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Continued on page 2

Photo: AnadoluSerbian President Aleksandar Vucic visited the Serbian Orthodox Church in Mostar, Bosnia, earlier in April, pledging further financial support so that the renovations to the church could be completed by 2020.

The Serbian government has made multi-million-euro donations to aid

Serbs in Bosnia and other countries, although some of the aid payments

allegedly have political motives or have been linked to controversial

politicians.

BELGRADE SPENDS

MILLIONS SUPPORTING

SERBS ABROAD

Issue No. 250 Friday, April 20 - Thursday, May 3, 2018

Mokrin House: A Global Village in North Banat

Page 10

Belgrade Documentary Film Festival Kicks Off

Page 13

Filip RUDIC

Serbia has been donating millions of euros to help im-prove the living conditions of Serbs in other countries in the former Yugoslav region,

but questions have been raised about the motives for some aid projects and the local politicians involved in them.

When the Belgrade government an-nounced it will financially support the development of Banja Luka airport, in the Serb-dominated Republika Srp-ska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, it caused an uproar among some sec-tions of the Serbian public.

This was partly because the govern-ment and President Aleksandar Vucic had previously threatened to with-hold investment in the airport in the southern Serbian city of Nis unless it switched ownership from city to state.

“Banja Luka airport… could be de-veloped with Serbian citizens’ money, although it is neither owned or located in this country,” reported Juzne vesti, a news website covering Serbia’s south.

While Serbian donations can help Serb minorities in other countries, a lot of money has been handed over to state entities or politically-connected figures.

23

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The deal to help Banja Luka airport w

ith an as-yet-undis-closed am

ount is just one exam

ple of official Belgrade

assisting authorities or poli-ticians in the region.

Boban Stojanovic, assistant lecturer at the Belgrade Faculty for Political Scienc-es questioned how

much im

pact such donations could have and described the aid for Banja Luka airport as “strange and astonishing”.

MILLIO

NS O

F EUR

OS P

OU

RED

IN

TO

REP

UB

LIKA

SRP

SKA

The airport investm

ent, however, is

just one way in w

hich Serbia is funding Republika Srpska. Earlier in A

pril, Presi-dent V

ucic announced a five million euro

donation to towns and m

unicipalities in the Bosnian Serb-dom

inated entity.“W

e want as m

any people to stay in their hom

e[land] both in Serbia and Re-publika Srpska, therefore w

e are ready to help the leadership of Srpska and our people,” V

ucic told media after a Belgrade

meeting w

ith Milorad D

odik, the presi-dent of Republika Srpska, on A

pril 3.H

e added that Serbia has allocated an additional 50

0,00

0 euros for O

rthodox tem

ples in

Bosnia and

Herzegovina’s

other entity, the Federation, and 500,0

00

euros m

ore to support the employm

ent of young people.

Stojanovic said he does not believe that such an am

ount of money is enough

to “buy” the friendship of Dodik, w

ho has already good relations w

ith Vucic but, un-

like the Belgrade government, toys w

ith separatist rhetoric.

Dusan Janjic, the president of the Fo-

rum for Ethnic Relations, said that the

amounts being donated cannot fix the

economic problem

s of Serbs across the region – “not even one m

unicipality”“T

hose amounts of m

oney have a lim-

ited effect,” Janjic said, although he added that for Republika Srpska, every penny counts, as it is in dire financial state.

Dodik insisted that the donation of five

million euros w

as the result of the special relations that have been cultivated be-tw

een Serbia and Republika Srpska.“T

his is a new segm

ent of Serbia’s as-sistance, w

hich did not exist before. Up

until now, there has only been political

support,” Dodik said after m

eeting Vucic.

How

ever Serbia did assist Republika Srpska financially before the V

ucic gov-ernm

ent came to pow

er. Under the rule

of the Dem

ocratic Party, the government

aided the construction of an elementary

school named ‘Serbia’ in the village of

Pale in 200

9. The president at the tim

e, Boris Tadic, attended the opening.

BIRN

asked the government and the

Foreign Ministry for details about dona-

tions, not just in Bosnia but throughout the region, but received no reply by the tim

e of publication.A

nother elem

entary school

– also

named ‘Serbia’ – w

as reconstructed in 2016 w

ith Serbian government's assistance af-

ter sustaining damage in the disastrous

floods that hit Bosnia two years earlier.

Last year, according to Vucic, Serbia

paid 500,000 euros for the reconstruction of the Church of H

oly Trinity in Mostar.

Vucic called the donation significant for

“the survival of Serbian people” in the town

and in the Herzegovina region of Bosnia.

Another large donation of five m

illion euros w

as allocated to the Srebrenica m

unicipality in Republika Srpska in 2015.

Two m

illion euros were allocated for

the development of infrastructure and

the other three million w

ere meant to

fund “joint projects in the future”, accord-ing to V

ucic. Stojanovic said he believes the dona-

tion was an attem

pt to “buy indulgence” for the crim

es of Serb forces in Srebrenica in the 1990

s, which international courts

qualified as genocide.“A

fter everything that happened in Sre-brenica, the donation is an attem

pt to wash

away the sins of the past,” he claim

ed.

DO

NA

TIO

NS A

LSO H

ELP SER

B

MIN

OR

ITY

AN

D R

ETU

RN

EES

Serbia also has a system in place for

financing projects for Serbs in the region, but the m

oney allocated through it is dw

arfed by donations brokered directly betw

een officials.

According to Foreign M

inistry data, in 20

17 Serbia paid about 460,00

0 euros to

Serb associations in Albania, Bosnia, M

ac-edonia, H

ungary, Romania, Serbia, Slove-

nia, Croatia and Montenegro.

Most of the m

oney, over 180,00

0 euros,

went to associations in Serbia for projects

that involve Serbs in neighbouring coun-tries.

But while around 88,0

00

euros went

to different associations in Croatia, a lot m

ore was donated through the Serbian

National Council N

GO

, or SNV.

The

Serbian governm

ent paid

one m

illion euros in October 20

17 for the re-construction of cultural buildings in the tow

ns of Vukovar and K

nin in Croatia, the SN

V’s general secretary Sasa M

ilosevic told BIR

N.

The SN

V also receives annual dona-

tions in kind from Serbian governm

ent’s Com

missariat for Refugees w

orth 70,00

0

euros, which is distributed am

ong post-w

ar Serb returnees to Croatia.“In this w

ay we aim

to support them

and make it possible for them

to remain

where they have returned,” M

ilosevic said.

He added that the donations m

ean a lot in term

s of funding the work of the SN

V

and the Serbian Cultural Society Pros-vjeta, as w

ell as supporting the returnees.Serbia’s other donations for Croatia

over the years include computers and

equipment for schools and agricultural

machinery, but also funds for the recon-

struction or maintenance of O

rthodox Christian churches.

During his visit to Croatia in February,

Vucic delivered a donation of ten laptops

to an elementary school and prom

ised that Serbia w

ill fund scholarships for 20

to 25 students from underprivileged Serb

families.

DO

NA

TIO

N T

O

MO

NT

ENEG

RIN

SERB

O

PP

OSIT

ION

In Montenegro, how

ever, a more con-

troversial donation

was

brokered be-

tween V

ucic and Andrija M

andic, the leader of N

OVA

, the strongest pro-Serbian party in M

ontenegro.T

he Serbian government aided the

establishment of a “cultural and national

centre” for the Serbian comm

unity in M

ontenegro, called the Serbian House,

with 3.4 m

illion euros in 2017.

Belgrad

e Spen

ds M

illions

Sup

portin

g Serbs AbroadM

andic, who is accused of being in-

volved in a failed coup attempt in M

on-tenegro in 20

16, told BIRN

at the time that

Serbia’s government w

as beginning to understand the problem

s of the Serbian com

munity.

“Over tim

e, people who advocate the

rights of Serbs in Montenegro, all close to

our party, have managed to build better

relations with the Serbian governm

ent, the [ruling] Progressive Party and w

ith V

ucic,” he said.T

he Serbian House w

as set to be at the centre of all institutions and organisa-tions established to “preserve the cultural and national identity of the Serbian na-tion”, he added.

It currently houses Matica Srpska, the

Serb National Council, and a pro-Russian

newspaper called Sloboda, am

ongst oth-er organisations. N

OVA’s Executive Board

also held a session there in September

2017.Boban Stojanovic argued how

ever that this w

as “something that Serbia should

absolutely not

have spent

taxpayers’ m

oney on”.“I don’t believe that those three-and-

a-half million eu

ros can buy support

[from Serbs in M

ontenegro], because

that is not a lot of money,” Stojanovic

added.Serbian H

ouse is managed by a com

-pany called Serbian H

ouse Ltd, which is

owned by 27 individuals, m

any of whom

are offi

cials of NO

VA or their coalition

partners in

Montenegro’s

opposition D

emocratic Front.

Media reported that the Serbian gov-

ernment bought the property in w

hich Serbian H

ouse is located from M

ontene-grin

businessman

Miodrag

Davidovic,

who reportedly has close links w

ith the D

emocratic Front.

Stojanovic said however that he doubt-

ed there was a political m

otive behind the deal.

“In general, Serbia is not funding the M

ontenegrin opposition, and I do not think it has the desire to do so,” he said.

We cordially invite you to

ISB Open DayW

ednesday, May 16, 2018, 8.30-11.00

Meet and Greet w

ith Director, Principals, Admissions Coordinator, Librarian, Counselors, School Physician, teachers and students

Temišvarska 19 &

Banjičkih žrtava 6 (entrance from Andre N

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We are looking forw

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THE IN

TERNATION

AL SCHOOL OF BELGRADE

Continu

ed from

page 1

Photo: Anadolu M

ilorad Dodik, the President of Republika Srpska.This is a new

segment

of Serbia’s

assistance, which

did not exist before. U

p until now

, there has only been political support.

Milo

rad D

od

ik,the p

resident of

Rep

ublika S

rpska

45

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The musical fountain at Slavija Square attracted m

uch criticism due to its design and quality of works.

Photo: Beoinfo

Photo: Courtesy of Aleksandar SapicAleksandar Sapic is m

ost worried about the lack of consensus on key issues and toxic atm

osphere in Serbian politics.

As he m

ulls entering n

ational politics,

the water-polo star tu

rned su

ccessful

local politician says it is tim

e Serbs stopped

‘ham

mering each

other’ –

and

started agreeing on

the country’s

futu

re.

Srdjan G

AR

CEV

IC

Un

surprisingly

for one

of the best water polo

players in h

istory of the sport, A

leksandar Sapic

is a powerfu

l presence in

person. H

e looks increasingly powerfu

l on

Serbia’s rapidly ch

anging political scene, too.

Now

president of New

Belgrade, B

el-grade and

Serbia’s most popu

lous m

u-n

icipality, Sapic’s own

citizens grou

p cam

e third

in the recent B

elgrade mu

-n

icipal elections, w

inn

ing 9 per cent of the votes and

so entering the city as-sem

bly.T

he only opposition

candid

ate to do better th

an Sapic w

as his form

er boss, D

ragan D

jilas, who w

on 19 per cent

of the votes, and ran

as candid

ate of the coalition

of the two new

political grou

pings led by last year’s presidential

candid

ates Sasa Jankovic and

Vu

k Jer-em

ic.A

lthough

it is un

likely to have the

power to in

fluence the new

city ad-m

inistration

, wh

ich w

ill be firmly in

the h

ands of President A

leksandar V

ucic’s

Serbian Progressive Party, h

is party’s feat is sign

ificant, given the overall poor

performance of the opposition

.But now

his m

ovement is entering

the City A

ssembly, he is con

sidering his

next steps.B

IRN

: How

do you

see your p

oliti-cal fu

ture?

Sapic: W

e will form

alise our organ

i-sation

at the level of Belgrade in

the next few

month

s, as we w

ill have repre-

sentatives in the C

ity Assem

bly and w

e received

support from

citizens. T

here w

e will certain

ly stay on the level of lo-

cal politics in B

elgrade.It is im

portant to separate local and

“high” politics. Everyth

ing [in Serbia] is

treated as h

igh politics, but w

e dislike

not knowing ou

r [local] representatives, and

when

those high

politics deter-m

ines local policies. To change th

at, the electoral system

wou

ld need

to change.

I will soon

decide if we enter “h

igh” politics. If w

e do, we w

ill work th

rough-

out Serbia on the [n

ational] topics th

at I h

ave not previously d

iscussed

, as they belonged

to “high” politics.

BIR

N: You

recently stated

your

ambition

s to enter a larger p

olitical aren

a – wh

at do you

thin

k you

can

bring to p

olitics?Sap

ic: I am dem

ystifying things, and

am

bringing in a certain

“realness”, an

objectivity and a d

ifferent behaviou

r,

Alek

sand

ar Sap

ic: I Wan

t to

Rem

ake

Serbian

P

oliticsw

hich

is now u

nthin

kable in ou

r po-litical aren

a. I am not su

re if that w

ill be recogn

ised by people, how

ever I am

really trying to behave in

a certain w

ay.I am

taking all the responsibility I can

take, as I am

aware th

at wh

at I am do-

ing is for the benefit of the citizens. I am

aw

are I should

not inflam

e this nega-

tive atmosphere in

the society, as that

can be h

armfu

l in the long ru

n. Even

if I h

ave disagreem

ents with

someone, I

do not treat them as an

enemy. W

e all belong to the sam

e people, the same

nation

, same cou

ntry… the same hou

se.I try to beh

ave this w

ay. In th

is cam-

paign [for the m

un

icipal elections] I

was attacked

from all sides, but I w

as trying not to ch

ange [my principles] …

although

it is not easy, as I am hu

man

and

have an

instinct for self-defence.

I am aw

are that [if I react], I w

ill go dow

n the sam

e path w

e were taking for

the past 30 or 40

years: that the w

inner

is the one who m

anages to h

amm

er the other side h

arder. I wish

that w

e wou

ld

stop ham

mering each

other, and th

at w

e started beh

aving in a civilised

man-

ner: that w

e started beh

aving respon-sibly and

accepting people who are

different and

thin

k differently, and

start agreeing on

some key points.

A n

ation th

at cannot agree on

key points h

as no future. It is legitim

ate to fight for you

r ideas, but we shou

ld not

treat each other in

the way w

e did

in the

past decades, wh

ich is a hu

ge problem

in Serbian

politics.T

hat is som

ething I am

bringing. I am

not sure if the electorate w

ill ap-preciate th

is, or whether they prefer

to have their baser in

stincts pandered

to. I won’t stop beh

aving the way I do,

because th

ink it is in

the interest of my

people. I don’t need to su

cceed m

yself [in

changing the political atm

osphere], but som

eone else will – becau

se we w

ill d

isappear if they don’t.B

IRN

: Th

ere have been

many d

e-bates lately abou

t wh

ether n

ew p

o-litical m

ovemen

ts in Serbia can

be m

otors for chan

ge as mu

ch as th

e establish

ed p

arties…Sap

ic: If you enter n

ational politics,

wh

at is important is the type of politics

you stand

for and it is less im

portant w

hether you are a m

ovement or a po-

litical party.People look up to individuals and

then choose a political organisation. T

hat’s how it is and you can’t escape it.

Some think that it is the political pro-

gramm

es that will attract m

ass support-ers – but they w

on’t, it is the individuals.

