Snežana Paunović

Snežana Paunović (Serbian Cyrillic: Снежана Пауновић; born 20 March 1975) is a Serbian politician. She has served several terms in the National Assembly of Serbia as a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and is currently a vice-president (i.e., deputy speaker) of the assembly.

Snežana Paunović
Снежана Пауновић
Vice President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia
Assumed office
2 August 2022
PresidentVladimir Orlić
Member of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia
Assumed office
3 June 2016
In office
29 October 2013 – 16 April 2014
Personal details
Born (1975-03-20) 20 March 1975
Peć, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Political partySPS

Early life and private career

Paunović was born to a Serb family in Peć, in what was then the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo in the Socialist Republic of Serbia, Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Although she relocated to Belgrade in 1999 due to the events of the Kosovo War, she continues to identify as being from Peć in her parliamentary profile.[1][2]

Paunović is a graduated economist. She has been the acting director of the Peć pharmacy institution since 2014 and was at one time a board member of Serbia's Agency for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises.[3] She served as president of the supervisory board of the Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport before standing down from the board in early 2015.[4][5]

Politician

Paunović joined the Socialist Party of Serbia in 1992.

In January 2006, Serbia and Montenegro's Coordination Centre for Kosovo and Metohija appointed coordinators for various municipalities in the disputed province; in practice, these officials were intended to hold leadership roles in the Serb communities within their jurisdictions. Paunović was appointed as the coordinator for Đakovica.[6][7] Online sources do not indicate how long she held the position.[8]

She appeared in the 180th position on the SPS's electoral list for the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election and was not chosen for a mandate when the party won sixteen seats.[9] (From 2000 to 2011, Serbian parliamentary mandates were awarded to sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than to individual candidates, and it was common practice for the mandates to be assigned out of numerical order. Paunović could have been awarded a mandate despite her low position on the list, but she was not.)[10]

Following the Republic of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence in 2008, the Serbian government organized elections for what were effectively parallel municipal governments in the territory. In June 2010, the government dissolved the elected assemblies in seven Kosovo municipalities, charging they had become dysfunctional and inefficient.[11][12] Paunović was appointed as coordinator for Dečani, one of the municipalities in question.[13] In November 2010, she reported that graves in a local Orthodox cemetery had been desecrated.[14] In 2012, she and other Kosovo Serb officials took part in negotiations with Serbian president Tomislav Nikolić on the future of the disputed territory and the status of its Serb community.[15] She served as a municipal coordinator until 2013.

Parliamentarian

Serbia's electoral system was reformed in 2011, such that parliamentary mandates were awarded to candidates on successful lists in numerical order. Paunović was given the fifty-seventh position on the Socialist Party's list for the 2012 parliamentary election and, as the list won forty-four mandates, was not immediately elected.[16] She accepted a mandate on 29 October 2013 as the replacement for Neđo Jovanović, who had resigned to take a state secretary position.[17] The SPS formed a coalition government with the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and other parties after the 2012 election, and Paunović supported the administration in the assembly. She was not a candidate in the 2014 parliamentary election.

Paunović appeared in the twenty-first position on the Socialist Party's list in the 2016 parliamentary election and was elected when the list won twenty-nine mandates.[18] The SPS remained a part of Serbia's SNS-led government after the election. In her second term, Paunović was a member of the culture and information committee; a deputy member of the committee on Kosovo and Metohija, the committee on the diaspora and Serbs in the region, and the committee on the economy, regional development, trade, tourism and energy; and a member of the parliamentary friendship groups with Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Croatia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.[19]

She received the twentieth position on the SPS's list in the 2020 parliamentary election and was re-elected when the list won thirty-two seats.[20] In this term, she was promoted to deputy leader of the SPS assembly group and deputy chair of the culture and information committee. She was also a member of the economy committee; a deputy member of the committee on Kosovo and Metohija and the agriculture, forestry, and water management committee; a member of Serbia's delegation to the NATO parliamentary assembly (where Serbia has observer status); the leader of Serbia's friendship groups with Jamaica and Japan; and a member of twenty-seven other friendship groups.[21][22]

Paunović was promoted to the eighth position on the SPS's list in the 2022 parliamentary election and was re-elected when the list won thirty-one seats.[23] She was chosen as a deputy speaker of the assembly in August 2022 and became the leader of the SPS assembly group in October 2022.[24][25] Paunović is also a member of the committee on Kosovo and Metohija, the economy committee, and the committee on the rights of the child; a deputy member of the committee on finance, state budget, and control of public spending, and the committee on administrative, budgetary, mandate, and immunity issues; a member of Serbia's delegation to the assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the leader of Serbia's friendship group with Japan, and a member of thirty-six other friendship groups.[26][27]

In the 2023 Kosovan local elections, candidates representing Albanian parties won the mayoralties in four predominantly Serb municipalities in the north of Kosovo, against the backdrop of a Serb boycott. Paunović described the elections as lacking any legitimacy, saying, "The arrogance and insolence of [Republic of Kosovo prime minister] Albin Kurti hits the upper limit. It is Kurti's ugly, hellish plan to put pressure, first of all, on the north of Kosovo and Metohija and empty it of Serbs."[28]

