Who Is Tomislav Nikolić

Tomislav Nikolić (born in Kragujevac, 15 February 1952) is a Serbian politician who served as President of Serbia from 31 May 2012 to 31 May 2017. For many years he was best known as the deputy leader of Vojislav Šešelj’s Serbian Radical Party, and in 2008 he founded the Serbian Progressive Party, with which he came to power.

He ran in presidential elections several times. Only on his third attempt against Boris Tadić, in 2012, did he win. His political career includes serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and, briefly, Speaker of the National Assembly.

Because of his shift from radical rhetoric to support for European integration, Nikolić remains one of the most widely discussed figures in modern Serbian politics. This biography follows his path from a construction technician in Kragujevac to the head of state.

Origins, Childhood and Youth

Tomislav Nikolić was born on 15 February 1952 in Kragujevac. Most sources name that city as his birthplace, while some mention the nearby village of Bajčetina, so sources differ on this detail. His father, Radomir, was a labourer, and his mother, Živadinka (née Đoković), was a housewife.

He grew up in modest circumstances and trained in athletics in his youth. He later said that his family was poor, which is why he had to start working early.

Education

Nikolić finished primary school in Kragujevac and then the Secondary Technical School, majoring in civil engineering. By his own account, he afterwards enrolled in the Faculty of Law but abandoned his studies because of financial hardship and took a job.

He later obtained a university degree in management. Official biographies list different titles, from master of economics to graduate manager, and sources also differ on the institution at which he graduated.

During the 2012 election campaign, parts of the opposition and the media questioned the circumstances in which he had obtained his degree. Nikolić rejected the claims and sued the daily newspapers Blic and Kurir, seeking four million euros in damages.

First Jobs in Kragujevac

He began his working career in 1971 at the construction company “Žegrap”. In 1978 he moved to the Kragujevac company “22 December”, where he worked as head of the investment and maintenance department.

He later served as technical director of the Kragujevac public utility company. In that job he was also responsible for the city cemeteries, which earned him the nickname “Toma the Gravedigger”. Sources differ on the order of these jobs, but they agree that he worked in construction and municipal services in Kragujevac until he entered politics.

Entering Politics and Founding the Serbian Radical Party

After the introduction of a multi-party system, Nikolić became an official of the People’s Radical Party. On his initiative, on 23 February 1991, most of that party’s municipal committees and the local committees of Šešelj’s Serbian Chetnik Movement merged into the Serbian Radical Party. Vojislav Šešelj was elected president, and Nikolić vice-president.

The party pursued a nationalist agenda. In that period Nikolić spoke publicly about creating a Greater Serbia. According to media reports, in 1993, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Šešelj proclaimed him a Chetnik voivode on Mount Romanija. Nikolić publicly distanced himself from that idea before the 2012 elections, when he said that the territorial integrity of neighbouring states could not be questioned.

Member of Parliament and Prison Sentence

Nikolić has been a member of the Serbian parliament since the early 1990s. Sources differ on the first year of his mandate: some give 1991, while the party’s official biography gives 1992. According to that biography, he was elected to every parliamentary convocation until he moved to the office of head of state.

Because of his political activity during the rule of Slobodan Milošević, he was sentenced in 1995 to a prison term, which he served in Gnjilane. The official biography states that the sentence lasted two months, while other sources mention three months, so the data differ.

Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and Yugoslavia

In March 1998 the Radicals formed a coalition with the Socialist Party of Serbia, and on 24 March Nikolić became Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia in the cabinet of Mirko Marjanović. The official biography states that on 14 June 1999 he resigned over the decision to admit foreign troops to Kosovo, but then President of Serbia Milan Milutinović issued a decree under which all members of the government stayed in office.

From 12 August 1999 to 9 October 2000 he was Deputy Prime Minister in the federal government of Yugoslavia, led by Prime Minister Momir Bulatović. His term ended with the changes that followed the 2000 elections.

Šešelj’s Deputy and Presidential Elections up to 2008

In the 2000 Yugoslav elections, Nikolić was the Radicals’ candidate for president of the country. According to available data, he finished third, behind Vojislav Koštunica and Slobodan Milošević.

When Šešelj went to The Hague in February 2003 to face the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Nikolić took over leadership of the party as his deputy. During that period, according to analysts, he spoke more about poverty and unemployment and less about militant nationalism.

In the presidential election in late 2003 he won 46.23 percent of the vote in the first round, but the election was annulled because turnout was only 38.8 percent. In 2004 he won 30.1 percent in the first round, and on 27 June he lost the runoff to Boris Tadić, 45.4 to 53.7 percent. In 2008 he won the first round with 39.99 percent, but lost the runoff on 3 February to Tadić, receiving 47.97 percent.

