Boris Tadić (born 15 January 1958) is a Serbian politician who served as president of Serbia from 2004 to 2012. He led the Democratic Party (DS) from 2004 to 2012 as well, and previously served as minister of defence from 2003 to 2004.
Born in Sarajevo, he graduated from the University of Belgrade with a degree in psychology. He later worked as a journalist, military psychologist, and teacher at the First Belgrade Gymnasium. Tadić joined DS in 1990 and was elected to the National Assembly after the 1993 election. After the downfall of Slobodan Milošević in 2000, he was appointed as the minister of telecommunications in the government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a role which he held until 2003, after which he was appointed minister of defence in the government of Serbia. Tadić was elected president of DS a year after the assassination of Zoran Đinđić after previously serving as a member of its provisional leadership. He stood as a candidate for DS in the 2004 presidential elections, which he won after beating Tomislav Nikolić of the Serbian Radical Party in the second round.
During his first mandate, he advocated cooperation and reconciliation of the former Yugoslav countries, became the first Serbian head of state or head of government to visit the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial, and launched an initiative for the Serbian parliament to adopt a resolution condemning the Srebrenica massacre. He successfully ran for re-election in 2008 after again beating Nikolić in the second round. During his second mandate, DS formed a coalition government with the Socialist Party of Serbia, its former opponent, which signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), while the EU abolished visas for Serbian citizens travelling to Schengen Area countries and Serbia received EU candidate status. Additionally, Serbia also completed its obligations to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The period during his second mandate was also characterised by the challenges of the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence and the 2008 financial crisis, leading to low rates of economic growth.
After being pressured by protests that were organised by Nikolić's Serbian Progressive Party in 2011, Tadić announced that snap elections will be held in 2012. He lost in the second round to Nikolić, who succeeded him as president of Serbia. Tadić was replaced by Dragan Đilas as the president of DS in November 2012, after which Tadić unsuccessfully sought to become the party's president again in 2014. He then left DS and formed the New Democratic Party, later renamed to Social Democratic Party, which remained a parliamentary party up to the 2020 election, which it boycotted. A self-described liberal, he is an advocate of closer ties with the European Union (EU), supports the accession of Serbia to the European Union, and is widely regarded as pro-Western-orientated, while favouring balanced relations with Russia, China, United States, and the European Union.
Early life Tadić was born in Sarajevo, the capital of the People's Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a republic within the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. His father, Ljubomir, was a philosopher and a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. His mother, Nevenka, was a psychologist. His maternal grandfather and up to six other relatives were killed by the Croatian Ustaše during World War II.
The Tadićs are descendants of the Serb clan of Piva, in the region of Old Herzegovina, Montenegro. The family's slava (patron saint) is Saint John the Baptist. His parents frequently relocated between various cities and had moved to Sarajevo from Paris, where they pursued their doctoral studies, only a few days prior to his birth. Tadić and his family moved to Belgrade when he was three years old, and his father got a job at the newspaper Liberation (Oslobođenje).
Tadić finished Pera Popović Aga (today Mika Petrović Alas) elementary school and matriculated at the First Belgrade Gymnasium in Dorćol. During his teenage years he played water polo for VK Partizan, but had to quit due to injuries. He graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy with a degree in psychology, specifically social psychology in the department of clinical psychology.
He was arrested during his studies in July 1982 for protesting the arrest of a group of students, arrested for protesting against martial law in Poland and in support of the Solidarity movement. Tadić spent one month in penal labour prison in Padinska Skela.
He worked as a journalist, military clinical psychologist and as a teacher of psychology at the First Belgrade Gymnasium. Until 2003, Tadić also worked at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts at the University of Arts in Belgrade as a lecturer of political advertising. He is a Senior Network Member at the European Leadership Network (ELN).
Early political career
Tadić joined the newly founded Democratic Party in 1990. He served as an MP and member of the parliamentary Science and Technology Committee following the 1993 Serbian parliamentary election.
Boris Tadić founded the Centre of Modern Skills (Centar modernih veština, CMV) in 1998, an NGO dealing with political and civic education, and the development of the political culture and dialogue.
The Democratic Party was part of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), a grand coalition of anti-Milošević parties which played a key role in his downfall in 2000. Tadić was elected deputy leader of the Democratic Party twice, in February 2000 and then in October 2001.
Tadić served as Minister of Telecommunications in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from November 2000 to March 2003 and as Minister of Defence from March 2003 until he started his presidential campaign in April 2004. He served as an MP of the Democratic Party in the Chamber of Citizens of the Federal Assembly and later went on to be the acting parliamentary leader of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia coalition in 2003, the president of the Security Services Control Committee, as well as the parliamentary leader of the Democratic Party in the National Assembly of Serbia starting in February 2004.
