Branislav Blažić (; 1 April 1957 – 1 April 2020) was a Serbian surgeon and politician. He served several terms in the assemblies of FR Yugoslavia, Serbia, and Vojvodina, and was Minister of Environmental Protection in the Government of Serbia from 1998 to 2000. Formerly a prominent figure in the far-right Serbian Radical Party, Blažić was a member of the Serbian Progressive Party from its formation in 2008 until his death.
On 6 October 2017, Blažić was appointed as a state secretary in Serbia's Ministry of Environmental Protection."Ministarstvo zaštite životne sredine dobilo dva nova državna sekretara", Energetski Portal, 11 October 2017, accessed 16 October 2017. He died of a COVID-19 infection on 1 April 2020, his sixty-third birthday.
Early life and private career Blažić was born in Kikinda, Vojvodina, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia.BRANISLAV BLAŽIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 4 August 2017. He graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Medicine, specializing in general surgery.
Political career Yugoslav parliamentarian Blažić was elected to the Assembly of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's Chamber of Citizens in the May 1992 federal election, winning a single-member constituency seat in Kikinda.ИЗБОРИ '92: КОНАЧНИ РЕЗУЛТАТИ, Republic of Serbia and Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (1992), pp. 7, 19. He was re-elected to a second term in the December 1992 electionИЗБОРИ '92: ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (1993), p. 15. It may be reasonably assumed that Blažić was returned for the Zrenjanin electoral division, which included Kikinda and where the Radical Party won three mandates (p. 28). and to a third term in the 1996 election,See "КАНДИДАТИ СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА ЗА ИЗБОР САВЕЗНИХ ПОСЛАНИІКА У ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Velika Srbija [Radical Party publication], September 2000, p. 4, which describes Blažić as having served as a federal representative since 1992. See also "Composition of the New Government," Tanjug, 24 March 1998, which lists him as having been a member of the Chamber of Citizens at the time of his appointment to cabinet. It may again be reasonably assumed that Blažić was elected for the redistributed electoral division of Zrenjanin in 1996, where on this occasion the Radical Party won a single mandate. both of which were held under a system of proportional representation. Blažić was an opposition deputy in parliament until his appointment to cabinet. He was identified in a July 1999 news report as a member of the Radical Party's presidency."Serbian minister says Milosevic "biggest culprit for situation"," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 21 July 1999 (Source: text of report by Serbian news agency Beta).
Cabinet minister in the Government of Serbia The Radical Party joined a coalition government led by the Socialist Party of Serbia on 24 March 1998, and Blažić was appointed as environment minister in the government of Serbian prime minister Mirko Marjanović."Serbia government list," Reuters News, 24 March 1998.
During the early stages of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia, Blažić argued that the American-led coalition was targeting chemical industry facilities "in an obvious attempt to cause an environmental disaster.""Serbian minister says NATO causing an environmental disaster," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 7 April 1999 (Source: text of report by Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug). He later accused NATO of using chemical and radioactive weapons against Yugoslavia in breach of international conventions, adding that what he described as NATO's "carpet bombing" of Kosovo and Metohija raised the question of whether the military alliance actually wanted Albanian refugees to return to the area as it claimed."Serbia says NATO using chemical, radioactive arms," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring Newsfile, 28 April 1999; "Belgrade - NATO Launches Indirect Chemical, Nuclear Warfare," Xinhua News Agency, 29 April 1999. At one press conference, Blažić accused NATO of violating international conventions pertaining to oil pollution, benzol poisoning, prevention of risk of cancer, cross-border air pollution, ozone layer protection, protection of the flora and fauna, and protection of workers from occupational hazards."Serbian minister says NATO "indirectly waging chemical war," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European - Political, 30 April 1999 (Source: excerpt from report by Yugoslav state news agency Tanjug). Following the conclusion of the bombing campaign, he suggested that the smoke and toxic fumes caused by NATO's actions might have contributed to the heavy rainstorms and other bad weather affecting Serbia in the summer of 1999."Serbian minister blames NATO for bad weather," Associated Press Newswires, 29 July 1999.
