Saša Radulović ( sr-Cyrl, Саша Радуловић,
or ; born 7 June 1965) is a Serbian engineer, economist and politician. He is a former
Minister of Economy
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
of Serbia
Biografije novih ministara
. Време. 5. септембар 2013. and the president of
Enough is Enough, a political movement in Serbia, for whom he ran for president in the
2017 Serbian presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Serbia on 2 April 2017. Incumbent president Tomislav Nikolić was eligible to run for a second five-year term, but opted not to do so. Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić was elected president in the first round ...
. He served as a member of the
National Assembly of Serbia
The National Assembly ( sr-cyr, Народна скупштина, Narodna skupština, ) is the unicameral legislature of Serbia. The assembly is composed of 250 deputies who are proportionally elected to four-year terms by secret ballot. The as ...
from 2016 to 2020.
Early life
Born in
Bihać
Bihać ( cyrl, Бихаћ) is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina ...
to a
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army (abbreviated as JNA/; Macedonian and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian and bs, Jugoslavenska narodna armija; sl, Jugoslovanska ljudska a ...
(JNA) officer father, Radulović graduated from the
University of Sarajevo
The University of Sarajevo ( Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: ''Univerzitet u Sarajevu'' / Sveučilište u Sarajevu / Универзитет у Сарајеву) is a public university located in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the larges ...
's Faculty of Electrical Engineering, specializing in
automation
Automation describes a wide range of technologies that reduce human intervention in processes, namely by predetermining decision criteria, subprocess relationships, and related actions, as well as embodying those predeterminations in machines ...
and
electronics
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
.
In the 1980s, Radulović was part of the
New Primitivism
New Primitivism (Serbo-Croatian: Novi primitivizam) was a subcultural movement established in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia-Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia in March 1983. It primarily used music, along with satire, sketch and surreal comedy on radio and tel ...
cultural movement created in Sarajevo, together with
Emir Kusturica
Emir Kusturica ( sr-cyrl, Емир Кустурица; born 24 November 1954) is a Serbian film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and musician. He also has French citizenship.http://www.serbia.com/emir-kusturica-artist-builder-and-anti-glo ...
and members of the rock band
Zabranjeno Pušenje
Zabranjeno pušenje () is a Bosnian rock band formed in Sarajevo in 1980. The group's musical style primarily consists of a distinctive garage rock sound with folk influences, often featuring innovative production and complex storytelling. Curre ...
. His close associate
Dušan Pavlović also comes from 1980s Yugoslav pop culture, as a former member of the Belgrade-based band ''
Vampiri
Vampiri ( sr-cyr, Вампири, trans. '' The Vampires'') are a Serbian and Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade. The band was formed in 1990, and performed music influenced by the 1950s doo-wop and rockabilly. After releasing two studio albums, t ...
''.
[Balkan Insight]
/ref>
His father, Budimir Radulović (Chief of the Army Medical Corps and other authorities), was killed on May 3, 1992 in the Yugoslav People's Army column incident in Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...
.
He emigrated from the Socialist Republic of Serbia
, life_span = 1944–1992
, status = Constituent state of Yugoslavia
, p1 = Territory of the Military Commander in Serbia
, flag_p1 = Flag of German Reich (1935–1945).svg
, p2 ...
at the end of the 1980s. He lived and worked in several countries, including the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, and Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
.
Professional career
In 1989, Radulović emigrated from Yugoslavia to Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The following year, he began working at Siemens AG
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
on system monitoring
A system monitor is a hardware or software component used to monitor system resources and performance in a computer system.
Among the management issues regarding use of system monitoring tools are resource usage and privacy.
Overview
Software ...
for nuclear plants located in Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, and Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. The job required him to move to the U.S.
In 1994, he began working in Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, for Antares Alliance, a subsidiary of Amdahl Amdahl may refer to:
People
* Einar Amdahl (1888-1974), Norwegian theologist
* Bjarne Amdahl (1903-1968), Norwegian pianist and composer
* Douglas K. Amdahl (1919–2010), American lawyer and judge from Minnesota
* Gene Amdahl (1922–2015), for ...
/ EDS, as a relational database
A relational database is a (most commonly digital) database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A system used to maintain relational databases is a relational database management system (RDBMS). Many relatio ...
development team manager, before switching to Interpro
InterPro is a database of protein families, protein domains and functional sites in which identifiable features found in known proteins can be applied to new protein sequences in order to functionally characterise them.
The contents of InterPro ...
