Stefan Simic, councilor Movement of free citizens in the Assembly of the City of Belgrade, he recently received an invitation from the Secretariat for Inspection, Supervision and Communications because, as the inspector explained to him, they had received several complaints because he was pasting yellow scotch tape on the curbs around roundabouts in the center. By the way, those curbs act as deliberately placed traps - cyclists, due to their color and dimensions, mistook them for street markings and then fell over them.
Belgrade, by the way, seems like a seriously ill city - a lot of things don't work, many answers can't even be found, and Chaciland just spreads. Belgraders often meet Simić both at protests and through his attempts to deal with everyday problems.
We discuss the state of the capital, the price of free transportation, what the citizens of Belgrade will find in the future, as well as the elections.
"WEATHER" The SAI sent a request for the removal of Mayor Šapić. Does it have any real consequences?
STEFAN SIMIĆ: It is not the first time that the SAI has announced itself on such issues and that there is no mechanism that can, for example, lead to the removal of the mayor. There were similar examples in the past without an epilogue. This report has no real consequences for the mayor. And there are so many examples of crime and corruption in Belgrade that the smallest problem is that the coefficient for workers in culture and preschool institutions is not well calculated. The workers in these areas are hostages of the conflict within the SNS, because the Government should pass a decree on increasing the coefficient, but it is not doing so.
And we clearly saw that conflict at Šapić's press conference, where he waged war against all former mayors, especially Sinisa Malog, on this very issue. Siniša Mali is illegally and unconstitutionally a councilor in the Belgrade Assembly, because only a councilor can become mayor, and Mali is there to be ready to take Šapić's chair at any moment. This, of course, annoys Šapić and that's why his reaction is like that - instead of explaining how the problem with the DRI will be solved, he accuses them, in his arrogant way, of tolerating the previous mayors, and they are demanding his removal. Complete chaos and autocracy.
To focus on what you consider most important - What are Belgrade's problems??
Unfortunately, many. If he were to list them all, it would take time. The first step after the change of government must be to draw a line and see what the state of the city coffers is. Now there is a deficit of 200 million euros. And a serious problem of non-transparency. Here is an example: we have projects like "Security of Belgrade" which is covered by a veil of secrecy. Then they say it's for the safety of the children. No one is against the safety of children, on the contrary. From a good idea, doubts arise because everything is non-transparent - who are the people who are employed, what are their qualifications, how does the surveillance system work, where are the recordings stored, is there room for abuse? We don't know any of that, even though we ask questions every day.
Furthermore, Belgrade does not have a wastewater treatment plant. The largest city of the Western Balkans discharges all its feces into the Danube and the Sava. After more than a decade of SNS-SPS rule, we have one less bridge, another one is not even in sight. Reconstruction of the streets takes forever. The mayor announces a new bridge in a year and a half, and Teodora Dreiser Street was reconstructed in 11 months.
Where are the sewers in each part of the city? Subway? Basic things they are not able to implement. They push money into useless projects that have no importance for the city, but through them it is easy to get money into private pockets.
There is no work plan, neither short-term, nor medium-term, let alone long-term. To know what, when and how we work, to develop in a planned manner and to make the life of the citizens of Belgrade better. Since they don't, the Free Citizens Movement is constantly on the campaign trail where we clearly tell people on the ground what it would look like if we were to take over the leadership of the city.
Related to problems, what is the price of free public transport?
City transport is not free, but it is far overpaid because that service was awarded to companies in direct connection with SNS, at a tender where there were no other bidders and at a price that many times exceeds the real one. And we all pay for that free transportation, through the ever more expensive Infostan, never higher taxes, never worse communal services and all the unrenovated kindergartens and schools.
Therefore, that "free" public transport is the gravedigger of Belgrade's finances. The last assembly brought a new price increase and now city transport costs us an incredible 50 billion per year. For that money, the buses should be golden. And the more money is given to public transport, the worse it gets.
In addition to public transport, it is necessary to invest in the reconstruction and expansion of the tram network. When we don't already have a metro, a tram has to reach every part of the city. In addition, a railway around Belgrade is needed. Substances dangerous to us still pass through the center.