If we enter those “h

igher” levels of politics it w

ill be on a pro-Serbian

plat-form

. I thin

k we lost the sen

se of who

we are am

ong all the pro-Ru

ssian, pro-

US,

pro-European

, pro-W

estern

and

pro-Eastern option

s… We are a relative-

ly small n

ation, w

hich

is where it is [geo-

politically], and it need

s to set its own

clear, n

ational, Serbian

policies, wh

ich

I thin

k all political factors can agree on

.C

urrently, we have no national strat-

egy, and no substantial direction. [Once

we set national priorities], depending

on who is in pow

er, that course can ac-celerate or slow

down, or shift slightly to

the left or right … All serious nations have

clear national strategies for the long term,

but not us. [In Serbia, priorities] shift com-

pletely depending on who is in pow

er.Look at the exam

ple of Belgrade. W

e can

not create a feasibility study for the

Belgrade u

nderground

system. W

hoev-er com

es to power ch

anges the plan for

where the u

nderground

lines should

go. I can’t believe th

at we can’t at least

agree on th

is… if the undergrou

nd lines

depend on

politics, rather than

opin-ion

s of traffic experts… w

e are doomed

.It is sim

ilar with

the nation

al politics. Serbia need

s Serbian politics, w

hich

w

ill then need

to find its place w

ithin

the con

straints of great power politics.

Serbia needs politics, people and

lead-ersh

ip who w

ill know how

to align Ser-

bian n

ational interests w

ith the inter-

ests of great powers.

We need

to preserve our people,

work

on

increasing the

birth

rate, strengthen

our society and

strengthen

families.

We are losing in

stitutions in

our so-

ciety: institution

s of teachers, doctors, priests and

policemen

. We can’t allow

one d

run

ken priest or corru

pt cop to destroy [belief in

our] society. I th

ink

that is ou

r problem.

We need

to respect the institution

of the President of the state, w

hoever th

at is. [Today it’s one person

] … the next tim

e it’ll be someone else. W

e need to

respect systemic in

stitutions, but fight

[for wh

at we believe] w

ithin

them…

BIR

N: H

ow d

o you p

lan to fi

ght th

is grow

ing n

ihilism

in Serbia?

Sapic: T

hrou

gh m

y own

example.

It is a process where you

start from

yourself and

behave d

ifferently. I never pu

nched back. If you

don’t punch

back, you

can stop [the violence], otherw

ise th

ings can escalate into a fight and

then

no one is spared. If you

wait it out a few

tim

es, maybe the pu

nches will stop.

A seriou

s country shou

ld do every-

thing to solve problem

s in a pacific w

ay.

Force is always an

option, of cou

rse … but w

e need to try m

any different path

s before w

e succu

mb to aggression

or ar-rogance. I can’t believe it th

at at a time

when

we are alleged

ly spreading good

neigh

bourly relation

s [in the region

] - w

hich

needs to be done - w

e are inter-n

ally behaving as if w

e are each other’s

greatest enemies.

BIR

N: In

the last in

terview w

ith

Belgrad

e In

sight,

you

said

you

wou

ld n

ot have en

tered p

olitics if you

had

the op

tion again

…Sap

ic: Had

I known

wh

at awaited

m

e, I wou

ld h

ave no wish

to go throu

gh

all I have been

throu

gh. H

owever, given

th

at I am here now

…I

have

done th

is for

nine

years. W

hichever job you

do, you becom

e better at it in

that am

ount of tim

e… I now

have qu

ite a bit of experience and

knowledge and

I will continu

e until the

people for whom

I am doing th

is tell me

they no longer want m

e. But I will not

abandon m

y principles or change m

y beh

aviour to stay in

politics.

Sapic’s statements w

ere condensed and abridged for the purpose of this

article.

Stuck in

Belgrade for th

e old

workers’ h

oliday? N

o w

orries. Th

ere are many

places to enjoy the d

ay in

and

aroun

d th

e city – an

d savou

r the Serbian

w

ay of celebrating it.

Ivana N

IKO

LIC

Intern

ational W

orkers’ Day on

May 1

in Serbia is m

ostly all about chilling

out with

friends outdoors and

eat-ing a lot of food

.W

hile back in

Socialist Yugoslavia it

was all about glorification

of the work-

ing class and taking pride in

factory w

ork, it has ch

anged in

emph

asis since the dem

ise of the comm

un

ist era. Now

-

adays, a few

people still respect it as an

official holid

ay. The you

nger genera-tion

, however, prefer to enjoy their d

ay off in

Mother N

ature.

Before w

e offer you som

e places in

Belgrade to spend

the day, here is w

hat

the Serbs usu

ally do on M

ay 1. For tru

e devotees to May D

ay, the day

starts literaly at daw

n, hence the n

ame

in Serbian

, Promajski U

ranak, M

ay Day

Morn

ing. Many people go cam

ping in

the evening on

April 30

th to welcom

e the holid

ay. O

n M

ay Day itself, parks, riverban

ks, m

ountain

s and lakes are w

here eve-ryone head

s to, carrying blankets or

tents. Barbecues and

roasting lambs

are a mu

st. You

will see th

at going on even

at those location

s we recom

mend

trying in

and arou

nd the capital: K

osutnjak, Mt

Avala, T

resnja Artificial Lake, Topcider-

ski Park and A

da C

iganlija.

KO

SUT

NJA

K

One of the m

ost popular recreation

al places near the capital, K

osutnjak lies som

e 6km southw

est of central Bel-

grade. Encompassing m

ore than

300

hectares of th

ick forest, it is a perfect place

for n

ature

worsh

ippers. T

he w

ood is intersected

with

dozens of

paths th

at everyone who is in

to long w

alks will like. T

here are cafes and res-

taurants as w

ell as an auto-cam

p.T

here is some interesting h

istory to th

is park. Back in the 19

th and 20

th cen-tu

ries, Kosutnjak w

as the royal hunt-

ing ground

of the Obrenovic dyn

asty. Prince M

ihailo w

as shot dead here in

1868. A

lthough

the killers were fou

nd

and sentenced

, the plot behind

the as-sassin

ation h

as never been clarified

.

Mt A

VA

LA

Located arou

nd 18km

from the city

centre, at 500

metres above sea level,

you can

camp on

Mt A

vala as well as

have lu

nch at som

e of the restaurants

and enjoy the view

.

Apart

from

wan

derin

g arou

nd

, m

ake sure to visit tw

o importan

t sites: th

e Avala Tow

er, wh

ich is th

e tallest in

Serbia, and

the m

onu

men

t to the U

n-

know

n H

ero, atop the m

oun

tain’s high

-est peak.

T

RE

SNJA

LAK

E

Th

is hidden

gem is located

at Mala

Ivanca, some 30

km from

Belgrade and

lies betw

een tw

o mou

ntains, A

vala and

Kosm

aj. Built after W

orld W

ar II, the ar-tificial lake is sited

in the m

iddle of the

wood

of the same n

ame.

Here you

will find

a lot of natu

re-en-thu

siasts, fishermen

, bikers, as well as

hunters becau

se close to the lake there is a hu

nting ground

– also called T

resn-ja. You

might also com

e across some

wild

anim

als like deer or wild

boar.T

resnja is reserved for those w

ho are not into lou

d m

usic and

crowded

areas. H

owever, you

might bu

mp into peo-

ple celebrating May D

ay there as well;

Tresnja offers som

ething for everyone.

TO

PC

IDE

RSK

I PAR

K

Defin

itely on

e of Belgrad

ers’ favour-

ite places, Top

ciderski Park h

as three

small lakes as w

ell as a river, the Top

-cid

erska Reka, su

itable for cooling

bottles on a w

arm M

ay D

ay. Coverin

g m

ore than

111,00

0 squ

are metres, it

became a p

ark in th

e mid

-19th cen

tu-

ry. Prior to th

at, wealthy

peop

le built

their su

mm

er hom

es here. Tod

ay, you

will fin

d a n

um

ber of cultu

ral mon

u-

men

ts, inclu

din

g chu

rches an

d, m

ost im

portan

tly, K

onak

Kn

eza M

ilosa, a form

er residen

ce of Prin

ce Milos

Obren

ovic.

The ch

ances that Topciderski Park

will be crow

ded are hu

ge, so if this is

your pick for M

ay Day, arrive early.

AD

A C

IGA

NLIJA

Of cou

rse, a barbecue d

oesn’t have

to be the on

ly option for M

ay Day. You

can

also head

to Belgrad

e’s river is-lan

d, converted

into an

artificial pen-

insu

la. On

Ad

a Cigan

lija you w

ill find

n

um

erous bars, cafés an

d restau

rants,

all beside th

e water, an

d can

simply

enjoy a d

ay outd

oors. Sports fans w

ill fin

d pitch

es for basketball, football, volleyball, ten

nis an

d golf. O

r you can

brin

g your skates, pu

t on som

e mu

sic, an

d forget abou

t all the w

orries. Hey,

it’s May D

ay!

New

Fountain

s to D

ecorate B

elgradeB

elgrade City

Man

ager Goran

V

esic says 54 new

water fou

ntains w

ill be bu

ilt aroun

d the

city on the in

itiative of Serbian

President A

leksand

ar Vu

cic.

Siri SOL

LIE

Fift

y-four new

fountain

s will deco-

rate Belgrade's su

burban

mu

nici-

palities over the next couple of

years, City M

anager G

oran V

esic said

on R

TS television

on A

pril 17.“It

is im

portant to

high

light th

at every su

burban

mu

nicipality w

ill also receive one fou

ntain each

, as the citi-zen

s in O

brenovac, Lazarevac, Grocka

and all the other su

burban

mu

nicipali-

ties deserve to have their su

rround

ings beautified

,” Vesic told

RT

S.T

he fountain

s will be placed

in areas

that in

Vesic’s term

s look “abandoned”, and

are planned

in particu

lar for vari-ou

s round

abouts around

the city.T

hese include the rou

ndabout near

the New

Belgrade C

ity Hall, as w

ell as the rou

ndabout at B

ogoslovija, in the

Palilula neigh

bourhood

and the Top-

ciderska Zvezd

a rou

ndabout

in

the Senjak neigh

bourhood

.H

owever,

he noted

th

at the

new

fountain

s wou

ld be sm

aller than

the big fou

ntain recently bu

ilt on Slavija

Square in

the centre of Belgrade.

Slavija’s m

usical

fountain

, w

orth

around

1.8 million

euros, h

as draw

n

mu

ch criticism

and m

ockery since it w

as unveiled

in Ju

ne last year.W

hile th

e city’s w

ebsite describes

it as “the biggest fou

ntain

in sou

th-

east Eu

rope”, sp

ann

ing 32 m

etres in

diam

eter and

boasting 350

water jets,

peop

le on social m

edia criticised

its cost an

d sh

ared jokes com

parin

g it to a U

FO.

Earlier this m

onth, m

edia also report-

ed th

at Slavija Square itself, w

hose re-fu

rbishm

ent coincided w

ith the u

nveil-ing of the fou

ntain, is already decaying

as well.

Cracks

in

the fou

ntain’s concrete

are evident in several places – ranging

from the concrete blocks covering the

ground

of the plateau, as w

ell as the decorative blocks th

at are surrou

nding

the various green

areas.Follow

ing the reports, the involved

parties - city authorities, contractors and

subcontractors - w

ere quick to

blame each

other for the issue.

Best M

ay Day

Escapes in th

e C

apital

67

BE

LGR

AD

E IN

SIG

HT

, Friday, A

pril 20

- Th

ursday, M

ay 3, 2018

BE

LGR

AD

E IN

SIG

HT

, Friday, A

pril 20

- Th

ursday, M

ay 3, 2018

BU

SIN

ES

SB

ELG

RA

DE

filled w

ith sign

ature B

elgrade perfum

e of flow

ers and cat u

rine. It becomes

easy to remem

ber why th

is city, for all its fau

lts, is such

an am

azing place.T

here is its eclectic, non-standard

beauty.

The ridge hold

ing the old part of the

city soars above the Pannon

ian plain

s, offering

sweeping

views

stretching

kilometres into the north

. Build

ings of w

ildly d

ifferent styles, sizes and states

of repair jostle for attention and

bear stories of the city's m

any destruction

s and

renaissances.

As you

stroll throu

gh its varied

neigh-bou

rhoods, other cities also com

e to m

ind: the elegant streets of the O

ld

look like, some people call it a "m

ega-qasaba" and

blame the long centu

ries of O

ttoman

rule for all its failings in

term

s of orderliness, disregard

ing the rich

mix of cu

ltures th

at this period

cre-ated

. Others th

ink its open

ness to new

influ

ences rather than

past tradition

s m

ake it un-Serbian

, and take B

elgrad-ers' th

irst for anything new

and foreign

as contem

pt for the rest of the country.

A certain

type of visitor, used

to un-

derstanding foreign

cultu

res throu

gh

soporific tours of m

useu

ms and

visits to tou

rist-friendly restau

rants and bars,

un

surprisingly find

s it incomprehen

si-ble and

underw

helming.

To love

Belgrade

does not

mean

being blind

to its many pitfalls – from

the lim

its of its cultu

ral offering to its frequ

ent un

fairness to some of its citi-

zens – but it does m

ean adopting the

Belgrade m

ind-set, wh

ich appreciates

openness, langu

or and a good

dose of black hu

mou

r.W

hile the list of th

ings that I h

ate about B

elgrade grows d

aily, from the

insalu

brious ch

aracters who often

end

up lead

ing the city to any new pot-hole

that dots its streets, the list of th

ings I love about it grow

s as well.

Whenever I feel angered

or betrayed

by Belgrade I rem

ember scores of B

el-graders by birth

or choice whose crea-

tivity, smarts and

warm

th never fail to

surprise – and

the April su

nsets over

its rivers, watched

from K

alemegd

an

Park, as the lights of New

Belgrade start

to twin

kle.

Srdjan Garcevic is a w

riter and a founder of T

he Nutshell T

imes blog.

The opinions expressed in the C

om-

ment section are those of the authors

only and do not necessarily re ect the view

s of BIRN

.

Ch

aotic in

frastructu

re, con

stant clash

of competin

g view

s and

centu

ries of destru

ction an

d

rebirth – w

hat’s

there not to like? B

elgrade, I love you

Srdjan G

AR

CE

VIC

April m

ay be the cruellest

month

, as TS Eliot w

rote, but it is also the tim

e of year w

hen B

elgrade sh

ines the most.

Th

at is not only becau

se many of the

city's key ann

iversaries fall in A

pril – the first m

ention of the n

ame "B

elgrade" in

878, the handover of the B

elgrade for-tress in

1867 and start of con

struction

of N

ew B

elgrade in the m

arshy plain

across the Sava River in

1948; it is also becau

se the skip in the city's step re-

turn

s with

the cherry and m

agnolia blossom

s and w

ith the prospect of an-

other seven m

onths of n

ice weather.

April in

Belgrade, as captu

red in

the eponym

ous song A

pril u B

eogradu,

sung

by Zd

ravko C

olic, ex-Yu

goslav pop-sen

sation and

heart-throb, is the

city at its most rom

antic: balmy spring

dusks envelop you

ng lovers as they stroll by the Sava and

the Danu

be; café garden

s burst into life; ch

ildren

start playing on

the streets and the air is

Town

evoke parts of Vien

na or R

ome,

New

B

elgrade's brutalism

tran

sports you

to some Soviet-era city in

the Ru

s-sian

steppes, wh

ile the un

ruly su

burbs

bring to mind

similar parts of B

eirut or Istan

bul. You

can w

alk throu

gh the

whole city safely, certain

that if you

lose you

r way, som

eone will help you

. And

if it all gets too m

uch

, the relative prox-im

ity of its many green

spaces make it

easy to escape its often m

anic bu

stle, w

hether for a jog or a barbecue.

