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BELGRADE INSIGHT IS PUBLISHED BYFriday • June 13 • 2008
NEWS NEWS 1
Issue No. 1 / Friday, June 13, 2008Lure of Tadic Alliance Splits Socialists While younger Socialists support joining a new , pr o-EU government, old Milosevic loyalists thr eaten r evolt over the pr ospect.
EDITOR’S WORD Political Predictability
By Mark R. Pullen Many of us who have experi- enced numerous Serbian elections rate ourselves as pundits when it comes to predicting election re- sults and post-election moves. We feel in-the-know because our experience of elections in Ser- bia has shown us that (a.) no single party or coalition will ever gain the majority required to form a govern- ment, and (b.) political negotiations will never be quickly concluded. Even when the Democrats achieved their surprising result at last month’s general election, it quickly became clear that the re- sult was actually more-or-less the same as every other election result in Serbia, i.e. inconclusive. This is likely to continue as long as Serbia’s politicians form new political parties every time they disagree with their current party leader (there are currently 342 reg- istered political parties in Serbia). Drawn-out negotiations are also the norm. One Belgrade-based Ambassador recently told me he was also alarmed by the distinct lack of urgency among Serbian politicians. “The country is at a standstill and I don’t understand their logic. If they are so eager to progress towards the EU and en- courage investors, how come they go home at 5pm sharp and don’t work weekends?” Surely the situation is urgent enough to warrant a little overtime.Costs Mounting E
conomists are warning that pro- longed uncertainty over Serbia’s future could scare off investors, lead to higher inflation and jeopardise prosperity for years to come. “This year has been lost, from the standpoint of economic policy,” says Stojan Stamenkovic of the Econom- ics Institute in Belgrade.Football Rebellion W
hile the football world watch- es events unfold at the Euro- pean Championships in Austria and Switzerland, Bosnia is experiencing a soccer rebellion, led by fans, play- ers and former stars who are enraged by what they see as corrupt leaders of the country’s football association leaders.
By Rade Maroevic in Belgrade
T
ense negotiations on a new gov- ernment have divided the ranks of the Socialist Party, which holds the balance of power between the main blocs and has yet to announce which side they will support. “It looks as if the Socialists will move towards a government led by the Democrats,” political analyst Mi- lan Nikolic, of the independent Cen- tre of Policy Studies, said. “But such a move might provoke deeper divi- sions and even split the party.” Simultaneous negotiations held with the pro-European and national- ist blocs have drawn attention to a deep rift inside the Socialists. This divides “old-timers” loyalto Serbia’s late president, Slobodan Milosevic, and reformists who want the party to become a modern Euro- pean social democrat organisation. After eight years of stagnation, the Socialists returned to centre stage after winning 20 of the 250 seats in parliament in the May 11 elections. With the pro-European and nation- alist blocs almost evenly matched, the Socialists now have the final say on the fate of the country. Nikolic believes the Socialists, led by Ivica Dacic, will come over to Tadic, if only out of a pragmatic de- sire to ensure their political survival. “The group of younger Socialists gathered around Dacic seems to be in the majority”, Nikolic said, adding that these reformists believe the party
faces extinction unless it changes. However, a strong current also flows in the opposite direction, led by party veterans enraged by the prospect of a deal with Tadic. Mihajlo Markovic, a founder of the party, recently warned of a crisis if Dacic opts for the pro-European bloc, abandoning the Socialists’ “nat- ural” ideological partners. Markovic, a prominent supporter of Milosevic during the 1990s, is seen as representative of the “old- timers” in the party who want to stay true to the former regime’s policies, even though these almost ruined the Socialists for good. Some younger Socialist officials have voiced frustration over the con- tinuing impasse within their own
party over which way to turn. “The situation in the party seems extremely complicated, as we try to convince the few remaining lag- gards that we need to move out of Milosevic’s shadow,” one Socialist Party official complained. “Dacic will eventually side with Tadic in a bid to guide his party into the European mainstream, but much of the membership and many offi- cials may oppose that move.” Nikolic agreed: “The question is
will the party split or will the ‘old- timers’
back down,” he noted. Fearing they might not cross the 5-per-cent threshold to enter parlia- ment, the Socialists teamed up with the Association of Pensioners and the United Serbia Party, led by business- man Dragan Markovic “Palma”. Pensioners leader, Jovan Krkoba- bic, Palma and Dacic are all pushing for a deal with the Democrats. The reported price is the post of deputy PM, with a brief in charge of security for the Socialist leader. In addition, the Socialists are bar- gaining for other ministries, includ- ing capital investments, Kosovo and education, Belgrade media reported. Tadic has denied talk of horse- trading with the Socialists, maintain- ing that ministries would go only to those committed to working for the government’s “strategic goal”. At the same time, Dacic seems re- luctant to call off negotiations with the nationalists. “If we don’t reach an agreement with the DSS and Radicals, the par- ty leadership will decide on future steps”, Dacic announced, following the first session of country’s new par- liament on Wednesday. Source: Balkan Insight (www.balkaninsight.com)
Business Insight Neighbourhood Matters
Socialist leader Ivica Dacic remains the Serbian kingmaker page 5page 10
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Continued on page 2
Photo: Beta Zoran Radojicic, the new mayor of Belgrade, plans to continue controversial and expensive
infrastructure projects, inherited from Belgrade’s previous administrations.
New city boss Zoran Radojicic is standing by his predecessors’ big infrastructure projects – despite continued questions about whether they are worth the
money.
Issue No. 254 Friday, June 15 - Thursday, June 28, 2018
‘Name’ Deal Faces Bumpy Ride Ahead
Page 8
to the Ottomans Nurtured Serbia’s Homophobia
Page 12
construction of the subway as early as 2016.
Despite the party’s current pledge to begin work in 2020, Belgrade’s urban plan does not deem this project a prior- ity before 2021.
The draft plan, which the city author- ities presented in March, soon after the Belgrade elections, states that construc- tion is scheduled to take place between 2021 and 2027, the daily Blic reported in March.
This was not the first administration to pledge to provide Belgrade with an underground railway.
Filip RUDIC
O
nly one day after being elected as the Serbian capital’s new mayor, Zoran Radojicic affirmed his dedication to the in- frastructure projects that he had inher- ited from Belgrade’s previous adminis- trations.“Thanks to the dedicated work of the previous administration, we will have the honour of starting construc- tion of the Belgrade subway,” the daily Vecernje novosti quoted him as saying on June 8.
