Milan Krkobabić

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Milan Krkobabić
Милан Кркобабић
File:Milan Krkobabic-mc.rs (cropped).jpg
Leader of the Party of United Pensioners, Farmers, and Proletarians of Serbia – Solidarity and Justice
Assumed office
June 2014
Preceded by Jovan Krkobabić
Minister of Rural Welfare
Assumed office
28 October 2020
Prime Minister Ana Brnabić
Preceded by office established
Minister without portfolio
in charge of Regional development
In office
11 August 2016 – 28 October 2020
Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić
Ivica Dačić (Acting)
Ana Brnabić
Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia
Assumed office
1 August 2022
In office
3 August 2020 – 26 October 2020
In office
31 May 2012 – 11 August 2016
Director of Pošta Srbije
In office
2012–2016
Preceded by Goran Ćirić
Succeeded by Mira Petrović (Acting)
Deputy Mayor of Belgrade
In office
19 August 2008 – 12 June 2012
Preceded by position vacant, previously Radmila Hrustanović
Succeeded by Tatjana Pešić
Member of the City Assembly of Belgrade
In office
23 April 2014 – 28 May 2014
In office
12 June 2012 – 18 November 2013
In office
14 July 2008 – 19 August 2008
Personal details
Born (1952-10-12) 12 October 1952 (age 71)
Kačarevo, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia
Nationality Serbian
Political party PUPS
Children Stefan Krkobabić
Parents Jovan Krkobabić
Alma mater University of Belgrade

Milan Krkobabić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милан Кркобабић; born 12 October 1952) is a Serbian politician. He has been a minister in the government of Serbia since 2016 and currently serves as Minister of Rural Welfare.

Krkobabić became leader of the Party of United Pensioners of Serbia (Partija ujedinjenih penzionera Srbije, PUPS) in 2014. In June 2022, the party changed its name to the Party of United Pensioners, Farmers, and Proletarians of Serbia – Solidarity and Justice (Partija ujedinjenih penzionera, poljoprivrednika i proletera Srbije – solidarnost i pravda, PUPS – solidarnost i pravda).[1]

Early life and career

Krkobabić was born in Kačarevo, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He later moved with his family to Belgrade, where he completed high school and graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics. He has thirty years of experience in the financial sector.[2]

His father, Jovan Krkobabić, was the founder and first leader of the PUPS.

Political career

Krkobabić joined the PUPS on its formation in 2005. The party contested the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election on a combined electoral list with the Social Democratic Party (Socijaldemokratska partija, SDP), and Krkobabić was included in the 105th position.[3] The list did not cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.

City of Belgrade

The PUPS formed an alliance with the Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS) prior to the 2008 parliamentary election. Krkobabić was not a candidate at the republic level but instead received the second position on the SPS-led list in the concurrent 2008 Belgrade City Assembly election. The list won six seats, and he was granted a mandate in the city assembly.[4][5] Neither the republic nor the Belgrade city elections produced a clear winner, and representatives of the Socialist Party, the far-right Serbian Radical Party (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS), and the Democratic Party of Serbia (Demokratska stranka Srbije, DSS) discussed forming coalition governments at both levels. Krkobabić said that this arrangement would be acceptable to the PUPS, as it would ensure the passage of parts of the party's program.[6]

Discussions among these parties subsequently broke down, and the Socialists instead formed coalition governments at both levels with the For a European Serbia alliance led by the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS). The PUPS participated in the new governments, and Krkobabić indicated that his party would use its influence to fight for a pension increase and resist any efforts to impose neoliberal reforms.[7] He himself became Belgrade's deputy mayor, serving under Dragan Đilas.[8]

In October 2009, Krkobabić and Russian ambassador Aleksandr Konuzin inaugurated a statue of Alexander Pushkin in the centre of Belgrade, not far from the statues of Cyril and Methodius and Vuk Karadžić.[9]