Th

is eclecticism also extend

s to the h

abits and attitu

des of its citizens, w

ho w

ere a diverse bu

nch from

day one.

From the start, the city w

as a blend

of different cu

ltures and

religions. It not

only d

rew in

people from all corners of

the Balkans, from

Serbian in

n-keepers to G

reek merch

ants and A

lbanian

arti-san

s, but its permanent, indeterm

inate

sense of great potential and

bounty ju

st arou

nd the corner also attracted

Ger-

man

engineers, Ru

ssian intellectu

als and

Czech

architects. It is a city w

hose neutrality du

ring the Cold

War allow

ed

Belgraders to enjoy the in

fluences of

both blocs, forge ties w

ith post-colon

ial states from

Nicaragu

a to India and

develop a com

plex understand

ing of global relation

s. In 1967 and

1968, that

free-thin

king ethos took them to pro-

test against the U

S war in

Vietn

am as

well as the lack of freedom

s in Yu

goslav socialism

, and adopt the still-beloved

slogan

"Belgrade is the W

orld" ["Beo-

grad je svet"].

Even now

, although

the city's impor-

tance has d

imin

ished, B

elgraders sate their cu

riosity by attending dozen

s of festivals, galleries and

other cultu

ral events, ranging from

displays of Japa-

nese anim

e to recreations of m

edieval

warfare, all of it at relatively afford

able prices. It is a city of people w

ho watch

Ind

ian and

Tu

rkish soap operas, lis-

ten to British

mu

sic and grew

up on

a

cuisine th

at blends C

entral European

and

Midd

le-Eastern tastes. It is a city

whose often

mu

lti-lingual in

habitants

remem

ber being forced to read

Balzac, H

emingw

ay and D

ostoevsky at school and

will alw

ays surprise you

with

some

news from

the wider w

orld. It is a city

that

routinely m

ixes and

m

atches these in

fluences and

makes them

its ow

n, from

the subdu

ed B

elgrade Mod-

ernism

of the 1920s to the rau

nchy tur-

bo-folk of 1990s.

For those looking to have their view

s ch

allenged, living in

Belgrade is a treat,

as the cultu

ral battle for the heart of the city is alw

ays alive.B

elgrade is the city where new

plu-tocrats live in

the same bu

ildings as

unem

ployed w

orkers, and w

here those w

ho feel that Serbian

society is too far from

its tradition

s constantly ru

b shou

lders with

those who th

ink it can

never be far enou

gh. G

iven the lack of

set hierarch

ies and a generally relaxed

attitu

de, it is a city where you

can get in

tou

ch w

ith anyone and

find you

r place.W

hile it w

as the city where Slobod

an

Milosevic

assembled

su

pporters for

his expan

sionist plan

s, it is also the city of ten

s of thousand

s of people who

marched

for peace during the Yu

go-slav w

ars throu

ghout the 1990s and

eventu

ally deposed their n

ationalist

president. It is a city that pines to be the

New

York of the Balkans, w

hile selling

t-shirts of V

ladim

ir Putin rid

ing a bear.T

he constant, d

izzy-making d

ance of its d

ark and light sides and

lack of a veneer m

akes Belgrade a city w

here anyth

ing seems possible and

whose

future can

take any imagin

able form –

exciting for those with

an open

mind

, and

frustrating for those w

ho like clear d

istinctions and

expect it to be like som

ewhere else.

Un

favourably com

paring it to wh

at they

thin

k a

European

city

should

CO

MM

EN

T

In April, café gardens burst into life; children start playing on the streets and the air is filled with signature Belgrade perfume of flowers and cat urine.

Photo: Srdjan Garcevic

Photo: Medija Centar Beograd

Milan Culibrk is unsure about the long-term

benefits of the salary increases.

Govern

ment pledges to raise average

salaries to 500

euros a m

onth

could

create a long-term head

ache for Serbia’s econom

y, if rises are not m

atched by an

upsu

rge in

productivity.

Stevan VE

LJO

VIC

After

years of

austerity,

in w

hich

public sector

employees and

pension-

ers saw

their

incomes

slashed, Serbian

society is eagerly w

aiting promised

increases to salaries and

pension

s.Yet, the govern

ment seem

s caught

between

peoples’

high

expectation

s and

expert warn

ings that any h

asty increase cou

ld destabilise a still fragile

economy.

“It is possible to raise salaries fast in

the short term, but in

the long term th

is cou

ld create problem

s,” Milan

Cu

librk, econom

ic analyst and

editor-in-ch

ief of N

IN w

eekly, told BIR

N.

President A

leksandar

Vu

cic an-

nounced

more th

an once in

2017 and

20

18 th

at he

expected

the average

month

ly w

age to

reach

500

eu

ros [59,0

00

din

ars] by the end of th

is year.T

his pledge came on top of a fresh pay

rise, after the government in January

increased salaries for workers in educa-

tion, healthcare, social services, courts, police and m

ilitary by 10 per cent.

Salaries in the pu

blic adm

inistration

and

pension

s rose by 5 per cent over the sam

e period.

The

governm

ent’s m

oves on

the

wage front w

ere reflected in

the latest d

ata from the Statistical O

ffice, revealed

on

March

26, wh

ich said

the average net salary rose from

376 euros [46,50

0

din

ars] in Janu

ary 2017 to 422 eu

ros [50

,00

0 d

inars] in

January 20

18.A

verage salaries expressed in

euros

are also influ

enced by the rising valu

e of the d

inar, w

hich

strengthened by

around

4 per cent over the same period

.M

iladin

Kovacevic, d

irector of the Statistical O

ffice, w

as quoted

by Serbia’s state new

s agency Tanju

g on M

arch 26

as saying that, u

nder current trend

s, av-erage w

ages could

reach 59,0

00

din

ars or 497 eu

ros by the end the year.

Th

is could

happen

, provided th

at present trend

of growth

of salaries, es-tablished

in m

id-2017, continu

es, and if

the exchange rate of the d

inar to eu

ro is preserved

, Kovacevic explained

, wh

ile w

arning th

at the average wage cou

ldn’t

be forecasted exactly.

Experts, however, dou

bt that th

is sce-n

ario is possible – or even beneficial.

“At the end

of last year, the average salary w

as 390 eu

ros, so it wou

ld need

Wage H

ikes

Imp

eril Serb

ia’s F

ragile R

ecovery

to grow by m

ore than

20 per cent to

reach the prom

ised am

ount [by year-

end], w

hich

is high

ly un

likely,” Cu

librk said

.H

e and other experts also w

arn th

at if salaries increase too fast, w

ithout be-ing su

pported by grow

th in

GD

P and

productivity, it cou

ld lead

to a backlash.

PU

BL

IC-P

RIV

AT

E SE

CT

OR

D

IVID

E M

AK

ES TA

RG

ET

D

IFF

ICU

LT

The problem

with

rapid increases in

salaries, experts say, derives from

the d

istribution of th

is growth

between

the pu

blic and private sector, and

the po-tential trade-off betw

een con

sum

ption

and investm

ents.T

he increase that cam

e into force in

January 20

18 was approved

by the IMF,

after Serbia, with

its three-year stand-

by arrangement w

ith the fu

nd, tu

rned

a budget deficit of 6.6 per cent G

DP to

a surplu

s of 1.2 per cent of GD

P in 20

17 – and

after it reduced

public debt from

nearly 75 per cent of G

DP at the end

of 20

15 to below 60

per cent of GD

P last year.

The core elem

ent of the program w

as au

sterity measu

res introduced

in N

o-vem

ber 2014, w

hereby month

ly pen-sion

s and pu

blic sector salaries over 25,0

00

din

ars [203 eu

ros] were cut by

10 per cent.W

hile

officials

annou

nce another

possible increase in w

ages in 20

18, ex-perts w

arn th

at it will likely w

iden the

gap between

salaries in the pu

blic and

private sectors.“Earn

ings wou

ld increase on

ly for those w

orking in the pu

blic sector, but all citizen

s wou

ld h

ave to contribute to th

is throu

gh taxes,” M

ilojko Arsic, Eco-

nomics professor at the U

niversity in

B

elgrade, told BIR

N.

Arsic recalled

that salaries in

the pu

blic sector are already around

20

per cent higher th

an the private sector,

wh

ich partly reflects its h

igher share of

employees w

ith h

igher education

.“Earn

ings in the pu

blic sector have

already increased

, and

another

in-crease w

ould

only w

iden the existing

gap,” he explained.

He argu

ed th

at another small in-

crease this year w

ould

not increase the bu

dget deficit significantly, but said

it w

ould

be far better to use the available

fiscal resources to increase investm

ent.

“It wou

ld be better if pu

blic invest-m

ent was increased

and state-ow

ned

compan

ies were allow

ed to invest their

profits, rather than

pay the money to

the budget th

rough

dividend

s, at the expen

se of investment,” he explained

.“A

lso, if the budget allow

s, a reduc-

tion in

some of the taxes cou

ld be con-

sidered, to encou

rage private invest-m

ent,” he added.

He agreed

that it w

ould

be hard

to reach

an average w

age of 500

euros per

month

by year-end.

“It wou

ldn’t be im

possible to increase average salaries by 20

per cent, even

with

m

oderate increase

of salaries

in the pu

blic sector. But it could

only

happen

with

a combin

ation of rela-

tively high

growth

and w

ith the d

inar

strengthening to arou

nd 115 d

inars per

euro [from

the current exch

ange rate of 118 d

inars per eu

ro],” Arsic said

. C

ulibrk noted

that ch

anges in m

eth-odology also contributed

to the signifi-

cant rise in average w

ages in Janu

ary 20

18.T

he previous m

ethodology calcu-

lated the average w

age includ

ing earn-ings paid

during the reporting m

onth,

regardless of the m

onth in

wh

ich they

were earned

. Th

at was w

hy Decem

ber w

as usu

ally the month

with

the highest

statistical average, and Janu

ary with

the low

est. H

e also warned

that Serbia h

ad on

ly ju

st emerged

from an

austerity pro-

gram, so it w

ould

be risky to recreate a situ

ation th

at again dem

anded cuts in

pen

sions and

salaries.“T

his kind

of measu

re could

be im-

plemented

one time, but it w

ould

be

diffi

cult for people to sw

allow it for the

second tim

e,” he said.

EC

ON

OM

Y ST

ILL L

AG

GIN

G

BE

HIN

D T

HE

RE

GIO

N

In

2017,

among

the 16

countries

in C

entral and Eastern

Europe, on

ly w

ages in A

lbania and

Macedon

ia were

lower th

an those in

Serbia .A

ccording to the O

ctober-Decem

ber 20

17 issue of the Q

uarterly M

onitor of

Economic T

rends and

Policies in Ser-

bia, an econom

ic journ

al published

by the Fou

ndation

for the Advancem

ent of Econom

ics, FREN

, at Belgrade U

ni-

versity’s Faculty of Econom

ics, with

an

average salary of 404 eu

ros [49,00

0

din

ars] Serbia’s average wage w

as close to Bu

lgaria’s [406 eu

ros], Bosn

ia’s [425 eu

ros], Montenegro’s [510

euros] and

R

oman

ia’s [515 euros]. But it w

as signifi-

cantly behind

other former Yu

goslav cou

ntries such

as Slovenia [1,0

74 euros]

or Croatia [792 eu

ros].T

he analysis show

s that d

ifferences in

the average wage in

the region reflect

differences in

productivity, reflecting

the ratio between

the value of G

DP pro-

duced

by the total num

ber of registered

workers.For exam

ple, if the average worker in

Slovenia received a salary in euros [ad-

justed to reflect equ

al purchasing pow

-er], it w

ould still be 1.5 tim

es higher than w

hat the average Serbian worker w

ould

get. In addition, the productivity of a w

orker in Slovenia was also 1.7 tim

es higher than that of a w

orker in Serbia.In

this situ

ation, esp

ecially if sala-

ries grow m

uch

faster than

prod

uc-

tivity, it red

uces th

e amou

nt available

for investmen

ts, wh

ich are n

ecessary

for an in

crease of prod

uctiv

ity in

the

futu

re.“Produ

ctivity depend

s on

invest-

ment. If w

e spend m

ore on salaries, and

less on

investment, it w

ill lead to slow

er grow

th or real w

ages in the futu

re,” Ar-

sic said.

Accord

ing to

Arsic,

a su

stainable

wage in

2018 reflecting the cu

rrent level of produ

ctivity, without any add

itional

strengthening of the d

inar, w

ould

be arou

nd 420

to 425 euros.

In the fairly recent past, from

200

1 to 20

08, Serbia experienced

salaries grow

ing faster than

productivity, w

hich

contributed

to high

inflation

and a h

igh

foreign debt and

trade deficit.Follow

ing the 200

8 economic crises,

wages w

ere cut to lower, m

ore sustain-

able levels, determined

by the level of produ

ctivity, wh

ich then

lowered

infla-

tion and

reduced

the trade deficit with

other cou

ntries.R

ecent experience

shows

salary grow

th is not a one-w

ay street for work-

ers, either, if it doesn’t allow them

to pu

rchase m

ore on a long term

and su

s-tain

able basis.A

ccording to Q

uarterly M

onitor, from

20

01 to 20

17, wh

ile average net wage in

eu

ros quad

rupled

, the real net wage

(nomin

al wage adju

sted by the rate of

inflation

) only dou

bled.

When

salaries grow faster th

an pro-

ductivity, experts say, it u

ndercuts the grow

th of real salaries and

living stand-ard

s in the futu

re, thus h

arming the in-

terest of workers, along w

ith im

perilling m

acroeconomic stability.

The constant, dizzy-m

aking dance of its dark and light sides and lack of a veneer m

akes B

elgrade a city w

here anything seem

s possible.

89

BE

LGR

AD

E IN

SIG

HT

, Friday, A

pril 20

- Th

ursday, M

ay 3, 2018

BE

LGR

AD

E IN

SIG

HT

, Friday, A

pril 20

- Th

ursday, M

ay 3, 2018

RE

GIO

NFA

CE

S

Katerin

a BLA

ZEVSK

A

Condu

cting an

interview

at

the grand

iose new

headqu

arters of Macedo-

nia's form

er ruling V

MR

O

DPM

NE party, w

hich

peo-ple h

ave nickn

amed

the Wh

ite Palace, is not easy.

The nu

merou

s paintings, icons, crys-

tal ch

andeliers, baroqu

e arm

chairs,

and the golden

colours of som

e of the fu

rnitu

re and other item

s constantly

distract one's attention

.In

the room w

here we are talking

with

VM

RO

�DPM

NE's new

leader, the design

of the floor looks identical to th

at of the build

ing where T

he Great

Gatsby w

as filmed

.A

lthough

H

ristijan

Mickoski's

dis-

comfort w

ith th

is inherited

"treasure" is

visible, he does not adm

it it openly.

"I feel I belong here," he says, answ

er-ing the qu

estion about w

hether he feels "in

his ow

n skin" in

the complex. But he

leaves a certain reserve w

hen asked

about the setting's "com

patibility" to the im

age of a Ch

ristian D

emocratic party.