His statements from that time were widely criticised. At one gathering, on 28 February 2003, he made a joke about the injured leg of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić, and less than two weeks later Đinđić was assassinated. Nikolić later apologised for those words, saying that he would not have said them had he known what would happen.

Brief Tenure as Speaker of the National Assembly

On 8 May 2007 Nikolić was elected Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia with 142 votes, with the support of the Democratic Party of Serbia, while his opponent, Milena Milošević of the Democratic Party, received 99 votes. His election drew reactions in the region, particularly in Kosovo.

He remained in that post for only five days. He resigned on 13 May, after the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Serbia reached an agreement on forming a government and 128 deputies filed a motion for his removal. This made him the shortest-serving speaker in Serbia’s recent history. He was succeeded by Oliver Dulić.

Break with the Radicals and Founding of the Serbian Progressive Party

On 6 September 2008 Nikolić unexpectedly resigned from his posts in the Serbian Radical Party. The reason was a dispute with Šešelj over Serbia’s membership of the European Union, as Nikolić had by then opted for the European path.

Together with a group of deputies he formed the parliamentary group “Forward, Serbia”. In a letter to the membership, Šešelj called him a traitor, and on 12 September Nikolić and his group were expelled from the party. On 24 September Nikolić announced that the new party would be called the Serbian Progressive Party, and its founding congress was held on 21 October 2008 in Belgrade. Nikolić was elected president, and Aleksandar Vučić became his deputy.

Years in Opposition and the Road to the Presidential Victory

The Progressive Party quickly became the strongest opposition force. On 5 February 2011, together with Milanka Karić, Velimir Ilić, Aleksandar Vulin and Aleksandar Vučić, Nikolić organised a protest in front of the National Assembly demanding early parliamentary elections. According to the police, about 55,000 people gathered.

On 16 April 2011 he organised another, larger protest, and that morning he began a hunger and thirst strike. After several days, and after Boris Tadić urged him to stop, Nikolić gave up the strike, citing the approaching Easter.

In 2012 he ran his campaign under the slogan “Let’s Get Serbia Moving”. In the first round on 6 May he won 25.05 percent of the vote, compared with Tadić’s 25.31 percent. In the runoff on 20 May he won with 51.16 percent, or about 1.55 million votes. Tadić congratulated him on his victory.

Tomislav Nikolić as President of Serbia

On 24 May 2012 Nikolić resigned as president of the Serbian Progressive Party, explaining that he wanted to be the president of all citizens. Vučić took over the party. He took the oath before the National Assembly on 31 May 2012 and was formally inaugurated at the Presidency building in Belgrade, with about 1,200 guests. European Commissioner Štefan Füle was the highest-ranking official to attend the ceremony.

The leaders of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Macedonia did not attend the inauguration, which was linked to his statements about Srebrenica and Vukovar. During his term, the prime ministers were Mirko Cvetković, Ivica Dačić and, from 2014, Aleksandar Vučić.

As the newly elected president, Nikolić made his first foreign visit to Brussels. The message he sent was that Serbia would remain on the European path, which contrasted with his earlier rhetoric.

The European Path and the Dialogue on Kosovo

Nikolić’s term coincided with the most important steps in Serbia’s negotiations with the European Union. On 19 April 2013 in Brussels, the prime ministers of Serbia and Kosovo, Ivica Dačić and Hashim Thaçi, with the mediation of EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, reached the Brussels Agreement on normalising relations. On 21 January 2014 the first intergovernmental conference was held and accession negotiations began.

In a 2014 interview, Nikolić claimed that he was the one who presented to the public and the government the plan from which the Brussels Agreement largely emerged. The agreement itself was handled by the prime minister and the government, while the president took part in consultations of the state leadership and in official contacts with European partners. Assessments of the agreement’s significance still differ.

Relations with Neighbours and Statements on Srebrenica

The beginning of Nikolić’s term was marked by statements that provoked sharp reactions in the region. In an interview with Montenegrin television in 2012 he said that there had been no genocide in Srebrenica, but grave war crimes committed by some Serbs, which should be punished. The European Union, the United States and officials in Sarajevo viewed this as a denial of the rulings of international courts. He repeated a similar position in an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

On 25 April 2013, in an interview on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s public broadcaster, Nikolić apologised for crimes committed in Serbia’s name, including Srebrenica, but did not use the word genocide. Reactions in Bosnia and Herzegovina were divided: some officials received the apology as a surprise, while others pointed out that recognition of genocide was missing.

A separate controversy surrounded a statement about Vukovar that the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published in May 2012. The presidential office then denied that he had made such a statement, and the newspaper’s journalist later published an audio recording of the conversation.

