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I am a Democrat because

                            I need closure

Presidency of the Democratic Party

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Who Is Boris and Where Do I Belong Politically? - Unedited

Goals of the Democratic Party

                Who Is Boris and Where Do I Belong Politically? - Edited

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Who Are We?

                                              Mr. President

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Main Values and Principles

Boris Tadic on TV B92

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My Politically Inactive Friends

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My Democratic Room

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Democratic Hamster

The Presidency of the Democratic Party:

   Boris Tadic - president

                                                                        


Dr. Zoran Djindjic - In my opinion, eternal President

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I am a Democrat because:

Translated by Senka

Text taken from the official presentation of the Democratic Party

  •   I believe that the strength and potentials of our country are within the people, and that every society must be founded on respect and protection of personal dignities, freedoms and rights to an unobstructed development of every individual.
  •   I believe in equal rights and opportunities for all, regardless of their gender, national, religious and other conformity.
  •   I believe that voluntarily organized citizens, united for the purpose of obtaining their common goals, can conquer even the hardest obstacles.
  •   I believe that the future in itself carries great opportunities for advancement of our people and our citizens.
  •   I believe that Serbia must constantly go back to its roots, which are based on freedom and democracy.
  •   I believe that the individual initiative represents the motor of advancement in all areas, and that every institution of our society needs to take care and support independence of individuals in their thinking and acting processes.
  • I believe that the government needs to serve all citizens and to be under their control during its constant process of improvement.
  • I believe that the country needs to be more affordable, through savings and financial responsibility of budget institutions, so that more money remains for the citizens who earned it.
  • I believe that the Democratic Party is the best organization for making these ideals into reality.

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Principles of the Democratic Party:

  • Our main principle is the faith in positive energy that each individual brings with him to the world, faith in the strength of our people and our citizens. Our primary political decision is basing the politics of the state on the virtues and advantages of our citizens, and never on weaknesses and prejudices. The great advantages of our country are the geographic location between the East and the West, our central position in the Balkans, good merits of our national mentality like cordiality, openheartedness, curiosity, ambitiousness, aspiring towards success, and affirmation. Despite the many differences in convictions and standpoints of our citizens, we have a common direction towards the future and hope for a better tomorrow. Every time the politics of the state have been guided by these preferences, we have advanced as a state and as individuals. We, the Democrats, see our obligation in tireless insisting on the positive direction of our people.
    We are sure that the general consensus can always be achieved about what the positive main goals should be.
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Goals of the Democratic Party:

  • Democratic, powerful and internationally respected Serbian state that protects the rights of its citizens.
  • Stable and successful economy that is constantly upgrading the living standard of citizens.

  • Effective, affordable and unvenous government that's performing its duties and not attempting to impose its monopoly on the industry and the society.
  • Serbia whose citizens feel safe in their homes and out in the streets of their cities.
  • Serbia in whose schools the children are acquiring the knowledge which gives them the opportunity in life and values which make them responsible citizens.
  • Serbia which cares about its weak and helpless and resists all the potentates and dictators.

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Program Of The Democratic Party

Who Are We?