"We w

ill see how w

e deal with

this

build

ing in the futu

re, but for now w

e are staying here," he says.

Despite h

is love of mathem

atics, as a professor at the tech

nical sciences

faculty in

Skopje, he avoids an

swering

queries about the exact m

onthly ex-

penses for the bu

ilding.

"Given

that it is energy effi

cient, the costs are less, alm

ost twice less th

an the

usu

al cost of such

a constru

ction," he

answ

ers diplom

atically.A

fter being provided w

ith the d

ata from

the party – that the electricity bill

for the sum

mer com

es to 20,0

00

euros,

and 30

,00

0 in

winter, M

itzkoski opens

up."T

he bills for all 50 party offi

ces in the

country arrive here, so I do not know

how

mu

ch ju

st this bu

ilding costs. In

spring

and

autum

n,

the bills

range from

10,0

00

to 15,00

0 eu

ros. So, for this

build

ing and all the party offi

ces in M

ac-edon

ia, the average is about one million

and

200

,00

0 den

ars a month

[some

19,500

euros]," he says.

The new

leader of the V

MR

O D

PMN

E

says Macedon

ia's new

governm

ent is th

e worst in

post-in

dependen

ce h

istory – but is

reticent on the

legacy of his

predecessor, N

ikola Gru

evski.

Hristijan

M

icko

ski:

Maced

on

ia's G

overnm

ent

Will L

ose N

ext

Electio

nT

he average sum

s for sum

mer and

w

inter remain

un

known

.W

e are conversing under the strict-

looking gazes of several Macedon

ian

revolutionaries

imm

ortalised

in

oil paintings, u

nder scenes of great battles in

the past, at a time of a heated

political debate about the no-con

fidence mo-

tion in

the Social Dem

ocrat-led govern-

ment th

at came to pow

er in M

ay last year, end

ing almost 11 years of V

MR

O

DPM

NE ru

le.T

he motion

brought V

MR

O D

PMN

E back to parliam

ent after a four-m

onth

boycott sparked by the detention

of six of its M

Ps who w

ere suspected

of par-ticipating in

the rampage in

parliament

on A

pril 27 last year.T

he attack on parliam

ent in A

pril last year h

appened am

id h

igh political

tension

s in the cou

ntry as the former

ruling

VM

RO

D

PMN

E attem

pted

to stop the Social D

emocrats, SD

SM, from

form

ing a governm

ent.It began

when

VM

RO

DPM

NE party

supporters storm

ed the bu

ilding on

ly m

inutes after the new m

ajority in par-

liament h

ad elected

Talat X

aferi as its speaker, paving the w

ay for the election

of the new Social D

emocrat-led

govern-m

ent, wh

ich eventu

ally took office in

M

ay.T

he violent mob inju

red som

e 100

people inclu

ding ten

MPs from

the new

majority.M

ickoski speaks about the ten "cata-

strophic" m

onths of the new

govern-m

ent. In su

pport of such

claims, he

cites the last World

Bank report th

at show

ed M

acedonia's econom

ic growth

in

2017 w

as zero, wh

ich it attributed

to the then

ongoing political crisis."It also says that in 20

18 the govern-m

ent predicted

that the

economy

would grow

by 3.2 per cent, but it will not

grow by m

ore than 2.3 per cent," he adds.

"Again

, we h

ave one per cent that the

governm

ent predicted

but cannot fu

l-fill, du

e to a lack of capacity and ideas,

and th

at one per cent represents ex-actly 120

million

euros. It is even

more

alarming th

at there are no foreign in-

vestments," M

ickoski continues.

He does not accept the govern

ment's

argum

ent that, for 11 years, the previou

s govern

ment, w

hich

spent 250 m

illion

euros on

advertisements, prom

oters and

road show

s, brought 23 foreign

investors, and

that in

ten m

onths the

new

governm

ent, w

ithout spend

ing anyth

ing on advertisem

ents, brought

ten foreign

investors and is du

e to sign

contracts with

eight more.

"As long as the govern

ment beh

aves arrogantly and

does not recognise the

results of the past, w

e will be convinc-

ingly stuck at the bottom

. We no longer

compare ou

rselves with

Europe but

with

the region, and

here we are, the

last," he maintain

s.H

e sh

rugs

aside qu

estions

about w

hether the dam

age done in the past

11 years can be com

pensated

for in on

ly ten

month

s."So th

is so-called reform

ist Prime

Min

ister [Zoran Zaev] prou

dly stood

before the people and

said: 'W

e have a

clear idea of wh

at is happen

ing, a clear plan

, and the citizen

s will im

med

iately feel the resu

lts of our plan

.' Ten m

onths

is a quarter of the m

andate. H

ow m

uch

m

ore do they need, tw

o more m

an-d

ates?" he asks, rhetorically.A

sked about hard numbers regard-

ing the condition that his predecessor at the party's helm

, former Prim

e Minister

Nikola G

ruevski, left the country in, he says: "You are talking to a leader of V

MRO

-D

PMN

E who has been in this position for

three and a half months. If you like, I can

do a retrospective for the past 27 years [since M

acedonia won independence]."

Mickoski also recalls the m

ajor po-litical and

economic scand

als that oc-

curred

in the early 1990

s, when

their Social D

emocrat rivals held

office.

Rem

inded th

at he is not in the party

from

yesterday,

and

was

Secretary

General and

mem

ber of the Executive C

omm

ittee when

Gru

evski was V

MR

O

DPM

NE

leader, he

agrees to

speak about th

at period as w

ell, but insists

that it is not the right topic to d

iscuss.

He con

siders the VM

RO

-DPM

NE gov-

ernm

ents "mu

ch m

ore successfu

l" than

the cu

rrent one.A

lthough

polite in m

anner and

open

in conversation

, he visibly avoids any

assessment of the decade u

nder the leadersh

ip of

Gru

evski. Q

uestioned

about

the alleged

crim

es th

at took

place under the govern

ments of V

M-

RO

-DPM

NE, he states th

at if crimes d

id

occur, they m

ust be proved

in cou

rt.W

hen he talks about the Social D

em-

ocrat-led govern

ment, there is no su

ch

restraint; he calls it "crimin

al and the

most incom

petent in the h

istory of in-dependent M

acedonia".

He denies that such arguable double

standards provoke suspicions that he is just an extended hand of his predecessor, G

ruevski, who is currently facing trial for

several high-profile corruption claims.

"Everything th

at was w

rong before, w

hich

we establish

was w

rong, will be

corrected. T

here is no dilem

ma about

it," he insists.

After th

is mild

formu

lation of "w

rong-ness" in

speaking about his predeces-

sor, he is asked to explain

the difference

between

him

and G

ruevski.

"It's not right for me to say. I w

ould

leave citizen

s to differentiate the w

ay I lead

VM

RO

-DPM

NE from

how G

ruevski

and [Lju

bco] Georgievski d

id," he says.

He

continues:

"Citizen

s recogn

ise a seriou

s alternative to the political

scene in the V

MR

O-D

PMN

E that I am

lead

ing. I am convinced

that the party

will offer su

ch a platform

that, in

the next election

s, the SDSM

will experi-

ence a debacle."It is im

portant whether citizen

s live better, w

hether they have an

average salary of 50

0 eu

ros, whether there is 5

per cent growth

, whether the salary of

[med

ical] specialists is 100

,00

0 den

ars [som

e 1,600

euro], and

50,0

00

[900

eu-

ros] for doctors," he says.

He resorts to an

alibi-response to a

question

about why the V

MR

O-D

PMN

E govern

ment

did

not

provide those

salaries itself: "Let's forget it. It failed,

and so V

MR

O-D

PMN

E is in opposition

. N

ow w

e have a govern

ment th

at made

promises about th

is. I did

not force them

to make these prom

ises."T

urn

ing to

the ongoing

talks be-

tween

Macedon

ia and G

reece on solv-

ing the long standing "n

ame" d

ispute th

at has h

ampered

Macedon

ia's EU

and N

AT

O accession

, Mickoski says he

has received

no fresh in

formation

from

the governm

ent.M

eanwh

ile, he accuses the govern-

ment of not taking enou

gh care to pro-

tect the nation's d

ignity and

identity."[M

acedonia's] Langu

age and iden-

tity are a acquired

right and th

is is a closed

topic. Maybe they are d

iscuss-

ing about our loss of th

is acquired

right. N

o negotiator from the M

acedonian

side h

as the right to open a topic th

at is closed

," he says."I do not know

wh

at they're talking about. T

he latest inform

ation is th

at the set proposed

by [UN

med

iator Mat-

thew] N

imetz is still on

the table. We w

ill present ou

r opinion

when

we get the in-

formation

," he says.But a recent Zaev interview

, in w

hich

he said

it was w

orth risking one's po-

litical career to solve the nam

e dispute,

raises Mickoski's su

spicions.

"From w

hat I h

ave read in

the inter-view

, the man

[Zaev] is ready for the end

of his political career. T

hat m

eans

he is ready to go for an u

ndign

ified solu

-tion

. If a comprom

ise is dign

ified, w

hy put an

end to one's career?" he asks.

Despite h

is criticism of th

e curren

t talks, M

ickoski claims h

e wan

ts efforts to resolve th

e nam

e dispu

te to suc-

ceed.

"I want u

s to be a part of NA

TO

under

our con

stitutional n

ame - R

epublic of

Macedon

ia, I want to speak ou

r Mac-

edonian

language and

to be Macedon

i-an

. And

I believe these negotiations w

ill su

cceed, becau

se these are European

valu

es" he concludes.

Ivana N

IKO

LIC

Its old

photos and dozen

s of si-phon

s say it all: the family-ow

ned

Soda-V

oda

(Soda-W

ater), B

el-grade's oldest sod

a-fountain

shop, is from

a bygone age. Now

, amid

st a fast-er-paced

, more globalised

era, 60-year-

old m

anager Slavica Lazic qu

estions

whether it m

akes sense to continu

e to invest m

oney and energy in

the tiny retailer.

"Shutting down

a business th

at has

been ru

nn

ing for 82 years now is very

sad, but real," Lazic says, slow

ly turn

ing a cigarette in

her hand

as she sits in the

shop, located not far from

the Kalen

ic farm

ers' market in

the upm

arket neigh-bou

rhood of V

racar. U

nder Serbian law

, Lazic, the Serbian

capital's only so-called

sodad

zijka, or fem

ale soda-w

ater vendor, will h

ave to vacate her store on

Mutapova Street by

the end of M

ay when

the city restores the property to the descend

ants of its private, pre-W

orld-War-II ow

ners. T

he governm

ent has decided

to pro-tect Lazic's sod

a-water produ

ction as

part of Serbia's heritage, but that, as yet,

has done noth

ing to increase custom

-ers or give the store an

edge against

larger produ

cers, su

permarket

soft d

rinks or h

ipster cafés. Sod

a-Vod

a still has regu

lar clients, but "m

any of them stopped

drin

king or stopped

living," Lazic observes, smiling

wryly. T

hough

a few you

nger people buy sod

a for cocktails (at 50 d

inars, or

Com

petition w

ith

cafés and

popu-

lar drin

ks mean

s B

elgrade's last rem

aining fem

ale sod

a-water ven

-dor, Slavica Lazic, faces a fight to keep h

er tradi-

tional bu

siness

open.

City's O

ldest Sod

a-Foun

tain Sh

op

Mu

lls Closu

re

42 euro cents, per liter), she now

strug-

gles to make end

s meet.

"I cannot even

tell how m

uch

soda-

water I produ

ce. I have som

e really, re-ally bad

days. . ." she says, looking at a

huge, m

anual sod

a-water fou

ntain.

"I am not even

sure if it is w

ise to invest in

producing sod

a-water any-

more," she continu

es, lighting her ciga-rette.

When

Lazic's grandfather,

Djordje

Lepojevic, opened the business in 1936,

producing carbonated,

non-alcoholic beverages w

as a profitable venture. Res-

taurants and family-style taverns, know

n as kafane, w

ere the major buyers. T

hey needed carbonated w

ater for spritzers, a m

ix of white w

ine and cold soda-water

popular throughout the Balkans. "I rem

ember th

at grand

pa w

as con-

stantly

visitin

g taverns, sellin

g soda-

water, w

hile m

y m

other w

as here, in

th

e shop, m

aking sod

a-water," Lazic

says.

"Business w

as flourish

ing," she adds

melancholically. In

the 1970s and

1980s, selling sod

a-w

ater could

still provide a decent living, she claim

s, but, as Western-style cafes

started replacing the old

Belgrade kaf-

ane, that began

to change.

"Th

ere were n

o lo

nger th

ose o

ld

places

wh

ere y

ou

co

uld

go

w

ith

yo

ur fam

ily fo

r a lun

ch o

r din

ner

and

have a sp

ritzer after a m

eal," La-

zic recalls.

She also blames the city's w

ater-treat-m

ent plant, Makis, w

hich

first came on

line in

the late 1980s, for provid

ing ill-su

ited, "w

armer, su

rface water" from

the Sava R

iver. "If you

want to h

ave a high-qu

ality sod

a, then the w

ater has to be cold

and

full of strong m

inerals," Lazic argues.

The "sod

a lost its strength and

people d

idn't like it anym

ore." M

eanwh

ile, cheaper beverages such

as sparkling m

ineral water or other so-

das w

ere becoming m

ore popular. D

e-spite a brief com

eback in the late 1990

s, not long after Lazic took over the shop's m

anagem

ent from her m

other, soda-

water w

as becoming old-fash

ioned.

Now

facing an u

ncertain futu

re, an

angry Lazic feels that an

injustice h

as been

done. The sod

a shop's history h

as been

all about starting over. A

fter quitting h

is job at famed

indus-

trialist-philanth

ropist Djordje V

ajfert's brew

ery, Lazic's

grandfather

Djordje

Lepojevic first opened Sod

a-Vod

a in

1936 on B

elgrade's Zicka Street, also in

Vracar. Yet w

hen W

orld W

ar II hit Yu

go-slavia in

1941, Lepojevic had

to shutter the bu

siness.H

e reopened in 1947 on downtow

n Sarajevska Street, but Soda-V

oda did not stay there for long, either. In 1954, Lazic's grandfather m

oved back to Vracar, buy-

ing a space for the shop on the corner of K

ataniceva and Makenzijeva streets.

When

the city demolished

that bu

ild-ing in

1988, her grandfather agreed

to m

ove his bu

siness to its current loca-

tion - a m

uch

smaller, city-ow

ned shop

- and pay rent m

onthly.

Lazic speculates that he did so be-cause city offi

cials paid him com

pensa-tion "m

uch less than the actual value" of his dem

olished property. "Otherw

ise, he w

ould have bought something better."

The city of B

elgrade has prom

ised

to help her find yet another site for her

shop when

its current location

return

s to private ow

nership. If th

at happen

s, Lazic says she w

ill keep trying to keep Sod

a-Vod

a open.

Nonetheless,

the sod

adzijka,

who

describes herself as "exhau

sted," is still

hesitating. The m

ove wou

ld be the so-

da-shop's fou

rth "new

beginn

ing." "You

know, it seem

s that w

e are al-w

ays at the beginn

ing" of a new ch

apter in

Soda-V

oda's h

istory, she adds, sm

il-ing bitterly.

