Krulj: Vucic shows determination, responsibility to country

BELGRADE - Advisor of the Serbian minister for EU integration Vladimir Krulj stated on Friday that his first impression is that Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic demonstrated great determination and responsibility to the country when presenting the reform measures to the public, although some of these are likely to be interpreted as unpopular.

Krulj told Tanjug that the effects of the measures should be expected in the long-run, i.e. not just the possibility for them to produce results in two or three years, but also in terms of the sustainability of the results.

He reminded that Serbia is about to conduct the talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concerning a new arrangement.

The said measures have both a political and a social aspect, and the burden of the reforms has to be distributed through the lowest possible salary and pension cuts so that it would be seen as sustainable in the talks with the IMF, Krulj said.

The purpose of the package is to make sure that the measures are realised and also to ensure a sustainable development in the country in the years to come, Krulj told Tanjug and stated that the measures proposed by the prime minister would be easier to implement in the course of four or five years.

Krulj noted that Vucic mentioned a very important data late on Thursday, according to which Serbia's public debt in the period 2008-2012 practically doubled, but after a long while, political will was finally demonstrated not to allow this tendency to continue.

It is very important that VAT was not upped in order to increase budget revenues although this was possible, which means that the authorities are paying attention to the continuation of sustainable growth in Serbia, he...