Aleksandar Senić

Aleksandar Senić (Serbian Cyrillic: Александар Сенић; born 13 December 1978) is a politician in Serbia. He served in the National Assembly of Serbia from 2012 to 2016, originally with the Democratic Party (Demokratska stranka, DS) and later with the breakaway Social Democratic Party (Socijaldemokratska stranka, SDS). He is now a member of the Serbian Progressive Party.

Early life and career

Senić was born in Smederevska Palanka, in what was then the Socialist Republic of Serbia in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He has degrees in economics and engineering and is an assistant at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Civil Engineering. He was a special advisor to Serbia's minister of construction and urbanism during the premiership of Zoran Đinđić. Senić is a member of Mensa.^[1]

Political career

Senić joined the DS in 2002. He was elected to the Rača municipal assembly in the 2004 and 2012 local elections and was the leader of the DS assembly group.^[2]

He received the seventy-first position on the party's Choice for a Better Life electoral list in the 2012 Serbian parliamentary election and narrowly missed direct election when the list won sixty-seven seats.^[3] He received a mandate on 4 December 2012 as a replacement for Snežana Malović.^[4] The DS served in opposition during this parliament; Senić served as chair of the agriculture committee.^[5]

The Democratic Party experienced a serious split in early 2014, with Boris Tadić setting up a breakaway group initially called the New Democratic Party. This group contested the 2014 election in a fusion with the Greens of Serbia and in alliance with other parties. Senić sided with Tadić in the split, was given the tenth position on the alliance's electoral list, and was elected to a second term when the list won eighteen mandates.^[6] Serbian Progressive Party and its allies won a majority of seats, and Tadić's group remained in opposition. The New Democratic Party was reconstituted as the Social Democratic Party later in 2014; Senić was considered a close confidante of Tadić at this time.^[7][8]

Senić served as chair of the assembly's European integration committee from 2014 to 2016 and took part in discussions on Serbia's accession to the European Union (EU).^[9][10][11] He attracted some media attention in late 2014 when he refused to shave his beard, in protest against what he described as Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vučić's unwillingness to speak openly about the terms and conditions of Serbia's EU membership.^[12]

In March 2015, Senić said that Serbia had a strategic goal of joining the EU by 2020. He added that he did not favour any short-term change in Serbia's trading relations with Russia, notwithstanding the EU's imposition of sanctions following the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine. "If Serbia has a market in Russia, it is logical for us to cooperate with the Russians," he said. "At present, we do not have an obligation to break off trade relations with Russia because the European Union is not setting this as a condition."^[13] In March 2015, he led an official delegation of the European integration committee to Bulgaria.^[14][15]

Senić was also a member of Serbia's delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in the 2014–16 parliament.^[16] He served with the Socialist Group and was a member of the committee on migration, refugees, and displaced persons, and the committee on social affairs, health, and sustainable development.^[17]

The SDS contested the 2016 parliamentary election in an alliance with the Liberal Democratic Party and the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina. Senić received the sixteenth position on the combined list and, as the list won thirteen mandates, was not returned.^[18] He did, however, lead the SDS to victory in Rača in the concurrent 2016 local elections.

He left the SDS in June 2016, saying that no-one in the party was willing to take responsibility for its poor performance in the general election. He accepted an invitation to join the Progressive Party the following month, bringing the entire SDS municipal assembly group with him. Following the change, he became the leader of the Progressive Party's assembly group in the municipality and joined the party's main board at the republic level.^[19] Some critics said that his decision betrayed the will of the local electorate; Senić responded, "People in Rača did not vote for the SDS but for my team. We have won four times here already."^[20]

References

1. Lidija Valtner, "Aleksandar Senić: Ronilac u SNS", Danas, 13 July 2016, accessed 10 August 2018.
2. ALEKSANDAR SENIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 10 August 2018.
3. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (ИЗБОР ЗА БОЉИ ЖИВОТ- БОРИС ТАДИЋ) 2017-09-11 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017.
4. ДОДЕЛА МАНДАТА НАРОДНИХ ПОСЛАНИКА (Одлука о додели мандата народних посланика ради попуне упражњених посланичких места у Народној скупштини од 4. децембра 2012. године) 2017-09-11 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 10 August 2018.
5. "Serbian government “launches initiative” to extend ban on selling agricultural land to foreign nationals over eight years following EU accession," Emerging Markets Broker Reports Central Eastern Europe, 26 August 2013.
6. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 16. и 23. марта 2014. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (БОРИС ТАДИЋ - Нова демократска странка - Зелени, ЛСВ - Ненад Чанак, Заједно за Србију, VMDK, Заједно за Војводину, Демократска левица Рома) 2018-05-06 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 14 April 2017.
7. "Two Serbian parties to merge, form opposition," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 14 October 2014 (Source: Blic website, Belgrade, in Serbian 0000 gmt 13 Oct 14).
8. "Serbia drafts plan for migrant problem to meet condition for accession talks," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 28 August 2015 (Source: Vecernje novosti website, Belgrade, in Serbian 0000 gmt 26 Aug 15).
9. "Serbian officials instructed not to vote against Russia," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 14 May 2014 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 0000 gmt 14 May 14).
10. "Germany insists on Serbia's full implementation of Brussels agreement - paper," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 23 February 2015 (Source: Vecernje novosti website, Belgrade, in Serbian 0000 gmt 20 Feb 15).
11. "Serbia drafts plan for migrant problem to meet condition for accession talks," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 28 December 2015 (Source: Vecernje novosti website, Belgrade, in Serbian 0000 gmt 26 Aug 15).
12. Lidija Valtner, "Aleksandar Senić: Ronilac u SNS", Danas, 13 July 2016, accessed 10 August 2018.
13. "Analysts back Serbia's 'friendship' with Russia withouy deviating from EU path," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 6 March 2015 (Source: Dnevnik, Novi Sad, in Serbian 2 Mar 15).
14. "Serbian Parliamentary Delegation Arrives on Two-Day Official Visit to Bulgaria," Bulgarian News Agency, 30 March 2015.
15. "Cabinet Ministers Donchev, Kuneva Meet with Guests from Serbian National Assembly," Bulgarian News Agency, 31 March 2015.
16. Aleksandar SENIĆ, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, accessed 10 August 2018.
17. ALEKSANDAR SENIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 10 August 2018.
18. Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (БОРИС ТАДИЋ, ЧЕДОМИР ЈОВАНОВИЋ - САВЕЗ ЗА БОЉУ СРБИЈУ – Либерално демократска партија, Лига социјалдемократа Војводине, Социјалдемократска странка) 2018-04-27 at the Wayback Machine, Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 26 January 2017.
19. D. Spalović, "Zašto je Aleksandar Senić prešao u SNS", Politika, 12 July 2016, accessed 10 August 2018.
20. "Paper says transfers between parties 'standard practice' in Serbia," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 15 July 2016 (Source: Blic website in Serbian 13 Jul 16).