Photo: Robert Atanasovski

Photo: Ivana Nikolic

Hristijan Mickoski, M

acedonian opposition VMRO-DPM

NE leader.

Slavica Lazic in her shop in Mutapova 65.

Everything that w

as wrong

before, which w

e establish w

as w

rong, will be

corrected. There is no dilem

ma

about it.

Hristija

n M

ickoski

1011

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pril 20

- Th

ursday, M

ay 3, 2018

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, Friday, A

pril 20

- Th

ursday, M

ay 3, 2018

Pavle GO

LICIN

Spring h

as finally arrived

and

my yearn

ing for fresh

seafood w

hile

sipping a glass of wh

ite w

ine has never been

stronger. A

nd w

hen it com

es to fish,

there is one place in B

elgrade w

ith a proven

track record in

preparing on

ly the best – Caffe

Caffe (and

Fish) in

Senjak. “Fish” w

as added to the n

ame

at some point, but I still call the

place as it was at the begin

ning.

The w

ine list in C

affe Caffe

is impressive, w

ith approxi-

mately 150

labels in the list,

organised

by the book. The

focus is on

the wh

ites, and

rightly so, having in

mind

the food

on offer. Local w

ines are u

nder-represented, how

-ever, w

ith on

ly 15 labels, wh

ich

might be lim

iting, especially for foreigners w

ho wou

ld like to

try emerging Serbian

wines.

Alm

ost all the wines are

available by the glass, except for the m

ost expensive ones,

wh

ich provides a lot of op-

portun

ities to find the perfect

food-wine m

atch.

I opted for one of the less

known

wh

ites, wh

ich alw

ays rem

inds of a su

mm

er terrace – G

rüner V

eltliner by Tü

rk. Clean

and

crisp, this w

ine shows the

full potential of G

rüner, as m

ost of the w

ines from the K

remstal

valley in A

ustria do.

In T

ürk’s vineyard

s, more

than

three-qu

arters of planted

grapes are Grü

ner Veltliner.

And

, wh

ile you are d

rinking it,

you realise th

at this is not on

ly good

as appetizer but is also a com

plex “gourm

et” wine w

ith

longevity. Its green apple and

lim

e aromas w

ith refresh

ing acid

ity and firm

texture are

always a fine com

panion

to the grilled

or fried fish

dishes.

For the second glass, the

waiter su

ggested th

at try Tü

rk’s R

iesling, wh

ich they h

ave just

introduced

to the list. I did

n’t h

ave the slightest doubt. Pu

re R

iesling to the bone, with

aro-m

as of citrus fru

its, apricot and

floral herbs, crisp and m

ineral, th

is is classy and elegant w

ine w

ith a long and

dry fin

ish. I

just can’t th

ink of a fish

that

wou

ldn’t like to sw

im in

it!T

he staff at Caffe C

affe are friend

ly and edu

cated. A

nd

yes, for once, the wine w

as pou

red in

the glass in front of

us, allow

ing us to fu

lly grasp label and

bottle – quite an

ac-com

plishm

ent for Belgrade’s

restaurant scene. T

he mark-u

p for w

ine is higher th

an the

average, but fair enough

for the excellent service.

Caffe C

affe sets a high

bar for other fish

and seafood

restau

rants in B

elgrade. It is not a place for an

everyday m

eal, but m

ore for festive occasions

and special m

oments – a place

that you

will leave w

ith a sm

ile, even

if your w

allet is signifi-

cantly thin

ner.

~ ~ ~

OU

T A

ND

AB

OU

T

ON

CE �KO

VA

Č, �ALW

AY

S �KO

VA

�

ON

CE

”KA

FAN

A”, A

LWA

YS �”K

AFA

NA

”

RE

ST"

UR

AN

T K

OV

AČ

m

odern ethno restaurant

Bulevar O

slobořen

ja 221, Tel: 0

11 2462 343�w

ww

.restorank

ovac.com

Srdjan G

AR

CE

VIC

Mokrin

, located

in

north-east

Serbia near

the R

oman

ian

border, h

as alw

ays been

a

village w

ith

internation

al am

bitions.

Historically

an im

portant centre of trade and tran

s-port, it once boasted

a train stop on

the O

rient Express and w

as one of former

Yugoslavia's largest villages.

Now

, Mokrin

Hou

se, rural Serbia's

first co-living/co-working facility, w

ants to tu

rn it into a global village as w

ell. Su

ch spaces are still relatively new

for Serbia and

exist just in

cities. Puz-

zled by w

hat a Serbian

village's attrac-tion

s wou

ld be for globetrotting pro-

gramm

ers, social-med

ia man

agers and

other digital nom

ads, I decided

to pay M

okrin a visit.

The tricky part is getting there. D

e-spite M

okrin's railway past, travel by

car is the easiest option tod

ay (Mokrin

H

ouse can

arrange transport) – about

two and

a half hou

rs from B

elgrade, 90

minutes from

Tim

isoara in R

oman

ia or th

ree hours from

the Hu

ngarian capital,

Bud

apest. But the village's relative isolation

– its popu

lation stand

s at about 5,244 – is m

eant as part of Mokrin

Hou

se's ap-peal. A

part from its egg-tapping ch

am-

pionsh

ip on O

rthodox Easter and a

February

goose-fighting com

petition,

there are not many d

istractions here.

The nearest large tow

n, K

ikinda, is a

20-m

inute drive aw

ay. T

hat peace m

eans produ

ctivity, pro-ject m

anager Ivan

Brkljac claims.

"You really focu

s on each

other, and

that brings a better and

a stronger con-nection

m

uch

, m

uch

qu

icker th

an

you'd h

ave in any other space," he told

co-w

orking reviewer C

harles D

u in

a You

Tu

be interview.

Digital nom

ads give a village in north-eastern Serbia a chance at a com

e -back.

Born

in N

ovi Sad and

educated

in

the Un

ited K

ingdom, Sw

itzerland and

Spain

, Brkljac decided on

the concept of M

okrin H

ouse w

hile w

orking as a d

igital freelancer him

self. A

fter hearing of spaces in C

hang M

ai, T

hailand

and Bali, Indonesia w

here rem

ote workers cou

ld live, sh

are ideas and

work in

comfort, the 20

-someth

ing, form

er digital-m

arketing professional

decided to u

se a cultu

ral centre for tou

rists his father h

ad set u

p in M

okrin

to offer someth

ing similar in

rural Ser-

bia. Inside M

okrin H

ouse's sleek cam

pus,

designed by B

elgrade-based stu

dio A

U-

TO

RI, rou

ghly h

alf a dozen m

inim

alist, neutral-tone bu

ildings fram

e a small,

man

icured

lawn

. W

ith space for u

p to 32 people at a tim

e, its shared

and private room

s, w

ork spaces and large com

mu

nal d

in-ing room

are all equipped

with

a su-

per-fast internet connection

(100

mb/s

down

load, 20

mb/s u

pload).

A m

onth-long stay in a dorm

room

will set you

back €993, a single room

€1,835; three m

eals a day, w

orkspace and

events are included

. T

he other,

somew

hat

paradoxical d

raw of M

okrin is th

at Serbia is neither an

EU m

ember nor part of the Schen-

gen zone. Brkljac says th

at some of

their guests are foreigners from

non-EU

countries w

ho visit Mokrin

after their perm

itted th

ree-month

, visa-free stay w

ithin

the Schengen A

rea has ended

. By doing so, they base them

selves on

the EU's doorstep and

avoid h

aving to apply for visa exten

sions for the bloc,

wh

ich they can

re-enter after 90 d

ays.Yet for all the h

igh-tech vibes and

in-tern

ational crow

d, the steady su

pply of hom

emade rakija and

elderflower ju

ice -- and

the howling w

ind from

the Car-

pathian

Mou

ntains -- leaves little dou

bt th

at you are in

North

Banat.

The facility itself can

cater to most

needs -- from

watch

ing movies to w

ash-ing clothes – but M

okrin H

ouse is still

very mu

ch part of the village th

at sur-

round

s it. M

ost of its around

30 em

ployees are local and

it sources m

ost foodstu

ffs and

other products from

with

in the area.

Th

rough

out th

e sum

mer, th

e garden

fun

ctions as an

open-air village cin-

ema, an

d its events, w

hich

range from

w

orkshops to talks, are open

to the

public.

Gu

ests, in tu

rn, frequ

ent Mokrin's

bars and participate in

village tradi-

tions, like ju

mping over an

open fire on

O

rthodox Palm Su

nday or com

peting in

a sum

mertim

e tire-rolling cham

pion-sh

ip. Bicycles can be taken

to explore fu

rther. If rural life gets too m

uch

, there are also organ

ised visits to N

ovi Sad

and B

elgrade. N

evertheless, encou

raging interac-

tions betw

een its global gu

ests and

local comm

un

ity is part of the com-

pound's calling.

As sh

own

by th

e many

aband

oned

h

ouses

wh

ich

line

its n

eat streets,

Mokrin

has lost alm

ost a third

of its p

opu

lation

since

the

early

1950s,

wh

en it h

ad abou

t 8,00

0 resid

ents.

Th

e lack of opp

ortun

ities has m

eant

youn

ger residen

ts often

move to cit-

ies. Brkljac, though

, recalls one encoun-

ter between

a village boy and a pho-

tographer from Iceland

that led

to the you

ngster eventually becom

ing a pho-tographer h

imself.

"I saw it in

his eyes th

at his w

orld

view ju

st massively expanded

. . ." Brkl-jac said

of the boy.

Mok

rin H

ouse:

A G

lobal Village

in N

orth B

anat

DIN

ING

OU

T

Dip

Into th

e Ad

riatic at C

affe C

affe &

Fish

Photo: Flickr/tomcensani

Photo:PixabayAlthough not flawless, the entire experience confirm

ed the high status that Caffe Caffe and Fish enjoys.

Photo: Srdjan Garcevic

Photo: Srdjan Garcevic

Black risotto with cuttlefish is popular throughout the Adriatic coast.

Mokrin House was designed by Belgrade-based studio AUTORI.

Ivan Brkljac insist that his cosmopolitan upbringing m

ade him see potential in M

okrin.

Wine Corner

Crisp w

hites th

at pair excellently w

ith the

fresh seafood

comin

g from

the kitchen

shou

ld leave gu

ests at th

is friend

ly Senjak eatery w

ith sm

iles on

their faces.

Du

da&

Vlad

a

Caffe C

affe is located in

Sen-jak, an

upscale neigh

bour-

hood and

a hotspot for restau

rants not far from

the old city; its im

med

i-ate neigh

bour is R

ustiqu

e, a restaurant

wh

ich w

e covered a few

issues ago.

The w

ord “Fish” is an

addendum

; its u

nofficial n

ame is “K

od Srbe i H

rvoja” (C

hez Srba and H

rvoje). There is an

interesting

and

heart-warm

ing story

behind

this, of Srba, a Serb, and

Hrvoje,

a Croat, w

ho ran into each

other on the

Croatian

island of H

var a decade ago, soon

to become friend

s and partners.

The story of these partners “from

op-posite sides” w

ho call each other “m

y n

amesake” h

as captivated the attention

of papers in

former Yu

goslav countries

ever since. Th

is un

likely duo obviou

sly fu

nction w

ell, as their restaurant is ar-

guably the best seafood

destination

in

Belgrade, specialising in

modern

Ad

ri-atic cu

isine. A

t the time of ou

r visit, the weather

did

not allow u

s to sit in C

affe Caffe’s

small but pleasant garden

on the side-

walk of V

ase Pelagića Street. We m

oved

inside, w

here we fou

nd the sim

ple, clas-sically decorated

din

ing area almost

full. G

ood th

at we h

ad ou

r table booked

in advance. W

hile w

e waited

for our starters, w

e w

ere served a sm

all helping of fish paté,

parmesan

cheese crackers and olives.

We then

started w

ith a cream

of shrim

p

soup. Som

ething of a classic, or an

em

erging classic, it is worth

of tasting w

henever it is on offer. In

Caffe C

affe, it w

as delicious, thou

gh ju

st a little heavy on

the cream … m

ore than

pleasant, but less th

an m

emorable.

Black risotto with

cuttlefish is popu

-lar th

roughout the A

driatic coast. It is

made w

ith the add

ition of cuttlefish

in

k, wh

ich gives the d

ish its striking

black colour and

a rich, fu

ll-bodied

taste w

ith an

underlying sea arom

a; it is a tru

e taste of the deep, dark sea. C

affe C

affe’s version of th

is favourite w

as a classic take, n

ice and enjoyable.

Prawn

s tempu

ra was the star of the

show. It w

as made from

large and beau-

tiful, freshest praw

ns and

done just

right. They w

ere evenly fried

, with

a th

in crispy cru

st and a great textu

re of the praw

ns in

side, the saltiness of the tem

pura sw

irling around

the sweet-

ness of the shellfish m

eat. G

rilled octopu

s, served on

a bed of

rocket and cherry tom

atoes was excel-

lent, as well as the perfectly executed

fillet of am

berjack – a smaller M

editer-

ranean cou

sin of kingfish

. Th

is species, called

“gof” in C

roatia and M

ontenegro, is a prize catch

for its quality w

hite

flesh. Sm

aller does not mean

small,

by the way; in

the Ad

riatic they “only”

grow to 50

kg. So it is a firm steak of a

large fish cau

ght in the w

ild, a treat in

its ow

n right.

As is often

the case in u

pscale restau-

rants, portions are on

the smaller side.

We ordered

a couple of side d

ishes to rou

nd u

p our m

eal and w

ere pleas-antly su

rprised by their finesse. W

asabi pu

rée (mashed

potatoes with

a twist)

turned

out to be a great compan

ion

both to the praw

ns and

the octopus.

Their altern

ative take on the classic po-

tato salad, w

ith rocket leaves, iceberg

lettuce, red

onion

, capers and d

ried

tomatoes, w

as original, w

ith a delicate

balance of flavours; su

ch details sepa-

rate the best from the excellent.

Con

sidering the high

standard

s, our

dessert – figs in red

wine w

ith m

ascar-pone cheese – w

as someth

ing of an

anti-climax. T

he acidity of the red

wine

sauce w

as too strong; it stood out, u

n-balancing the d

ish.

Service was spot on

. The staff are

friendly enou

gh but no-non

sense, ob-

viously w

ell trained. W

hile one shou

ld

expect nothing less from

such

a re-spected

restaurant, th

is is actually very

rare in B

elgrade, even am

ongst the best in

the business. Everyth

ing proceeded

in a sm

ooth m

anner and

at the ex-pected

pace and w

e felt very welcom

e indeed

. A

lthou

gh n

ot flawless, th

e entire

experien

ce confirm

s the h

igh statu

s

Superb seafood

d

ishes on

offer at th

is restaurant –

with

an interesting

tale behin

d

it – make for a

mem

orable visit.

that th

is restauran

t enjoys, w

ith h

efty

p

rice tags and

all other am

enities of

its status. W

e enjoyed

our v

isit to Caffe

Caffe, an

d are bou

nd

to make a rep

eat v

isit.

