​Radovan Viskovic, Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska: 'Ministers and Directors shall be valued by their performance and their results'.

In his first interview with the printed media since taking over the office, Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska Radovan Viskovic underlines there shall be no protected Ministers and Directors of public enterprises and other executives guarded by the parties they come from, but their only merit would be their results.

- Public enterprises must be profitable to the benefit of the Republic and its citizens and not just the people who work there and their directors. Those who do not have such results shall not be protected regardless of the party they come from and that we already demonstrated very clearly, Prime Minister Viskovic says for Glas Srpske.

GLAS: After the budget and the economic reform program are adopted, what would be the first and most pressing steps of the new Government of the Republic of Srpska?

VISKOVIĆ: There is no need for any urgency, but I can talk about the few first steps. The Government will immediately implement the measures from the Program of economic reforms. One of the measures is the Law on Child Protection as a direct support to employers and we will also propose that a profit that is reinvested into new production and employment is not taxed. We shall amend the Law on Inspectorate and grant special powers to a certain number of inspectors so that some inspectors will have the authority to control their colleagues and their identity would be known only to few people.

GLAS: Why is this being done?

VISKOVIĆ: It has happened that some inspectors perform a hundred controls a month and 80 percent of those are only formal controls. This has to change. If an inspector performs control and establishes everything was in order and after three days the inspector with special powers checks the records and establishes a different situation and shortcomings in the report of the previous inspection, then such an inspector would have to bear responsibility.

GLAS: You said that you would propose that a part of the profit that is reinvested in new production and new employment should be nontaxable. Have you thought about the idea that a profit invested in sports or culture is also exempt from taxation?

VISKOVIĆ: I understand your point and I am also aware that most people think how to rely on the budget and solve all their problems, but it is simply impossible. Measures to relieve the economy must not jeopardize the budget and I will not allow that payment of pensions and salaries is jeopardized.

GLAS: How will you stop people going abroad, what concrete measures will be taken?

VISKOVIĆ: Our main goal is to increase the productivity and competitiveness of our economy in order to increase salaries and thus send a message to our people that it is worth staying here since going abroad is not the happiest circumstance. All the measures that talk about as well as previous activities of the Government are essentially focused on this though people leave for various reasons and not just because of small wages.

GLAS: People have always been leaving, but now they leave with their whole families.

VISKOVIĆ: I agree that education institutions, religious organizations, the media and all others must be involved in addressing this issue. I do not agree that the Government is solely responsible for this problem nor could it solely solve it. This summer, the Government passed a measure to increase the non-taxable portion of the salary which led to a salary increase of BAM 30 on monthly basis. This measure has reduced revenues in the Budget for around 50 million and the budgets of local communities for about 20 million BAM marks. We do not complain about that but I just wanted to illustrate how much this salary increase which seemed tiny and which many laughed and downplayed, reduced the budget revenues. I am sorry however, that the employers did not respond to our measure by increasing the salaries for additional 15 or 20 BAM especially when I found out regrettably that some employers asked the workers to return those 30 marks to them. If that is true, then we are in serious trouble.

GLAS: You said and the composition of the Government proves it that this is the government of continuity. Does it have the right then to a 100 day work before it's being evaluated?

VIŠKOVIĆ: As far as I am concerned, the evaluation can start immediately, but it would be realistic to give some time to members of the Government to show what they know. I do not want to present any excuses, but the holidays would consume most of the January out of the first hundred days of work. Regardless of that, we will do everything in just a hundred days to justify the people's trust.

GLAS: Will you do anything dramatically differently from the previous Government?

VISKOVIĆ: You use these terms dramatically, urgently, but it is neither dramatic nor urgent. The previous Government functioned with less comfortable majority and many were protected by their leaders or parties, so that inadequate work and even work at the edge of the law was more difficult to sanction because it would immediately raise the issue of the majority. This Government was elected with 54 votes in favor but in reality it has the support of 59 deputies as two deputies, Dane Malešević from DNS and Nataša Trifković from the SNSD did not properly press the buttons during the voting, while Petar Đokić, Natalija Trivić and I did not vote. This support gives this Government a comfortable majority so that nobody could be protected by the party or party leader, but only by the results.

GLAS: The proposed amendments to the Law on Indirect Taxation foresee the single VAT rate. What is your opinion about it?

VISKOVIĆ: I'm afraid that the public has a wrong perception that I support a VAT increase which is simply not true. We received a proposal from the business community to reduce the direct taxes so that the economy could get a boost for development. I accepted this as such and the VAT issue shall be given due consideration but no decision has been made yet. I think that without having a differentiated VAT rate, a VAT increase is out of question. We're not the smartest, but definitely not the stupidest. It makes no sense to have the same tax rate for e.g. baby food and luxury cars. If things would proceed in that direction, and such a decision cannot be made by the Republic Srpska or its Government on its own, then abuses should be prevented since it is impermissible that the tax rate on basic food items is reduced and that their price should remain the same. I wish to reiterate that the VAT decision is not in our focus, but if and once it gets on agenda, we will have a clear position on it.

Sarajevo

GLAS: The public knows very little about your family.

VISKOVIĆ: My wife works for Drina Insurance Company for years and if she joins me in Banja Luka she will continue to work in this company. My daughter is the final year and my son is the second year of the Faculty of Law in Belgrade. I do not want my function to change anything in their life, as well as in mine and I will celebrate the New Year with the same people and in the same ambience as before. I am aware that I will have less time for private life but I will do my best to remain the same after I leave this office.

Support of Mr. Dodik is not a burden

GLAS: Do you feel pressure due to the common perception in public that you will not be able to make decisions on your own, since Mr. Dodik's word would have the last bearing?

VISKOVIĆ: Sincerely speaking, I do not want to make decisions on my own nor accept responsibility for good or for bad things. I am a team player and the support of President Dodik can only be a mitigating circumstance and not a burden. I am the Vice President of SNSD and a longtime associate of Milorad Dodik and Zeljka Cvijanovic and their experience can only be beneficial and useful for the improvement of the work of the Government.