bogoljub Bjelica into a position of party leadership.[15]

Bajatović led a protest against the Basic Law of Vojvodina in Novi Sad in early 2003, describing it as a separatist document.[16]

Federal and provincial representative

edit

Bajatović received the fourth position on the Socialist Party's electoral list in the 2003 Serbian parliamentary election.[17] The party won twenty-two mandates. Notwithstanding his high position on the list, Bajatović chose not to serve in the Socialist Party's delegation to the parliament that followed. (From 2000 to 2011, Serbian parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for mandates to be awarded out of numerical order.)[18] He was instead selected on 10 February 2004, as one of the party's representatives in the federal Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro. He served as party whip, and in May 2004 he was appointed to the assembly's commission for the control of the state union's security services.[19]

Soon after his appointment to the assembly, Bajatović indicated that the Socialist Party would not offer parliamentary support to the government of Serbia and Montenegro if Boris Tadić was retained as minister of defence.[20] Tadić was, in fact, replaced shortly thereafter. Bajatović later threatened that the Socialist Party would withdraw its vital parliamentary support for the government of Serbia under Vojislav Koštunica if extraditions to The Hague continued.[21] In April 2006, he introduced a motion to remove Vuk Drašković from his position as Serbia and Montenegro's minister of foreign affairs, asserting that Drašković had become a pro-Albanian lobbyist in relation to the status of Kosovo within Serbia.[22]

In August 2005, Bajatović remarked that the Socialist Party's relationship with Slobodan Milošević had become "a strain" that needed to be removed.[23] Notwithstanding this, he led a minute of silence for Milošević in the Assembly of Serbia and Montenegro following the former Serbian leader's death in custody in 2006.[24]

The federal assembly ceased to exist in June 2006, when Montenegro declared its independence.

Bajatović also led the Socialist Party's list in the 2004 Vojvodina assembly election and served as an opposition member in the provincial assembly from 30 October 2004 until his resignation on 19 March 2007.[25]

Member of the National Assembly of Serbia

edit

Bajatović received the sixth position on the Socialist Party's electoral list in the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election[26] and, on this occasion, joined the party's parliamentary delegation after the election, serving in opposition to Koštunica's government.[27] He strongly opposed calls by some Vojvodina representatives in August 2007 to create a federated Serbia.[28] He received the ninth position on an electoral alliance headed by the Socialist Party for the 2008 election and was again chosen as part of the party's delegation after the campaign.[29][30]

Following the 2008 election, the Socialist Party joined a coalition government led by the pro-European Union Democratic Party. There were rumours that Bajatović would become internal affairs minister, though ultimately this did not happen and party leader Ivica Dačić received the position instead.[31]

The Socialist Party had shifted away from some of its former positions by this time and, specifically, had changed its policy toward the extradition of suspected war criminals; following Dačić's appointment, Bajatović assured the media that the new minister would not threaten relations with tribunal authorities in The Hague.[32] A report from this period described Bajatović as being on the technocratic wing of the Socialist Party, "favouring personal, economic interests over political ideology." He was also described as one of the party's leading advocates of an alliance with the Democratic Party, and it was noted that he had helped to broker municipal alliances between the Democratic Party and the Socialist Party in Vojvodina prior to their alliance at the national level.[33] He was deputy leader of the Socialist Party's assembly group in this period and served as deputy head of the parliamentary committee for state security.[34]

Bajatović ran for mayor of Novi Sad in May 2008; during the campaign, he was quoted as saying, "Novi Sad is being run by a dark quartet headed by [Vojvodina leader] Igor Mirović and I am ready to fight them, even if I end up in a ditch with a bullet in my head." He was defeated by Igor Pavličić of the Democratic Party.[35] He also headed the Socialist Party's electoral list in the 2008 Vojvodina parliamentary election, although he declined to take a assembly seat after the election.[36]

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were awarded in numerical order to candidates on successful lists. Bajatović received positions near the top of the Socialist Party's coalition electoral lists in the 2012, 2014, and 2016 elections and was returned to the assembly each time.[37] Bajatović is currently the deputy chair of the assembly's security services control committee; a member of the committee on finance, state budget, and control of public spending; a member of Serbia's delegation to the parliamentary assembly of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (where Serbia has observer status); and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Austria, China, Germany, Iran, Italy, Russia, Sweden, and the United States of America.[38]

The Serbian Progressive Party emerged as the largest party in the assembly after the 2012 election. Bajatović subsequently took part in negotiations for a renewed alliance with the Democratic Party, but the Socialists instead formed a new coalition government with the Progressives.[39] After the 2014 election (in which the Progressives won a landslide victory), it was reported that Bajatović urged the Socialists in leave the coalition if they did not receive several important positions.[40] The party ultimately remained in government, and their alliance with the Progressives remains in effect as of 2017.