The previous administration, also led by the nationally ruling Serbian Progressive Party, promised to start
BELGRADE’S
NEW MAYOR BACKS
OLD PROJECTS
BELGRADE SERBIA
B
ack in 2010, when theDemocratic Party ran Bel- grade, city hall said the first line would start running as early as 2012.
The underground railway is just one of several grandiosely planned pro- jects that have been delayed for years – some of which have been criticised by experts as pointless.
They include plans to erect a 120-me- tre-high flagpole and install a cable car connecting the banks of the river Sava.
Architect Dragoljub Bakic told BIRN that the city starts these projects “be- cause it’s easy to cut the ribbon – but there is no work on real issues”.
He says that instead of adding to the growing pile of prestigious construc- tion projects, the city administration should focus instead on more crucial and problematic issues, such as a long- needed overhaul of the sewage system.
CABLE CAR PLANS STILL SUSPENDED IN THIN AIR
Late in January, when he was a Pro- gressive Party candidate for the city as- sembly, Radojicic became acquainted with the city’s plans to build a cable car connecting the two banks of the river Sava.
During the election campaign in Jan- uary, the then mayor, Sinisa Mali, pre- sented the plan – designed to link the landmark Kalemegdan fortress in the old part of Belgrade with New Belgrade on the other side of the river – to Rado- jicic and the media.
Radojicic told a press conference that the project would help to increase, perhaps even double, the number of tourists visiting Belgrade each year, from the one million recorded in 2017.
Ski Resorts of Serbia, the state com- pany put in charge of the project, said, in late 2017, that a public tender for construction of the cable car would be
Belgrade’s New Mayor Backs Old Projects
launched by summer 2018; outgoing mayor Mali predicted completion by mid-2019.
However, by mid-June of this year, the tender had not been initiated.
BIRN inquired about the status of the project to Ski Resorts of Serbia but received no reply by the time of publi- cation.
Meanwhile, some experts have also challenged the purpose and cost of the cable car, which has been put at around 15 million euros by the former mayor Sinisa Mali, as he told the press in January.
Traffic engineer Dragoljub Lukic told the daily Danas that the gondola would have to carry as many as 400,000 pas- sengers a year at the price of seven eu- ros per ticket just to cover the operating expenses.
In his view, this was completely unre- alistic, “since most tourists in Belgrade stay in central hotels and use tour bus- es for transport”.
Dragoljub Bakic called the gondola project a “charade” that was part of an
“urbanist populism going on in Bel- grade.
“There would be nothing to see [from the cable car], nor would it attract tour- ists,” he predicted.
GIANT FLAGPOLE TURNS INTO A TALL ORDER
Another idea is to erect a 120-metre- high flagpole. The poll, planned to be erected at Usce, the confluence of Dan- ube and Sava rivers, is meant to fly the Serbian national flag and be visible from almost all parts of Belgrade.
If built, it would be the third tallest structure in the capital after the 141-me- ter-high Usce and 135-metre-high Gen- ex towers.
But the tall poll would come at a simi- larly high price – almost 1.7 million eu- ros, according to city officials.
Another million euros would report-
edly be used to install several smaller flagpoles at ten additional locations around Belgrade, according to a plan submitted in mid-2017.
The city authorities have defended the plan, insisting that “all major cities”
in the world fly national flags from giant flagpoles.
And President Aleksandar Vucic, who initiated the idea, has rejected crit- icism as unpatriotic, saying that some of the critics appear to have a problem with the Serbian flag.
Despite that, opposition politicians have condemned the idea as wasteful, while some have accused the ruling Progressive Party of wanting to plunder the city budget.
Bakic called the ruling party officials
“urban bandits” who treat the capital as
“loot” waiting to be plundered.
Meanwhile, this relatively simple project, which according to initial plans was due to be finished by spring 2018, remains in the planning phase.
WORK ON TRAIN STATION DRAGS LAST DECADES
The delays to the flagpole project, however, are nothing compared to the endless snags hitting the city’s longest running construction project, for a new central train station, known as Prokop.
Work on this project has continued with one interruption after another ever since 1974.
After decades of delays, the city au- thorities led by the Progressive Party have vowed to complete work on the new railway station.
Although Aleksandar Vucic opened the still unfinished station in 2016, trains did not actually start arriving in and departing from the station until a year later.
Finally, in December 2017, the city government officially named Prokop the main train station in Belgrade and
started using it as the hub for all inter- city trains.
However, this project has continued to experience turbulence. Soon after the official declaration, the media start- ed homing in on the station’s deficient infrastructure and leaking roofs, as well as its inconvenient location – much fur- ther from the city centre than the old station.
Architect Bakic says it is “ironic” that Prokop is named “Belgrade Centre”, when it is so far from the city centre. He called Prokop “a bad choice” in terms of location.
In March, activists protested against Prokop’s designation as Belgrade’s new main train station, despite which Prokop is due to become the hub for in- ternational trains as of July 1.
Construction is still underway, how- ever.
A separate problem for many trav- ellers is the poor alignment between the arrival and departure times of the trains and the buses at the nearby bus station. Many passengers are left stranded, waiting for hours to continue their journeys.
Tied to the displacement of the cen- tral train station is the project to relo- cate the adjoining main bus station for international and intercity travel. This is even farther away from being com- pleted.
A new central bus station was sup- posed to be built in New Belgrade, but although a conceptual solution to the project was adopted in 2014, construction has been significantly delayed.
Former mayor Mali promised that work would start in May or June 2017, but construction of the complex did not, in fact, begin until February this year.
The delay means that the new bus station, estimated to cost around 25 million euros, is unlikely to become operational by the projected date in the summer or autumn of 2019.
The city government’s urgency to relocate both the main bus and train stations appears linked to another controversial construction project, the Belgrade Waterfront, that covers the area where both central train and bus stations were located.
That project, which aims to turn a rundown part of the city into an up- scale cultural, entertainment, business and accommodation centre, has been plagued with controversy from the start.
Issues include unclear investment deals to the highly controversial night-time demolition work carried out in April 2016, when masked men demolished several buildings in a street where the Waterfront is due to be built.
Continued from page 1
Srdjan GARCEVIC
P
rotests demanding lower fuel prices be- gun on June 8, when motorists blocked Belgrade’s main thoroughfares and bridges for one hour at 5pm, bringing traffic to a standstill.The blockades have since spread to roads and cities across the country, and although they have since varied in intensity and frequency, they are set to continue during morning and afternoon rush hours.
The mass protest was sparked by a hike in fuel prices, which have increased between 6 and 7 per cent since the beginning of the year. The largest increase was in the price of diesel, which rose by 11 dinars (9.3 euro cents) to about 162 dinars (1.37 euros) per litre since January.