References
  1. SNEZANA PAUNOVIC, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia], accessed 12 September 2023.
  2. Мирјана Чекеревац, "За Харадинаја је сваки Србин роба", Politika, 16 March 2019, accessed 12 September 2023.
  3. SNEZANA PAUNOVIC, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia], accessed 12 September 2023.
  4. "BG Aerodrom menja članove uprave", B92, 22 January 2015, accessed 12 September 2023.
  5. "Serbia: Nikola Tesla Airport announces new appointments", Esmerk Eastern European News, 13 February 2015.
  6. "Postignut sporazum o imenovanju novih koordinatora opština na Kosovu i Metohiji", Radio KiM, 13 September 2005, accessed 12 September 2023.
  7. "РЕШЕЊЕ О ИМЕНОВАЊУ КООРДИНАТОРА КООРДИНАЦИОНОГ ЦЕНТРА СРБИЈЕ И ЦРНЕ ГОРЕ И РЕПУБЛИКЕ СРБИЈЕ ЗА КОСОВО И МЕТОХИЈУ," Government of Serbia, 12 January 2006.
  8. The most likely scenario is that she held the position until Serbia organized a local election for the municipality in 2008 and a new local administration recognized by Belgrade came to power.
  9. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (11 Социјалистичка партија Србије), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 2 July 2021.
  10. Serbia's Law on the Election of Representatives (2000) stipulated that parliamentary mandates would be awarded to electoral lists (Article 80) that crossed the electoral threshold (Article 81), that mandates would be given to candidates appearing on the relevant lists (Article 83), and that the submitters of the lists were responsible for selecting their parliamentary delegations within ten days of the final results being published (Article 84). See Law on the Election of Representatives, Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 35/2000, made available via LegislationOnline, accessed 28 February 2017.
  11. "Minister says inefficient Kosovo municipalities relocated to Serbia dissolved," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 18 June 2010 (Source: TV Pink, Belgrade, in Serbian, 1730 gmt 17 Jun 10).
  12. "Kosovo Serb body slams Serbia over dissolution of municipal assemblies," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 22 June 2010 (Source: Danas website, Belgrade, in Serbian, 18 Jun 10).
  13. "Serbian [sic] appoints coordinators for relocated Kosovo municipal administrations", British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 28 June 2010 (Source: FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 0909gmt 28 Jun 10).
  14. "Cemetery in Kosovo desecrated", B92, 6 November 2010, accessed 12 September 2023.
  15. "Kosovo Serb representatives said satisfied after meeting with Serbian president", British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 23 December 2018 (Source: Radio B92 text website, Belgrade, in English 0000 gmt 21 Dec 12).
  16. Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине, 6. мај 2012. године – ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (7 ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ - "СОЦИЈАЛИСТИЧКА ПАРТИЈА СРБИЈЕ (СПС), ПАРТИЈА УЈЕДИЊЕНИХ ПЕНЗИОНЕРА СРБИЈЕ (ПУПС), ЈЕДИНСТВЕНА СРБИЈА (ЈС)"), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 12 September 2013.
  17. "Нова посланица СПС Снежана Пауновић', Socialist Party of Serbia, 29 October 2013, accessed 12 September 2023.
  18. Избори за народне посланике 2016. године – Изборне листе (3 ИВИЦА ДАЧИЋ – „Социјалистичка партија Србије (СПС), Јединствена Србија (ЈС) – Драган Марковић Палма“), Republic Election Commission, Republic of Serbia, accessed 27 October 2021.
  19. SNEZANA PAUNOVIC, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 12 September 2023.
  20. "Ko je sve na listi SPS-JS za republičke poslanike?", Danas, 7 March 2020, accessed 30 April 2021.
  21. SNEZANA PAUNOVIC, "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 January 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 12 September 2023.
  22. She was a member of the friendship groups with Albania, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Sierra Leone, the Sovereign Order of Malta, Spain, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
  23. "Ko su kandidati liste SPS-JS-ZS „Ivica Dačić – Premijer Srbije“ za poslanike", Danas, 17 February 2022, accessed 28 April 2022.
  24. Multi-party National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia (1991-2022), National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 12 September 2023.
  25. "Snežana Paunović nova šefica poslaničke grupe SPS u Skupštini Srbije". N1 (in Serbian). 2022-10-25. Retrieved 2022-10-25.
  26. SNEZANA PAUNOVIC, National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, accessed 12 September 2023.
  27. She is a member of the friendship groups with Albania, Argentina, Belgium, Cuba, the Czech Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Iceland, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kuwait, Lithuania, the Maldives, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand and the Pacific Ocean Countries (Fiji, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu), North Macedonia, Portugal, Russia, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Spain, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
  28. "Šta posle izbora: Albanci sa 13 glasova Srba na čelu severnih opština - ruganje demokratiji", Kosovo Online, 24 April 2023, accessed 12 September 2023.
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