Sarmatian
06-15-2017, 21:59
... and two for the price of one. Ana Brnabic has became the first female and the first openly gay PM (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/serbia-prime-minister-ana-brnabic-president-openly-gay-female-a7792241.html) in the history of Serbia (possibly the entire region).
Interestingly enough, it wasn't really about political correctness. She was the best candidate, imho.
What does this mean for the bigger picture? Well, she was educated in US and UK. During her time in UK, she was a member of "Srpski informativni centar", literally Serbian Centre for Information, which was a non profit conservative organisation of Serbs mostly in UK, Canada and US, where she worked from 1998-2002. The organisation itself was anti Milosevic so they were supported by various western governments. She worked as a mediator between anti Milosevic political organizations in Serbia and media in UK. Almost immediately after that she is employed by USAID to supervise various projects in Serbia. In 2011, she was hired by another US company, Continental Wind, and in 2013 promoted to general manager of their branch in Serbia. In 2016 she becomes a minister of Public Administration (Serbian Jim Hacker), where she made some significant improvements in just one year.
In domestic terms, Aleksandar Vucic (former PM, now president) is still alpha and omega in Serbia. She isn't a member of any party but she is dependent on his party support for her government. It is a paradox of sorts, since PM in Serbia holds basically all the power. President, aside from being a commander-in-chief and having some influence in conducting foreign policy, doesn't decide anything.
In terms of foreign policy, she was definitely a favourite of the West, and I wouldn't be surprised if Vucic was encouraged by the Western diplomats to name her as the new PM. I don't expect much to change in the near future. Serbia will try to maintain friendly relations with Russia, but this appointment definitely sends a signal about priorities in foreign relations. In recent times, quite a few western political journalists from Politico, Economist and others wrote about expanding Russian influence in Serbia and western Balkan in general.
So, there you have it. A nice little report so you know what's going on in this part of the world.
Interestingly enough, it wasn't really about political correctness. She was the best candidate, imho.
What does this mean for the bigger picture? Well, she was educated in US and UK. During her time in UK, she was a member of "Srpski informativni centar", literally Serbian Centre for Information, which was a non profit conservative organisation of Serbs mostly in UK, Canada and US, where she worked from 1998-2002. The organisation itself was anti Milosevic so they were supported by various western governments. She worked as a mediator between anti Milosevic political organizations in Serbia and media in UK. Almost immediately after that she is employed by USAID to supervise various projects in Serbia. In 2011, she was hired by another US company, Continental Wind, and in 2013 promoted to general manager of their branch in Serbia. In 2016 she becomes a minister of Public Administration (Serbian Jim Hacker), where she made some significant improvements in just one year.
In domestic terms, Aleksandar Vucic (former PM, now president) is still alpha and omega in Serbia. She isn't a member of any party but she is dependent on his party support for her government. It is a paradox of sorts, since PM in Serbia holds basically all the power. President, aside from being a commander-in-chief and having some influence in conducting foreign policy, doesn't decide anything.
In terms of foreign policy, she was definitely a favourite of the West, and I wouldn't be surprised if Vucic was encouraged by the Western diplomats to name her as the new PM. I don't expect much to change in the near future. Serbia will try to maintain friendly relations with Russia, but this appointment definitely sends a signal about priorities in foreign relations. In recent times, quite a few western political journalists from Politico, Economist and others wrote about expanding Russian influence in Serbia and western Balkan in general.
So, there you have it. A nice little report so you know what's going on in this part of the world.