We, the Democrats, in this region have always advanced in the fight for the democratic changes. The original Democratic Party was founded as the first registered party of the newly founded Yugoslav state in 1919 with a concise democratic, civil, and European preference and program.
Being all that, the Democratic Party authoritatively participated in the political life up until the violent cessation under the pressure of the postbellum communist dictatorship.
The Democratic Party is the first registered party of the democratic nature in the new era as well, when it revived its operation after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
Ever since then and to this day, the Democratic Party has been a symbol of the democratic, civil, and European politics in Serbia. Aside from that, we were always distinguished by our active enrollment in the political life. There was not an opposition event in which we didn't participate or a blow from the regime at the time that bypassed us. While other opposition parties were taken off the "black lists" for their closeness to the regime or because they were inactive and benign, we Democrats were always a target. That by itself speaks of the righteousness of our politics, but also of our courage and endurance of our activists.
We organized the first anti-regime protests in Belgrade on June 13, 1990 and our vice-president at the time, a great Democrat and a literary author Borislav Pekic, was the first victim fallen to to the police brutality.
We were never the most extreme ones, but were always the most strenuous ones.
In the first elections in 1990 we won seven seats in the Parliament, and all of them in Belgrade, because our organization was strong enough to monitor the election process. Although a minority in the Serbian Parliament, we became a symbol of new Serbia, which condemns primitivism and collective hypnosis and brain-washing.
Our standpoints and political experiences have been woven into the democratic resistance, from the fact that the Democratic Party gave rise to several other parties, to the fact that many ideas and resolutions, which are today perceived as the common political welfare, came from our party. We were always leading the way whether that was in regard to the modern manner of operating a political party, organizing a campaign or administering the economic and other political programs. Others learned from us, while we learned from our own experiences, mistakes and democratic traditions of our country and the world.
We were actively participating in the great March protests of 1991 and we are mainly responsible for the spread of the democratic rebellion among our youth and its metamorphosis into a strong civil movement, for which the regime had no proper response.
During the national crises of the time we were rational patriots, who weighed the responsibility of each side, but who always insisted on the necessity of democratic changes in the society. We were resolute against the collective guilt but also against the amnesty of the individuals responsible for war crimes. Patriotism never for one moment questioned out fierce criticism of the regime, which often put us in conflict with the ruling public notion. We always did what we thought was right, and not what was politically fashionable at the time.
We are the only major party that had truly viable candidates in the party elections. We are the only major party that always respected differing opinions. We are the only major party that never banned differing opinions. We are the only major party that always held a high regard to the broad autonomy of the local organizations. That was by no means easy knowing the out-of-the-ordinary status the dictatorship regime kept us in, but that only made us become more resilient and gave the chance of survival despite the pressures imposed on us.
In the last elections in which the Democratic Party ran independently, in 1993, we quadrupled our number of seats in the Parliament. While our country was sinking deep in the catastrophic national and international crisis, it became clear that only the joined democratic effort, and not the individual party movements, could produce the desired changes.
Being the bearer of a clear democratic idea from the very first day of our founding, we became the main force behind the unification of all opposition movements.
The first real opposition unification, coalition Zajedno ("Together") was mainly the product of our work. After the annulled election victory in the local elections of 1996, we were the first in line of the soon followed civil protests that amazed the world. A representative of out party became the first non-communist mayor of Belgrade after more than 50 years of dictatorship.
Defending the democratic principles we had to sacrifice the newly acquired power. We always longed for changes, but not privileges. That led to the fallout of the coalition Zajedno.
Aware that the participation in a political ritual of the non-democratic regime only extended the national agony, we decisively boycotted the elections of 1997. Even the kind-hearted political analysts anticipated our extinction from the political scene, but our decision, although risky and bold, later turned out to be correct. We strengthened out party organization and became a credible alternative to the morally bankrupt regime.
Ultimately, the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) toppled the last standing dictatorship regime in Europe, thanks in large portion to our party infrastructure.
We won persuasively in the Parliamentary elections of 2000, and were strong-minded and organized enough to defend that victory in city squares all over Serbia.
After twelve years of misery, wars and political agony, Serbia liberated itself. The courage and energy of tens of thousands of the Democratic Party activists is cemented deeply in the foundations of that freedom.
In the process of transition toward the democratic society we are the driving force of reforms. We speed up events, suggest solutions, and take responsibility. That is the true face of the Democratic Party, and that is being a promoter and a leader, whether it is opposition or as a part of the ruling coalition.
At the start of the new century we have a unique opportunity to, maybe for the first time in our history, build our society in permanent peace, stability and economic prosperity. We have a good chance of answering all those unanswered questions once and for all, and taking the Balkans off the list of unstable and risky regions of Europe and the world.
European integration is the key solution to this problem.
After the fallout of the Turkish and Austro-Hungarian empires, the Balkans remained visionary. It was impossible to successfully integrate a multi-ethnic state without the required democratic institutions and successful economy. On the other side, the instability of the state hindered the formation of the democratic institutions and successful economy. That is why the Balkans was the most tragic European region of the 20th century, and the people of Serbia one of the most tragic nations.
Hardships are behind us and our main goal is to learn from the mistakes and not repeat them, so we can establish a fully functional state that makes a good use of the opportunities of the new age placed in front of us.
Our politics and our actions in the last 12 years secure us the right to formulate the vision of the future of our country. Because we, the Democrats, are the ones who stood behind the idea of an enlightened, democratic and modern Serbia from the very beginning; stood behind it not only when that was unpopular, but also when it was dangerous and risky.
Our tenacity and consistence in driving and realization of the vision of a modern Serbia represents the grounds on which we build our program for Serbia in the new millennium.
Modern Serbia is our primary program platform. Modern Serbia is our vision and our oath. We see ourselves as the promoters of reforms, and not only as one of the parties in the political sphere. This puts our responsibility on a higher level, as that was the case in the last 12 years.
Serbia can fight for its place in the 21st century only if we build our society on our best virtues, if we create social conditions in which each and every individual can accomplish the maximum of their potential and if we avoid all traps of division, negativism and isolationism.
We saw the end of the century that is behind us at the bottom of the list of prosperous nations, with a second to non-existent infrastructure, emigration of our most talented and educated generations, unsolved state and territorial questions.
In the first decade of the 21st century we must become a growing nation, equal and accepted in Europe and the developed world.
We have to find a way to open up to the world and let the world open up to us and use that as a starting point for radical changes of the social organization, economic structure and even mentality of our people.
Democratic Party has for its task the formulation and political guidance of this immense historical undertaking.