The protesters, who are organising themselves on social media, are demanding that the govern-
ment intervenes to reduce the fuel duty and cap the prices at 110 dinars (93 euros cents) per litre for diesel and at 120 dinars (1 euro) per litre for unleaded petrol.
Serbia’s petrol prices are among the highest in the region due to high duties and taxes, and are only beaten by those in Albania and Greece. Following the public reaction in Serbia, similar protests have also been organised in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro starting from June 10.
On this same day, Serbian President Alek- sandar Vucic accused the protesters in Serbia of being organised by “opposition leaders and tycoons”.
Other government officials condemned the protests, while the pro-government media ac- cused the protesters of “endangering the lives” of other people.
Since June 8, motorists have been intermittently blocking roads across Serbia and demanding government caps on fuel prices.
Motorists
Block Roads Due to Fuel Price Hike
Photo: Anadolu Photo: Anadolu
Photo: Anadolu The protests spread to Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Traffic in Belgrade was brought to a stand-still during the first days of the protest.
A protester in Novi Sad using the opportunity to play football on a blockaded street.
Architect Bakic says it is “ironic” that Prokop is named “Belgrade Centre”, when it is so far from the city. Photo: Srdjan Garcevic
It’s easy to cut the ribbon – but there is no work on real issues.
Dragoljub Bakic
Architect
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BELGRADE BELGRADE
Ivana NIKOLIC
"I
know Balkanska Street, I know all these streets around it," says Miodrag Mitrovic, who fixes all sorts of bags and suitcases, look- ing out of the door of his shop.Mitrovic, who is 70, talks about "the old Balkanska" with melancholy in his voice. He has been here since 1950 and remembers vividly the times when the new Yugoslav Socialist state was being built.
"Before we came, an ethnic German owned this shop. After the [Second World] War, the then regime decided to place all artisans here, in this street, as it was sort of a transit zone," Mitrovic, a bag-maker, or tasner, in Serbian, ex- plains.
"Whoever comes to Belgrade has to pass it. It is a route from the bus
Future Looks Cloudy for
City’s Fading
‘Artisan Street’
and train stations to Terazije, which is where people would go to look for a job or sell and buy goods," the old crafts- man points out.
The communists eventually realised their idea for Balkanska: from the 1950s onwards, Balkanska truly became an
"artisan street".
The steep cobbled street was filled with small one-storey buildings, lean- ing on one another. Back in the day, you could find literally every kind of trader here: perfume makers, barbers, tailors, bakers, leather good makers, bag repair- ers, hat makers and more besides.
Decades later, the street looks pretty much the same, but the vast majority of the old craftsmen are long gone.
Partly because no one wanted to take over the businesses, partly because of the rise of much cheaper industries, only a handful of artisan shops remain.
In their place are mobile phone shops, a mall, various cafés and clothing stores.
"Thanks to its cheap production, Chi- na played a big role in shutting down the artisan shops. Why get anyone to fix bags and suitcases when they can purchase a new one for less money?"
Mitrovic asks.
To try to save what is left of the old artisan tradition, the city authorities recently announced they would gather all the Belgrade craftsmen in Balkan- ska, making it an "artisan street" once again.
"Our idea is to proclaim Balkanska as a street of old crafts," Belgrade City's for- mer manager and now Deputy Mayor, Goran Vesic, told Pink TV on May 3.
"All the shops there that belong to the City of Belgrade will be offered to those dealing with old crafts through the Property and Legal Affairs Secretariat,"
Vesic said, adding that the shops would also all undergo a complete reconstruc- tion, including the façades.
But Mitrovic fears it is just the latest in a series of unfulfilled promises to re- vive the spirit of his street.
"I remember talk back in the 1950s and 1960s that Balkanska would be- come something like Bascarsija in Sarajevo – a pedestrian zone with old shops," he said, referring to the Bosnian capital's popular old market area.
"I hope they really do that," Mitrovic adds, standing in his shop full of bags, suitcases and backpacks, smiling.
However, there has been no further information concerning Vesic's May pledge.
"I've heard about the plans, but no one from the city administration has contacted us or come here to talk about the announced reconstruction," one employee in the street, who wished to stay anonymous, told BIRN.
Dejan Milosavljevic, from the Na- tional Association "Our Hands," which
promotes old crafts, pins hopes in the promise.
"There is a need for such a place, as it would help our colleagues and make their work and offer more visible," he told BIRN.
BIRN also contacted the City of Bel- grade for more information concerning the announced plans but received no answer by the time of publication.
LAST ‘SARAC' LEAVES THE FIELD
Meanwhile, the remnants of artisan shops in the cobblestoned street con- tinues to decrease.
Milan Sarcevic, 72, a sarac in Serbian, or leather goods manufacturer, has de- cided to close his shop, which opened in 1946. His brother ran it from the 1950s, and Sarcevic joined him in 1985.
Ever since, Balkanska 36 has been his second home. But in the mid-1990s, business started to fall away and the old maestro has chosen to retire.
As he sits in his spacious workshop, surrounded by all sorts of tools and handmade leather belts, casings, wal- lets and bags, Sarcevic laments that his business belongs to a bygone era.
"We had clients from all over Yugosla- via. In the mornings they would knock on the door, begging me to open. And in the evenings I would always finish up late. I couldn't throw them out," he says.
The "bloody" wars that pulled Yugo- slavia apart in the 1990s were one of the factors that contributed to the artisans' downfall, he adds.
Another reason, Sarcevic continues, is that younger generations are not in- terested in continuing the old family business.
"Artisan shops started closing when craftsmen started retiring, and no one from the family wanted to take over the business," Sarcevic recalls, looking exhausted.
"As for me, personally I never wanted my children to become sarac. This is an- ything but profitable," the old maestro, who is closing the shop in two weeks' time, concludes.
Be lgr ad e in bri ef
Serbia’s First Starbucks to Open in Belgrade
According to announcements, US coffee giant Starbucks will open its first café in Belgrade by the end of this year, after which cafés will open in other towns and cities. “This country has a rich history of coffee and we are looking forward to becoming part of it,” Adam Mularuk, head of Starbucks at restaurant operator AmRest Holding, told the media. According to reports, there will be ten cafés in Belgrade – on Knez Mihailova, at the big malls and at the airport. City authorities said negotiations with Starbucks had been going for almost a year before the decision was made public.