Krkobabić later defended the city's decision to erect a statue of former Azerbaijani president Heydar Aliyev in Tašmajdan Park, a space that the government of Azerbaijan had donated two million Euros to renovate after extensive damage in the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The statue attracted controversy due to the Azerbaijani president's human rights record while in office. Krkobabić stated in response, "Our principle was not to be policemen and to investigate what was done in the past because we would not have time for that. Our principle was to draw a line and to move forward. In these hard times, we are trying to accept every act of goodwill by various countries and to use them for the benefit of the citizens of Belgrade."[10]

National Assembly and Pošta Srbije

The PUPS maintained its alliance with the Socialist Party for the 2012 Serbian parliamentary election. Krkobabić was a spokesperson for his party in this campaign, highlighting its promise to protect and improve pensions.[11] He was given the thirteenth position on the SPS-led list and was elected to his first term in the national assembly when the list won forty-four mandates.[12] He also received the second position on the Socialist-led list in the concurrent 2012 Belgrade election and was re-elected when the list won thirteen seats.[13] He served in both assemblies under a dual mandate.

The Socialist Party formed a new coalition government with the Serbian Progressive Party (Srpska napredna stranka, SNS) and other parties at the republic level after the 2012 election. The PUPS was included in the coalition, and Krkobabić served as part of the government's parliamentary majority. He led the PUPS group in the assembly and was chosen as a party vice-president. He was also appointed as director of the state-owned corporation Pošta Srbije.

He announced plans to privatize certain entities owned by the corporation, including Telekom Srbija and the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport, in November 2012.[14][15] Shortly thereafter, he said that the corporation itself would not be privatized but would seek to acquire assets in other Balkan states.[16] Krkobabić was quoted as saying, "We will not repeat the experiences from the neighbouring countries. This system will strengthen, it will be profitable, fill the budget and create new jobs. We put an end to all attempts to sell, sell off, and disintegrate the system."[17] In the same period, he announced that the corporation would focus on completing a number of capital investment projects, including a central postal hub in Belgrade.[18] He announced in July 2013 that the corporation had tripled its net income in the first six months of the year.[19]

Despite its alliance with the Socialists and Progressives at the republic level, the PUPS continued to work in a coalition government with the DS in Belgrade. Krkobabić's term as deputy mayor ended in June 2012, but he initially continued to support Đilas's administration at the city level and opposed the SNS's efforts to change the government.[20][21] In November 2012, he was a guest at the Democratic Party convention that elected Đilas as the party's new leader.[22] This alliance ultimately did not last, however, and in September 2013 Krkobabić and the PUPS withdrew their support for Đilas in a crucial vote of non-confidence.[23] Đilas lost his assembly majority and resigned as mayor. These events led to new elections in both Belgrade and Serbia as a whole in early 2014.

Krkobabić was promoted to the second position on the Socialist-led list in the republic election.[24] During the campaign, he said that Serbian politics had become marked by "a split between the left and the right, where the left is working for the people, and the right-wing is lining its pockets." Progressive Party leader Aleksandar Vučić responded to this by remarking, "if that's the way to look at it, Krkobabić belongs to the extreme right-wing."[25] The Socialist list again won forty-four mandates, and Krkobabić was elected to a second term. The Progressive Party and its allies won a majority victory overall. Following the election, the Progressives formed a new coalition government that once again included the Socialists. The PUPS did not participate directly in government but provided outside support; notwithstanding his exchange with Vučić in the campaign, Krkobabić supported the latter's administration in the assembly. He was a member of the assembly's committee on administrative, budgetary, mandate, and immunity issues[26] and also continued to serve as Pošta Srbije director.

Krkobabić also received the second position on the Socialist-led list in the 2014 Belgrade campaign.[27] He was re-elected when the list won sixteen seats, although on this occasion he resigned his city mandate shortly thereafter.[28][29]

Party leader

Jovan Krkobabić died in April 2014, and Milan was formally designated as his successor as PUPS leader in June of the same year.