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Our Main Values and Principles

We, the Democrats, always based our actions on our main values, and never on the ideology or the daily political interest. We are a party in Serbia that has, ever since its revival in 1989, grown gradually, but in a healthy and natural manner. This stability is the result of the fact that we are not a party of the current political fashion, but a party of basic values, which we try to accomplish in our own organization, as much as in the society in which we operate.
Our principal values don't originate from a theory, but from the most prominent traditions of our people. That is why they are alive and effective. In all radical changes of a society the main questions are what not to change, which are our primary national values and virtues, where are our roots, which need to be cleaned from the influences of the past, and which need to be freshened up and strengthened. On the other hand, should our society and institutions should look like to give the maximum results and achieve the maximum affirmation, ranks high on the list of priorities.
It is important to understand that without the constant evaluation of our main qualities and without the persistent intellectual and public polemic about our goals and priorities, the society cannot maintain a lively relationship and connection with its tradition and its future and cannon develop and perfect its collective spirit and identity.
Our society has been avoiding the discussion on the key subjects for the last several decades and the most important collective decisions haven't been made through the process of public debate and argumentation. That has to change if we want individuals actively participating in the public life, and if we want our collective goals received as legitimate and of common interest.
The Democratic Party sees for its obligation the initiation to hold open public debates about crucial matters of our society and our future. Big decisions cannot be made in the cabinets, like that was the case in the non-democratic and closed-natured societies. The nations should be educated to discuss its problems in a factual and honest way, without demagoguery and self-delusion. Intellectual and political courage are needed to achieve that, which we showed to be in possession of.
In order for our society to enter the reform era resolutely, we need to define clearly the principles of our national being and character, and the most valuable and distinctive virtues of our nation.
Many times in history we have been the cause and the leading force of reforms in the region and as well as in the wars brought upon us, but also in the economic maturation and intellectual accomplishments. That position in which we are celebrated us, but also caused countless victims and destruction.
Lately, we have been a prime example of the latter. We need to advance once more, but this time without casualties. We have been engaged in too many wars, we have suffered too many casualties and we deserve a century of peace and restoration for our people. We owe that to our ancestors, now that it has been 2 centuries since the First Serbian Insurrection, and we owe it to our coming generations who expect to live in their own country as equal citizens of the modern world.
To achieve this ambitious objective, we must go back to our deepest values which kept this nation floating in the most hardest of times and which provided a way out of the darkest of crises.
We need to keep dreaming the big dreams and fulfill the rational ambitions. Mission of the Democratic Party is to define a vision for a future society, speed up the processes of implementation and institutions, raise the criteria and not allow their halt. Our priority should be to look after ourselves first and others afterwards. For Serbia to become a better place, we have to become better.
we want a moral renovation of Serbia where true qualities of honesty, reliability, solidarity and moderation are permanently established.
Social, national and regional diversity of our society postulates a radically democratic approach, in which every individual deserves their chance and recognition.
Our obligation is to apply the highest standards for the rights of the minority groups, political and religious tolerance.
only that kind of approach facilitates the stamina and integration of our society. We, the Democrats, are the connective tissue that binds and unites the society. We are capable to connect the differences because in them we see the strength and not the weakness.

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  • Freedom

Our determination to defend all freedoms means confronting every form of dictatorship and dependence, demand for the abolishment of all forms of intimidation, threats and manipulation, so that every individual has an indefeasible right to their own personal way and choice as long as they do not jeopardize those same rights of others.
We perceive ourselves as promoters of the great liberal tradition of our people, where free farming, local jurisdiction, private property and freedoms of speech and forming alliances put Serbia among the European elite more than 200 years ago.
Achieving the implementation of human freedoms requires social and material conditions which we advocate in our political actions: freedom from poverty, pressures, ignorance, prejudices, exploitation, and violence of all other sorts.
Achieving freedoms is not a short-term accomplishment for us, it is an everyday process. We see our duty to uncompromisingly act in every situation where any of our citizens' freedoms are potentially endangered, and to strive towards perfection of the institutions whose role is to broaden the field of free choices for our citizens.
Since for us freedom is the main human value expressed through the ability to choose, we believe that our permanent obligation must be our fight for all types of personal and political freedoms, especially the freedom and the right to acquire all the necessary information and arguments to make an independent choice, and fight especially against all types of manipulation, demagoguery and selective presentation of facts. Also, we fight for the indefeasible right of our citizens to choose freely who their representatives will be and supervise their work and replace them with an ease if they are displeased with them.
For us, freedom is also a right to choose a lifestyle which encompasses the economic and financial freedom. That is why the economic advancement is our long term priority, because that is the only way to a more quality and well-paid job opportunities, the only was to start saving up for the care-free retirement years and the only way for enough financial means to provide our children with a proper education.
Because we believe in the individual initiative, we find that the pressures and influences of the state on its economy should constantly decrease. Having said that, we are the advocates of less state spending and tax lowering. Our diligent citizens should get more of their well-earned money back, because they are the ones who invested their time in making it and they know the best who to spend it.
If the private initiative can do certain tasks equally or better than the state institutions, then those tasks should be left for the private initiative to do. This asks for constant checks and balances of the efficiency of the public service, as well as the principled tendency of the state to let the market deal with businesses. The state should control the quality of the public services and not have the monopoly of it.
We strongly believe in freedom for all, and that includes our joint effort to provide equal services to those who are in some way handicapped, those who cannot take care of themselves. The state is responsible to improve the mechanisms of social support and lend a hand to all of those who need it and not encourage the passivism and letting the nature take its course. We see Serbia as the society of free and active individuals, and the social support needs to be an additive to a personal initiative to encourage the disabled to actively participate and not observe from the margins.
Freedom is the right to one's personal and physical integrity and we plead for a decisive fight against all aspects of crime and violence. We ask for a constant improvement of all institutions that are responsible for fighting the crime (police, justice system and law making organs in particular), so we can properly and uncompromisingly react to all aspects of violence against our citizens and their property.
Because we believe that freedom is tightly related to basic values, like the sense of responsibility, honor, dignity, and because these values are learned at home and from family members, we are assured that the prosperity of the family is an essential prerequisite for a prosperous society.
We are advocating the support for the families, the economic security of mothers and housewives, the protection of children and adolescents from bad influences that mat jeopardize their integrity. We want Serbia to have stable and healthy families.