New City Boss Lists Major Plans
The capital’s recently elected au- thorities, led by Mayor Zoran Radojicic and his deputy, Goran Vesic, have announced plans to solve some of the burning issues facing the city, including illegal construction, noise and overdue reconstruction. The most important plans include building a city metro as well as two new tunnels, one connecting the Sava and Danube rivers, the other linking Autokomanda and Topcider. A total of 190 facades will be reconstructed, 70 of which are in the centre of Zemun municipality.
Vesic also told the media that the city authorities will do everything to solve the noise problem that many citizens in Stari Grad, Savski Venac and New Belgrade have been complaining about.
National Museum Finally Reopens After a 15-year reconstruction, Serbia’s most important museum, the National Museum, officially opens on June 28 at 9pm. After the ceremony on nearby Republic Square, the three- storey building will open its doors free of charge for the following 24 hours, until June 29, at 10pm. The following weekend, June 30 and July 1, en- trance will also be free, while normal working hours will be extended, running from 10am to 10pm. From Monday, July 2, the museum will work Tuesdays to Sundays and tickets will cost 300 dinars (around 2.5 euros).
For more information, visit www.
narodnimuzej.rs.
Public Transport Summer Timetable Commences From June 23, Belgrade will see a 20-per-cent decline in public transport vehicles as the summer timetable comes into force. From that day, 1,036 buses, trams, trolleys, electro buses and minibuses will work the streets of the capital. Also, from June 23 onwards, five lines to Ada Ciganlija will be introduced. They will operate every weekend until September 1. For more information about timetables and schedules, visit www.gsp.rs.
Summer Festival Promises Month of Festivities
The traditional Belgrade Summer Festival, known as BELEF, brings dozens of concerts, exhibitions and artistic performances to
Belgrade audiences.
Ivana NIKOLIC
U
nder the slogan “In the Heart of BELEF“ (U Srcu BELEF-a), the 27th installment of the much- loved Beogradski Letnji Festival lasts from June 22 to July 15 at various loca- tions across the city.Over three weeks, visitors can enjoy both classical and pop music as well as theatre performances from domestic and international artists.
BELEF officially kicks off on Friday, June 22 at 8pm, at Kombank Dvorana, with a concert of the Chinese Interna- tional Prodigy Orchestra and Choir, IPOC. The performance, which will be conducted both by BELEF’s art direc- tor Aleksandar Ilic and by IPOC’s con- ductor Jin Fu, includes dance, theatre and orchestral music.
“The programme of the orchestra emphasises its distinctly international character, which is in line with the rep- utation of BELEF as an international festival,” the organisers said in a press release.
IPOC’s repertoire thus includes such composers as Russia’s Nikolai Rimsky- Korsakov, England’s Ralph Vaughan Williams, America's Aaron Copland, France’s Georges Bizet and China’s Mao Yuan.
On the same night, many other prominent musicians will perform as well, solo or with the orchestra, includ- ing the Belgrade National Theatre’s primadonna, Jasmina Trumbetas Petrovic.
BELEF also wishes to entertain younger visitors, so a number of events are dedicated to them, including “Pippi Longstocking” by Slovenia’s Plesni Teat- er Velenje, on June 23 at the Student Cul- tural Centre at 11am, as well as “Planet of Secrets” [“Planeta Tajni”], which includes acting and ballet, on June 30, also at the Student Cultural Centre at 11am.
According to organisers, one of the most interesting performances is “Buf- fet à vif” [“Smashed to Pieces”] by Festi- val d'Avignon and Théâtre de la Bastille, with the support of the French Iinstitute in Serbia. It will take place on June 23 at 9pm at the Student Cultural Centre.
Another dance performance is on July 1 at the Student Cultural Centre, the Austrian “Wunderbare Jahre” [“Won- derful Years”] by Dagmar Dachauer.
Fans of visual performances should meanwhile check out “Silver” by Is- rael’s Silver Dance Company at the Stu- dent Cultural Centre at 9pm on July 7.
BELEF is also famed for its numer- ous concerts, which will be the case this year as well.
On June 26 at 9pm at the Student Cultural Centre you can enjoy the
“Merak i Salsa” concert, while on June 29 you can head to the Belgrade City Assembly Hall at 8pm and enjoy the trio Domazetovic-Stankovic-Klenko- vski.
Another classical music event, a concert by the pianist Mina Ristic and the violinist Isidora Dramicanin, will be held at the same place on July 2 at 8pm.
The well-known Serbian band Nev- erne Bebe will hold a concert on June 30 at 9pm at the Student Cultural Cen- tre, while Dean Bowman will rock the stage on July 11.
Apart from theatre performances and concerts, BELEF audiences will have a chance to visit several exhibi- tions, including “My Worlds“ [“Moji Svetovi”] by Jelena Milosevic Jo- vanovic, on June 29 at the Student Cul- tural Centre.
For more information about the fes- tival and the programme, visit www.
belef.rs.
Photo: Ivana Nikolic A traditional hat-maker in Balkanska. Photo: Srdjan Garcevic Miodrag Mitrovic, who owns a shop which fixes bags and suitcases, has been in Balkanska since 1950.
The Belgrade Philharmonic is returning for another free open-air concert, this time featuring NASA’s exclusive images of the earth and cosmos.
Ivana NIKOLIC
F
ans of classical music, visual per- formances and a bit of cosmol- ogy, should head towards New Belgrade’s Blok 13 on Sunday, June 24, at 8:30pm.The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra and its chief conductor, Gabriel Feltz, will be performing “HD Odyssey” – playing masterpieces of classical music accom- panied by images of the earth and the cosmos made by the US National Aero- nautics and Space Administration, NASA.
While the orchestra plays, a huge vid- eo screen will show scenes of distant galaxies.
As the orchestra plays “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss, as shown in the film 2001, “A Space Odys- sey”, and “Short Ride in a Fast Machine”
by John Adams, audiences will enjoy footage of the earth.
Later, the philharmonic will take au- diences on a journey through the cos- mos, with images taken by NASA’s new- est optical instruments, to the sounds of Dvorak’s popular “New World Sym- phony”.
“The Earth” and “The Cosmos” are parts of the film series called “An HD Odyssey,” which was performed for the first time by the Houston Symphony Orchestra. The Serbian public will be the first in Europe to see the “Cosmos”
project.
The first time the Belgrade Philhar- monic performed under the sky was on June 25 last year at the same loca- tion, an event that attracted more than 30,000 people from all over the region.
At the musical picnic, which was also the biggest event of its kind in Serbian history, audiences heard classical hits conducted by Gabriel Feltz and with Zubin Mehta as special guest conductor.