The assassination of Zoran Đinđić in March 2003 led to a leadership convention of the Democratic Party in February 2004, which was won by Tadić against Zoran Živković. He was later reelected unopposed in regular leadership conventions in 2006 and 2010.
Presidency President of Serbia within state union (2004–2008)
Tadić, as the newly elected Democratic Party leader, was chosen as the candidate for the presidential election. He defeated Tomislav Nikolić of the nationalist Radical Party in the run-off of the 2004 presidential election with 53% of the vote. He was inaugurated on 11 July of that year.
During the 2004 election campaign, Tadić promised to form a new special institution called the People's Office. The People's Office of the President of the Republic was opened on 1 October 2004. The role of the People's Office is to make communication between the citizens and the President easier, and to cooperate between other state bodies and institutions, in order to enable the citizens of Serbia to exercise their rights. The People's Office of the President is divided into four divisions: Legal Affairs Division, Social Affairs Division, Projects Division and General Affairs Division. The first Director of the People's Office was Dragan Đilas. When he joined the Government of Serbia as the Minister in charge of the National Investment Plan in 2007, Tatjana Pašić became the new Director.
Tadić advocated cooperation and reconciliation of the former Yugoslav countries, strained by the burden of the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. On 6 December 2004, Boris Tadić made an apology in Bosnia and Herzegovina to all those who suffered crimes committed in the name of the Serbian people. In July 2005, Tadić visited the Bosnian town of Srebrenica on the 10th anniversary of massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces. In 2007, Tadić issued an apology to Croatia for any crimes committed in Serbia's name during the war in Croatia.
Tadić presided during the independence referendum in Montenegro (2006). He was the first foreign head of state to visit Montenegro after it became independent on 8 June, and promised to continue friendly relations. Serbia declared independence as well, and Tadić attended the first raising of the flag of Serbia at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Tadić became the first head of state of independent Serbia since King Peter I in 1918.
On 6 September 2007, Tadić was a signatory of the agreement that led to the formation of the Council for Cooperation between Serbia and Republika Srpska, together with Milorad Dodik and Vojislav Koštunica. In late 2007, he stated that Serbia does not support a break-up of Bosnia and Herzegovina and that, as a guarantor of the Dayton Accords that brought peace to Bosnia, he supports its territorial integrity. Tadić also said that Serbia supports the accession of Bosnia and Herzegovina to the EU, and NATO.
As President, Tadić has pursued a pro-Western foreign policy. On 28 September 2005, he met with Pope Benedict XVI in Vatican City, making him the first Serbian head of state to be granted an audience with a pope. This helped improve traditionally strained Catholic-Orthodox relations.
On 22 June 2007, Tadić presided over the 1000th meeting of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers in Belgrade.
Contrary to his earlier decision in the 2004 Kosovan parliamentary election, Tadić stated that he had no right to call on Kosovo Serbs to vote in the 2007 Kosovo parliamentary election, as the standards he asked for in 2004 were not reached.
Reelection campaign
Boris Tadić has advocated an early presidential election that is required under constitutional law, since the adoption of the new Constitution of Serbia, after the successful constitutional referendum in October 2006. On 13 December 2007, the speaker of the Parliament, Oliver Dulić, set the election date for 20 January 2008. The Democratic Party submitted the candidacy of its leader to the Republic Electoral Commission on 21 December. Tadić held his first election convention on 22 December, in Novi Sad.Tadić formally submits presidential candidacy The re-election campaign was led under the slogan ”For a strong and stable Serbia“ (За Јаку и Стабилну Србију) in the first round and "Let's win Europe together!" (Да освојимо Европу заједно!) in the second. Tadić advocated integration of Serbia into the European Union but also territorial integrity of Serbia with sovereignty over Kosovo and Metohija. As a part of a campaign, Boris Tadić answered the 10 most interesting questions every week through the campaign website in the form of video response on YouTube.Boris Tadić – Postavi pitanje predsedniku
Tadić received support from G17 Plus and Sanjak Democratic Party, partners from the Government. He also received support of various national minority parties including Hungarian and Romani parties. He received 1,457,030 votes (35.39 per cent) in the first round. In the second round on 3 February 2008, he faced Tomislav Nikolić and won the election with 2,304,467 votes (50.31 per cent). After the election he assured Serbian citizens in Kosovo that they would never be betrayed.Tadić: Now is time for hard work
President of Serbia (2008–2012) Tadić was sworn in at the inauguration ceremony on 15 February 2008 in the National Assembly of Serbia.Inauguracija Borisa Tadića