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  • Justice

Justice provides the application of equal rights for each individual and that is primarily in regard to equal opportunity and conditions for fulfilling their interests. We do not want blank equality that cancels individual differences, or social fighting in which the strongest get to satisfy their interests.
Justice for us represents the ability of each member of our society to take part in splitting the social wealth according to their contribution to that wealth.
As its long term goal, the Democratic Party sees the establishment of institutions that will provide a fair partition of wealth in our society.
Our duty is to advance and perfect all institutions that protect the security and the rights of our citizens, starting with the institutions of a lawful state, to regulating the working rights, social security and retirement funds. We want Serbia to be a state of protected citizens - equally protected from the crime and malversations as well as from financial speculations, interest groups, monopoly and unnecessary social and economic risks.
Our society will go through a process of transition in the next several years, and overcoming that period will result in a concise plan for everyone's role in the society.
The pricey cost of transition must be paid by everyone, more by those who own more.
The state has to take on itself its share of responsibility. We want an active government that will, during the transition period, take responsibility for accoridingly burdening all social classes and groups, which will provide a social stability in turn.

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  • Equality

All people are born with an equal right to accomplish and experience the maximum in luck, success and satisfaction according to their invested effort. No one must be left behind just because of their gender, physical appearance, religion, convictions or place where they live or come from. For the same reasons no one must be privileged.
Every human being is gifted with one thing or the other and it is during their course life that they discover their potentials. We, the Democrats, believe that all people have potentials, and that makes them equal, although the nature of those potentials can be very different.
We ask people to activate and make the best out of their talents and not lose their identity by conforming to something unknown to them. It is time that as a nation we stop conforming to our collective illusions and misunderstandings.
Lets us turn to what is best in us and create a social standing in which our values and potentials are recognized, respected and further developed. The Democratic Party will, with their new constitution and behavior, encourage citizens to turn to what is best about them and contribute to the creation of a society that will give them back more.

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  • Solidarity

Achieving the freedom, justice and equality is improbable without solidarity. Every society has powerless and helpless people, people that have been put in that position by a misfortunate course of events or an individual affliction, people whose chances of a successful professional and personal life aren't so great. Some have been born into a poor family, some live in an economically undeveloped region, some work in a company that is about to file for bankruptcy. Our duty is to help all of those who are struck by misfortune and to build a society founded on the principle of solidarity and not selfishness.

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  • Tolerance

Because we truly believe in freedom and equality of all people, we are tolerant towards their differences and we do not attempt to force, assimilate or confine anyone. We endeavor to build institutions and mechanisms that will harmonize differences without diminishing them. That proves that we are the original democrats, people who defiantly defend their beliefs while respecting the beliefs of others.
In our multicultural society, national and religious tolerance is high on the list. We believe that religious and ethnic communities in Serbia need to be granted their own role and responsibility in educating about ethnic principles of life and society. From that role and responsibility arises the obligation to actively preach about religious tolerance.

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Our Main Program Convictions

