Nebojša Atanacković (Serbian Cyrillic: Небојша Атанацковић; born 23 December 1943), also known as Boban Atanacković, is an entrepreneur and former politician from Serbia. He was a member of the National Assembly of Serbia from 1993 to 2001, and served as mayor of the Belgrade municipality of Voždovac from 1997 to 2000. For most of his time as an elected official, he was a member of the Serbian Renewal Movement (Srpski pokret obnove, SPO). He has been a prominent member of the Union of Employers of Serbia (Unije Poslodavaca Srbije, UPS) for many years and is currently its honorary president.

Early life and career

Atanacković was born in Belgrade during the regime of Milan Nedić and raised in the city when it was the capital of the People's Republic of Serbia and the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He graduated from Belgrade's Faculty of Transportation and founded the Centar Boban auto centre in 1981. He subsequently founded the UPS in 1994 and served on the Yugoslavian Chamber of Commerce's Oil Trade Council.[1]

Atanacković was also a champion auto racer in Serbia before entering political life.[2]

Politician

Atanacković joined the SPO on its founding in 1990, and was the party's candidate for Stari Grad's first division in the 1990 Serbian parliamentary election. He was defeated by future Yugoslavian president Vojislav Koštunica, who was at the time a member of the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS).

Serbia adopted a system of proportional representation for parliamentary elections in 1992; one-third of parliamentary mandates were assigned to candidates from successful lists in numerical order, while the remaining two-thirds were distributed amongst other candidates at the discretion of the sponsoring parties and coalitions.[3] In the same year, the SPO founded the Democratic Movement of Serbia (Demokratski pokret Srbije, DEPOS) in an attempt to create a united opposition to Slobodan Milošević's administration. Atanacković was given the fourteenth position on the DEPOS's electoral list in Belgrade in the 1992 parliamentary election and was granted an optional mandate when the list won fifteen seats in the division. He took his seat when the assembly met in January 1993.[4][5][6] Milošević's Socialist Party of Serbia (Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS) won a minority government in the election and remained in power via an informal alliance with the far-right Serbian Radical Party (Srpska radikalna stranka, SRS). The DEPOS members served in opposition.

The SPS–SRS alliance broke down in 1993, and a new parliamentary election was held later in the year. Atanacković appeared in the sixteenth position on the DEPOS list in Belgrade and was once again awarded an optional mandate when the list won eleven seats.[7][8][9] The SPS again won a minority government and was able to form a stable administration via an alliance with New Democracy (Nova demokratija, ND), hitherto one of the parties in the DEPOS coalition (which dissolved soon after the election). The SPO members again served in opposition.

The SPO and DS subsequently formed an alliance called Zajedno and contested the 1996 Serbian local elections under its banner. The alliance won victories in several major cities, including Belgrade, but the results were not initially recognized by the Serbian government. Following an extended standoff and several weeks of protest, the government belatedly recognized the victories of Zajedno in February 1997. Atanacković was elected to both the City Assembly of Belgrade and the Municipal Assembly of Voždovac.[10][11] When the latter assembly convened in early 1997, he was chosen as its president, which was at the time equivalent to mayor.[12]

The SPO left the Zajedno alliance later in 1997 and contested that year's parliamentary election on its own. Atanacković was given the second position on the SPO's list in the restructured Voždovac division and was given an optional mandate when the list won three seats in the division.[13][14][15] Once again, the SPS and its allies won the election and the SPO served in opposition.

The SPO briefly aligned itself with the SPS at the federal level in Yugoslavia in January 1999, before returning to an oppositional stance toward the Milošević administration in April. In October of the same year, four associates of SPO leader Vuk Drašković were killed and Drašković was himself injured in a suspicious car crash that many considered an assassination attempt. As a traffic safety expert, Atanacković expressed scepticism about the official investigation into the matter.[16]

In 2000, most of Serbia's leading opposition parties apart from the SPO formed the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), which emerged victorious in the 2000 Yugoslavian general election. The SPO, which fielded its own list, fared poorly. Atanacković was defeated in his bid for re-election to the Belgrade assembly in the concurrent 2000 Serbian local elections; he was also not re-elected to the Voždovac assembly. He resigned from the SPO in October 2000[17] and was not a candidate in the subsequent 2000 Serbian parliamentary election, held in December. His term in the national assembly ended when the new parliament convened in January 2001.

Since 2000

Atanacković has held a variety of leadership roles in the UPS since 2000 and has often been a public spokesperson for the organization.[18] In 2001, he presented a draft proposal of an anti-corruption bill to Serbia's new government.[19] The following year, he represented the UPS in signing an accord with the Serbian government and Serbia's largest unions on the nature of the country's economic transformation.[20]

In 2014, he called on Željko Sertić, Serbia's new economy minister, to crack down on the country's oversized grey economy.[21] Two years later, he encouraged the Serbian government not to give in to the government of Kosovo over an oil blockade imposed by the disputed territory.[22]

Acting as the UPS's honorary president, he welcomed assistance measures from the Serbian government for businesses and citizens in 2021 as a means of avoiding large-scale layoffs.[23]

As of 2021, Atanacković is a frequent commentator on economic matters in the Serbian media.[24] In August 2021, he argued that Serbian employers supported the principle of an increase in the minimum wage, although he described the rate being proposed by the government as unsustainable.[25]