Bajatović supported the third revision of Vojvodina's statute on autonomy in 2014, arguing that it was "a good framework, which will allow Vojvodina to fulfill its needs."[41] He led the Socialist Party's coalition electoral lists in Vojvodina in the 2012 and 2016 elections and served another term in the provincial assembly from 22 June to 4 October 2012.[42] In 2016, he attended the first meeting of the provincial assembly and then resigned his mandate on 20 June.[43]

General Manager of Srbijagas

edit

In November 2008, Bajatović was appointed to replace Saša Ilić as general manager of Srbijagas. As this is not a ministerial position, he was not required to resign from parliament. One month after his appointment, he concluded a significant deal between Srbijagas and the Russian firm Gazprom wherein Serbia sold a 51% stake in its state oil monopoly to Russia in return for the construction of a strategic Russian pipeline through Serbia via an initiative that ultimately became known as South Stream.[44] Bajatović took part in several further deals with Gazprom after this time, and in late 2009 he indicated Serbia's ambition to become a major hub for the distribution of Russian gas in Europe.[45] In November 2009, Srbijagas and Gazprom registered a joint company called Juzni Tok Srbija (South Stream Serbia).[46] The South Stream project ultimately collapsed but has since been replaced by the successor projects Turkish Stream and Tesla Pipeline.

Serbia experienced significant fuel shortages in early 2009, when a diplomatic row between Russia and Ukraine hindered the flow of gas to the country. Bajatović negotiated for emergency supplies from Germany and Hungary and said that the Ukrainian government was primarily to blame for the crisis.[47] He later took part in negotiations in Moscow that allowed Russian gas to flow to the country again, ending the crisis situation after almost two weeks.[48] Subsequently, he suggested that Serbia permit Gazprom to build commercial gas reserves in Serbia.[49]

In late 2009, Bajatović indicated that Srbijagas would seek a concession to construct a pipeline in Bosnia and Hercegovina, with separate sections leading to Sarajevo and Banja Luka.[50]

He has strongly opposed suggestions that Srbijagas be privatised, saying in 2009, "If the government changes tomorrow, I won't be a director any more, but every government and the Serbian economy will need Srbijagas, and that is why a large company needs to be created that will stay in the ownership of the state."[51]

Bajatović had an extremely strained relationship with Zorana Mihajlović, a Progressive Party politician who served as Serbia's energy minister from 2012 to 2014. Mihajlović repeatedly sought to remove Bajatović from his position but ultimately could not do so (reportedly due to pressure from Russia, which wanted Bajatović to remain as the principal Serbian overseer of the South Stream project).[52] Following the 2014 elections, Mihajlović remarked that Bajatović was, in her view, "part of the problem [of Srbijagas] and ... cannot be part of the solution."[53] Notwithstanding this, he was kept in his position by the government.

Serbia's Anti-Corruption Agency gave Bajatović an order to resign in September 2014 on the grounds that he was in a conflict of interest position. He appealed the decision. In October 2015, the Anti-Corruption Agency recommended that the government dismiss him. Bajatović responded to the situation by saying, "I do not want to comment on this until the proceedings are over. Everything is still in process, and in the past months I have handed all of the documents that they requested."[54] He was not removed from his position.