CA

FF

E C

AF

FE

& F

ISH

Ad

dress: V

ase Pelagića 48, P

hon

e: +381 11 3693030

, +381 62 543347

Price G

uid

e: 300

0-50

00

din

ars per person

for three cou

rses without

drin

ks

Caff

e Caff

e &

Fish:

Somm

elier’s verd

ict

Basic Info

Overall

Wine selection

Wine service

Wine pricing

Wine and

food pairing

Ra

ting

EX

CE

LLEN

T

EX

CE

LLEN

T

EX

CE

LLEN

T

€19

- €1,715

EX

CE

LLEN

T

Th

is kind of dyn

amic is w

hy Brkljac believes M

okrin H

ouse can

revitalise its host village.

Com

panies already u

se its facilities for

away-d

ays and

other

corporate events. To h

andle larger crow

ds, the or-

ganisation

is considering a schem

e that

wou

ld offer tim

eshare-style access to

refurbished

village houses.

It may be th

at the best days of th

is plu

cky comm

un

ity are still yet to come.

MO

KR

IN H

OU

SEA

ddress: Svetog Save 25, Mokrin, Srbija

Ph

one: +381 69 623 678

Em

ail: info@

mokrin

house.com

1213

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LGR

AD

E IN

SIG

HT

, Friday, A

pril 20

- Th

ursday, M

ay 3, 2018

BE

LGR

AD

E IN

SIG

HT

, Friday, A

pril 20

- Th

ursday, M

ay 3, 2018

WH

AT

'S O

NA

RT

S

David

GA

LIC

Last year, the B

elgrade Inter-n

ational Festival of D

ocu-

mentary Film

, better known

as B

eldocs, was declared

to be all about "a blend

ing and

merging of cu

ltures." N

ot surprisingly,

the 2018 festival, now

in its 11

th year, is as m

uch

about fostering local talent as about show

casing acclaimed

interna-

tional w

orks that ch

allenge the conven-tion

al.T

wo docu

mentaries by u

p-and-com-

ing Serbian film

makers w

ill open the

lineup

of over 100

films on

offer at sites th

roughout B

elgrade between

May 7

and M

ay 14.

"In Praise of N

othing" by 41-year-old

B

oris Mitic featu

res Iggy Pop as the grit-ty voice of "N

othing," w

hich

is "tired of

being misu

nderstood." T

he monologu

e is m

eant as "a comm

entary both about

the state of the world

and the state of

the film indu

stry," Mitic told

the 2017 Ji-

hlava Intern

ational D

ocum

entary Film

Festival.In

34-year-old

D

jordje M

arkovic's "K

aktus

Bata's Last

Adventu

re," cel-

ebrated

Serbian

comic-book

author and

anim

ation artist A

leksandar Zograf

discovers a strange com

ic book from

World

War II about a tiny cactu

s called

"Cactu

s Kid

." Wh

at follows is a com

plex story about C

actus K

id's creator, the art-ist V

eljko Kockar, w

ho was executed

in

1944 as an alleged

Gestapo agent.

As in

2017, to w

het outside comm

er-cial interest in

such

works and

in the

Balkan film

market, the Eu

ropean U

n-ion

will stage a m

arketing and netw

ork-ing event du

ring Beldocs.

Internation

al docum

entaries, how-

ever, still make u

p the bulk of the festi-

val.They inclu

de a variety of edgy and

inventive features.

Experimental

French

filmm

aker A

gnes Vard

a's Oscar-nom

inated

film

"Faces Places" explores "the power of

imagin

ation" via French visu

al artist JR

's large-format im

ages of residents (hu

man

and an

imal) of the French

provinces.

Th

at small-tow

n them

e continues in

"Brim

stone and G

lory," Berlin-based

di-

rector Viktor Jakovleski's visu

ally grip-

ping portrayal of fireworks produ

ction

and the an

nual pyrotech

nic festival in

T

ultepec, M

exico.In

turn

, in the Planet Earth

category, D

irk Manthey's "Sm

all Planets – Discon-

nected" vignette explores the impact of

geographical isolation

on people in

five Eu

ropean location

s.T

he focu

s on

out-of-the-ord

inary

places continues w

ith legend

ary "Sho-ah" creator C

laude Lan

zman

n's "Na-

palm," the story of a short-lived

love affair he h

ad w

ith a R

ed C

ross nurse in

N

orth K

orea in the 1950

s.M

eanwh

ile, Am

erican featu

re film-

maker A

bel Ferrara, renowned

for wh

at BFI h

as termed

his "d

ark and d

anger-ou

s filmography," w

ill visit Beldocs to

promote h

is docum

entary "Piazza Vit-

torio," a close-up on

the inh

abitants of th

is sometim

es dangerou

s, but always

vibrant square in

Rom

e.O

ther films focu

s on exploring those

who live in

political, if not geographical,

extremes.

In h

is depiction of th

ree female rela-

tives of jailed m

embers of the rad

ical right-w

ing Greek organ

ization G

olden

Daw

n ("G

olden D

awn

Girls"), N

orwe-

gian d

irector Håvard

Bustnes' portrays

how, as M

odern T

imes R

eview w

rote, "those w

ho promote h

atred in

society can

have a very hu

man

face.""W

hen the W

ar Com

es" (2016) zeroes

in on

teenage, neo-N

azi-style Slovak param

ilitaries' attempts to du

plicate a totalitarian

society, wh

ile the contro-versial "Intent to D

estroy: Death

, Den

ial &

Depiction" (20

17) examines w

hat U

S

filmm

aker Joe Berlinger claim

s are Hol-

lywood

and T

urkey's attem

pts to cen-sor or stam

p out mention

s of Ottom

an

Tu

rkey's massacres of eth

nic A

rmen

i-an

s during W

orld W

ar I.T

he d

isinform

ation

theme

also com

es with

a touch

of Tru

mp -- "O

ur

New

President" (2018) takes a tongu

e-in-cheek look at how

Ru

ssians por-

trayed and

cheered the U

S president's 20

16 election.

"The W

aldheim

Waltz," A

ustrian

di-

rector Ruth

Beckerm

ann's exam

ination

of the late U

N Secretary G

eneral Ku

rt W

aldheim

's Nazi past, takes fu

rther is-su

e with

the TK

of truth vs lies. B

eck-erm

ann

, who w

on the 20

18 Berlin

ale aw

ard for the best docu

mentary, w

ill be on

hand

to discu

ss the film.

Another

prominent

Au

strian

film-

maker, 65-year-old

Ulrich

Seidl, fam

ed

for his fascin

ation w

ith d

isturbing ab-

surd

ities, will h

ave a career-length ret-

rospective of his w

orks, includ

ing "An

i-m

al Love" and "In

the Basement."

To encourage attend

ance at these events, B

eldocs will offer a contest for

festival-goers (#eu

ropeanfilm

chal-

lenge) to win

trips to major Eu

ropean

film festivals su

ch as the B

erlinale and

C

annes.

The film

s will be screened

in vari-

ous venu

es around

Belgrade, inclu

d-ing Sava C

entre, the Belgrade C

ultu

ral C

enter, Belgrade Youth

Center (D

om

Om

ladine),

Trade

Un

ion

Hall

(Dom

Sind

ikata), the Yugoslav Film

Arch

ive, Fontan

a Cinem

a and the M

useu

m of

Contem

porary Art.

From "T

he W

aldheim

Waltz"

to "In Praise of

Noth

ing," this year's

Beldocs w

ill feature

more th

an 10

0

docum

entaries, inclu

din

g many

of last year's stan

douts. B

elgrade D

ocum

entary

Film Festival K

icks O

ff

FREE CO

PY

Publisher: BIRN d.o.o.

Kolarceva 7/5, 11 000 BelgradePhone/Fax: +381 11 4030 300Editor in Chief: G

ordana IgricBIRN

editorial team:

Gordana Andric, M

arcus Tanner,belgradeinsighteditor@

birn.eu.com

Sales & M

arketing: Marija

PetrovicPhone: +381 11 4030 302

marija.petrovic@

birn.eu.comSubscription &

Distribution:

Goran Knezevic

+381 63 562 265goran.knezevic@

birn.eu.comPrinting: PO

LITIKA stamparija

d.o.o.ISSN

1820-8339 = Belgrade Insight

COBISS.SR-ID

: 149132556Circulation: 2,000

CLU

BB

ING

AN

D LIV

E MU

SIC

FRID

AY

AP

RIL 20

• T

ribute D

avid B

owie / M

asimo

Savic, Bitef Art C

afé, Mitropolita

Petra 8, 9pm•

Dju

ra i morn

ari, Elektropionir,

Cetin

jska 15, 9pm•

Gru

pa 3, Fest C

lub, G

radski park

Zemu

n, 10

pm•

Trik

o and

Ben

jd, K

vaka 22, R

uzveltova 39, 10

pm•

Jazz Nigh

t, Strogi Cen

tar, Gospod

ar Jevrem

ova 43, 9pm•

Sana G

aric, SubBeern

i Cen

tar, C

etinjska 15, 9pm

• G

luva Soba, M

uh

a Bar, Kralja Petra

18, 9pm•

SYN

T &

PO

P w

/ DJ M

oe, G

rad C

ultu

ral Cen

ter, Brace K

rsman

ovica 4, 11pm•

Mark

o Milosavljevic &

Nem

anja

Krstic, 20

/44 Clu

b, Usce bb, 11pm

• N

orthern

Electron

ics Nigh

t w

ith A

nth

ony Lin

ell and

Evigt

Mörk

er, Dru

gstore, Bulevar

Despota Stefan

a 115, 11pm•

Ben

jamin

Fröhlich

& K

ristijan

Moln

ar, DO

T, Fran

cuska 6, 11pm

• D

J Ch

e-Woo X

DJ B

KO

, KPT

M,

Zorza Klem

esoa 22, 11pm•

Gold

en 20

00

, Secer Clu

b, Svetogorska 17, 11pm

• D

ooshan

and

Milos Starcevic,

Lud

ost Bar, Karad

jordjeva 44, 11pm

• E

lectric Fun

x, T

ranzit Bar, Brace

Krsm

anovica 8, 11pm

• Stevie W

hisp

er, Zaokret, Cetin

jska 15, 7pm

• Sim

ply_P

ierre, Ljubim

ac, C

etinjska 15, 8pm

• Lad

ies DJ Sp

ecial Salsa Party

, Im

ago CU

K, D

ecanska 14, 10

pm

• M

e-High

-Low + Sizip

Live, Strafta,

Ad

mirala G

eprata 14, 10pm

• Iron

&C

ojke, G

ajba, Karad

jordjeva

44, 10pm

SAT

UR

DA

Y A

PR

IL 21

• Zeljk

o Bebek

, Sava Cen

ter, M

ilentija Popovica 9, 20

.30pm

• K

and

a, Kod

za I Nebojsa, Fest

Clu

b, Grad

ski park Zemu

n, 9pm

• R

and

om/Sin

k/n

evreme,

Elektropionir, C

etinjska 15, 9pm

• B

ullet for a B

adm

an, C

iglana,

Slanacki pu

t 26, 10pm

• B

and

x, Zappa Barka, U

sce bb, 10

pm•

Bjesovi + B

rigand

, Bozidarac,

Rad

oslava Gru

jica 3, 8pm•

Had

zi prod

ane d

uze, Su

bBeerni

Cen

tar, Cetin

jska 15, 9pm•

Jazzysad, M

uh

a Bar, Kralja Petra

18, 9pm•

Belgrad

e Aft

erhou

rs | Man

cha &

M

ark P

anic + T

eo Tru

nk

, KPT

M,

Zorza Klem

esoa 22, 4am•

Tu

lbure (R

oman

ia), 031

Rep

ublic &

Milovan

Stojanovic,

KPT

M, Zorza K

lemesoa 22, 11pm

• Sch

wabe &

Vitan

ov All N

ight

Long, 20

/44 Clu

b, Usce bb, 11pm

• K

isobran &

Vatra, D

rugstore,

Bulevar D

espota Stefana 115, 11pm

• C

herry O

n T

op, D

OT

, Francu

ska 6, 11pm

• R

ainbow

, Secer Clu

b, Svetogorska 17, 11pm

• C

ojke, Lu

dost Bar, K

aradjord

jeva 44, 11pm

• Joh

ana, Zaokret, C

etinjska 15, 7pm

• C

HV

_Ljubim

Ch

e de Flore,

Ljubim

ac, Cetin

jska 15, 8pm•

Retro – K

omerc N

ight, Im

ago C

UK

, Decan

ska 14, 11pm•

Synth

City

, Strafta, A

dm

irala G

eprata 14, 10pm

• P

epp

e, Gajba, K

aradjord

jeva 44, 10

pm

SUN

DA

Y A

PR

IL 22

• G

ipsy Jazz, Polet, C

etinjska 15, 8pm•

Jazz Du

o, M

uh

a Bar, Kralja Petra

18, 7.30pm

• Su

nd

ay Bros, Lju

bimac, C

etinjska

15, 7pm•

Rn

B Su

nd

ay, G

otik, Karad

jordjeva

2-4, 11pm•

Sun

day B

eat, Mr. Stefan

Braun

, N

eman

jina 4, 12am

MO

ND

AY

AP

RIL 23

• Jazz N

ight, Polet, C

etinjska 15, 8pm•

Above – B

alkan

Rn

B – X

oXo

, Mr.

Stefan Brau

n, N

eman

jina 4, 12am

TU

ESD

AY

AP

RIL 24

• Jazz C

oncert, Polet, C

etinjska 15,

6pm•

Malin

ada, Lu

dost Bar,

Karad

jordjeva 44, 9pm

WE

DN

ESD

AY

AP

RIL 25

• Jojo M

ayer / Nerve, D

om

Om

ladin

e, Maked

onska 22, 9pm

• M

astering w

/ Gram

oph

oned

zie &

Oysh

a, Lud

ost Bar, K

aradjord

jeva 44, 10pm

• G

irls are Gon

na G

et Wild

, Mr.

