The inappropriate statement of the President of the Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, at the press conference on November 21st caused reactions and comments. It did not go unnoticed by the opposition nor by consumer and citizen associations. Indirectly, with the sentence that festive tables are an indicator of how the citizens of RS live, Dodik insulted all those, and there are many of them, who borrow in order to have at least a little “richer” table on that one day of the year.
Two average salaries, that’s how much money a family has to allocate to prepare a slightly “richer” festive table. However, you need to spend 300 BAM just for the roasted meal. When you add the soup, sarma, salads, and cakes, everything costs a minimum of one thousand BAM, on average 1500 BAM. It’s a lot of money, say the citizens. Everything is expensive.
The president of the RS, Milorad Dodik, also touched on the “enriched” tables. For him, tables full of food one day a year, it seems, are proof of the good life of citizens. In addition to inappropriate statements, there was no shortage of recognition.
“And the worst thing is that at these feasts only negative things are said about the RS, but when you look at the table, it’s not lunch, it’s a feast, at least half of the food remains on the tables, which remains unconsumed, and all those who sit at that table are complaining, this is not good, that is not good,” said the President of the RS, Milorad Dodik.
A feast for which citizens very often either save or go into debt. The feast celebration has nothing to do with the standard of living, the Consumers’ Association says. That’s not how you live the remaining 364 days of the year.
“This has long since become our reality that people get into debt because life during each month does not leave much room to save for the feast, most of them, but a feast is a feast and must be celebrated,” stated Murisa Maric from the Prijedor Consumers’ Association.
However, the citizens of the RS do not get into debt just for the feast celebration. Inflation, price increases, low wages, and pensions have led citizens to reach for consumer loans more and more often.
“The authorities at the level of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) did not recognize the need to do something for the citizens in the era of rising inflation in terms of reducing indirect taxes on basic foodstuffs, early abolition of excise duty on fuel, but then people get consumer loans, the percentage of which increases significantly, so this is an indicator of the situation of how hard the citizens live,” economist Zoran Pavlovic explained.
However, according to his angry political opponent Jelena Trivic, the president would prefer to bring the citizens back to wine and koljivo (memorial wheat).
“And especially he, who is famous for his statement ‘whoever wants to celebrate the feast, join the SDS,'” says Jelena Trivic.
For Orthodox Christians, the feast is a tradition, a custom, a debt to ancestors, which, whether you have money or not, you should celebrate with dignity, N1 reports.
