Serbian Minister Accused of Turning Troops Into Waiters

Serbian opposition parties have slated the Defence Minister, Bratislav Gasic, for allowing a local authority to use soldiers to serve alcoholic drinks - rakija [fruit brandy] and boiled wine - at a pop concert in the minister's home town of Krusevac on December 31.

The event was a concert by the popular folk singer Svetlana "Ceca" Raznatovic.

Opposition party members accused Gasic of turning the military into waiters.

The soldiers came from the nearby military barracks and were employed to serve the drinks, according to the ministry, as the local authorities lacked any other capacities. The troops also did the job for free.

Janko Veselinovic, from the Movement for Turnaround party, said that soldiers were "not here to serve wine and rakija but to defend Serbia if needed.

"The armed forces and its members - who are paid by the state or are serving the military voluntarily - have been misused and so to speak privatized," Veselinovic claimed.

Sanda Raskovic Ivic, from the Democratic Party of Serbia, DSS, said the decision was inappropriate and showed the minister's "complete arrogance.

"It shows that ministers have lost all sense of behaviour and think they can do whatever they want," Raskovic Ivic said.

Before becoming a minister, Gasic, a member of the ruling Progressive Party, was mayor of Krusevac.

Reacting to the furore, the Krusevac authorities said they had asked Gasic to employ soldiers in this way in a written request and that he had approved the idea.

The Defence Ministry told the Belgrade daily Kurir that it simply responded to the request of the Krusevac authorities, and saw nothing wrong in the move.

"This has been done long before Gasic [became minister] and will also be done in the...