Medical Network, initially as vice president of development, and then as one of the members the Board of Directors. From 1997 to 2001 he was the general manager of the company dealing with servers for TrueSpectre pictures. Together with colleagues from the company, he designed the architecture and algorithms that process images on the servers. From 2002 to 2006 he was an advisor to several investment companies.
Radulović came back to Serbia from the United States in 2005, and became a pioneer blogger
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...
, writing on economics, business and tax reforms.[ Professionally, he owned a company and worked as ]bankruptcy trustee
A trustee in bankruptcy is an entity, often an individual, in charge of administering a bankruptcy estate.
Canada
In Canada, a licensed insolvency trustee (LIT) is an individual or a corporation licensed by the official superintendent to hol ...
for several other companies. He is licensed as a bankruptcy trustee and portfolio manager.
Radulović worked as Advisor to the Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
, OSCE
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...
, US Embassy, GIZ, NALED, and the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises. He also provided training to the Serbian police and prosecutors on how to prosecute financial crimes.[
]
Minister of Economy
In August 2013, Radulović was appointed as non-partisan Minister of Economy
A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation.
A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...
in the SNS-led government. During his brief tenure, he attempted to pass a new labor law package, which was initially supported by the government. Radulović's labor package proposed significant changes in labor union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
laws, such that labor union leaders would lose legal protections. The package also included some austerity
Austerity is a set of political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three primary types of austerity measures: higher taxes to fund spend ...
measures, such as allowing employers to reduce compensation for annual leave, and for the reduction of sick leave provided that a bonus is paid during the year. The package was intensely opposed by Serbian labor union leaders, as the Federation of Independent Unions and the United Branch Union "Independence" both called for Radulović to resign due to his proposals. However, in January 2014, the government scrapped the Radulović package and began re-drafting. As a result of the government's rejection of his package, Radulović resigned from his position as Minister.
He came to the fore for a text in the magazine Nedeljnik in which he fiercely criticized their former economic policy in Serbia, including the privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
process and the associated corruption. The text is often cited not only in Serbian, but also in the media other former Yugoslav states. He was openly criticized by Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić
Aleksandar Vučić ( sr-Cyrl, Александар Вучић, ; born 5 March 1970) is a Serbian politician serving as the president of Serbia since 2017, and as the president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) since 2012.
Vučić served ...
when he resigned.[ Radulović resigned from the post of Minister filed on 24 January 2014.
]
Political career
On 2 February 2014, Radulović announced that he would participate in the parliamentary elections on 16 March 2014 with his own list.[Novi Magazin](_blank)
/ref>
/ref> His movement '' Dosta je bilo'' (Enough is Enough) garnered 74,973 votes (2.09%), remaining below the 5% threshold. His list had been the only one to publish a consolidated electoral programme with action plans on different policy areas.[
At the ]2016 Serbian parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 24 April 2016. Initially, the election were originally due to be held by March 2018, but on 17 January 2016 Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić called for a snap election claiming Serbia "needs four m ...
, his movement '' Dosta je bilo'' tripled its support and with 6.02% of votes it obtained 16 seats. Radulović became a member of the parliament and the leader of the Enough is Enough parliamentary group.
2017 presidential campaign
Radulović initially did not prioritize running for president, as he first proposed that Saša Janković
Saša Janković ( sr-cyr, Саша Јанковић, ; born 27 April 1970) is a Serbian lawyer, journalist, human rights activist and politician who served as the National Ombudsman of the Republic of Serbia between 2007 and 2017. He resigned his ...
and Vuk Jeremić
Vuk Jeremić ( sr-cyr, Вук Јеремић, ; born 3 July 1975) is a Serbian politician and diplomat who served as the president of the United Nations General Assembly from 2012 to 2013 and as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Serbia from 200 ...
come to an agreement on a "united candidate" against Aleksandar Vučić. In his case for uniting the opposition, Radulović argued that "''Enough is Enough'' is the leader of the center, Vuk Jeremić is the new leader of the right of center, and Saša Janković - left of center." '' Večernje Novosti'' reported that Janković rejected the offer, while Jeremić's campaign allegedly did not respond. On March 2, 2017, Radulović announced his candidacy for the Serbian presidential election, only a month before the election. A week before the election, '' Nedeljnik'' published an essay written by Radulović, titled ''"When I become president"'', in an appeal to the voters. In the essay, he argued against party employment and outlines some of his ideas on welfare and taxes:
Radulović ended up with 1.41% of the national vote. Vladimir Vuletić, a sociology professor at the University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia.
Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-b ...
, commented that "after last year's parliamentary election, it seemed that adulovićrepresented some kind of future of the opposition. Now that ambition and hope has completely collapsed."