In June 2015, Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vučić called on the country to diversify its energy sources and to join an American pipeline operating through Azerbaijan, rather than waiting for Russia to finish the Turkish Stream project. Bajatović took a different line during the same period, supporting the Russian project and accusing the European Union of obstructing Serbia's energy interests.[55] In March 2016, he noted that Russia's gas supplies to Serbia via Ukraine would end in three years, noted his desire to build a gas interconnection with Bulgaria as a transitional solution, and called for more financial support from the European Union.[56]

In 2014, an anonymous media source indicated that Serbian government could not remove Bajatović from his position even if it wanted to, due to an informal Russian veto. "The Russians insist that Bajatović remains the director until the South Stream project is completed. This is practically a state interest," the source said.[57] Bajatović has openly acknowledged his support from Russia, quipping in early 2016 that he would remain the leader of Srbijagas "even at the cost of the [Socialist Party] remaining out of the new government."[58]

References

edit
  1. ^ A media report in 2015 listed the station as being owned by Bajatović's parents. See "Report details Serbian politicians' ownership of media," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 4 March 2015 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Blic website on 27 February).
  2. ^ "Agency profiles Serbian gas company boss," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 7 November 2008 (Source: text of report in English by Serbian weekly news agency Beta Week service).
  3. ^ "Serbian paper interviews Socialist party leader on coalition, Vojvodina autonomy," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 28 March 2013 (Source: text of report by Serbian Novi Sad-based daily Dnevnik, on 24 March).
  4. ^ "Agency profiles Serbian gas company boss," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 7 November 2008 (Source: text of report in English by Serbian weekly news agency Beta Week service).
  5. ^ "Convoy with humanitarian aid from Vojvodina arrives in Kosovo capital," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 20 June 1999 (Source: excerpt from report by Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug); "Serbian ruling party launches new 'TV Most' station in Vojvodina," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 28 August 2000 (Source: excerpts from report by Serbian news agency Beta).
  6. ^ "Milosevic party official says Yugoslav president, army hold talks inside house," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 31 March 2001 (Source: text of report by Belgrade-based Radio B92 on 31 March 2001).
  7. ^ "Socialists threaten 'aggressive' action if rally demands not met," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 17 June 2001 (Source: excerpt of report by Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug).
  8. ^ "Milosevic to continue as leader of Serbian Socialists - senior party official," British Broadcasting Corporation European - Political, 4 August 2001 (Source: text of report by Serbian news agency Beta).
  9. ^ "Milosevic's supporters hold protest rally in Belgrade over announced extradition," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 26 June 2001 (Source: excerpt of report by Serbian state news agency Beta); "Around 10,000 Serbian Socialists, Radicals start protest march in Belgrade," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 2 July 2001 (Source: excerpt of report by Serbian state news agency Beta); "Socialists, Radicals hold protest rally against government, Hague," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 8 July 2001 (Source: excerpt of report by Serbian state news agency Beta); "Serbian Socialists, Radicals hold protest rally to mark NATO strikes," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 24 March 2002 (Source: excerpt of report by Serbian state news agency Beta).
  10. ^ "Milosevic addresses party session by phone," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 4 August 2001 (Source: excerpt of report by Serbian state news agency Beta).
  11. ^ "Socialists urge authorities to help Serbs to return to Kosovo," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 12 May 2002 (Source: text of report in English by Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug).
  12. ^ Aleksander Vasovic, "Yugoslav general vows not to surrender to the U.N. tribunal," Associated Press Newswires, 3 April 2002.
  13. ^ "SPS does not expect former Serbian president to go to ICTY voluntarily," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 4 January 2003 (Source: text of report by Serbian radio [Radio Belgrade] on 4 February).
  14. ^ "SPS official accuses Milosevic's wife of trying to take over party," ," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 3 September 2002 (Source: text of Report by Serbian news agency Beta).
  15. ^ "Bjelica, supporters walk out of SPS congress," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 10 January 2003 (Source: excerpt of report by Serbian state news agency Beta).
  16. ^ "Serbian Socialists stage protest, warn Vojvodina bill "separatist document"," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring - European (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1019 gmt 28 Feb 03).