Like last June, the performance this
year will also be free of charge. Last year, the open-air concert attracted more Photo: Courtesy of Belgrade Philharmonic than 30,000 spectators.
Philharmonic
Offers 'Musical Picnic' Under the Stars
While city bosses talk optimistically of reviving the craft traditions of Belgrade’s famed Balkanska St, the number of
artisans still plying their ancient trades there continues to fall.
You know,
whoever comes to Belgrade,
has to pass it. It is a route from the bus and train stations to Terazije, which is where people would go to look for a job or sell and buy goods.
Miodrag Mitrovic
craftsman
BUSINESS SERBIA
sexuality in Serbia would make my life miserable.
Headstrong as any teenager would be when confronted with parental disapproval, I wrote the article and submitted it to my teacher who was in charge of the newspaper.
Again, rather than getting a pat on the back, there was an uncomfort- able silence and an explanation that it would not appear in the newspaper because "it is not appropriate". It was shelved, replaced by lyrics to some pop song.
Seventeen years later, even with- out my self-righteous, angsty article, things may have changed for the bet- ter. But society's basic unease with a diversity of sexuality and gender re- mains.
While we have an out prime minis- ter, an out Eurovision winner, and our normally campy pop-culture even produced out reality show contest- ants, being out and out of the limelight still requires great courage and con- frontation with society-wide preju- dice.
Rather than strong condemnation and action, occasional physical at- tacks on LGBT people, to say nothing of off-colour remarks by public figures, still produce deafening silence.
Perhaps even more painful than the lack of public support for LGBT rights or any progress on the issue of same-sex partnerships, are the private challenges that my LGBT friends face, which routinely include anything from not knowing how to answer who they are dating at large gatherings, to the emotional turmoil
to unfair scorn and derision, they are loosening the grip of fear on all us – and allowing us a glimpse of how we can all be a bit freer and bit more cou- rageous in the way we go about things.
Although this sort of courage is nec- essary everywhere, it is essential in Serbia, where the increasingly mer- cantile-cronyist system places little value on integrity and disproportion- ately rewards conformity.
Indeed, there are many people in Serbia, of all sexualities, shapes and sizes, who are brave in their own ways, but my mind and heart often goes back to my LGBT friends, who serve as daily examples of resilience and grit, whenever I feel I need it.
I hope Serbia will not only learn to tolerate all of its daughters and sons, but also be proud of the courage of those who lived their lives freely in re- cent years, unwilling to betray them- selves despite the risks.
Belgrade would certainly be a much better place if more people took to heart the words of Igor Dobricic, one of the attendees of that first Belgrade Pride in 2001 and who was severely beaten up: "If, out of fear, I must sacri- fice my human dignity and my right to be who I am, I would rather kill myself, than live and hide".
Srdjan Garcevic is a writer and a founder of The Nutshell Times blog.
The opinions expressed in the Com- ment section are those of the authors only and do not necessarily re ect the views of BIRN.
Being LGBT and out in Serbia is still a matter of courage.
The Audacity of Being Out in Serbia
Srdjan GARCEVIC
M
y first experienceof how deeply un- comfortable Serbian society is with non- standard sexualites and genders came in the days after the bloody debacle of the first Belgrade Pride Parade in 2001 – a mixture of hooligans and ruffians of all stripes attacked and injured more than 40 attendees who believed that the free- dom to love whom you choose would come hand in hand with political free- doms following the fall of Milosevic.
I was just entering my teens, so I didn't experience it on the streets, but in my very liberal Belgrade home, when I told my father I intended to write a student newspaper piece about the unfairness of the state, soci- ety and the Serbian Orthodox Church towards the LGBT population.
Though a tolerant guy, he immedi- ately blanched and explained to me, concerned and in no uncertain terms, that while I certainly had a point, I, a boy of 13, should not want to associate with "that" and "risk being labelled", because the stigma attached to homo-
that can ensue when they come out to their families.
Their sexuality, or rather the unfair stigma placed on it, complicates their daily lives, from considerations about which cafe they can sit in and chat frank- ly with their loved ones to having to care- fully judge how open they can be with anyone they meet or work with. Rather than being respected for who they are, they are pilloried, or, worse, pitied.
What pains them more than a priest blaming gays for environmental disas- ters (yes, that happened in 2014), is the message that many of them all too fre- quently get from their social environ- ment, that they will always be outcasts.
Sadly, but unsurprisingly, some of my LGBT friends got fed up and de- cided to leave Serbia and seek places where they can love freely, even if they were living here in relatively pro- tected liberal circles.
Many however, stayed, and day af- ter day they fight to live and love a bit more freely, one small battle at a time.
While, thankfully, there are growing pockets of Serbian society where their personal lives are not an issue and the LGBT going-out scene is booming, I can- not but be inspired by their courage, per- haps even more than I am disappointed by the fact such courage is still necessary.
This very diverse bunch of people, who I am a lucky to have gotten to know in various ways, are arming themselves daily to withstand the slurs, the nasty jokes and threats of violence and exclu- sion, and to fight for they know is right:
to follow their hearts.
What we too often forget, howev- er, is that they are fighting even for
those of us who do not share their sexuality or the stigma associated with it.
By showing that an individual shall not only withstand, but also stand up
COMMENT
Although the situation has somewhat improved for Serbia’s LGBT community since 2001, there is still a long way to go to their full acceptance in the Serbian community. Photo: Beta
Photo: AP/Beta Trump administration’s decision to introduce taxes on steel and aluminium imports from the EU, Canada and other
countries will have an impact on Balkan countries who count steel as one of their main exports.
Mladen LAKIC Sinisa Jakov MARUSIC Dusica TOMOVIC Maja ZIVANOVIC
A
s the EU gears up tolaunch counter-meas- ures to the streel and alu- minum tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, business experts and officials from the Balkans say the dispute may have at least indirect consequences for economies in the region.
While the region's EU member states face similar issues to other EU coun- tries, experts expect an indirect impact also on Bosnia, Macedonia, Montene- gro and Serbia – all of whose top five export products include steel.
They explain that the EU market – the main market for most Balkan steel ex- porters – may face an oversupply, as its producers reduce exports to US, leav- ing little room for non-EU Balkan steel.
The European Commission on June 6 announced plans to introduce tariffs on more than 2 billion euros worth of US goods as of July.
The decision is a response to the Trump administration's decision one week earlier to introduce taxes on steel and aluminum imports from the EU, Canada and other countries, in a bid – Washington says – to protect domestic producers.
