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HRH Crown Prince Alexander II
WHY SHOULD SERBIA BE A MONARCHY? LIDER QUOTE: “The political situation in Serbia doesn’t leave a good impression on anyone. After the death of Dr. Zoran Djindjiæ, the country is being lead by politicians who are not taken seriously neither in the world, nor in the region. It suffices to say that in the last three years Serbia was represented in Moscow by Milan Roæen, the current Montenegrin Minister of Foreign Affairs. This gentleman has fulfilled the task he came for to Moscow, and in the meantime he has met with Agim Èeku, Kosovo Albanian leader, while Serbia still doesn’t have an adequate representative in Russia; a representative that will work only in its interest. That was the reason for us to meet and talk to the person who perhaps is the only right solution for Serbia and Serbs. A man who has family relations with all important Royal Houses in Europe. Is reinstating monarchy the only solution for us? How should we fight for our position in the world? HRH Crown Prince Alexander II talks to Lider about these and other issues”. Why do you think it would be good for Serbia to become a monarchy? What do you find wrong in Serbia? Serbia would have a new image. An image of a country where the head of state is neutral, is not a member of a political party, respects all people, regardless of their political views or religion. We need a meeting point, a point of unity and continuity. Therefore our government, which was elected by the people, could carry on with its business, and be saved of almost daily bickering between the two offices, the President’s office, and Prime Minister’s office. Of course, President Tadiæ and Prime Minister Koštunica are very fine people, but the people of Serbia don’t need friction. So why not simplify it like other countries such as Spain, Norway, or Japan, for example. What type of monarchy do you think that people in Serbia would like the most? There are variations, but we are looking specifically for a European model, which is constitutional parliamentary monarchy. There’s a whole list of examples, some I already mentioned, Norway, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, United Kingdom, etc. They all function very well; they are highly advanced democracies, and are socially adapted. That’s the kind of monarchy we are looking at. Of course, there are other types of monarchy, but they are not the model we should follow. The beauty about our Monarchy is that it comes from our land, it comes from Serbia, it is not imported. That really makes it a national and historical institution of great respect. But we must bring it to the modern side too, so that it works in the European Union. Such monarchies work hand in hand with republics. In Serbia people think that republics and monarchies do not get well along. That is absolute nonsense. In Brussels they all work together. They are all democratically elected representatives of their countries. Was the issue of monarchy addressed in the new Constitution? No, unfortunately not. The new Constitution is very important and I warmly congratulate the people of Serbia for having come out to vote for it. However, it was specifically designed for Kosovo and there are certain elements in the Constitution which I, as a person who lived in democratic countries all my life, have a problem. I think that the whole process was rushed, because after the 5th of October 2000, with exception of Prime Minister Djindjiæ, no one had a look at the Kosovo situation, which is close to our hearts. We have a very painful situation there; it’s like Jerusalem to many people. Now we stand to lose everything in Kosovo. Unless we all get together and have a plan, and even consider partition. In the end we could lose absolutely everything in five years. I don’t think that’s what we want; we require good negotiation skills now. Also, isn’t there a feeling in Serbia, that is present in Russia too, that solution is being imposed on us. And I don’t believe that’s the way to move forward in the 21st century. You have to decide what you want, negotiate, and try to do the best you can. Not to wait for foreigners to impose solutions. Could you please describe Serbia as a new country? We have suffered a lot. Serbia has suffered a lot. Serbia was part of Yugoslavia, before that, part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and then it became Yugoslavia in 1929, when my grandfather renamed it. Then we had fascism in Europe, civil war, war against Germans, and after all that, the imperial dictatorship, which was similar to Russian. Let’s face it, let’s be frank. Was this good for the people? Obviously not. It was good for a few individuals who lived better than emperors. Then we’ve had the revolution on 5th of October, after 10 years of madness, where people lost their lives, people suffered under the embargo, and then we were criminally bombed. Now we have to recover from all this. What a job! What a terrible job. People are still suffering. People lived better 15 years ago, they had higher salaries, they had passports with which they could travel. Now our young people say they can’t travel anywhere. What can we do about it? We have to pull ourselves together and to move ahead. There’s a lot to be done in Serbia. Planning, organization, then planning again… Do you think that it is necessary to raise awareness among Serbian population? Well, I think that our population deserves full explanation and it must partake in the discussion. Maybe the people are getting tired of politics if you think about it. We lost a quarter of a million of people in the brain drain. We are looking for talent to run the country. We’re trying to educate the young generation now. I managed to create scholarships with foreign