Relations with Russia and China

During Nikolić’s term Serbia maintained its policy of military neutrality and intensified its relations with Russia and China. In an interview in December 2014, Nikolić stressed that Serbia has no obligation to align its foreign policy with the European Union before membership, and that sanctions on Russia were not the reason why accession chapters were not being opened.

The high point of cooperation with China was the visit of President Xi Jinping to Serbia from 17 to 19 June 2016, the first in more than three decades. Nikolić and Xi signed a joint statement establishing a comprehensive strategic partnership, and the two countries concluded 22 agreements. Xi Jinping also visited the Smederevo steelworks, which the Chinese company HBIS (Hestil) took over under a contract worth 46 million euros.

Nikolić decorated numerous foreign statesmen, among them Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, and in return received the Order of Friendship from the Russian president on 30 May 2017.

Controversies During His Term

Besides his statements about Srebrenica and Vukovar, Nikolić was criticised for several other actions. On Statehood Day 2016 he decorated Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, and human rights organisations called on him to revoke the decoration. The president explained that Sudan does not recognise Kosovo’s independence.

In January 2016, during the laying of the cornerstone for the Centre of Excellence of the University of Kragujevac, he made a remark about Serbian genetic material, which Ombudsman Saša Janković and part of the opposition considered inappropriate. His remark about gynaecology, made in September 2015 at a gathering of doctors, also drew criticism.

Because of the large number of orders he awarded, the media compared him with his predecessors. According to data published by the daily Danas, he had awarded 85 decorations by early 2016.

Leaving Office and Life After His Term

In February 2017 Nikolić announced that he would not run for another term and expressed support for Aleksandar Vučić. Vučić succeeded him as President of Serbia on 31 May 2017.

In 2017 the Government of Serbia established the National Council for the Coordination of Cooperation with the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, which Nikolić heads. The work of that body, its office and its costs drew criticism from parts of the media and non-governmental organisations, while members of the council argued that cooperation with the two countries is important for Serbia. The government later reappointed Nikolić to that post. He has stated that he does not receive a salary, but a pension.

Personal Life

Tomislav Nikolić is married to Dragica Nikolić, née Ninković. They have two sons, one of whom is Radomir. The family rarely appeared in public during his political career.

According to available data, Nikolić is alive. After his term he continued to live in Belgrade, in a residence that the government designated for the needs of the president of the National Council.

Books and Published Works

Nikolić has published several books on political topics, thirteen according to some sources. Among them are “Neither Victory Nor Defeat”, “Everything for Kosovo and Metohija”, “Abducted Victory”, “Šešelj for President”, “Through the Darkness of the Media”, “In the Grip of Hatred”, “I Spoke” and “The Neo-Communist Parliament”. Most of the titles grew out of his political and parliamentary experiences in the 1990s.

Interesting Facts

• The official biography states that he was the only deputy elected to every convocation of the Assembly since 1992.
• The nickname “Toma the Gravedigger” is linked to his job at the municipal company in Kragujevac.
• As Speaker of the National Assembly he spent only five days in office, the shortest tenure in Serbia’s recent history.
• In April 2011 he began a hunger and thirst strike to press for early elections.
• He won the 2012 presidential election in his third duel with Boris Tadić.
• Nikolić received at least eleven foreign decorations during his term.

Awards and Honours

During his term Nikolić received numerous foreign decorations. Among them are the Cypriot Order of Makarios III (January 2013), the Ukrainian Order of Merit (June 2013), the Greek Order of the Redeemer (June 2013), the Armenian Order of Glory (October 2014), the Cuban Order of José Martí (May 2015), the Algerian National Order of Merit (May 2016), the Kazakh Order of Friendship (August 2016), the Portuguese Order of Prince Henry (January 2017), the Belarusian Order of the Friendship of Peoples (May 2017) and the Russian Order of Friendship (May 2017).

The Order of Republika Srpska was presented to him on 9 January 2018 by Milorad Dodik. Bishop Milutin of Valjevo decorated him in 2014 with the Saint Bishop Nikolaj Medal. He is an honorary citizen of Čačak (2013), Trebinje (2013), Berane (2015) and Beijing (2017).

Legacy and Influence

Nikolić’s political legacy is assessed in different ways. His supporters stress that he managed to turn a radical party into a strong parliamentary force, that he launched accession negotiations with the European Union, and that he strengthened relations with major powers. Critics point to his earlier rhetoric, his statements on Srebrenica and Vukovar, and the speed with which he changed his positions.

The Serbian Progressive Party, which he founded, remained the dominant political force in the country under the leadership of his long-time associate Aleksandar Vučić. In this way Nikolić left a mark on the modern political history of Serbia, regardless of how his role in it is judged.