As a certified internal auditor, I've learned that numbers often reveal what political messages try to hide. That's why when I observe today Beograd, I don't just look at what is being said. I look at what has been done. More importantly, I look at what is not done.
And what I see leads me to the conclusion that Aleksandar Šapić for a long time now, he has been acting less like the mayor of Belgrade, and more like a politician who is building a platform for a future candidacy for the president of Serbia.
Politically profitable moves
Almost all the most significant moves of his administration have a common denominator - they are designed to be popular, easy to understand and politically profitable at the national level.
Free transportation. Free textbooks. Free kindergartens. Personal conferences for the media as a basic model of communication.
These are all moves that contribute to political popularity. However, serious city management is not measured by the number of applauses, but by the number of solved problems. And that's where the problem begins.
I am not criticizing free textbooks, kindergartens or transportation. On the contrary. Any measure that makes life easier for citizens can be good if it is part of a serious and sustainable development policy. The problem arises when such measures become a substitute for development policy.
Substitute for development policy
Cities are not developed with subsidies. They develop with infrastructure. They are not developed by press conferences. They are developed with sewerage, wastewater treatment plants, efficient public transportation and long-term planning.
When populist measures become a substitute for development policy, the city begins to spend its future to buy political popularity in the present. And that's exactly what we see today in Belgrade.
Belgrade still does not have a factory for processing waste water. Large parts of the city still do not have a sewage network. Traffic jams are getting bigger. Public transport has not become faster or more reliable. Air pollution remains one of the biggest problems of citizens. In other words, the problems that determine the quality of life of almost two million people have not been solved.
There is one important rule in auditing: if problems persist for years, and more and more money is spent, then the problems are usually not funds but priorities.
And the priorities of the current city government are becoming more and more visible.
According to available data, the city's public enterprises owe more than 25 billion dinars. At the same time, the new debt of the City of Belgrade is being prepared, while the public does not have complete information about its amount, conditions and final price.
This is the reason why the story of free measures deserves a serious public debate. Because nothing is free in the economy. There are only costs that are seen immediately and those that come later.
Wrong and right question
That is why the wrong question is whether these measures are popular. Of course they are. The real question is whether they are sustainable.
Is there a plan behind them. Do they leave the city stronger or do they leave it more indebted. Are they creating new value or just producing political popularity.
When all the moves of the city government are viewed together, it is difficult to avoid the impression that Belgrade has become a tool for political promotion. As if it is more important how a decision looks in the evening diary than what consequences it will have in ten years.
Every politician has the right to ambitions. And Aleksandar Šapić has the right to think about the presidential candidacy. But he has no right to turn Belgrade into a springboard for realizing those ambitions. Because the city is not a campaign. The city is not a billboard. The city is not a political project.
The city is a responsibility. And responsibility is not measured by slogans. Responsibility is measured by what remains when the cameras are turned off.
As an auditor, I have learned that sooner or later any error appears on the balance sheet.
As a citizen of Belgrade, I am afraid that debts, missed investments and unresolved problems will remain with the citizens of Belgrade. As always.
Because bills never stay with politicians.
The author is an authorized internal auditor in the public sector and the executive director of the Belgrade on the Move organization
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