  17. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године, СОЦИЈАЛИСТИЧКА ПАРТИЈА СРБИЈЕ - СЛОБОДАН МИЛОШЕВИЋ Archived 26 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  18. ^ Serbia's Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) stipulated that parliamentary mandates would be awarded to electoral lists (Article 80) that crossed the electoral threshold (Article 81), that mandates would be given to candidates appearing on the relevant lists (Article 83), and that the submitters of the lists were responsible for selecting their parliamentary delegations within ten days of the final results being published (Article 84). See Law on the Election of Representatives, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000, made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
  19. ^ "Agency profiles Serbian gas company boss," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 7 November 2008 (Source: text of report in English by Serbian weekly news agency Beta Week service); "Serbia-Montenegro Assembly appoints commission for control of security services," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 5 May 2004 (Source: text of report by Serbian news agency Beta).
  20. ^ "Serbian Socialists not to support Tadic, Svilanovic remaining union ministers," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 8 July 2001 (Source: text of report by Serbian news agency Beta).
  21. ^ "Milosevic's party to boycott Serbian government if extraditions go on," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 10 September 2004, (Source: text of report by Bosnia-Hercegovina Federation News Agency FENA).
  22. ^ "Socialists file motion to dismiss Serbia-Montenegro minister over Kosovo policy," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 4 April 2006 (Source: excerpt from report by Serbian independent news agency FoNet).
  23. ^ Igor Jovanovic, "Rehabilitation in Installments?", Transitions Online, 15 August 2005.
  24. ^ "Serbia-Montenegro assembly pays tribute to Milosevic," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, (Source: text of report in English by Belgrade-based Radio B92 text website on 6 April).
  25. ^ Convocation 2004 - 2008, Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 26 February 2017.
  26. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, Социјалистичка партија Србије Archived 30 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  27. ^ 14 February 2007 Legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 26 February 2017.
  28. ^ "Pro-Vojvodina parties' call for federal Serbia meets with "strong disapproval"," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 20 August 2007 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Dnevnik on 14 August).
  29. ^ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), - Партија уједињних пензионера Србије (ПУПС) - Јединствена Србија (ЈС) Archived 30 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  30. ^ 11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 11 December 2017.
  31. ^ "Serbian analysts view government "agreement" between Democrats, Socialists," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 18 June 2008 (Source: text of report by Serbian privately-owned independent daily Blic, on 13 June).
  32. ^ "Serbian Socialists' minister will not hinder Hague cooperation - party colleague," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 2 July 2008 (Source: text of report by Serbian pro-western Belgrade-based B-92 TV).
  33. ^ "Agency profiles Serbian gas company boss," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 7 November 2008 (Source: text of report in English by Serbian weekly news agency Beta Week service).
  34. ^ "Serbian MPs, analyst comment on president's Kosovo partition remarks," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 3 October 2008 (Source: text of report by Serbian pro-Western daily Danas, on 1 October); "Organized crime threatens Serbian president - official," Reuters News, 13 April 2010.
  35. ^ "Agency profiles Serbian gas company boss," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 7 November 2008 (Source: text of report in English by Serbian weekly news agency Beta Week service).
  36. ^ He does not appear on the list of deputies who served from 2008 to 2012. See Convocation 2008 - 2012, Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 26 February 2017. For the electoral list, see Изборне листе за изборе за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине 11. мај 2008. године (Изборна листа 5 - “СОЦИЈАЛИСТИЧКА ПАРТИЈА СРБИЈЕ (СПС)-ПАРТИЈА УЈЕДИЊЕНИХ ПЕНЗИОНЕРА СРБИЈЕ (ПУПС) ” - Душан Бајатовић) Archived 15 August 2023 at the Wayback Machine, Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 26 February 2017.
  37. ^ Bajatović received the sixteenth position in 2012, the seventeenth position in 2014, and the fourteenth position in 2016. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ - "СОЦИЈАЛИСТИЧКА ПАРТИЈА СРБИЈЕ (СПС), ПАРТИЈА УЈЕДИЊЕНИХ ПЕНЗИОНЕРА СРБИЈЕ (ПУПС), ЈЕДИНСТВЕНА СРБИЈА (ЈС)") Archived 11 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 27 February 2017; Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ - "Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), Партија уједињених пензионера Србије (ПУПС), Јединствена Србија (ЈС)") Archived 6 May 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 27 February 2017; Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ – „Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), Јединствена Србија (ЈС) – Драган Марковић Палма“) Archived 27 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 27 February 2017.
