| Miroljub Labus | |
|---|---|
| Vice-president of Government of Serbia | |
| In office March 3, 2004 – May 3, 2006 |
|
| Succeeded by | Ivana Dulić-Marković |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 28, 1947 Mala Krsna, Smederevo |
| Nationality | Serb |
| Political party | G17 Plus |
| Residence | Belgrade, Serbia |
| Alma mater | University of Belgrade |
| Profession | Economist |
Miroljub Labus (Serbian Cyrillic: Мирољуб Лабус) (born February 28, 1947 in Mala Krsna, Serbia FPR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian economist and politician. Currently he's a University of Belgrade professor, lecturing political economy at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law. He's also the owner of Belox Advisory Services, a consulting firm.
He was the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia from March 2004, serving under PM Vojislav Koštunica, but resigned on May 3, 2006, after EU suspended enlargement talks with Serbia, over Ratko Mladić. Labus also resigned from the position of President of G17 Plus.
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Labus was born in the town of Mala Krsna, Smederevo, SFR Yugoslavia. He graduated law in 1970 from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law. This was followed by two postgraduate qualifications in economics.
He began his career in academia as a university professor. In 1983, he was a Fulbright lecturer on the topic of Participation and Self-Management Systems. He has also been a guest lecturer at Cornell University.
Labus was a senior adviser at the Federal Statistics Bureau (Savezni zavod za statistiku) in Belgrade between 1986 and 1994. Since 1993, he has been a researcher at Belgrade's Economics Institute. He edited the Federal Bureau of Statistics's Economic Trend publication from 1990 to 1996, and the Belgrade Economics Institute's Economic Barometer from 1994 to 2000. Labus has also been involved with the National Bank of Yugoslavia and World Bank.
Labus began his political career in 1992 when he got elected as MP to the federal parliament of what was then FR Yugoslavia. While in this role, he was a member of the Monetary Policy Committee. In 1994, he was promoted to Vice-President of the Democratic Party, under Zoran Đinđić. He held the position until 1997.
In 1999, he became President of the Administrative Board of the G17 Plus movement. It was then a lobby group focused on encouraging economic reforms within Serbia. G17 Plus soon become a powerful lobby group, with significant public support. In 2000, he left the board of G17 Plus, taking up a position as Deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia and Minister for International Economic Relations (in the federal government following the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević).
During the leadup to the fall 2002 presidential elections in Serbia, it became apparent that then-Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić did not have the appeal to match Koštunica, who had switched from the federal parliament to the state parliament. Đinđić agreed to back Koštunica's former ally, Labus, as an alternative candidate. In the resulting election, Koštunica defeated Labus, but as the election did not gain the required 50% voter turnout, the result was declared void. As such, Labus continued on in his position for another year.
Labus continued working with G17 Plus, and in late 2002, he began the process of transforming the lobby group into a full-fledged centrist political party, becoming its President. After the elections of December 2003, Labus and his party formed a minority coalition with the Democratic Party of Serbia and several other minor parties, in order to keep ultra-nationalist Tomislav Nikolić out of power. As a result, he retained both his deputy prime ministership and his other ministries.