STEEL TOPS BALKAN EXPORT CHARTS
The International Trade Centre, a multilateral agency that provides trade technical assistance across the globe, ranks Serbia in 48th place on a list of world steel and iron exporters. Mac- edonia follows in 58th place, Bosnia in 65th and Montenegro in 99th place.
The World Steel Association's report,
"World steel in figures 2018", ranked Serbia in 46th place in 2017.
While Balkan countries cannot compete with world's major steel pro- ducers, steel is still one of the most im- portant earners for the economies of Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Balkan states fear their steel
industries may feel the consequences of President
Trump’s trade dispute with the EU, if European buyers now have less need for
Balkan steel.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Bosnia exported iron and steel prod- ucts worth 8.4 million euros in the first two months of 2018, Bosnia's Statistics Agency data show.
Data from the same agency show Bosnia exported to Germany, Italy, Cro- atia, Serbia, Slovenia, Austria, Turkey, Montenegro, Holland and Hungary, in terms of value.
Steel made up 43.47 per cent of the country's exports and comprised 4.24 per cent of Bosnia's GDP.
The sector involves 1,138 different companies with 33,926 employees in the country.
ArcelorMittal Zenica is the largest steel exporter in Bosnia, according to the Indirect Taxation Authority in Bos- nia, followed by Prevent Visoko and Aluminij Mostar.
Around 850,000 tons of steel is pro- duced a year in Zenica, while Arcelor- Mittal Zenica exports mainly to the countries of the former Yugoslavia, fol- lowed by Italy, Austria, Hungary, Roma- nia, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece, Turkey and other countries.
MACEDONIA
Metal production is one of the flagship industries of Macedonia, which pro- duces around 400,000 tons of steel and aluminium a year, almost all for export.
The Macedonian Metallurgy Union, part of the Economic Chamber of Mac- edonia, says more than 60 per cent of the country's steel and aluminium ex- ports go to Europe; only insignificant amounts are exported to the US.
Official data show the metal indus- try in recent years has made up 25 to 35 per cent of Macedonia's exports; the steel industry contributes 5.7 per cent of Macedonia's GDP.
The country's biggest producer is Makesteel. Other notable firms are Ar- celor Mital Skopje, Dojran Steel, 11 Ok- tomvri and FZC Kumanovo.
MONTENEGRO
Aluminum and steel make up al- most fifth of the country's total exports.
Economy Ministry data show this sec- tor represents the main sector of the manufacturing industry, responsible for almost 40 per cent.
Documents adopted by the gov- ernment in April say the mining and quarrying sector recorded production growth of 113.9 per cent in 2017 com- pared to 2016, much of which relates to production growth of 200 per cent in the area of metal exploitation.
According to the latest official data that BIRN has obtained, from Janu- ary to April 2018 alone, Montenegro exported more than 32 million eu- ros worth aluminum and steel to the EU and China. Base metals export amounted to more than 25 million eu- ros, while steel exports earned almost 7.5 million euros.
The sector in Montenegro is mostly represented by Aluminium Plant Pod-
gorica, KAP, and Toscelik in the town of Niksic, the former state-owned com- pany Steelworks Niksic.
Exports of mineral ores increased by up to 78.9 per cent compared to 2016.
Aluminum plant KAP, now facing the bankruptcy before the court in Pod- gorica, is still the biggest single exporter in the country. Last year, it exported 42,000 tons of aluminum, worth around 70 million euros. Total steel ex- ports earned about 40 million euros.
Uniprom company, which now owns a majority of shares in KAP, also man- ages the bauxite mine in Niksic, which is the country's main exporter to China.
In 2017, the company exported 1.1 mil- lion tons of bauxite.
SERBIA
Steel and iron were Serbia's third largest export goods in the first four months of 2018, according to Serbia's Statistical Office, amounting to 311 mil- lion euros.
Serbia's Beta news agency reported in February that HBIS GROUP Iron &
Steel was the biggest exporter in Janu- ary 2018, selling goods worth 70.4 mil- lion euros.
The steel mill in Smederevo was sold for 46 million euros to the second largest steel producer in the world, Chi- nese firm He Steel Group, in April 2016.
One of the biggest aluminium pro- ducers in Serbia is Impol Seval, owned by the Slovenian company Impol.
According to the website E-kapija, which specialises in business report- ing, the company exports to Germany,
Italy, and Russia. The report, published in October 2017, said the annual ex- ports of the company amounted to about 100 million euros.
FALLOUT FEARED FROM EU-US TRADE DISPUTE
Officials in Serbia and Macedonia have meanwhile voiced concern about the potential consequences of the US- EU trade dispute.
When Donald Trump first an- nounced plans to introduce tariffs on steel and aluminum in March, Serbian Trade Minister Rasim Ljajic said that while Serbia would not be directly af- fected, as it does not export to the US due to high transport costs, it might feel indirect consequences.
"A larger amount [of steel] may ap- pear on the EU market, which could probably affect the price, because the offer may be higher than the demand,"
he told Tanjug news agency on March 9.
In Macedonia, steel producers re- cently called on their government to urge the EU to exempt Macedonia from any steel counter-measures.
They argue that while Macedonian steel makes up less than 1 per cent of the EU's total imports of steel, and is insignificant for the EU, the sales are key to the survival of the local indus- try.
However, after a meeting in Brussels on June 7 with the European Com- missioner for Trade, Macedonia's Vice Prime Minister, Bujar Osmani, warned that Skopje did not receive any guaran-
tees that Macedonia would be exempt- ed from any EU measures affecting im- ports of steel.
The head of Macedonia's Metal- lurgy Union, Mitko Kocovski, told BIRN that US restrictions on imports of steel and aluminium would not directly af- fect Macedonia. However, he said US measures might hit local production indirectly by disturbing the EU market, which is Macedonia's main target for exports.
"Every closure of one market may influence other markets and the global producers there… What is even more worrying is that our steel indus- try has no alternative markets that would offer a way out of this situa- tion," he said.
In Bosnia, Zoran Pavlovic, an econo- mist in Banja Luka, voiced similar con- cerns. "In a position when the main partner is Germany and other EU coun- tries, Bosnia might be faced with a lack of exports if those countries decide to import less due to the latest events," he told BIRN.
However, some experts say con- cerns about the impact of the EU-US trade feud are overblown.
Serbian economic journalist Misa Br- kic says transatlantic tariffs row won't have much influence on the small Bal- kan economies.
"The Balkans is [only] a powder keg in a political sense, not in an economic one, because the economies of the Bal- kan states are minor," he told BIRN. "I don't see Serbia producing enough for this situation to shake the market," he added.