Electoral record

Local (City Assembly of Belgrade)

2000 City of Belgrade election
Voždovac Division III[26]
Nebojša Atanacković (incumbent) Serbian Renewal Movement
Zoran Višnijć Socialist Party of Serbia–Yugoslav Left
Srđan Popovac Democratic Opposition of Serbia Elected
Milan Cvjetić Serbian Radical Party

National Assembly of Serbia

1990 Serbian parliamentary election
Member for Stari Grad I[27][28]
Vladimir Ajdačić Green Party
Nebojša Atanacković Serbian Renewal Movement
Dragomir Antonić Citizens' Group
Nenad Davidović Association for the Yugoslav Democratic Initiative
Miodrag Đurišić Party of Independent Businessmen and Peasants
Petar Džadžić Socialist Party of Serbia
Jugoslava Kostić – Paunić Serbian National Renewal
Vojislav Koštunica Democratic Party Elected
Miroljub Pavlović People's Radical Party
Dušan Trifunović Citizens' Group

References

  1. ↑ "Federal government can supply fuel until elections – paper," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Service: Central Europe & Balkans, 31 August 2000 (Source: Blic, Belgrade, in Serbo-Croat, 27 Aug 00, p. 7.
  2. ↑ "Nebojša Atanacković, predsednik Unije poslodavaca Srbije - biografija", eKapija, 5 February 2011.
  3. ↑ Guide to the Early Election, Ministry of Information of the Republic of Serbia, December 1992, made available by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, accessed 14 July 2017.
  4. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 20. и 27. децембра 1992. године и 3. јануара 1993. године; ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 Београд), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 19 August 2021.
  5. ↑ Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 20. и 27. децембра 1992. године и 3. јануара 1993. године, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 2 July 2021.
  6. ↑ Službeni glasnik (Republike Srbije), Volume 49 Number 7 (25 January 1993), p. 193.
  7. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године; ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (1 Београд), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 19 August 2021.
  8. ↑ Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 19. и 26. децембра 1993. године и 5. јануара 1994. године, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 19 August 2021.
  9. ↑ Službeni glasnik (Republike Srbije), Volume 50 Number 11 (25 January 1994), p. 193.
  10. ↑ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 43 Number 3 (22 February 1997), p. 1.
  11. ↑ Službeni list (Grada Beograda), Volume 43 Number 6 (11 April 1997), 105. He was elected for Vožvodac's sixteenth division.
  12. ↑ "Nebojša Atanacković, predsednik Unije poslodavaca Srbije - biografija", eKapija, 5 February 2011.
  13. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године; ЗБИРНЕ ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (2 Вождовац), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 18 August 2021.
  14. ↑ Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије, одржаних 21. и 28. септембра и 5. октобра 1997. године, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 19 August 2021.
  15. ↑ PRVA SEDNICA, 03.12.1997., Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 19 August 2021.
  16. ↑ Vesna Peric, "Driver's absence gives weight to tales of Draskovic death plot," The Independent – London, 7 October 1999, p. 17.
  17. ↑ "Borović, Jovanović i Miković vode 'Pravdu'", Blic, 31 October 2000, accessed 19 August 2021.
  18. ↑ "Nebojša Atanacković, predsednik Unije poslodavaca Srbije - biografija", eKapija, 5 February 2011.
  19. ↑ "Employers Association in Serbia Proposes Draft for Fighting Corruption among Public Persons," Yugoslav NewsDigest, 27 June 2001.
  20. ↑ "Serbian premier welcomes agreement with unions, employers' association," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European – Political, 17 April 2002 (Source: Excerpt of a report in English by Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug).
  21. ↑ "Serbian businessmen expect new minister to deal with grey economy," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 25 August 2014, 12:19 (Source: Text of report by Serbian newspaper Politika website on 20 August).
  22. ↑ "Serbian PM hopeful solution to be found for Kosovo's oil blockade," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 28 March 2016, 11:14 (Source: Text of report in English by Serbian pro-western Belgrade-based Radio B92 website, on 28 March).
  23. ↑ "Atanackovic: New assistance measures to avert mass layoffs," Tanjug NewsAgency, 18 February 2021.
  24. ↑ See for instance "Atanacković: Rad od kuće biće prisutan i posle pandemije", N1, 2 July 2021, accessed 20 August 2021; "Atanacković: Povećanje minimalca na 35.000 ubitačno ako se ne popravi promet", N1, 12 July 2021, accessed 20 August 2021; "Sindikati traže minimalac od 39.000 dinara, poslodavci tvrde da nema uslova", N1, 19 August 2021, accessed 20 August 2021.
  25. ↑ Gojko Vlaović, "Sindikati: Apeli ne podižu minimalac, samo protesti", Danas, 12 August 2021, accessed 20 August 2021.
  26. ↑ Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 46 Number 13 (15 September 2000), p. 420; Službeni List (Grada Beograda), Volume 46 Number 15 (20 October 2000), p. 469.
  27. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 9. и 23. децембра 1990. године (Листе кандидата за народне посланике Народне скупштине Републике Србије, по изборним јединицама), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
  28. ↑ Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 9. и 23. децембра 1990. године (Извештај о укупним резултатима избора за народне посланике у Народну скупштину Републике Србије 9. и 23. децембра 1990. године), Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017.
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