Srđan Nikolić (Serbian Cyrillic: Срђан Николић; born 26 March 1959) is a former politician and a member of parliament (MP) in Serbia. He served in the National Assembly of Serbia from 1994 to 1997 and was a minister in the Government of Serbia from 1994 to 1998. During his time in office, Nikolić was a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS).

Private career

Nikolić was born in Vranje, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He is a graduate of the University of Niš Faculty of Economics.[1]

Politician

Nikolić was a founding member of the Socialist Party of Serbia in 1990 and was chosen as a member of its main board in the same year. He continued to serve on this body over the next decade, as well as leading the party's municipal board in Vranje for a time.[2][3]

He received the third position on the SPS's electoral list for the Leskovac division in the 1993 Serbian parliamentary election and was elected when the list won seventeen mandates.[4] (From 1992 to 2000, Serbia's electoral law stipulated that one-third of parliamentary mandates would be assigned to candidates on successful lists in numerical order, while the remaining two-thirds would be distributed amongst other candidates at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. Nikolić received an automatic mandate by virtue of his list position.)[5] The Socialist Party won a plurality victory in the election and afterwards formed a coalition government with New Democracy. Nikolić took his seat when the assembly convened in January 1994.

Nikolić was appointed as minister of trade and tourism in the government of Mirko Marjanović on 18 March 1994.[6] One of the challenges he faced in this role was currency speculation in the underground economy, occurring against the backdrop of the ongoing Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s and of international sanctions. In March 1995, he argued that recent fluctuations of Yugoslav dinar relative to the Deutsche Mark in unofficial channels were the result of "psychological and speculative reasons," rather than the actions of the government, and that there would not be a return to the hyperinflation of previous years.[7][8] He said that an arrangement had been made with Belgrade's leading retailers to keep prices unchanged and that the government would intervene if goods were taken off the market.[9] Later in the year, he announced a variety of short-term measures to control prices, adding that the government's primary goal was free price formation on a supply and demand basis.[10]

In April 1996, following the Dayton Agreement and the end of sanctions, Nikolić said that retail prices had stabilized as the result of good supply. He credited the government's actions against monopolistic behaviour and the liberalization of international trade regulations for this outcome.[11]

The trade and tourism portfolios were separated on 28 May 1996, and Nikolić was reassigned as trade minister.[12] He permitted a one-third increase in the price of bread shortly thereafter, in response to complaints from bakeries that existing prices were not enough to cover operating expenses.[13] The following year, he said that Serbia would seek to further liberalize its international trade and would introduce quotas to replace the existing system of contingents, which were seen as disproportionally favouring state-run companies.[14]

The Socialist Party's hold on power was threatened by the 1996-1997 protests in Serbia, which followed accusations of fraud in the 1996 Serbian local elections. In December 1996, Nikolić organized a counter-rally in Vranje in support of the SPS.[15] The government ultimately recognized the opposition's victory in several key jurisdictions, and the protests came to an end.

Member of Parliament (MP)

Nikolić was not a candidate in the 1997 Serbian parliamentary election. The SPS formed a new coalition government with the Yugoslav Left (Jugoslovenska Levica, JUL) and the SRS on 24 March 1998, and Nikolić was not included in the new ministry. He was instead appointed to the board of directors for Elektroprivreda Srbije, where he indicated that restructuring was planned for 1999.[16]

In December 1999, Nikolić opened a new branch of Radio Television of Serbia in the opposition-controlled town in Pirot.[17]

Nikolić largely withdrew from public life after the fall of Slobodan Milošević's government in 2000. He continued to work with Elektroprivreda Srbije after this time.[18]

References

  1. ↑ Dušan Bogdanović and Biljana Kovačević Vučo, Institutions Abused: Who Was Who in Serbia, 1987–2000, (Belgrade: Biljana Kovačević Vučo Fund), 2011, p. 75.
  2. ↑ Dušan Bogdanović and Biljana Kovačević Vučo, Institutions Abused: Who Was Who in Serbia, 1987–2000, (Belgrade: Biljana Kovačević Vučo Fund), 2011, p. 75.
  3. ↑ "'Postojani' vranjski SPS na 30. rođendan: Mi smo zaslužni za Prvonek, Meteris, glavnu ulicu," Slobodna Reč, 19 October 2020, accessed 13 December 2021.
  4. ↑ ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (4 Лесковац) and Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године, Republika Srbija – Republička izborna komisija, accessed 30 July 2021.
  5. ↑ Guide to the Early Election, Ministry of Information of the Republic of Serbia, December 1992, made available by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, accessed 14 July 2017.
  6. ↑ "Candidates for ministerial posts," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 17 March 1994.
  7. ↑ "Minister says dinar exchange rate is no cause for panic," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 30 March 1995 (Source: Serbian Radio, Belgrade, in Serbian 1300 gmt 28 Mar 95).
  8. ↑ "Serbian trade minister comments on currency 'upheaval'," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service, 1 April 1995 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1326 gmt 30 Mar 95).
  9. ↑ "Government halts black market fall in value of dinar," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 6 April 1995 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English, 1723 gmt 28 Mar 95).
  10. ↑ "Serbian government announces measures to control prices," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 14 September 1995 (Source: Serbian Radio, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1300 gmt 7 Sep 95).
  11. ↑ "Trade minister says prices have stabilized," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 18 April 1996 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in English, 1542 gmt 11 Apr 96).
  12. ↑ "Serbian government reshuffled," Agence France-Presse, 28 May 1996.
  13. ↑ "Serbian government raises bread price one third," Reuters News, 11 July 1996.
  14. ↑ "Serbia to liberalise foreign trade - minister," Reuters News, 31 December 1997.
  15. ↑ "Around 15,000 at Pro-Milosevic rally in southern Serbian town," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 20 December 1996 (Source: Tanjug news agency, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat 1603 gmt 18 Dec 96).
  16. ↑ Gordana Filipovic, "Yugo law change may delay Serbia sell-offs further," Reuters News, 29 April 1998.
  17. ↑ "Serbian state TV opens new centre in opposition-run eastern town," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 22 December 1999.
  18. ↑ "Kamate veće od pola kredita", Glas javnosti, 7 June 2002, accessed 13 December 2021.
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