Transatlantic Trade War
Worries
Balkan Steel Producers
What pains the LGBT community more than a priest blaming gays for
environmental
disasters… is
the message
that many of
them all too
frequently get
from their social
environment,
that they will
always be
outcasts.
REGION FACES
Sinisa Jakov MARUSIC
T
he expected signing ofthe long awaited "name"
deal between Macedonia and Greece will be just the first in a series of care- fully planned steps on the potentially bumpy road towards its implementa- tion.
Unofficially, the signing ceremony between the Macedonian and Greek Foreign Ministers, Nikola Dimitrov and Nikos Kotzias, in the presence of both Prime Ministers, is expected to happen in or around June 16 in the border re- gion of Prespa.
Amid sharply divided opinions about the agreement, under which Macedonia is to change its name into
"Republic of North Macedonia" in ex- change for swift accession to NATO and start of EU accession talks, the signing ceremony is only the beginning of the
Numerous
obstacles could yet prevent the long awaited
‘name’ deal
between Greece and Macedonia from coming to fruition.
end of one of the toughest bilateral dis- putes in Europe's recent history.
Several further steps for its practical implementation will follow through- out the rest of this year, including the still uncertain ratification of the deal by both parliaments and an even riskier referendum on the deal in Macedonia, which will put Zoran Zaev's govern- ment to the test.
On Monday, just one day before an- nouncing that the deal was struck, Zaev told a TV debate in Macedonia that he was ready to put his career on the line to convince people to support a good solution in a referendum.
"I am fully aware that I and my gov- ernment are entering a cloud of a sort, and where we'll end up after that, I don't know. We may end up atop a sea and drown, or we may end up on a green field where everything is the way we like. But one thing I know, Macedonia will end up on the highway towards EU and NATO… towards a better future,"
Zaev said.
As the full content of the agreement, said to be contained in some 20 pages, is not yet known, government sources in Skopje told BIRN that the way for- ward will be charted in several key steps that both sides need to take in or- der to seal the deal.
PRESIDENT EXPECTED TO OBSTRUCT RATIFICATION
According to Macedonian govern- ment sources, after the signing of the deal, the first move will be expected from the parliament, which, should vote on its approval later in June.
For this move, Zaev's government will not be hard pressed to muster a simple majority in parliament.
However, judging by his initial re- sponse, President Gjorge Ivanov is like- ly to refuse to sign the ratification.
This would prolong the process and require a second parliamentary ratifi- cation, which, according to most legal experts, the President will have to re- spect.
However, the law does not say when the President should sign the ratifica- tion, allowing him to maintain a so- called "pocket veto" by keeping the document unsigned.
This could complicate matters from a legal standpoint as experts are divid- ed over whether a second ratification would be legal without the President's signature.
On Wednesday, Ivanov said he would not support a deal that requires constitutional change.
Earlier that day, he refused to speak with Prime Minister Zaev and Foreign Minister Dimitrov who came to his of- fice intending to elaborate on the agree- ment. The meeting ended in only two minutes, the government said.
UNLOCKING EU AND NATO ACCESSION
If Macedonia finds a legal way to ratify the deal, Greece is expected to make the next move by sending letters to NATO and the EU, informing them that it no longer objects to "North Macedonia's"
membership of these organisations.
The Greek side insists that this will be put into full effect only once its neigh-
Part of the new wave on Serbia’s burgeoning
drag scene, Dekadenca
draws inspiration from everything around her – from pre-war Germany to the women in the local bank.
Belgrade Drag Star Channels Spirit of Weimar Cabaret
Alexis TRAUSSI
E
xuberant, eloquent and com- pletely versed in all things Hollywood, Dekadenca is first a foremost an actor.She can rattle off names of old-school actresses at a rapid pace in which you can easily get lost. Shake- spearian soliloquies roll off her tongue only moments after discussing her on- stage lip-syncing performances. To say Dekadenca is larger than life is to only better understand what she is trying to do with her drag.
Growing up and living in Belgrade, her path to the art form took shape in the classical theatre school she attended, Le Studio, now in Dorcol, where she offered to play Mama Morton in the 1975 musical, Chicago.
"I was preparing the male role [Billy Flynn, the lawyer] but a month before [the show opened] the girl who was sup- posed to play Mama Morton realised she couldn't do it and they were like: 'Who can step in?' I said: 'I can.' So, that was my first time in proper drag, singing live and that kind of marked my aesthetics and in- spired what I am doing with drag."
For almost six years, Dekadenca has been crafting her drag persona, hosting poetry events, live performances, festi- vals, independent theatre shows – and in addition to studying at Belgrade's Faculty of Applied Arts. Through this process, she developed Dekadenca as an extension of her personality, utilizing hyper-feminini- ty to express herself to a larger audience – which is what she believes is the essence of drag.
Ten years ago, there was only one drag queen in Belgrade, Viva La Diva. Now, there are up to two dozen queens in the city and the number is growing due to the popularity of the American TV show Ru- Paul's Drag Race. Over the past two years, Dekadenca's career took off from doing about three drag shows a year to at least once a month in cafés and clubs all over Belgrade.
Dekadenca, both in drag and out, is in- fatuated with everything linked to caba- ret. From books to films and plays, she seems to know everything worth know- ing about this subgenre of theatre.
It also is the driving force of her per- sona; Dekadenca's name stems from the 1972 musical drama film Cabaret – a cult film in her home – in which the charac- ter Sally Bowles, who was played by Liza Minnelli, repeats the phrase "Divine deca- dence!"
However, her once entirely thought- out character is changing right before her eyes.
"At first, I had this idea of a Weimar Ger- many cabaret singer and she was forever 45 because I believe that is the best age for a woman and she was this raunchy plus- sized cabaret singer in pre-war Germany."
But her once fixed idea about the char- acter began to shift as Dekadenca worked and performed with more and more peo- ple – and that led to her implementing
"more of my personal daily interests into what I am doing with Dekadenca, so it kind of started fusing with my daily per- sona," she explains.
Everywhere Dekadenca goes provides her with insight for her drag and perfor- mances, even queuing at the bank.
"I am just fascinated with the everyday women, like the women who work in banks and how stern they are but actu- ally, deep down, they are warm. You can see them glowing when someone gives them some attention, they crave atten- tion because people are god-awful and are in a hurry, and I just love those every- day working women."
Of course, a fair share of divas has in- formed Dekadenca's persona as well. Liza Minnelli, Divine, [Harris Glenn Milstead]
the late drag queen who starred in many of John Waters' films, and was a pioneer in the LGBT movement during the 1980s, and Gloria Swanson all informed the grandeur that Dekadenca encapsulates.