1. Changes as the main characteristic of the modern world

Informative and technological revolution from the last decade changed greatly the character of all world processes, governing and economics in particular. From those changes arise chances and opportunities for every society. Countries that are capable of solving problems effectively and quickly and countries that invest in the development and planning of thier future are the coutries that have a chance to provide advancement for their citizens. This results in a new way of governing the country, a new awareness and a new approach to certain issues. This also results in a new way of party operation and organization, directed more towards communication and education of people than towards parties's fight for the ultimate power.
We want Serbia to be a country in which the future is uninteruptedly present through plans for the development, research projects that will provide new job opportunities in new industrial and economic branches, thought public polemic on issues and problems that our society is to face in the future period.
The Democratic Party identifies its main aim in the development of the society. We are a party of social changes and modernization.
Our insisting on constant learning and active attitude towards problems is our program for Serbia in the 21st century. To fulfil this program, a lot has to be changed in our country. Above all, everybody has to see an ally in changes, and not an adversary. We see a chance in every problem, while some segments of our society still see a problem in every chance for a change. We have great understanding for them, because pragmatic and hard-working people always paid the highest price of changes throughout the history. This time, that must not happen.
Bad collective memory must not determine our behavior in the future. We have to be ready for the great acceleration of the world. As a soceity and as individuals, we have to be equally fast, and even faster in reactions, solutions and ideas. We mustn't let individuals decide on important systemic programs of the future. We have to implant into our mentality, habits, behavior and institutions, mechanisms for rapid reaction. That will result in effective and great changes. The Democratic Party believes in the capability of our citiznes to intiate and deal with such changes and to gain membership in the family of the most success ful nations of Europe.
Our program is the program of this monumental transformation.
Our program's goal is: our country - an equal member of the European Union.
To prepare Serbia for the 21st century, thorough and radical changes must occur. The primary developmental potencial in the most developed countries of the world is knowledge, good organization, innovations. Modern societies are effective only if the citizens are motived to actively participate, constantly learn and gain new qualifications, and citizens are ready to do that only if the government is their service, whose price and quality they control and directly influence.
The task of the Democratic Party is to demonstrate principles of an effective, responsible, competant, and democratically controled action, in which every activity is well planned and directed toward the benefits of the citizens as their sole beneficiaries. This should be firstly applied on the Democratic Party's own organization, and then on the functions of the public life in which it acts.
Also, another task of the Democratic Party is to advocate instituitional changes that will speed up the processes in our society, activate our society's world integrations and allow it to maximally and effectively use its potentials for the benefit of its citizens.
Democratic Party, which was a motor of political changes in the last decade, needs to become a motor of societal modernization. Inherited and inefficient structures in all branches of the soceity must be replaced with new and effective ones. All changes start with an different outlook on things and with a different way of thinking. The old way of thinking is based on the conviction that we are destined to be subjected to everlasting conspiracies and atrocious intentions of the world centers of power, and that we can change very little with acting upon these issues. We indeed became hostages, victims and passive observers of this attitude and way of thinking. The new approach is based on willingness and is directed toward solving concrete and specific problems. Regardless of the unfavorable outside circumstances, good planning skills and active regard can assist us in governing our own destiny and be the subjects instead of objects of the history.
Democratic Party needs to reform the current mentality and bring in the spirit of activism, determination toward problem soving and positive thinking by its everyday effort to surpass its own ambitions.

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2. Political Institutions for Serbia in the 21st century

a) Democratic Instalment

We are convinced that the praliamentary democracy is the best political system for Serbia. That system implies that the best way to represent the interests and political stand points of the people is through political parties, which in their internal organizations have to be democratic and succeptible to public control. Mandate to govern the system is limited to a certain period of time and is received at fair and free elections.
The election winners are granted power which they are to exercise according to clearly defined rules and and under the strict control of the independent judiciary branch and free media.
The state administration needs to be professional and depoliticized, as do all public services. The Democratics Party considers the modernization of the state directory on all levels and its constant adaptation to ever increasing demands of modern societies its permanent task.
Efficient and not corrupted public services and the key to a modern country.Radical changes in Serbia are required in order to acquire a modern state directory, and following that, constant improvement and enhancement are needed. This task is a historic program result, because never before this region has had those forms of institutions. Some of the Democratic Party's main tasks are making the reform of the public service a national priority, defining the course of those reforms and advocating the control and the raising of the quaility of the service which our citizens receive from public departments.
There is a need for a mentality change, equally among the citizens as service users and the public sevices as servise providers. That change is reflected through the fact that the state treats its citizens as service users and not inferior dependents or passive receivers. The service user, who finances the service provider through his tax payments, has a right to know what he's getting for that money, and a right to control, choose and change the service provider. This equally applies to the construction of an entire line of organizations specialized for representing and protecting the rights and interests of all citizens with respect to public services. Their reform is a process and not a short-term act. It is a never ending reform. The first phase of this reform will take several years, and following its successful conclusion it's crucial to continue the process and continuously strive for perfection of the public services as well as the mechanisms of their control.
The Democratic Party, as the party of modernization of Serbian society considers one of its main program goals its everyday advocacy for the efficient and close to citizens and by them controlled state directory and public services. This applies to all levels: local, city, provintial, and republic.
No personal or group privileges will come out from participating in the government. Every malversation must be immediately uncovered and strictly sanctioned. During the period of establishment of the democratic institutions careful attention should be paid to the possibility of corruption and influence of powerful financial groups and lobbies on political decision making. One of the Democratic Party's permanent appropriations is to fight all forms of power misuse by supporting, together with the intiatives of non-governmental organizations and citizens, all kinds of social control, efficiency evaluation and measurement of the justification of actions made by the governing body.

b) Decentralization

The more the structures that are involved in the decision-making processes are closer to the citizens, the greater the possibility that those decisions will be better representative of the citizens' interest. Having said that, the decentralization of the government and the division of the duties of its branches increases the motivation of people to take part in public affairs, as does their responsibility to channel the decisions. The Democratic Party emphasizes on the true decentralization of the power in Serbia, in the funcitional as well as in the territorial sense.
The Democratic Party stands for abolishing the administrative control over the economy, culture, science and autonomy of all all social resources that are capable of dealing with their own affairs.
The Democratic Party is for a broad territorial autonomy.
Local municipalities needs to have the ability to regulate all of those affairs which they can deal with in the manner as good as or better than that of the central government, respecting the norms of the modern European countries.
The province of Vojvodina should enjoy the true autonomy and perform all the duties that are not in conflict with the modernly defined democratic state.