  38. ^ DUSAN BAJATOVIC, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 3 August 2017.
  39. ^ "Talks under way to form Serbian cabinet," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 7 June 2012 (Source: text of report by Serbian pro-western Belgrade-based Radio B92 website, on 6 June).
  40. ^ "Serbian paper views alleged rift in Socialist Party," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 9 April 2014 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Blic website on 27 March).
  41. ^ "Serbian parliament approves amended Vojvodina statute," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 23 May 2014 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Vecernje novosti website on 21 May).
  42. ^ Изборне листе за изборе за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне Покрајине Војводине (Изборна листа 8 - ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ-СОЦИЈАЛИСТИЧКА ПАРТИЈА СРБИЈЕ (СПС), ПАРТИЈА УЈЕДИЊЕНИХ ПЕНЗИОНЕРА СРБИЈЕ (ПУПС), ЈЕДИНСТВЕНА СРБИЈА (ЈС), СОЦИЈАЛДЕМОКРАТСКА ПАРТИЈА СРБИЈЕ (СДП Србије) - кандидати за посланике) Archived 10 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 27 February 2017; Изборне листе за изборе за посланике у Скупштину Аутономне покрајине Војводине (Изборна листа 3 - ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ – Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), Јединствена Србија – Драган Марковић Палма (ЈС), Патриотски покрет Србије (ППС)) Archived 19 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Provincial Election Commission, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 27 February 2017; Convocation 2012 - 2016 Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, accessed 26 February 2017.
  43. ^ Сазив 2016- (Број седнице: 2; Датум одржавања: 20. 06. 2016.; Записник), Assembly of Vojvodina, accessed 26 July 2018.
  44. ^ Dusan Stojanovic, "Serbia reaches energy deal with Russia," Associated Press Newswires, 22 December 2008; "Russia's Gazprom Neft inks agreement to buy 51% in Serbia's NIS," Prime-TASS Energy Service (Russia), 24 December 2008. See "Serbian official explains details of gas deal with Russia,"
  45. ^ Dusan Stojanovic, "Official: Serbia to become distribution hub for Russian gas to Europe," Associated Press Newswires, 22 October 2009.
  46. ^ "Gas firm chief upbeat on registration of Serbia-Gazprom joint stock company," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Europe, 17 November 2009 (Source: text of report by Serbian pro-western Belgrade-based B-92 TV, on 17 November).
  47. ^ "Serbia mulls legal action against Ukraine as gas crisis continues," Agence France Presse, 14 January 2009; Aleksander Vasovic, "Serb gas monopoly to borrow $270 mln," Reuters News, 15 January 2009; "Hungary, Germany Agree to Continue Gas Shipments to Serbia Until Jan 20," SeeNews, 15 January 2009.
  48. ^ "Russian gas to Balkans resumes after two weeks," Reuters News, 21 January 2009.
  49. ^ "Serbia to suggest Gazprom building commercial gas reserves," ITAR-TASS World Service, 25 January 2009.
  50. ^ "Serbia's gas monopoly eyes pipeline in Bosnia," Reuters News, 15 October 2009.
  51. ^ "Serbian gas firm to remain under state control - magazine," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 31 January 2009 (Source: text of report in English by Serbian pro-western Belgrade-based Radio B92 website, on 30 January).
  52. ^ "Serbian party to take full control over economy, finance - paper," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 9 August 2013 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Blic website on 6 August); "Serbian energy minister says "will not give up restructuring" state gas company," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 14 November 2013 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Vecernje novosti website on 10 November); "Serbian newspaper views energy minister's role in cabinet," British Broadcasting Corporation European Monitoring, 4 December 2013 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Blic website on 2 December).
  53. ^ "Serbian party leader vows to introduce iron discipline as premier," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 3 April 2014 (Source: text of report in English by Serbian pro-western Belgrade-based Radio B92 website, on 3 April).
  54. ^ "Serbia's Anti-Corruption Agency recommends dismissal of 45 officials," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 4 October 2015 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Vecernje novosti website on 30 September).
  55. ^ "Serbia to diversify its energy suppliers," EurActiv.com, 2 June 2015.
  56. ^ "Russians to stop shipping gas to Serbia via Ukraine in 2019," Syrian Arab News Agency, 12 March 2016.
  57. ^ "Serbian party to take full control over economy, finance - paper," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 9 August 2013 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Blic website on 6 August).
  58. ^ "Serbian daily identifies alleged "pro-American", "pro-Russian" officials," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 18 January 2016 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Politika website on 15 January).