In July 2014, he indicated that the PUPS would support two contentious bills dealing with changes to labour law and pension and disability insurance; he justified this decision on the basis that the reforms, "[did] not affect the existing pensioners."[30] He argued in support of direct payouts to Pošta Srbije workers in October of the same year, saying that the workers should receive a percentage of the corporation's profits.[31]

Vučić and Krkobabić opened Pošta Srbije's central Belgrade hub on 9 October 2014.[32] The corporation continued to earn net profits through 2015, and Krkobabić again opposed calls for its privatization.[33][34][35][36] In October 2015, he noted that Toshiba had expressed interest in pairing with Pošta Srbije for investments in Russia.[37] The following year, he and Rasim Ljajić, Serbia's minister of trade, tourism, and telecommunications, signed a collective agreement with Pošta Srbije workers that, among other things, confirmed their right to a share of the profits.[38]

In May 2016, he announced that Pošta Srbije would set up a commercial bank.[39]

Government minister

The PUPS ended its electoral alliance with the Socialist Party and formed a new partnership with the Progressives for the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election. Krkobabić received the fourth position on the SNS-led list and was re-elected when it won a second consecutive majority with 131 out of 250 mandates.[40] On 11 August 2016, he was appointed as a minister without portfolio in Vučić's administration, in charge of regional development.[41] After this appointment, he stood down as director of Pošta Srbije.[42] He was later given additional responsibilities as chair of Serbia's council for coordination of activities and measures for gross domestic product (GDP) growth."[43]

Krkobabić was reaffirmed in his ministerial role after Ana Brnabić replaced Vučić as prime minister of Serbia in June 2017.[44] Shortly after this, he announced a significant government investment in agricultural co-operatives as a means of ensuring that younger people could choose to remain in rural settings.[45][46] In January 2018, he announced that 250 co-operatives had thus far been created under his government's supervision.[47][48] Two years later, he said that the number had increased to 722.[49] Krkobabić has described cooperatives as the greatest opportunity for the survival of Serbia's family farms.[50]

The PUPS continued its alliance with the Progressive Party in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election. Krkobabić received the twenty-fourth position on the Progressive-led electoral list and was again elected to the assembly when the list won a landslide victory with 188 seats.[51] (His son Stefan Krkobabić was also elected as a PUPS member.) He was promoted to a full cabinet portfolio in October 2020 as Serbia's first minister for rural welfare.[52] Following the appointment, he indicated that one of his priorities would be organizing the transfer of uncultivated state land to young farmers and young experts.[53] In April 2021, he spoke in favour of creating a "green ring" around Belgrade to supply fresh and healthy food products to Belgrade and other Serbian cities. At the same time, he announced a program for allocating empty houses, of which he indicated there were around 150,000 in Serbia.[54] In January 2022, he announced that half a billion dollars would be allocated for the purchase of another five hundred houses.[55]

Krkbabić received the thirty-fifth position on the SNS-led list in the 2022 Serbian parliamentary election and was re-elected when the list won a plurality victory with 120 mandates.[56]