c) Public

Democracy is based on the possibility of being controlled and the idea of the public is the main condition for the most effective form of control. It is not enough only to have the free media. All government actions, and particularily those that concern the distribution of the finances and power, must be crystal clear and under control. The Democratic Party advocates the absolute budget transparency, where all incomes and expanditures of the government are clearly recorded and where the Parliament and the public experts make up the system of checks and balances.

d)Participation

The Democratic Party wants to inclued as many citizens as possible in the direct process of decision-making, as well as in the control and judgement of the achieved results. Civic participation is a two way street for us. The institutions and organizations are responsible to open up the space for the citizens' active role in political and public life, but the citizens themselves need to express their keen interest in participating in thise kind of processes that are crucial for their own lives.
The Democratic Party is determined to constantly reform its own governing bodies so that the members and the activists of the Democratic Party are providedwith the opportunity for active participation and political decision-making, both on the local and central level.

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3. Our vision of a successful economy

The Democratic Party sees in the initiative of an individual the main motor of successful economy. The main task of the government is to set certain clear rules of the economic and industrial life, adapted to national interests and international economic relations. The government needs to incourage and support the economic activities of individuals, to remove the obstacles of their initiation and ease their participation in the international competition.
The Democratic Party sees Serbia in the 21st century as a country whose citizens fall mainly in the middle class category, who are active and willing to take on the initiative, who have good qualifications, occupy quaility work places, have enough income to secure a decent life, provide good education for their children and be sure to have a carefree oldage.
The spirit of freedom has always been in the social foundations of an independent farmer, who availed with basic means for a normal life, who paid taxes, served the army and went to war whenever state called him, and still had been in the posession of his own life. That gave young democracy of the 19th century power and that needs to strengthen the democracy of the 21st century.
We permanently advocate all means of instigation of small and middle size businesses, family businesses and local economy. The experience of successful countries demonstrates that this particular segment of the economy employs most people, and it is the most vital one because it lies on the premises of diligence and team spirit, which result in initiatives and innovations.
The key is - quality education and good profession, as well as stable institutions that guarantee property, savings and investments.
Along with the traditional industrial sectors, the future of Serbia is in the new economy, that is based on the sector of public services, informatic technologies and knowledge. Democratic Party considers that the longterm priority of the economic politics is investing in the transportational, energetic and telecommunicational infrastructure, along with theeducation of the work force.
Our economic vision is Serbia as a country of stable economic institutions, good infrastructure and qualified work force. Also, our vision of Serbia is that it should be a country of numerous private initiatives, small and middle size businesses that are flexible enough to quick adaptation to changes in thw world market.
Our invariable and incessant goal is: increased number of work places, better work places and a life standard that allows every family and individual a free and untamed choice of their own life style.
To accomplish this immense ambition, the entire social system needs to be reorganized, directed toward quality and results, responsibility of individuals, constant learning and improvement, modifying the makret to fit new norms, toward active relationship with changes in the world.
Serbia needs to become a dynamic society of fast reactions to changes of global instances, top notch qualifications in the governing segment of economics and industry, big social permiability toward new ideas and new people. All this means that Serbia needs to change radically, in order to remain true to its foundamental values and principles, but also to meet its objective, and be among the best.

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4. Our vision of Serbian society - dynamic and open soceity, integrated in the world

We are convinced that our country and its citizens have potentials whose actualization would earn us an auspicous position in the international competition. That is why we believe that any kind of internal or external isolation is deterimental. Therefore, our vision of Serbian society in the 21st century is - dynamic and open society, integrated in Europe and the world.
To accomplish our potentials we need a different societal organization. We need more efficient institutions in all ares of life, from education, health, social security, to pension insurance and care for socially endangered citizens. And above all, we need a different socail climate, based on realism, problem analysis and constant search for their solutions.
The mission of the Democratic Party is to constantly point our the necessity to prioritize society and turn it toward the solution to problems that we face now and we will face in the future, but also to work on the active reform of institutions, in order for them to become the true service of all citizens in their everyday life.
Opening up our country and integrations in the international relations put us before challenges of the contemporary world. We will never be able to internaly measure ourselves anymore, only to compare us to others. That will, from now on, require a much greater ability to change and adapt to varying circumstances of the world. Not only did Serbia go back to the world, the world came back to Serbia. But that is not a static and known world anymore, that is a world that is changing on daily bases, a world that daily gives new chances, but also brings new risks. The biggest risk of all is to miss your chance.
The basic wealth in the 21st century is knowledge, and that is very obvious at the beginning of this century. The principle source of global inequality will be the unequal chance of some countries and their people to acquire and apply knowledge and information. The main feature and importance of knowledge is changing, and hence the social institutions that need to provide access to knowledge.
It is not about learning a lot anymore, it is about learning where the knowledge is and how to access it easily and how to use it in the best way possible.
That implies the change in the way we think, from students and scientists to a clerk at cash registar or housewife in the kitchen. Everybody's performance at work will be more quality and efficient if they are all part of the global network. The change and constant improvement of the way we communicate in our society is a given. We need modern terchnology. And together with that, in order for our citizens to be able use it, we need a speedy improvement of their living standard and education level.
Summerized, this implies the radical changes of our society that are rarely seen in history. But, there is no alternative. Successful countries have already gone through that revolution, and we cannot bypass it if we want to join them.
Every revolution requires an idea bearer. The role of the Democratic Party, as a motor of social modernization, is to plan, organize and encourage this integration in the world development.
Knowledge, information, communication as new sources of social power, carry with themselves new sources of social inequality. Even now, the least developed coutries are those that have missed the link to the informatics revolution. But, the inequality exists within societies themselves. Not all have the equal chance to participate and share the fruits of the world advancement.
Task of the Democratic Party is to fight for the modernization of our society as a whole, but also to pursue an equal internal development. The inherited inequality in either material possessions or education must not present the bases for a new inequality. The Democratic Party will demand to make national priority out of education, suplementary qualification,and investement in people and their knowledge, as far as its influence can reach.