Economic views
Although Radulović was not able to pass his ideas through the government during his tenure as Minister of Economy, he elaborated on his economic views for '' B92's'' blog in June 2013, in a post called ''"Which economic measures do we need?"''. His post had seven sections, each devoted to a different topic. In the first section, titled "How to save the economy", he summarized some of his key points with the following:
Later in the first section, he said that there should be "draconic" consequences for false financial reporting. He argued that all businesses in reconstruction should be sent to bankruptcy, except for public companies, for whom he wrote a deadline of three months should be given to list their financial responsibilities and their assets in exchange for reconstruction. He wrote that the Republic of Serbia's Fund for Development should be abolished, and argued against the creation of a development bank in Serbia. He wrote in favor of investment funds
An investment fund is a way of investing money alongside other investors in order to benefit from the inherent advantages of working as part of a group such as reducing the risks of the investment by a significant percentage. These advantages inc ...
as an alternative to a development bank, and that the state should "offer them a portion of capital" in exchange for their investments. The first section was concluded with criticism for monopolies
A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...
and corporate merging in Serbia.
In the second section, he wrote about tax policy and compensation in public companies. He wrote that salaries in public companies should be reduced by 10 to 20 percent assuming no workers are laid off. However, Radulović wrote that if workers are laid off, any salary reduction should take the layoffs in account such that the more layoffs, the less reductions in salary should be made. He called for the lowest tier of the value-added tax
A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end ...
to be raised from 8% to 10%. For corporations, he wrote that taxes on corporate profits should be raised from 15% to 20%.
Political positions
In the beginning of his political career he was known for moderately liberal political and economic positions. Since 2018 and hiatus in the movement, his positions have taken a hard turn toward conservatism, identitarianism and alt-right ideology. Since early 2019 he and members of the movement refer to themselves as "Suverenisti", which loosely translates to sovereign citizen
''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'.
The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...
. He is strongly opposed to Middle Eastern immigrants being granted asylum in Serbia, commonly expresses heavy criticism of the Serbian mainstream media
In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...
, calling them "propaganda channels" and "the enemy of the Serbian people, the state and democracy", and often accuses political opponents of treason and collaboration with "occupiers and colonizers".
He has been described a nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
, anti-vaxxer
Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...
and as opposed to immigration.
Breakup of Yugoslavia
In an interview with '' Nedeljnik'' from April 2016, Radulović talked about his childhood in Bosnia, his father's death in a confrontation by the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( bs, Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine or ARBiH), often referred to as Bosnian Army, was the military force of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was established by the government of ...
, and war crimes. When commenting on the Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
, he talked about the denial and justification of war crimes in the Balkans:
On 6 March 2018, Radulović resigned the post of the President of the Enough is Enough movement. However, he reassumed the post of movement's president in October 2019.
COVID-19 pandemic
Radulović is one of the most vocal critics of the approach to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
taken by the Serbian government as well as most other world governments, calling mask mandates and lockdowns imposed by the Serbian and other governments a threat to civil liberties while also often accusing the mainstream media of spreading fear and hysteria by portraying the SARS‑CoV‑2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a p ...
virus as far more dangerous than it objectively is. He has also made claims that COVID-19 vaccination
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19).
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an es ...
is the cause of the late 2020 and early 2021 global wave of infections, challenged beliefs that mass immunization is the only way to end the pandemic and questioned the origins of the virus, leading critics to label him an anti-vaxxer
Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...
and conspiracy theorist. Radulović has repeatedly dismissed these labels and claims that he and his political movement are neither denying the dangers of the virus nor arguing against vaccination, but merely advocating freedom of choice and stricter testing and control of vaccines before they are approved for use.
Personal life
Radulović has two children. Apart from his native Serbian language
Serbian (, ) is the standardized variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina and co-official in Montenegro and Kos ...
, he speaks English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
and German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
. Although Radulović was born in Bihać
Bihać ( cyrl, Бихаћ) is a city and the administrative centre of Una-Sana Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is situated on the banks of river Una in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina ...
, he grew up in Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...
, where he lived until 1989 when he emigrated to Germany.
References
External links
Saša Radulović
at blog.b92.net
Saša Radulović
at linkedin.com
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radulovic, Sasa
1965 births
Living people
People from Bihać
Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
University of Sarajevo alumni
Serbian democracy activists
Serbian economists
Serbian expatriates in Canada
Candidates for President of Serbia
Enough is Enough (party) politicians
Members of the National Assembly (Serbia)
Serbian engineers
Serbian conspiracy theorists
Serbian nationalists