In early 2000, a cyanide leak originating in Romania caused significant damage to the Tisza and Danube rivers within Serbia. During a survey of the areas, Blažić remarked, "The Tisza has been killed. Not even bacteria have survived. This is a total catastrophe."Misha Savic, "Yugoslavia announces legal action as cyanide pollution spreads," Associated Press Newswires, 12 February 2000. He was also quoted as saying, "Had we from Yugoslavia done something like this, we probably would have been bombed."Adam LeBor, "Cyanide leak heads towards Danube killing every living thing in its path," The Independent, 14 February 2000, p. 12. He threatened legal action against Romania and said it would take at least five years for life in the river to recover."SPOTLIGHT STORY - CENTRAL EUROPE: CYANIDE SPILL REACHES YUGOSLAVIA," Greenwire, 14 February 2000; "Serbia plans to sue over cyanide in river --- Contamination called ecological catastrophe," Toronto Star, 14 February 2000, p. 1; "POLLUTION - RIVER TISZA, HUNGARY, ROMANIA AND YUGOSLAVIA," Lloyd's Information Casualty Report, 15 February 2000.
His tenure in cabinet came to an end on 24 October 2000 with the fall of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević. Blažić was defeated in his bid for re-election in the 2000 Yugoslavian parliamentary election when the Radical Party failed to win any mandates in his division.Blažić was at the top of the Radical Party's electoral list in Zreljanin; the party narrowly fell short of winning a mandate. See "КАНДИДАТИ СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА ЗА ИЗБОР САВЕЗНИХ ПОСЛАНИІКА У ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Velika Srbija [Radical Party publication], September 2000, p. 4; ИЗБОРИ 2000: ВЕЋЕ РЕПУБЛИКА И ВЕЋЕ ГРАЂАНА САВЕЗНЕ СКУПШТИНЕ, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Department of Statistics (2000), p. 42.
Radical Party member of the National Assembly Blažić received the twenty-fifth position on the Radical Party's electoral list for the 2000 Serbian parliamentary election, in which the entire country was counted as a single constituency under a system of proportional representation.Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 23. децембра 2000. године и 10. јануара 2001. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Српска радикална странка – др Војислав Шешељ) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017. The party won twenty-three seats, and Blažić was included in its parliamentary delegation.Otvoreni Parlament indicates that he took his seat in the assembly at the time of its first sittings in January 2001. See DRUGO VANREDNO ZASEDANJE, 25.01.2001. (p. 4), Otvoreni Parlament, accessed 3 August 2017. (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 mandates to be awarded out of numerical order.)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. He received the twenty-ninth position on the Radical Party's list in the 2003 electionИзбори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 28. децембра 2003. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017. and was again included in its delegation in the parliament that followed.27 January 2004 legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 3 August 2017. The Radical Party won eighty-two seats on this occasion. The Radical Party served in opposition throughout this period.
He appeared on the Radical Party's lists for the 2007 and 2008 elections but did not take a parliamentary mandate on either occasion.He received the Radical Party's twenty-seventh position in 2007 and its forty-second position in 2008. See Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 21. јануара и 8. фебрауара 2007. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (Српска радикална странка - др Војислав Шешељ) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017; and Избори за народне посланике Народне скупштине одржани 11. маја 2008. године, ИЗБОРНЕ ЛИСТЕ (СРПСКА РАДИКАЛНА СТРАНКА - Др ВОЈИСЛАВ ШЕШЕЉ) , Republika Srbija - Republička izborna komisija, accessed 17 February 2017. He is not listed in the Serbian National Assembly's list of members for either convocation. See 14 February 2007 legislature and 11 June 2008 legislature, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed 5 March 2017.
Provincial and municipal politics Blažić was elected to the Assembly of Vojvodina for Kikinda's fourth division in the 1996 Vojvodina provincial election.Official report of the results of the 1996 parliamentary election, Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, 1996. He was not re-elected in 2000 but was returned for Kikinda's first seat in 2004 and served a second term.
Blažić also served as mayor of Kikinda from 2004 to 2008. During his term, Novi Sad mayor Maja Gojković, also a Radical Party member at the time, described him as one of the country's most competent politicians at the local level."Novi Sad mayor discusses party relations, plans to run for Serbian president," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 25 September 2007 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Politika on 21 September).
In 2005, he said that Serbian activist Nataša Kandić would be persona non grata in Kikinda on the grounds that she was "fomenting an anti-Serb hysteria" by accusing Tomislav Nikolić of responsibility for war crimes in Croatia in 1991."Serbian NGOs insist on probe into Antin war crimes," HINA, 24 June 2005.
Progressive Party member of the National Assembly The Radical Party split in 2008, and several prominent party members joined the breakaway Serbian Progressive Party under Tomislav Nikolić's leadership. Blažić sided with Nikolić and joined the new party."Serbian Radical Party committees in Vojvodina begin expelling Nikolic loyalists," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, 11 September 2008 (Source: text of report by Serbian newspaper Politika website on 10 September).