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5. Serbia of social solidarity

We, the Democrats, do not belive that all relations in the society are regulated mechanically, based on the law of the state and the law of the market. We believe that we need to provide an equal opportunity for all, for the sake of the complete happiness of the society, and therefore the individual. Nobody is guaranteed success, but everybody has to have a chance of achieving it. Those who miss on the chance, for subjective or objective reasons, deserve a certain degree of solidarity - from provding them with minimum social security, to giving them another chance. This is particularly important in the case of children and youth. Nobody in Serbia is to be disadvantaged just for being born into a poor family. The government must constantly fix injustices made because some people's starting positions were worsened without them being in control of it.
At the same time, the Democratic Party wants to encourage initiative and activism. If social worries are an excuse for someone to give up on putting in personal effort, then that person loses as much as the society. Therefore, our social politics is an encouragement for an individual action: those individuals that dropped out of the race need to be recuperated and put back in, and not left on the side as passive observers and dependents on social security.

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6. Our vision for citizens of Serbia in the 21st century

We want the citizens of Serbia to have an active relationship toward their lives and society in which they live. We want Serbia of vigilant citizens, always ready to participate. We gather among ourselves those who tend to strive for something better and more successful, those who are not accepting failures, those who shape and change things, those who aren't afraid of the future, but see in it a challenge and a chance.
Regardless of the position at which the person is spreading its influence, every person can change the circumstances with its active attitude. And if joined with others, they will be even more successful and capable of acomplishing even greater goals.
The Democratic Party wants Serbia to be a country whose citizens will join each other around common goals and interests, whether those were personal, occupational, local, or politicalm who will actively participate in planning, chanelling and controlling the executed. We want our citizens to be not vassals or followers, but sovereign and selfassured.
We support the sindical and all other civic organizations. We demand from our members to be active in such organizations. All those actions need to independent and free, because that it is the only way to secure and maintain confidence in the eyes of their activists.
We want a democratic linkage between the society and the state, so that the initiatives of citizens, parties, sindicates and other organizations become a subject of a discussion in the general and expert public, while the legitimately elected services make decisions in coherence with the law and public and clear rules.
We are a party of action and initiative, a party that supports and stands for all people with ideas and ambitions, but also a party that takes care of all who are behind in the social competition. Our political philosophy is reflected in a positive and active relation to life. We want to build our society on dynamic potentials of our people, aware that sometimes we need to face and fight passivisim. We build our politics on beliefs and opinions that we consider to be right, and not on beliefs and opinions that are popular and widely supported at the present time. The point is to build our future on what is positive, and not on what is readily available.

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Our Priorities

We need different priorities nowadays, but a different approach to problems as well. Those priorities are concerned with enabling people and institutions to better coordinate themselves in the ever increasing world dynamic, while a different approach relates to a positive attitude towards problems, realism, innovations and active attitude towards life.

Efficient and Strong Serbian State

We want to capacitate Serbia to function flawlessly, regardless of whether it is completely independent or in a federation or some other future union (European Union). Institutions and services of our state need to be able to satislfy all the foundamental interests of our citizens, and to achieve that, they need to be radically reogranized. Serbia is not the remaining part of Yugoslavia. Serbia is a state with its clearly defined identity and institutions, which needs to be reformed and advanced in order to meet the challenges and chances of the 21st century.
Serbia needs to be a state that is ready to enforce efficiently all kinds of different alternatives, whether they were in regard to future relations with Montenegro, status of Kosovo and Metohija, some new form of regional integration. Events must not catch us unprepared. The future is open, and we have to be maximally ready , in order to achieve our interest. That requires efficient institutions, successful economy, international credibility, stable political life. The Democratic Party will work on accomplishing these conditions for a successful Serbian state.

National Integration

The democratic Serbian state takes over the responsibility of being an inspiration and support to out citizens beyond the borders of our country, in our neighborhood. Fortunately, all of those states, just like Serbia, are gradually establishing their democratic institutions, so that the Serbian support to Serbs outside Serbia has for its goal to maintain the national and cultural identitiy. Serbs outside Serbia have a chance to establish bridges of communication with other countries and nations.