Stefan Brau

n, N

eman

jina 4, 12am

TH

UR

SDA

Y A

PR

IL 26

• R

HC

P T

ribute, Straft

a, Ad

mirala

Geprata 14, 10

pm

• K

now

er & Frien

ds, C

herry O

n

Top

, DO

T, Fran

cuska 6, 11pm

• N

ebojsa Intru

der, Lu

dost Bar,

Karad

jordjeva 44, 10

pm

FRID

AY

AP

RIL 27

• T

BF

, SubBeern

i Cen

tar, Cetin

jska 15, 9pm

• Zvon

cekova B

iljeznica,

Elektropionir, C

etinjska 15, 9pm

• T

uristi &

Sergio Loun

ge &

Sitzpin

ker, Bozid

arac, Rad

oslava G

rujica 3, 8pm

• G

irls, Boys an

d T

oys, Bitef Art

Café, M

itropolita Petra 8, 11pm•

John

atan &

Th

e Cock

blocker,

Grad

Cu

ltural C

enter, Brace

Krsm

anovic 4, 10

pm•

Errosm

it, Dru

gstore, Bulevar

Despota Stefan

a 115, 10pm

• 15 Y

ears of Ew

ox vol. 2. LAST

C

hap

ter, 20/44 C

lub, U

sce bb, 11pm

• D

Eviate w

ith E

rrorsmith

Live, D

rugstore, Bu

levar Despota

Stefana 115, 11pm

• W

akan

da ed

ition p

arty - Finest

Black

Mu

sic, KPT

M, Zorza

Klem

esoa 22, 11pm•

Bu

calo, Lju

bimac, C

etinjska 15,

8pm

SAT

UR

DA

Y A

PR

IL 28

• C

onsecration

, SubBeern

i Cen

tar, C

etinjska 15, 9pm

• E

va Brau

n, Fest C

lub, G

radski

park 2, 10pm

• D

own

town

Airlin

es Tak

eover w

/Vem

ic, Grad

Cu

ltural C

enter,

Brace Krsm

anovica 4, 11pm

• Su

pern

aut, Elektropion

ir, C

etinjska 15, 9pm

• D

irektori, Bozid

arac, Rad

oslava G

rujica 3, 8pm

• M

odu

lar Journ

ey w/ C

leric &

Stigmata, D

rugstore, Bu

levar D

espota Stefana 115, 11pm

• C

herry O

n T

op, D

OT

, Francu

ska 6, 11pm

• Lu

di Srbi Live, K

PTM

, Zorza K

lemesoa 22, 11pm

• C

ojke, Lu

dost Bar, K

aradjord

jeva 44, 11pm

• Y

/6543, Lju

bimac, C

etinjska 15,

8pm•

Digital C

hem

istry Nigh

t, Imago

CU

K, D

ecanska 14, 11pm

SUN

DA

Y A

PR

IL 29

• Lesoir (N

L), Elektropionir,

Cetin

jska 15, 9pm•

Rn

B Su

nd

ay, G

otik, Karad

jordjeva

2-4, 11pm•

Sun

day B

eat, Mr. Stefan

Braun

, N

eman

jina 4, 12am

MO

ND

AY

AP

RIL 30

• A

bove – Balk

an R

nB

– XoX

o, M

r. Stefan

Braun

, Nem

anjin

a 4, 12am

TU

ESD

AY

MA

Y 0

1

• R

ambo A

mad

eus, K

omban

k Hall,

Decan

ska 14, 8pm•

Malin

ada, Lu

dost Bar,

Karad

jordjeva 44, 9pm

TH

UR

SDA

Y M

AY

03

• G

ordon

Rap

hael &

the H

alf Full

Flashes, D

orcol Platz, Dobracin

a 59b, 9pm

Arts in brief

"Revolu

tionary

R

oom" at B

itef T

heatre

Choreographed by Isidora Stanisic, the "Revolutionary Room

" dance performance

is a tribute of sorts to the 1917 October Revolution, but also a contem

plation of the socio-political context of today's w

orld. The m

odern-dance perform

ance will be held

at Belgrade's Bitef Theatre on April 20 at 8pm

and on April 25 at 9pm

. Tickets w

ill cost about five euros (600din).

Insom

nia

Exh

ibition by

R

uben

Van

Der

Sleen

Dutch photographer Ruben Van Der Sleen's dark, intriguing nighttim

e photographs go on display at KC Grad on M

onday, April 23. The photos w

ere created during sleepless nights in Helsinki, Lyon and Belgrade. The exhibition opens at 7pm

and will be

open through April 28.

Italian P

ianist at

Belgrad

e Tow

n H

all

On Thursday, April 26, Italian pianist M

anlio Pinto w

ill blend pieces by W

olfgang Amadeus M

ozart, Ludw

ig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Claude Debussy into a tribute to the late pianist Nevena Popovic, a form

er professor at the University of Belgrade's Faculty of M

usic. Entrance to the concert, w

hich starts at 8pm

, is free.

Belgrad

e Tan

go Festival in

May

The Belgrade Tango Encuentro, a popular celebration of all things tango, starts on W

ednesday, M

ay 2 at 10pm w

ith a Gran M

ilonga at the Belgrade Fair. Opening night includes live m

usic by Solo Tango Orquesta and perform

ances by prize-w

inning Russian dancers Stanislav Fursov and Katy Sim

onova. There is no fee, but you need to register at the official w

ebsite to participate in the events.

ULU

PU

DS

Exh

ibition at

Singid

un

um

G

allery

On May 3, the Costum

e and Set Design Departm

ent of the Academ

y of Applied Arts (ULUPUDS) w

ill hold one of its regular exhibitions at the Singidunum

Gallery on Belgrade's Knez M

ihailova Street. The "Box or Not?" exhibit w

ill open at 10am

and will rem

ain on display until Friday, M

ay 11. Entrance to the gallery is free.

“Faces Places” follows the director Agnes Varda and photographer/muralist J.R. as they travel though France.

Photo: Faces Places

FR

IDA

Y A

PR

IL 20

Con

cert Hall, 8

pm

Fire – B

elgrade Philh

armon

ic O

rchestraC

ond

uctor: D

aniel R

aiskinSoloist: A

leksandar G

avrylyuk,

pianoP

rogramm

e: I. Stravinsky, S.

Rach

man

inoff, I. Stravinsky

Prod

uction

: Belgrade

Philh

armon

ic Orchestra

SAT

UR

DA

Y A

PR

IL 21

Con

cert Hall, 8

pm

60

th An

niversary of Second

program

me of R

TS

RT

S Symphony O

rchestraC

ond

uctor: B

ojan Su

djicSp

ecial Gu

est: Zeljko Lucic,

bariton�

Prod

uction

: RT

S Mu

sic Production

SUN

DA

Y A

PR

IL 22

Con

cert Hall, 11am

C

ycle: Kolarac Pod

ium

of Ch

amber

Mu

sicA

leksandra R

istic, sopranoIngrid

Jankovic, piano

Program

me: P. K

onjovic, V. Bellin

i, G

. Puccin

iU

. Giord

ano, G. V

erdi, J. O

ffenbach

Prod

uction

: Mu

sic Centre

Ad

mission

fee

SUN

DA

Y A

PR

IL 22

Con

cert Hall, 8

pm

“R

HA

PSOD

Y IN

BLUE”

Vojvod

ina Sym

phony Orchestra

Con

du

ctor: Tim

othy R

edm

ond

Saxophone Qu

artet SIGN

UM

Matija D

edic, piano

Program

me: Leon

ard B

ernstein

, B

ob Mintzer, G

. Gershw

in,

Prod

uction

: CEBEF, N

OM

US, w

ith

the support of the G

oethe Institut

Tick

et fees: 600

, 900

din

ars

MO

ND

AY

AP

RIL 23

Con

cert Hall, 8

pm

K

OLA

RA

C – YO

UR

MU

SIC W

OR

LD!

Ethno Jazz Band

GILLES A

PAP, violin

&

MED

UO

TER

AN

Srdjan V

ukasinovic, accord

ionT

aylan A

rikan, baglam

aP

rodu

ction: M

usic C

entreT

icket fees: 100

0, 1200, 150

0 dinars

TH

UR

SDA

Y A

PR

IL 26

Con

cert Hall, 8

pm

Philh

arman

ia(k)B

elgrade Philh

armon

ic Orchestra

Con

du

ctor: Gabriel Feltz

Soloist: Benjam

in Sch

mid

Program

me: A

. Borod

in, P. I.

Tchaikovsky, I. Stravin

skyP

roduction

: Belgrade Philharmonic

FR

IDA

Y A

PR

IL 27

Con

cert Hall, 8

pm

Fifth

Belgrade Ph

ilharm

onic O

rchestraC

ond

uctor: G

abriel FeltzSoloist: B

enjamin

Schm

idP

rogramm

e: A. B

orodin

, P. I. Tch

aikovsky, I. Stravinsky

Prod

uction

: Belgrade

Philh

armon

ic Orchestra

SUN

DA

Y A

PR

IL 29

Con

cert Hall, 11am

C

ycle: Kolarac Pod

ium

of Ch

amber

Mu

sicPiano du

o Snezana N

ikolajevic &

Vesn

a Krsic

Prod

uction

: Mu

sic Center

Ad

mission

free

KOLA

RA

CP

RO

GR

AM

ME

1415

BE

LGR

AD

E IN

SIG

HT

, Friday, A

pril 20

- Th

ursday, M

ay 3, 2018

BE

LGR

AD

E IN

SIG

HT

, Friday, A

pril 20

- Th

ursday, M

ay 3, 2018

Swed

ish D

Js Con

tinu

e N

orthern

Lights Even

ts

After artist Varg recently visited

Drugstore, tw

o more artists from

the Stockholm

-based Northern Lights label

are coming to D

rugstore on Friday, April

20th. A

nthony Linell, who ow

ns the label along w

ith Varg, will be perform

ing along w

ith Evigt Morker. T

ickets will cost R

SD

800

(~EUR

7) before midnight and 10

00

(~EU

R 8).

GO

ING

OU

TT

HE

N A

ND

NO

W

If you fancy a night out beneath

the streets, this unusual m

usic venue located in

the basem

ent of an

old brewery m

ight tickle your fancy.

David

GA

LIC

Late

last year,

an

exciting new

venue for live m

usic

opened th

at also gives us a

peek into wh

at the popular

Cetinjska

Street clu

bbing area m

ust h

ave looked like over a

century and

a half ago.

SubB

eerni C

entar is an u

nderground

clu

b that is both

a concert and beer h

all. A

s most B

elgraders know, the property

at Cetinjska 15 is now

the most popu

lar and

busy n

ightlife hub in

the city. Just

when

you th

ink there’s no room

left to

open u

p a bar or club at th

at location,

another one pops up.

Its appearance

is still

more

impressive becau

se it’s not a simply

one-room bar like m

any of the locales at C

etinjska but a large complex th

at can

fit several hund

red people.

To u

nderstand

wh

at m

akes it

so unu

sual, w

e need to look at the

history of th

is location. T

he Cetinjska

15 complex w

as once home to one

of Belgrade’s oldest brew

eries, Ingjat Bajlon

i & Son

s. In 1888, how

ever, it was

one of the most m

odern brew

eries in

the region. It closed

in 20

06 w

hen it

was sold

to a private investor.T

he complex then

went dorm

ant u

ntil recently, when

the new ow

ners started

renting out every corner of the site, qu

ickly turn

ing it into a self-

contained village for B

elgrade nightlife.

SubB

eerni

Centar

is u

niqu

e in

C

etinjska because is the on

ly club th

at is actu

ally located u

nderground

, in the

basement of the form

er brewery. T

he fu

rther you enter the venu

e, the deeper it seem

s you are going u

nderground

u

ntil you

reach

a

long but

narrow

catacom

b-like area.T

he space is impressive, w

ith alm

ost six-m

etre-high

ceilings and concrete

arches that look like they are hold

ing everyth

ing in place. N

o other nightclu

b or venu

e in B

elgrade looks anything

like it.A

s for the interior, not mu

ch h

as been

done

to ch

ange the

general atm

osphere, in the hope of keeping the

look true to form

. It’s a brick, mortar and

m

etal, industrial-style bar and

venue.

The m

ain area is obviou

sly by the stage. T

here’s also a riser area and a

small V

IP area for concerts, so it’s not ju

st one big floor; there are levels. The

smaller part of the venu

e is the lounge

area. Here you

can go and

sit and h

ave a few

drin

ks, if you’re not that interested

in

the mu

sic.T

he two section

s of the venue are

connected

by a long bar that stretches

almost the entire length

of the club.

SubB

eerni

Centar

is not

a regu

lar n

ightclub or bar, how

ever; it’s only open

w

hen a concert is booked

for that n

ight.Since it opened

last Decem

ber, the venu

e h

as hosted

m

any concerts,

almost all of them

featuring popu

lar local

and

regional

bands

– u

sually

bands th

at have been

around

a wh

ile and

have a big enou

gh fan

base to w

arrant playing a big concert hall.

In

early A

pril, it

hosted

its first

internation

al guests, the reggae and

du

b legends Lee Scratch

Perry and

Mad

Professor. It will be interesting to

see whether the clu

b plans on

booking m

ore internation

al acts, or sticks with

the recipe of hosting m

ainly Serbian

and

ex-Yugoslav region

al groups.

As far as d

rinks go, one section

of the bar is reserved

for rakija drin

kers. Other

than

that, it’s m

ostly reasonably priced

beer. You

can get a pint of local beer for

a little over one euro.

One com

plaint would be that the

sound can be a bit rough since it is, after all, a brew

ery basement, not a real

concert hall. How

ever, a little investment

in that area would solve that problem

.C

onsidering

that

Belgrade

has

all but ru

n out of decent concert h

alls and

clubs, w

ith legend

ary places like SK

C

and

Akadem

ija closing

down

, Su

bBeern

i C

enter is

a w

elcome

addition

to the fold for people w

ho enjoy live m

usic and

catching a concert

with

a cold beer in

hand

.

SubB

eerni C

entar

Ad

dress: C

etinjska 15P

hon

e: +381 61 14 20 299

The space is impressive, with alm

ost six-metre-high ceilings and concrete arches that look like they are holding everything in place.

Photo: Subeerni Centar/ FotoMrvica

Photo: Aleksa Vitorovic

Underground Sounds at SubB

eerni Centar

Ex-Bijelo D

ugm

e Star at Sava C

entar

On

e of the m

ost pop

ular sin

gers in th

is region

over the last several d

ecades, Zeljko B

ebek, w

ill be play

ing a sp

ecial concert at Sava C

en-

tar on Satu

rday, A

pril 21

st. Bebek is kn

own

best for bein

g the origin

al singer of B

ijelo D

ugm

e, one of th

e most fam

ed an

d p

opu

lar ex-Yu

goslav

rock band

s of all time. H

owever, h

e has been

just as su

c-cessfu

l as a solo artist. He w

ill be play

ing son

gs from h

is latest albu

m bu

t will, of cou

rse, be play

ing h

its from every

era of h

is 40-year career, an

d w

ill have to sin

g some B

ijelo D

ugm

e classics as well. T

ickets cost between

RSD

1900

(~EU

R 15) an

d 30

00

(~EUR

25) dep

end

ing on

seating.

Belgrade band

Gift

are known

for putting to-gether great tribute show

s to the late Da-

vid B

owie and

their singer, Joca Ajku

la, captu

res the spirit of Bow

ie wonderfu

lly. T

aking the tribute show to an

even h

igh-er level, G

ift h

as annou

nced th

at famed

Croatian

singer M

assimo Savic w

ill be joining them

on stage

on Frid

ay, April 20

th at the Bitef Art C

afe. Savic has

been com

pared to B

owie for m

uch

of his career, so it

seems fitting. H

e will be perform

ing as a special guest,

singing some of h

is favourite songs from

Bow

ie’s cata-logu

e. Tickets cost R

SD 10

00

(~EUR

9).

Massim

o Savic to Join

Bow

ie Tribute Sh

ow

Mod

ular Jou

rney P

arty C

elebrates First An

niversary

Modular Journey is a party series sup-

ported by the Modular Source booking

agency that has been bringing great DJs

to Serbia over the last year. The party

series is celebrating its first birthday at D

rugstore on Saturday, April 28

th, with

UK

artists Cleric and Stigmata, supported

by Miles N

itch from G

ermany and local

TK

NO

. Tickets cost R

SD 120

0 (~EU

R 10) at

the door.

Cu

tting-E

dge E

lectronic

Mu

sic in D

rugstore

A collaborative effort betw

een Drugstore,

the Dis-patch/plusplusplus initiative

and the Goethe-Institut in Belgrade is

bringing one of Germ

any’s most exciting

electronic music explorers to D

rugstore on A

pril 27th. Errorsm

ith from Berlin w

ill be supported by locals Jan N

emecek,

Feloneezy, SAU

D and bartleby. T

ickets cost R

SD 50

0 (~EU

R 4) at the door.