Once there is a change of government, what will await all the citizens of Belgrade? Do we even know that??
I have already said that after the shift, the citizens must be presented with a complete document - this is what we found, there is no foiling. People will look for an instant result, which is natural and normal. It will just be necessary to enter the new era of Belgrade without tails, to say exactly how much is owed, how many fictitious people were employed, how many official vehicles were used, what are the disadvantages of city companies, who are the subcontractors in those companies. Institutions are silent, we send dozens of requests for information of public importance to which we never receive answers. It's easier for them to pay a fine than public money and drive on. However, it is positive that now the end is clearly in sight, and then everything must be disclosed, who did what and how.
Iliti, if we continue with future projections, if everything goes according to the current government's plan, what will the capital look like in a few years? What will it all be about?, and what won't, and it should?
The problem is that SNS has no vision for the future, and all of us citizens of Belgrade are paying for it. Vesić placed the cubes on Trg republike, Šapić put them away and made a roundabout. Vesić laid the cobblestone in Karađorđevo, Šapić paved it. And what is most interesting to me, almost the same SNS and SPS councilors vote for both solutions with the same enthusiasm.
Their only vision for these ten years was corruption, and we could see small indications of how much corruption is involved when the former president of the City Municipality of Palilula, Aleksandar Jovičić, was arrested, from whom more than half a million euros were found and confiscated. When a small municipal president, without major responsibilities, has half a million euros after a few years in office, how much do those much more powerful than him have?
The price of that corruption will be a completely paralyzed city, because huge construction is not possible without the construction of the infrastructure that accompanies it. On the one hand, you have Belgrade on the water as the royal jewel of this government, where a school and a kindergarten will spring up in a year, and on the other hand, twenty settlements where illegal construction is taking place, such as the settlement of Vojvoda Vlahović, where there is no good sewage system, no planned streets, no connection to the city, no school or kindergarten. That chaos remains a burden to all future governments, but we will not run away from those problems.
What should a city opposition councilor do??
In an orderly democratic society, he should represent the interests of the citizens who elected him and limit the executive city power through work control and city legislation. Unfortunately, in the broken system and undemocratic environment, it is completely impossible for us, the opposition councilors, to work through the institutions, so I am forced to solve the citizens' problems by putting daily pressure on the City Administration and city enterprises instead of the city government doing it. I have to do my role as a controller and monitor the work of the executive city government on the street, with public pressure, and in this political context that is my role.
I love what I do and I'm in it every day. I am proud when we manage to solve a problem, and we solved a lot of them and people appreciate it. I want to become a mayor who will be with the citizens every day. I would never accept to be a mayor like Šapić, a person must not walk through any neighborhood or ride public transport.
When do you expect elections??
City elections are urgently needed because the city is ungovernable. Belgrade has never been in more chaos than today. I am ready for the elections next week, but I also understand why the SNS and SPS are afraid of the elections in Belgrade, because all the research shows that they will surely lose them.
How do you see cooperation?/ relationship with students, student list one day?
I participate in all student protests and blockades. I am always there to stand by them, to give them support, or in front of them if they need to protect themselves. I think they did a huge thing for Serbia and our future, and I thank them for that. I support their call for elections and believe in the victory of the anti-regime front. I believe that we should cooperate, all of us in this fight, regardless of the format in which we participate in the elections.
And the position of the opposition parties in Serbia? And why is he the way he is??
The best joke of this regime is that all parties are "yikes" and that politics is something dirty. Which, of course, is not the case. Opposition parties have a position that we often find in autocracies and this is not a new phenomenon in such regimes.
We have to deal with the satanization and exhaustion that we can see in action every day. The opposition is doing as well as it can under the circumstances. Sure, there are mistakes, but who doesn't? Only the one that doesn't work.
The movement of free citizens has a clear policy, a plan for how Serbia and Belgrade should look in the future after this government. We have launched a series of talks in Serbia, we are talking with partners from Europe, and our activists are constantly on the ground.