European Integration

The program goal of the Democratic Party is to involve Serbia actively in the European Union at the soonest time possible.
We want the european structures and standards to become an integrated part of our society, and out state an equal memeber of the European Union of states.
Our obligation, everywhere we act, is to affirm the european values and prepare out country for a true european integration.

Role in the Region

Our country needs to become a stablizing factor in the region. Not only that we must not allow ourselves to act destructively anymore, we have to take over the active role of integration. We need to encourage our neighbors to a cooperation, to offer them concrete concepts and plans, and act together in the protection of regional interests.

Security and Rights of Citizens

Our obligation is to advance all the institutions that protect the safety and rights of all citizens, from the institutions of a lawful state, to the regulation of the working rights, social security and pension security fund. We want Serbia to be a state of protected citizens - equally protected from the criminal and from the malversations of the government, as well as from the financial speculations, interest groups, monopolies and unnecessary social and economic risks.

Societal Development

Priorities of the social development comprise a quailified working force, good trafic and communicational infrastructure and stable institutions which determine the rules of business and behavior.
Education and training of the worl force, on all levels of the economy, represents a national task of the first order. Well-trained and capable people are our greatest economic potential. Their advancement of the worlk force is a common task of the state and economic organizations, schools and public.
It is necessary to creat conditions for an efficient flow of goods and services, which requires a speedy reconstruction and building of the trafic and communicational infrastructure.
It is understood that all of these are achievable only with the strong and stable law regulations, as well as the strickt and lawful conduct of all social factors.
The enforcement of this plan makes our conutry attractive and desirable for investments. Thanks to our geographical location, if we advance the performances of our economy, we have a chance to become a motor of the regional development.
This is the program goal of the Democratic Party.
We are going to stand for strickt enforcement of all developmental priorities in all of our political actions, and we will be against ever populism and bad compromises that would detour us from the road toward a great goal for the sake of the daily popularity.

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Course of Action

Officials and members of the Democratic Party are active in the institutions (municlipal, city and provintial, republic and federal), active in their civic initiatives in non-governmental organizations, active in their living and working enviroment.
The constant activity is the main characteristic of the membership of the Democratic Party. In their actions the members of the Democratic Party spread the positive energy, look for solutions to problems, encourage initiatives of their fellow citizens and associates, spread the atmosphere of tolerance and compromise.
We are the determined proponents of the parliamentary democracy, but at the same time we support all forms of the immediate democracy as a representation of local interests. All that wish to join in acquiring a legitimate goal we offer the Democratic Party as their instrument in achieveing that. That does not downgrade the power of the parliamentarism, but on the contrary, allows a more complete and thorough action of citizens in political processes. This is due to the fact that the social life morphed partially into traditional ways of representation, such as parties, sindicates, and other stationary organizations. It is crucial that citizens constantly fight for the improvement and humanizing of their conditions, and that is a refreshment even for a parliamentary democracy.
Democratic Party is an open and a pluralist party. The officials and activists of the Democratic Party have a broad autonomy within the organization. They are obligated to obey and respect the principles stated in the program of the party and the basic decisions made by the party administration, but they are not obligated to have the same opinion on every issue. Argumented polemic, competition and challenging of standpoints shape the character of the Democratic Party, which we wish to preserve and encourage.
The broad autonomy within the organization requires individual initiative and leadership qualities on every level of action in the Democratic Party. That brings upon a certain responsibility and a necessity for constant improvement. There are no pre-made recipes and directives from the top of the party administration. We ask for creativity, initiative and responsibility of individuals. Every member of the Democratic Party is expected to deal with problems on his/her level of responsibility. Mistakes are a normal part of every job, and democrats are expected to accept the analysis and the critique and accordingly corect and adjust their actions and behavior.
Therefore, our politics is not dogmatic, it is pragmatic, directed towards problem solution and not enforcement of dogmas. However, out action is not a form of a blind activism, but it is carefully guided and coordinated by our foundamental values and principles. We are a party of principles, and not ideology. We are interested in resluts and not ideological enforcement. That is why we are tolerant and flexible. That is why we are a modern party that is capable of modernizing Serbia.
We, the Democrats, always have to be a party of the next, future step, of what is coming and what is predicted for the future. We have to be a party of new ideas and experiments, which prepare our society for future challenges, a party that swims up the stream and resists prejudices, in the name of what will become widely accepted in the future, but what we will test tomorrow in the name of what is new and fresh. We constantly think about what kind of Serbia we want in five and ten years, and not how to acomplish and secure our party or personal status in Serbia from today or tomorrow.
We are a party of the realistic optimism, positive energy and vision.

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The Democratic Party Headquarters in Belgrade

     

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The Democratic Party Convention in Belgrade's "Hala Pionir" on December 24th, 2003.

                

                

             

           

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Boris Tadic's Guest Appearance on TV B-92

          

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My Politically Inactive Friends

         

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My Democratic Room

             

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