universities, and this will take time to do it, of course, but we have to start somewhere. Now we have to begin to work on forming a future, and making our politicians aware that they are working for the people, not against the people. After all, they are the servants of the people. People elected them and thanks to the grace of the people they are in office. This is very important, this is democracy functioning. Our young people are wondering should they go abroad to a very far away country, away from their roots, away from their homeland and earn a living, or to stay here and hope for a better days? So everybody has a collective responsibility in creating a future. Another thing that has to stop is the gossip and false information in the media. I understand that media has to sell, but we all must contribute to a better future of Serbia. What exactly could you bring to Serbia? Unity, continuity, democratic process, bringing people together for a common goal… then education as a key issue and my wife’s work on humanitarian side. We have to make people aware that we need things, training, bringing us up to date with the latest technologies. We are a major country in the Balkans, and unless we are at peace with ourselves, the Balkans could be slightly unstable. I think that people deserve to understand what is needed of them. What is European Union? I am not too sure our people understand what the European Union is. They ask do I have to pay more? Am I isolated more? Can I travel? Could I take a job, for example, in France, Italy? Can I get people from my company to come here and work without paying more for that? Nobody really knows, but everybody’s arguing about it. Two countries are moving in on first of January – Bulgaria and Romania. So, if you think about it, the belt is getting tighter. We have next to us Hungary, and Slovenia a little further. So bit by bit it’s getting tighter and tighter. We could be in it too, but first we have to fulfil our international obligations. Regarding that, I think that there’s a lot of tuning that must take place in The Hague. The Hague does not function the way I really see it functioning. You do bring people to justice, but you have to have a proper plan, it can not be open ended. I, as a citizen, would like to know much, much more, because my life and lives of all our people are being affected by this. We are being ransomed if you think about it. Nine million people being ransomed because of a few individuals. They should face justice, but who can guarantee that they are in the region? What is the future, collective future of all Serbian people, I mean all religions – Orthodox, Muslim, Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, we are a mixture. What is our future as a country? I don’t know. That is something we have to struggle with. Will monarchy accelerate integration of Serbia into EU? I think it could, because it would simplify the political process. You have the President who could become a great Prime Minister, and even the Prime Minister could remain on his position. But they have to work out their differences together. Then you have the coalitions. I accept who is elected. No matter who they are, because our elections are democratic. It functions pretty well, better than in most countries. I can’t believe that the West can be so stupid and say we don’t accept you because you elected so and so. That’s very wrong. It’s like Hamas. Hamas was elected. Now, if somebody is elected here, we must respect the election. That is very important. Why didn’t you try to apply your idea about monarchy earlier? It’s very difficult. There’s been no campaign; there’s been no box full of money to start advertising an awareness campaign. We have a few individuals who go from TV station to TV station and do interviews, explaining what constitutional monarchy is. There are phone-ins, debates, and we have won all these debates. But to do that is a big job, to explain things. I think that there should be more of a funding system, which would be set up to explain to people what is available. I wanted to bring a few foreign people who have been involved in constitutional monarchy discussions to join our experts and to have an open debate, so that people could understand how it works abroad, and then our people could interact with their views, and say we don’t agree with that, or we’d like to know more about that. That’s the democratic process. We are a bit in the dark. As I said, it all costs a lot. I didn’t inherit any money. Does the Diaspora show inclination towards your idea? Not only the Diaspora. Diaspora is very inclined to constitutional monarchy, but within Serbia there’s a very large amount of people who are inclined towards constitutional monarchy. I have noticed this travelling around our country; the interest is immense. So there is interest, all we have to do, really, is to organize this. Are you aware of any resistance, and who could your opponents be? There is resistance, but they would benefit from constitutional monarchy as well, because I respect everybody. I respect those who are for and who are against monarchy. So it’s in the interest of everybody, those who feel very strongly about being republican, those who feel very strongly for having high left inclination, or high right inclination, that there is a person who will respect their views and that they will not be hit by the head of state who will say “you can’t do this, you can’t do that.” It’s a very interesting situation. This works very well in the European Union and non-European constitutional monarchies. Who supports you the most? The people. That is interesting. In all political parties there are those who like the monarchy, but where is the mechanism for change? I believe that there is a mechanism. What happened in 1945 was