Brit-Pop Stars

Eva Brau

n P

lay in Zem

un

One of the m

ost popular Serbian pop-rock bands of the 1990

s, Eva Braun are playing Fest in Zem

un on 28 April for the

first time in 20

years. They are celebrat-

ing the release of Unplugged, their album

released 25 years ago. O

f course, the concert w

ill be all acoustic. Tickets cost

RSD

600

(~EUR

5) or RSD

800

(~EUR

7) on the day of the concert.

Kišobran

, Vatra U

nite for Joint Party

On Saturday, A

pril 21 st, two of the m

ost popular party collectives w

ill be joining forces w

hen Kisobran and Vatra throw

a joint party at D

rugstore. There w

ill be several stages w

ith DJs from

both of the collectives taking turns spinning all night. T

icket will cost R

SD 60

0 (~EU

R 5)

at the door.

Photo: Tomislav Peternek

Photo: Beta /Milan Obradovic

At the last M

ay Parade in Belgrade in 1985, M

arshal T

ito, the main figure at

all previous such events, had been dead for five years and the m

ilitary w

as desperate for nothing to go w

rong.

Milan

RA

DO

NJIC

Spring is the tim

e of new life aw

akening,

promises and

dream

s of the future, and

in

Socialist Yugoslavia, M

ay 1 was the

time to celebrate Intern

ational W

orkers’ D

ay, and also rem

ember V

ictory Day

ending the Second

World

War.

It was an

opportun

ity also to show off the

might of the Yu

goslav People’s Arm

y, JNA

, once the fou

rth m

ightiest military force in

Europe.

Apart from

marches of school ch

ildren

in Pioneer

un

iforms, w

ith red

carnation

s, a show of ach

ieve-m

ents of the Socialist economy and

displays

of Yugoslav Partisan

war ban

ners and m

ilitary h

ardware, all these events h

ad one th

ing in com

-m

on: they all started

at the mom

ent when

the A

rmy C

omm

ander-in-Ch

ief, Marsh

al Tito cam

e to the grand

stand.

LA

ST PA

RA

DE

IN B

EL

GR

AD

E

“I remem

ber the last May 1s Parade in

Belgrade

in 1985,” Tom

islav Peternek, legendary B

elgrade

photo reporter and d

istinguished

artist, recalls. M

arshal T

ito, the main

figure at all previou

s su

ch events, h

ad been

dead for five years and

the m

ilitary was desperate for noth

ing to go wrong

during the m

arch of arm

y and citizen

s throu

gh

the main

streets of Belgrade.

“We w

ere all invited to Yu

goslav Military G

uard

u

nit headqu

arters and right aw

ay some colonel

started speaking about all the th

ings we w

ere not allow

ed to do.

“It seemed

an end

less list of prohibition

s and all

the colleagues w

ere silent. He kept going on

, until I

interrupted

him

with

a question

: Do you

want th

is parade to be reported

in the m

edia or not?”

After a short, u

ncomfortable silence, the

colonel answ

ered sim

ply: “Yes.” Peternek then

explained th

at, in th

at case, the organisers needed

to create the cond

itions for photographers and

cameram

an to do their jobs and

make a grand-

stand from

wh

ich it w

as possible to shoot. And

they d

id.

DIF

FE

RE

NT

TIM

ES,

DIF

FE

RE

NT

MIN

DSE

T

“It was ju

st a completely d

ifferent time, and

a d

ifferent mind

set. Ru

les were strict but people in

ch

arge were still open

to hearing different opin-

ions, especially if they cam

e from profession

als w

hose authority and experience w

as valued

and

respected.”

A spirit of read

iness for collective effort was

visible in d

aily life, not only on

celebration d

ays, Peternek rem

embers.

“Parades were alw

ays a bit nervous and

tightly controlled

events, with

the organisers ru

nn

ing

Th

en an

d N

ow: M

ay 1 Parad

e

around

with

orders and in

struction

s all the time,

and there w

as never any excess or incidents. “But in everyday life people also used to do things

together of their own free w

ill. For example, they took

care of the buildings they lived in together. Today, in m

y own building, no one is ready to fix the light in

the hallway for m

onths, even though the bill [for the repair] w

as presented to all the tenants in advance.”Tod

ay, little remain

s of the tradition

of the May

1 celebrations in

Belgrade, or of the old

readiness

for collective action.

Celebration

s of Internation

al Workers D

ay are m

ainly reserved

for outdoor picnics, w

ith the

ever-ready barbecue.

The m

eaning of those red

carnation

s, and

remem

brance of the sacrifice made by C

hicago

workers on

May 1, 1886, are revisited

only in

schoolbooks and

in h

istory classes.

16 BELGRADE INSIGHT, Friday, April 20 - Thursday, May 3, 2018

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ARTS AND CULTURE

Opera, Ballet and ClassicalFRIDAY APRIL 20

• Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniel Raiskin (conductor), Aleksandar Gavrylyuk (piano), Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 8pm

SATURDAY APRIL 21

• 60th Anniversary of Second programme of Radio Belgrade, RTS Symphony Orchestra, Bojan Sudjic (conductor), Zeljko Lucic (bariton), Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 8pm

SUNDAY APRIL 22

• Kolarac Podium of Chamber Music Aleksandra Ristic (soprano), Ingrid Jankovic (piano), Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 11am

• Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra, Timothy Redmond (conductor), Matija Dedic (piano), Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 8pm

MONDAY APRIL 23

• Gilles Apap (violin), Duo Meduoteran (Srdjan Vukasinovic, accordion and Taylan Arikan, baglama), Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 8pm

• Marija Gluvakov-Medenica (piano), Andrija Blagojevic (clarinet), Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Knez Mihailova 35, 6pm

• Concert of Music School students Vatroslav Lisinski, Belgrade Cultural Centerm Knez Mihailova 6, 8pm

TUESDAY APRIL 24

• Music school “Davorin Jenko” Concert, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 8pm

• Ballet: The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 7.30pm

WEDNESDAY APRIL 25

• Pupils Violin Concert, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 6pm

• Opera: Cinderella (Rossini), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 7.30pm, Premiere Revival

THURSDAY APRIL 26

• Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Gabriel Feltz (conductor), Benjamin Schmid (solist), Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 8pm

• Ivan Jaric (cello), Natalija Mladenovic (piano), Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Knez Mihailova 35, 6pm

• Manlio Pinto (piano), City Assembly Hall, Dragoslava Jovanovica 2, 8pm

FRIDAY APRIL 27

• Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra, Gabriel Feltz (conductor), Benjamin Schmid (solist), Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 8pm

• Slovenian solo song – concert of classic music, Studentski Grad Cultural Center, Bulevar Zorana Djindjica 179, 8pm

• Testimony. Poetry. Language, Center for Cultural Decontamination, Bircaninova 21, 8pm

SATURDAY APRIL 28

• Small School of Bonton: How to Listen To The Concert/Chopin, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 11am

• Opera: Cinderella (Rossini), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 7.30pm

SUNDAY APRIL 29

• Kolarac Podium of Chamber Music, Piano duo, Snezana Nikolajevic & Vesna Krsic, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 11am

• Kostis Maraveyas, The Greek singer, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 8pm

• Ballet: Who is Singing Out There (Kostic), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 7.30pm

• Ballet: Annual concert of the Department of Contemporary Dance «Lui Davico», Bitef Theatre, Skver Mire Trailovic 1, 8pm

MONDAY APRIL 30

• Opera: Un Ballo in Maschera (Verdi), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 7pm

Exhibitions and EventsFRIDAY APRIL 20

• Exhibition: „On the Road“, Distruktura, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 7pm

• One Thousand and the Second Arabic Night Cycle, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 6pm

• Engagement for Social Change: Moving Beyond Resistance, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Kraljice Natalije 45, 9.30am

• Exhibition: Lalibela – Jorney in Jerusalim of Africa, Museum of African Art, Andre Nikolica 14, 10am

• Exhibition: Dusan B. Markovic, Gallery 73, Pozeska 83a, 10am

• Belgrade Photo Month, different locations, 1pm

• Finnish Film Week, Belgrade Cultural Center, Knez Mihailova 6, 7pm

• Exhibition: Magic Tree, National Gallery, Dositejeva 1, 7.30pm

• Exhibition: Precious Trash vol.1, Milos Tomic, New Moment Gallery, Hilandarska 14, 7.30pm

• Alice in WonderBand, Dorcol Platz, Dobracina 59b, 8pm

SATURDAY APRIL 21

• Poetry Live! The Evening of Gojko Djogo, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 7pm

• Engagement for Social Change: Moving Beyond Resistance, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Kraljice Natalije 45, 9.30am

• Exhibition: Artterror - Fragments of Duality, Podroom Gallery, Trg Republike 5, 12pm

• Exhibition: The Art of Observation, Artget Gallery, Knez Mihailova 31, 12pm

• Exhibition: Natasa Teofilovic, Belgrade Cultural Center, Knez Mihailova 6, 12pm

• Exhibition: Ivana Knezevic, Art Gallery Gastro Bar 20/44, Skadarska 40b, 6pm

SUNDAY APRIL 22

• Vinil Stock Market, Dom Omladine, Makedonska 22, 10am

• Exhibition: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda: 1937 – 1939, Museum of African Art, Andre Nikolica 14, 11am

• 3rd International Symposium of Aromatherapy, Hotel Moskva, Terazije 20, 9am

• The Cycle of the Israeli Film, Grad Cultural Center, Brace Krsmanovica 4, 6pm

MONDAY APRIL 23

• Cycle: Partner Relation in Marriage, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 7.30pm

• Cycle: Public Health Problems in Serbia, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Knez Mihailova 35, 9am

• World Book Day, Belgrade City Library, Knez Mihailova 56, 12pm

• Lecture cycle: 150 years since the birth of Mihailo Petrovic Alas, Museum of Science and Technology, Skenderbegova 51, 6pm

• Delicatessen Monday, Grad Cultural Center, Brace Krsmanovica 4, 7pm

• Conference of the Fantasy Fans Society "Lazar Komarcic", Dom Omladine, Makedonska 22, 7pm

TUESDAY APRIL 24

• Book Promotion: The Return to the Story, Putting Spell-Bound and Meddling the Story, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 7.30pm

• Jazz portraits: Stephane Grappelli, Studentski Grad Cultural Center, Bulevar Zorana Djindjica 179, 7pm

WEDNESDAY APRIL 25

• Conversation about Zoran Radovanovic’s book VARIOLA - a virus, an epidemic, people, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 7.30pm

• Periodization of new Serbian literature - a scientific gathering, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Pavle Popovic, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Knez Mihailova 35, 10am

• Meetings with creators - masterclass: Dusan Vujovic, Minister of Finance in the Government of RS, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Knez Mihailova 35, 6pm

• DNA Day, Belgrade City Library, Knez Mihailova 56, 6pm

• Comic Books for Everyone, Dom Omladine, Makedosnak 22, 6pm

• Ethnological Movies, Manak’s House, Gavrila Principa 5, 7pm

• Exhibition of Contemporary Russian photography, Gallery Kvaka 22, Ruzveltova 39, 7pm

• Language learning through culture: Bollywood, Grad Cultural Center, Brace Krsmanovica 4, 8pm

THURSDAY APRIL 26

• Cycle: Our Scientists in the World – Mental Health and Digital Technologies, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 7.30pm

• Summit of Immunology 2018, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Knez Mihailova 35, 9am

• Silk Sea Route from South China to East Africa, Belgrade City Library, Knez Mihailova 56, 7pm

• Catholic society - culture, institutions, development, politics, Dom Omladine, Makedonska 22, 7pm

• Book Cafe: World Book Day - Prometheus 2.1, Goethe-Institut Belgrade, Knez Mihailova 50, 8pm

FRIDAY APRIL 27

• Conversation about The Autobiography of Mihajlo Pupin – From Immigrant to an Inventor, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 12pm

• Cycle: Our Scientists in the World – Creativity and Psychotherapy: Sergei Rachmaninoff and Gustav Mahler Patients, Ilija M. Kolarac Endowment, Studentski trg 5, 6pm

• Risk assessment of water shortages in Serbia, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Knez Mihailova 35, 12pm

• Book presentation «Serbian national interest», Belgrade City Library, Knez Mihailova 56, 12pm

• 100 years since the death of Gavrilo Princip, Belgrade City Library, Knez Mihailova 56, 1pm

SATURDAY APRIL 28

• FABelgrade 2018, Dom Omladine, Makedonska 22, 10am

SUNDAY APRIL 29

• Exhibition: Figurae Feminae, Katarina Nedeljkovic, NLB Gallery, Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 165v, 3pm

MONDAY APRIL 30

• Conference of the Fantasy Fans Society "Lazar Komarcic", Dom Omladine, Makedonska 22, 7pm

TUESDAY MAY 01

• Belgrade Tango Encuentro, Theatre 78, Resavska 78, 9pm

• Exhibition: Milica Colic, Rodoljub Colakovic, Art Gallery Colakovic, Rodoljuba Colakovica 2, 5pm

WEDNESDAY MAY 02

• Belgrade Tango Encuentro, Belgrade Fair, Bulevar Vojvode Misisca 14, 10pm

• Exhibition: Ivana Knezevic, Art Gallery Beti Ford, Zetska 2, 7pm

THURSDAY MAY 03

• Belgrade Tango Encuentro, Belgrade Fair, Bulevar Vojvode Misisca 14, 2pm

TheatreFRIDAY APRIL 20

• Ivanov (Chekov), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 8.30pm

• The Nineties (Milenkovic), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 8.30pm

• The Imaginary Invalid (Moliere), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8pm

• Till Death Do Us Part (Furlan), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8.30pm

SATURDAY APRIL 21

• Kir Janja (Sterija), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 7.30pm

• The Sexual Neuroses of our Parents (Barfuss), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 8.30pm

• A Month in the Country (Turgenev), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8pm

SUNDAY APRIL 22

• Einstein’s Dreams (Lightman), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8pm

MONDAY APRIL 23

• Death and the Dervish (Selimovic), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 7.30pm

• Serbian Laika (Jugovic), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 8.30pm

• King of Betajnova (Cankar), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8pm

TUESDAY APRIL 24

• The House of Bernarda Alba (Lorca), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 8.30pm

• A Month in the Country (Turgenev), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8pm

WEDNESDAY APRIL 25

• A Profitable Position (Ostrovsky), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8pm

THURSDAY APRIL 26

• Small Marital Crimes (Schmitt), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 8.30pm

• Betrayal (Pinter), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8pm

FRIDAY APRIL 27

• The Minister’s Wife (Nusic), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 7.30pm

• The Liar and Archiliar (Sterija), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 8.30pm

• Free Exchange Hotel (Feydeau), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8pm

• Marx in Soho (Zin), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8.30pm

SATURDAY APRIL 28

• Einstein’s Dreams (Lightman), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8pm

• Marx in Soho (Zin), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8.30pm

SUNDAY APRIL 29

• Frankie and Johnny (McNally), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 8.30pm

• Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Fo), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8pm

• Till Death Do Us Part (Furlan), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8.30pm

MONDAY APRIL 30

• The Blacksmiths (Nikolic), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 8.30pm

• Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Fo), Yugoslav Drama Theatre, Kralja Milana 50, 8pm

THURSDAY MAY 03

• The Great Drama (Kovacevic), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 7.30pm

• The Folk Play (Dimitrijevic), National Theatre in Belgrade, Francuska 3, 8.30pm