Ante Markovic; the real "original sinner" of the Yugoslav catastrophe

Recently, at the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, a former associate of Milosevic's was brought forth by the Office of the Prosecutor to testify against him. He is a former member of the Yugoslav presidency and Yugoslavia's president in 1990. Borislav Jovic was chosen by the Prosecution in order to bolster their argument that Milosevic was, in James Rubin's words, the "original sinner" of the Yugoslav catastrophe. They chose him because Jovic had left Milosevic's entourage in the mid-1990s and became a member of a splinter party following the 2000 coup. His testimony, however, suggested another villain in this drama; Ante Markovic, Yugoslav premier from 1989-91. A man described by the U.S. ambassador Warren Zimmerman as a "half-tragic, half-heroic figure", a ruler described by George Soros as "great". Surely, such a "great" figure must have influenced matters greatly during that fateful period of Yugoslav history. Borislav Jovic certainly testified to that effect.

One event that is cited as proof of Jovic's turning against Milosevic was a diary he had published in the mid-1990s. This is claimed because it showed that Jovic did not agree with Milosevic on all issues. However, there were some common points as Milosevic read some selections of it in court. That of the 10th of August 1990 stated that in the multiethnic Yugoslav presidency, "The general conclusion is that Ante Markovic is no longer acceptable or reliable to us. No one has any doubts in their mind any longer that he's the extended arm of the United States in terms of overthrowing anyone who ever thinks of socialism, and it is through our votes that we appointed him Prime Minister in the Assembly. He is playing the most dangerous game of treason."

On Page 18 of his book "The Dismemberment of Yugoslavia" , Jovic stated that "The republics defended themselves in all conceivable ways from the abuse of the Prime Minister in terms of the economic power he wielded. And the outcome was increased isolation, lack of respect for federal laws, and the disintegration of the system. I cautioned the government about the catastrophic consequences of its policy and the entire Presidency joined me in that."

The presidency was made up of members of all Yugoslavia's major ethnicities; Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Bosnian Muslim, Macedonian, Montenegro and Kosovo Albanian. Asked by Milosevic if he was "supported by the entire Presidency in criticising this economic policy that he (Markovic) said was one of salvation?", Jovic said "Yes."

"I said openly and in public this policy is in the interest of foreign powers that want their companies to buy our firms cheaply, and they want us to topple the governments in different parts of the country that were not convenient for them. Markovic threatened to take me to court because of this, and I suggested to him that he start a debate in the Assembly of Yugoslavia in this regard, but he did neither. Now, why this was so is not difficult to ascertain."

"He was no doubt the most active creator of the destruction of our economy, and to a large extent a significant participant in the break-up of Yugoslavia. Others, when boasted of having broken up Yugoslavia wanted to take this infamous role upon themselves but in all these respects they never came close to what Markovic did, who had declared himself as the protagonist of Yugoslavia's survival."

"Among the members of the federal leadership, there was major disagreement regarding the programme of economic reforms that the government was carrying out. From the very outset, I was convinced that the government wanted to destroy socially owned companies and in a highly unacceptable manner at that, saying that they would turn them into beggars and so on and so forth, and the comment was that the foreign exchange reserves of the country were ruined."

Milosevic also asked him of passages in the book by which he stated that "citizens who invested their money in banks could not take their money out of the bank because he had sold the foreign exchange reserves of the country.." Jovic took the opportunity to proclaim that " What Mr. Milosevic quoted now is something I fully stand behind....I absolutely stand behind everything that was written there and that is what I wish to point out.

Asked again "to comment on this economic policy that Ante Markovic said was a saviour kind of policy", Jovic answered that "My assessment was that this would not lead to a way out. I considered it to be manipulations for a redistribution of national income among the republics, and that is why it was, for me, absolutely unacceptable, especially as the measures were selected that would suit his republic (Croatia) and...would damage other republics... a siphoning off of income which, for me, was unacceptable. ...the shifting of income from one part of the country to another... was unacceptable from the standpoint of ethics and justice but also unacceptable from the standpoint of politics, because it was designed, measured to impoverish the people Serbia so that they would rebel and topple the leadership of Serbia. In my deep conviction, that was obvious and that was why I took such an attitude towards him."

Milosevic asked "Just in one sentence, how did he destroy the foreign exchange reserves of the country?"

He answered that "I'm not able to answer in a single sentence, but a part of the foreign exchange reserves were used to pay off Croatia's debts (Markovic had previously been president of Croatia). ...As far as I know, Ante Markovic created fictitious foreign exchange reserves which...did not exist though he boasted about them, saying that there were 10 or 11 billion foreign exchange reserves. He introduced a new rate of exchange for the dinar; seven dinars for one German mark...he proclaimed the convertibility of the dinar without any proper foundation, and he said whoever wanted to could invest dinars and receive a foreign exchange savings booklet in German marks. So the people rushed to the banks, invested their dinars, received bank booklets in German marks, and this grew up to the figures he said, but then this could never be paid to the people. So in fact, it was turned into a foreign exchange debt towards the population though it wasn't a foreign exchange debt but a dinar debt.

"So this was one move... these hallucinations of his about large foreign exchange reserves are simply hallucinations and not reality. But the country was left in debt because he said that those were foreign exchange -- that that was in foreign exchange."

This is just a sample of what Ante Markovic did to Yugoslavia; he was enthusiastically backed by Washington, was hailed as Yugoslavia's hero, its saviour, its last chance. Markovic's messianism, as described by Jovic and Milosevic was very much the result of the adulation he received in Western capitals; he was described in such exalted terms. In fact, the U.S. policy quickly became that Markovic was Yugoslavia, as it was declared dead the moment Markovic resigned. When Markovic was unable any longer to force these "reforms" on Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia had outlived its usefulness. It had to be destroyed. And so that was decided in Washington and in the European capitals.