References

  1. ↑ "PUPS promenio ime", Danas, 21 June 2022, accessed 24 June 2022.
  2. ↑ MILAN KRKOBABIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 26 July 2018.
  3. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (9 Партија уједињених пензионера Србије (ПУПС) - Др Јован Кркобабић и Социјалдемократска партија (СДП) - Др Небојша Човић), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 15 May 2022.
  4. ↑ Službeni list, City of Belgrade, 30 April 2008, p. 7; and Službeni list, City of Belgrade, 15 July 2008.
  5. ↑ For the 2008 local elections, all mandates were assigned to candidates on successful lists at the discretion of the sponsoring parties or coalitions. See Law on Local Elections (2007), Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 129/2007); made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 29 May 2021. Krkobabić did not automatically receive a mandate by virtue of his position, though he was given an assembly mandate all the same. Serbia's electoral laws were reformed in 2011, such that mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order.
  6. ↑ "Serbian Radicals, Socialists and PM's party sign deal on Belgrade," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 28 May 2008 (Source: Studio B TV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1100gmt 28 May 08).
  7. ↑ Ivana Sekularac, "Next Serbia government to juggle reform, welfare," Reuters News, 24 June 2008.
  8. ↑ "Belgrade gets new mayor from pro-Western party," Agence France Presse, 19 August 2008.
  9. ↑ "SERBIA-RUSSIA: BELGRADO, STATUA PUSHKIN PER VISITA MEDVEDEV," ANSA - Foreign Affairs News Service, 19 October 2009.
  10. ↑ "Serbian Capital To Erect Statue Of Former Azerbaijani President," Radio Free Europe Documents and Publications, 26 March 2011.
  11. ↑ "Serbian TV views election campaigns of parties, coalitions," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 19 April 2012 (Source: RTS 1 TV, Belgrade, in Serbian 1730 gmt 17 Apr 12).
  12. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (7 ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ - "СОЦИЈАЛИСТИЧКА ПАРТИЈА СРБИЈЕ (СПС), ПАРТИЈА УЈЕДИЊЕНИХ ПЕНЗИОНЕРА СРБИЈЕ (ПУПС), ЈЕДИНСТВЕНА СРБИЈА (ЈС)"), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 17 February 2017.
  13. ↑ Službeni list, City of Belgrade, 25 April 2012, p. 13; Službeni list, City of Belgrade, 25 May 2012, p. 3.
  14. ↑ "Buyers sought for Telekom and Belgrade airport Nikola Tesla," Emerging Markets Broker Reports Central Eastern Europe, 6 November 2012.
  15. ↑ "AERO: Privatization of Belgrade Airport possible next year?", Emerging Markets Broker Reports Central Eastern Europe, 6 November 2012.
  16. ↑ "Serbian postal carrier eyes regional peers for acquisition – media," SeeNews - The Corporate Wire, 8 February 2013. See also "Serbia: Poste Srbije's Director reveals expansion plans," Esmerk Eastern European News, 16 October 2014, and "Serbia: Posta Srbije on potential cooperation with several foreign firms," Esmerk Eastern European News, 19 March 2015.
  17. ↑ "Sinteza - Daily Overview, Top Business Stories, Feb 11, 2013," Emerging Markets Broker Reports Central Eastern Europe, 11 February 2013.
  18. ↑ "Posta Srbije plans to invest over 4.0 bln dinars (36 mln euro) in 2013 - media," SeeNews - The Corporate Wire, 31 December 2012.
  19. ↑ "Sinteza - Daily Overview, Top Business Stories, Jul 18, 2013," Emerging Markets Broker Reports Central Eastern Europe, 18 July 2013. He made a similar announcement in a report on the first nine months of the year in October 2013. See "Posta Srbije earns 21.6 mln euro in 9-mo net profit," Emerging Markets Broker Reports Central Eastern Europe, 10 October 2013.
  20. ↑ "Serbian Progressives seen 'tightening grip' on Belgrade mayor," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 12 November 2012 (Source: Vecernje novosti website, Belgrade, in Serbian 8 Nov 12).
  21. ↑ "Serbian parties plan strategies to win capital mayoral vote - paper," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 24 September 2013 (Source: Blic website, Belgrade, in Serbian 0000 gmt 22 Sep 13).
  22. ↑ "New leader vows to reform opposition party, draft plan for Serbia's recovery," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 26 November 2012 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 26 Nov 12).
  23. ↑ "Mayor blames 'political deal' for his sacking" Archived 2018-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, B92, 24 September 2013, accessed 27 July 2018.
