Dragutin Zelenović
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| Dragutin Zelenović Драгутин Зеленовић |
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| In office 15 January 1991 – 11 December 1991 |
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| Preceded by | Stanko Radmilović (as President of the Executive Council of the Socialist Republic of Serbia) |
| Succeeded by | Radoman Božović |
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| Born | May 19, 1928 Temerin, Yugoslavia |
| Nationality | Serbian |
| Political party | SPS |
Dragutin Zelenović (Serbian: Драгутин Зеленовић; born 19 May 1928 in Temerin, Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) is a former Prime Minister of Serbia. He is a mechanical engineer working as a professor at the Faculty of Technical Sciences of the University of Novi Sad. He was elected member of the VASA in 1987, a corresponding member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1991, where he is a part of the Department of Technical Sciences.
He was a rector of the Novi Sad University as well as Socialist Autonomous Province of Vojvodina's representative to the collective Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Presidency. Formerly a communist apparatchik in the Serbian branch of the Communist League, he became a member of the transformed Socialist Party of Serbia in 1991.
He became the first President of the first Government of the Republic of Serbia on 15 January 1991 with the age of 63, appointed by then President Slobodan Milošević and recommended on the first Parliament session, after the Socialist Party of Serbia won the 9-23 December 1990 parliamentary election. Dragutin Zelenovic didn't handpick members of his cabinet on his own, he didn't even meet them at first - they were chosen beforehand.
Zelenovic's employers abandoned their support of him after Vuk Drašković and his opposition Serbian Renewal Movement organized the March 9, 1991 protest. On the Serbian government statements regarding the protests, he was absent, and Milosevic himself took the place of negotiating with the opposition, while Zelenovic was allegedly preventing a firm in Novi Sad, Vojvodina go bankrupt. The government without Zelenovic accused the protesters for traitorous conspiracy and brought out tanks to prevent the deposing of SPS.
In truth he was looking for support against Milosevic outside the governmental ranks which were all extremely loyal to him. He alienated himself from the other SPS members, in an interview for the NIN magazine he claimed that he was a "rose among weeds of the Socialist Party". In an effort to gain support from the private sector, he advised a government economic program, however it utterly failed. He was somewhat more successful with the railroad workers, after traveling back and forth the eight-kilometer track between Pazova and Inđija one hundred times. Although he tried to promote his great plans for Serbian economy, his policies only resulted in increased government control of half of Serbia's businesses.
In June 1991 the opposition demanded structuring of a new government. Dragutin's long-term rival Budimir Košutić was appointed singlehandedly Vice-Premier, Minister of War as well as Minister of Internal Affairs at the same time.
Dragutin's Cabinet was remembered as the "government of catastrophy", with the economic consequences of the Yugoslav fallout directly and greatly striking Serbia. On 11 December 1991, Dragutin Zelenovic was forced to resign. After him more fundamentalist circles under Milosevic took over.
| Preceded by Stanko Radmilović (as President of the Executive Council of the Socialist Republic of Serbia) |
post created Prime Minister of Serbia 1991 |
Succeeded by Radoman Božović |
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