illegal. What you need is Constitutional Assembly to address this situation. It was like when my great-grandfather King Peter I was made King. After 1945 I was abolished, my rights were abolished, in 1947 I was declared an enemy of the state. Of course, there are other ways, such as referendum, but a referendum is like running for president. I’m not running for president. I’m defending the democratic process. I’m what is needed to bring people together for a better future and to allow the politicians to get on with democracy. It works very well. Look at Spain. Spain moved from dictatorship to democracy, became member of EU and has an interesting economy. How is your cooperation with Serbian Orthodox Church? Very well. I’m proud to be Serbian Orthodox and as a Christian I respect all religions. I believe that it is important to understand each other. I made friends with Muslims, with Jews, with Orthodox, with Catholics. I had them here at the Royal Palace as guests. We are one nation. We need each other and we have to respect each other. So, being Orthodox is great, but respecting all others is a part of our religion too. Don’t take it to extremes. We also have extremism in our religion which I think is not good. Religion is something beautiful. Our God is the same God. Do you believe in God’s Providence? I think that we have much to learn from the writings, from the Bible, the Qur’an. There is a lot that is based on them, and different ways of interpreting. This is why we have so many religions. But I think we must respect this: God is here in so many ways, but God is not here to dictate, God is here to be good. How will the problem of Karadjordjeviæ family property in former Yugoslav republics be solved? Here we have an interesting situation. There is the right of ownership of private property in a democracy and this is normal. So, our rights, where there is a property, as it is in Slovenia or in Montenegro, for example, even here in Serbia, must be settled like it was settled in Hungary, Romania, or Czech Republic. It is very important that this is done properly and I don’t see why one should argue about it. It is a normal process which happens in all democracies. There are ways of settling it. If it is not returned, there is compensation. There are civilised ways. But it is quite ridiculous to deny it. We don’t even have restitution bill. Could you define your character in one sentence? Positive, I love my country. I want to see a future for my children and all young people. I want to see Serbia part of Europe. I’m a positive and caring person. How much time do you spend in Serbia? Approximately nine months in Serbia every year, three months travelling around, and most of that time trying to bring investors here. We were just in Iceland, as guests of their President. I’m trying to create the bridge to make contacts which could be useful for my country. I have good contacts and I would like to use them for Serbia. It is not a threat to any political party or any politician; it is for good of Serbia. I’m lucky that I made all these friends, and I am a friend with republics with their presidents, friend with monarchies with their kings and queens, with politicians, directors of big companies. So, why not to use it for Serbia? This is not competition; all I do is good for Serbia. I can contribute a lot in these things in working it out with the government. How often young princes Peter, Philip and Alexander come here? They come here for holidays. They like Kopaonik for snowboarding. Last summer they spent two months here. Peter has his own company which is involved in graphics design and he loves it. Alexander, the youngest, he is involved in advertising in California, and Philip graduated now from university in London and he is looking for some experience in several areas – one of them is banking. Are you satisfied with your life here? I’m very happy to be home, to live where my ancestors lived, and I’d like to see this country developing quickly. I’d like to see less argument. Of course, politics are politics, and we are in a democracy. If you look in other countries there are politics too, but we can not afford to play too many hot politics while the people are wondering how to buy bread or how to pay for heating. I am very worried about it. Travelling around our country with my wife we see poverty. We also have refugees and they deserve a future. On the other hand, I’m proud to say that, when people come here from abroad, they say that Serbia received them with an open heart. I would like to see more people coming here, I would like that we have a plan how too receive the investors, what to show them. I would like to be sure that tourists spend a lot of money here. Of course, we need more investors and we are grateful to those who came. We need modern factories, machines… I’m not satisfied with those, so called, industrial areas. But our people are very tolerant. Can you imagine it, going through years of dictatorship, ten years of pain, and then bombing? What patience they have? We are very proud people! What would you wish to Serbia in the next year? I would like to see big steps forward for the good of Serbia. That finally we get the EU situation moving. That people understand what it is all about. That we all make big efforts for bringing more investors here. Jobs, without more jobs we are going to have problems. We need a higher standard of living, the possibility of travelling freely, to lose the impression that we are imprisoned. That young people travel and get new experience abroad. I would like to see the brain drain come back to be a brain gain. I’d like to see Serbia united. That we represent ourselves to the world as a stable country with caring and polite people. I think that is the way for bringing investors here. |