  24. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (2 ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ - "Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), Партија уједињених пензионера Србије (ПУПС), Јединствена Србија (ЈС)"), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 21 August 2021.
  25. ↑ "Serbian ruling party leader says 16 March election 'dead-heat race'," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 13 March 2014 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 13 Mar 14).
  26. ↑ MILAN KRKOBABIC, Archived 2014-12-31 at the Wayback Machine, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 27 May 2022.
  27. ↑ Изборне листе (2. ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ – Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), Партија уједињених пензионера Србије (ПУПС), Јединствена Србија (ЈС) – Милан Кркобабић) Archived 2018-07-28 at the Wayback Machine (2014), City of Belgrade, accessed 27 July 2018.
  28. ↑ Bojan Cvejić, "Đilas i Krkobabić idu iz Skupštine grada" Archived 2018-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, Danas, 15 May 2014, accessed 27 July 2018.
  29. ↑ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 58 Number 44 (28 May 2014), p. 1.
  30. ↑ "Two main union associations announce members' all-out strike, as parliament starts debating bills on changes to labor, pension insurance law," Emerging Markets Broker Reports Central Eastern Europe, 16 July 2014.
  31. ↑ "Serbia: Posta Srbije requests payouts of RSD 35,000 per worker," Esmerk Eastern European News, 1 October 2014.
  32. ↑ "Serbia: New regional postal and logistics centre Belgrade opens," Esmerk Eastern European News, 9 October 2014.
  33. ↑ "Serbia: Poste Srbije's Director says company to be excluded from privatisation," Esmerk Eastern European News, 11 November 2014.
  34. ↑ "Serbia: Posta Srbije posts results for Q1 of 2015," Esmerk Eastern European News, 1 May 2015.
  35. ↑ "Serbia: Posta Srbije posts higher profit in first five months of 2015," Esmerk Eastern European News, 30 June 2015.
  36. ↑ "Posta Srbije sees 2015 net profit at over 30 mln euro," SeeNews - The Corporate Wire, 8 December 2015.
  37. ↑ "Serbia: Toshiba shows interest for cooperation with National Post," Esmerk Russian News, 9 October 2015.
  38. ↑ "Serbia: Collective Bargaining signed in Poste Srbije," Esmerk Eastern European News, 9 March 2016.
  39. ↑ "Serbia's state-owned postal operator plans to set up bank," SeeNews - The Corporate Wire, 5 May 2016.
  40. ↑ Избори за народне посланике 2016. године – Изборне листе (1 АЛЕКСАНДАР ВУЧИЋ - СРБИЈА ПОБЕЂУЈЕ), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 17 February 2017.
  41. ↑ Nemanja Cabric, "Backgrounder: Makeup of Serbia's new cabinet," Xinhua News Agency, 11 August 2016.
  42. ↑ "Serbia: Posta Srbije dismissed Director," Esmerk Eastern European News, 18 August 2016.
  43. ↑ "Council for Coordination of Activities and Measures for GDP Growth founded," Emerging Markets Broker Reports Central Eastern Europe, 16 January 2017.
  44. ↑ Nemanja Cabric, "Backgrounder: Makeup of Serbia's new cabinet," Xinhua News Agency, 29 June 2017.
  45. ↑ "Serbia: Gov't secures EUR 25mn for new co-operatives," Esmerk Eastern European News, 5 July 2017. See also "Krkobabić: Zadruge - imperativ opstanka sela u regionu", Blic (Source: Tanjug), 23 November 2017, accessed 7 July 2020.
  46. ↑ "il caso; Aiuti alle giovani coppie per trasferirsi nei campi," Il Piccolo, 2 August 2017.
  47. ↑ "Vlada će ove godine izdvojiti 825 miliona dinara za zadruge", Blic (Source: Tanjug), 24 January 2018, accessed 7 July 2020.
  48. ↑ "Krkobabić: Formirano 250 zadruga za godinu dana", Blic (Source: Tanjug), 4 July 2018, accessed 7 July 2020.
  49. ↑ "Krkobabić: Dok je zadruga i zadrugara Srbija ne treba da brine", Danas, 3 July 2020, accessed 7 July 2020.
  50. ↑ "Krkobabić: Šansa za opstanak gazdinstava je u zadrugarstvu", Danas, 1 February 2022, accessed 19 April 2022.
  51. ↑ "Ko je sve na listi SNS za republičke poslanike?", Danas, 6 March 2020, accessed 30 June 2020.
  52. ↑ Milan Krkobabic – Minister of Rural Welfare, The Government of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 8 December 2020.
  53. ↑ "Milan Krkobabić u Intervjuu petkom: 'Zadatak nam je da mladi iz sela ne idu na čuku da hvataju signal za internet'", Danas, 30 October 2020, accessed 8 December 2020.
  54. ↑ "Krkobabić: Zalažem se za jak zeleni prsten oko Beograda", Danas, 7 April 2021, accessed 29 April 2021.
  55. ↑ "Krkobabić: Pola milijarde dinara za još 500 kuća u selima Srbije", Danas, 21 January 2022, accessed 19 April 2022.
  56. ↑ "Ko su kandidati SNS za narodne poslanike?", Danas, 17 February 2022, accessed 17 April 2022.
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Milan_Krkobabić&oldid=726520537"