But, in the end, she says, "there isn't much difference between a woman working in a bank and Joan Crawford."
This keen attention to women also informed her understanding of gender inequality. "Doing drag gave me an oppor- tunity to have a glimpse into what it is to be a woman in a patriarchal society," she recalls.
"People constantly tend to comment on and put criteria on the female body, and I kind of had contact with that by do- ing drag. I am not saying I know what it is
to be a woman, but that is why it is that much more important to fight the patriar- chy," she continues.
For Dekadenca, the battle against this omnipresent system is the culmination of the subtler intersections of drag and politics. She believes that subversive ac- tivism is a more astute strategy than plain politics when it comes to encouraging awareness of the humanity of the LGBT community.
"I think [drag] is more provocative and it gives non-queer people an opportunity to see something queer, but then human- ise it in a way," she says.
This also extends to the ways in which drag is received in Belgrade. With no ex- plicit history of cross-dressing in the Bal- kans, she explains, drag in Belgrade "is not intrinsically connected with LGBT move- ments and LGBT history". Therefore, peo- ple here don't always react to drag within the context of the queer community.
She once recalled a time when she was performing in a cafe, and the waiter, who seemed "grumpy and eerily hetero- sexual" was entranced by the show and enjoyed it as much as the people who had sought the show out.
Her performances reflect this ap- proachable sensibility; she "dabbles" in live singing. Even though she proclaims herself to be only a "decent" singer, con- trol of this medium adds to the profun- dity of a show as well as to the multitudi- nous nature of drag.
"It is an interesting intersectional per- formance art because [drag] can be inter- esting to elitist, snobbish, educated peo- ple if you put in a good reference or pun, but then again, it can be something fun for an 'ordinary' person who just wants to see someone interesting perform," she considers.
Through it all, she has found it "impor- tant, at least, if I don't have any other idea or notion or philosophy of why I am going on stage, at least, I want to entertain people."
"I think I am kind of pulling that off."
bour makes the required constitutional changes, adopting the new name.
If matters go smoothly, following this development, the EU Council of Minis- ters, at its meeting in June 25-26, should send a positive recommendation for Macedonia to start accession talks.
On July 11, at the next NATO summit, Macedonia should also get an invita- tion to join the Atlantic alliance, also on condition that it changes its constitu- tion.
RESULT OF POPULAR VOTE IS HARD TO CALL
Arguably, the hardest test for the agreement, and for the Macedonia government behind it, will be the ref- erendum that Zaev announced for late September or early October.
For it to succeed, more than half of Macedonia's registered voters will have to cast ballots, and more than half of those will have to support the agree- ment.
One of the key points for the turnout will be whether the main opposition VMRO DPMNE party, which has called the agreement "a defeat in disguise", will call on its supporters to vote, or urge them to boycott it.
Another key point will be whether popular support for Zaev's new govern- ment, which came to power last year af- ter a prolonged political crisis, translates into support for the agreement as well.
Zaev did not give a precise answer about what would happen if the refer- endum fails.
However, media in Macedonia and Greece mention the possibility of a
plan B, which could involve staging early general elections, which would also have the character of a plebiscite on the name deal.
FINAL STEPS EXPECTED BEFORE YEAR'S END
Assuming a successful referendum outcome, Macedonia's government at the end of the year will have a green light to finally make the most divisive concession envisaged in the deal.
This is to change the constitution in order to adopt the name "Republic of North Macedonia" and inform other countries that have already recognised the name "Republic of Macedonia" of the change.
Under Macedonian law, a constitu- tional change requires a two-thirds majority in the 120-seat parliament – which the government does not have.
"We are convinced that if the will of the people for the deal is clearly shown at the referendum, the opposition will have no more arguments to block the process," the same government source told BIRN under condition of anonymity.
If Macedonia successfully sur- mounts all these obstacles, the last mat- ter that will remain before the year's end will be for the Greek parliament to ratify the agreement as well – and for NATO to put in effect its offer to grant membership to Skopje.
For that to happen, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras needs a majority in the Greek parliament, where he will have to count on support by some smaller parties that are not part of his govern- ment.
Photo: AP Photo: AP
Photo: Courtesy of Dekadenca Dekadenca, both in drag and out, is infatuated with
everything linked to cabaret.
President Gjorge Ivanov is likely to refuse to sign the ratification. Zaev told a TV debate in Macedonia that he was ready to put his career on the line to convince people to support a good solution in a referendum.
ALEXIS TRAUSSI
Alexis is a New York native, work- ing right here at Belgrade
Insight and a proud member of the
city's burgeoning LGBTQIA+ com-
munity.
BREAKFAST
Over the past two years, I have lived in Belgrade on and off for about a year and half, and navigating the search for safe spaces for members of LBGT community has been an integral part of my exploration of the city.
While this is usually at the forefront, I also fell absolutely in love with savoury break- fasts at pekare (bakeries), and the best kiflice (mini cheesy-pastries) I have found is at Pekara Rankovic an old, traditional bakery right next to the Kalenic green market at Maksima Gorkog 5. If you are looking for a restaurant, breakfast/brunch- option and queer-friendly place, head over to Kozmeticar, which is also in the Vracar neighbourhood at Radoslava Grujica 25.
Plop down onto one of their velvet arm- chairs, and relax with a cappuccino and an omelette.
LUNCH
When I was studying here and lived in the city centre, La Petite Cantine (Dobracina 19) had just opened its doors. Now, it’s a quick, go-to lunch option that offers a great selection of French pastries, sand- wiches and quiches. Plus, the two French founders are super friendly and speak both French and Serbian! While you are in the neighbourhood, and if you are in need of a new book, walk over to Apropo (Cara La- zara 10). The cosy shop doubles as a café, is home to three cats and is a safe space for LGBT people.
DINNER
At this point in the day, I would probably be wandering back home from work or the gym to go make dinner, but if you’re too exhausted to cook, another place to have a meal for LGBT and straight people alike is Restoran Tri (Kosovska 51). Tucked into the back courtyard space of a larger building, this restaurant serves a variety of Serbian-inspired food that isn’t too heavy. If you are looking to have a drink, my friends have recently been DJing at Kafe Supa (Jug Bogdanova 17b), a cosy place that is hidden on a much louder street. If you are looking to go out, party or dance the night away, KPTM (Zorza Klemansoa 22) hosts a number of queer parties and KC Grad (Brace Krsmanovic 4) and Gastro Bar 20/44 (Ulica Skadarska 40b) host parties and a number of drag shows with local queens.
