Miladin Ševarlić () is an agricultural economist, professor of agriculture, and politician in Serbia. He served in the National Assembly of Serbia from 2016 to 2020 as an independent member. Until February 2019, he was a member of the Dveri parliamentary group.
Early life and academic career Ševarlić was born in Čačak and raised in the neighbouring community of Preljina, in what was then the People's Republic of Serbia in the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. He received a bachelor's degree (1973), a master's degree (1982), and a PhD (1989) from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Agriculture and taught for several years at the same institution, becoming a full professor in 2001. He has published about three hundred scientific and professional papers and is known as one of the leading agricultural economists in Serbia. He retired from the University of Belgrade in 2014."Prof. dr Miladin M. Ševarlić – Biografija", Prvi Prvi Na Skali, accessed June 20, 2018.
Ševarlić as an opponent of genetically modified food and has argued that introducing genetically modified crops to Serbia will undermine local agriculture by creating a dependence on imported seeds."Wise Broker – BELEX Morning Note – Jan 28, 2012 [sic]," Emerging Markets Broker Reports Central Eastern Europe, January 28, 2013."'GMO Only Causes Problems': Serbia Maintains Import Ban Despite WTO Demands," Sputnik News Service, February 20, 2017. In 2013, he argued that Serbia would "lose 500 million euros a year through purchase of genetically modified seeds" and urged that country to remain a GMO-free zone."Serbian expert warns against legislation allowing GMO," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, January 29, 2013 (Source: Vecernje novosti website, Belgrade, in Serbian Jan 27, 13). The following year, he noted that genetically modified soy products were being planted in different parts of Serbia as the result of smuggling and urged the government to bring criminal charges against the offenders."Serbian expert says genetically modified soy smuggled in through secret channels," British Broadcasting Corporation Monitoring European, April 4, 2014 (Source: Blic website, Belgrade, in Serbian Apr 1, 14).
In 1999, while serving as executive chair of the Yugoslavian Association of Agricultural Economists, he signed an open letter to agricultural economists in other countries against the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia."POĽNOHOSPODÁRSTVO – Juhoslovanskí agrárnici žiadajú o podporu," Slovenska Tlacova Agentura, May 2, 1999.
Ševarlić urged the government of Serbia to invest one billion Euros in the food and agriculture sectors in 2014, arguing that this would revive the country's agricultural sector. He stated that Serbia could find investors for the export of its products, mainly to Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Africa."Serbia: EUR 1bn investment required for food and agriculture sectors," Esmerk Eastern European News, June 28, 2014.
He is an opponent of Serbia's plans to permit the sale of agricultural lands to international buyers as a condition of joining the European Union (EU). In 2017, he was quoted as saying, "it is not even known whether and when [Serbia] will become a member of that union, thus the relationship with the EU may be considered neo-colonialism".Julija Simić, "Serbia to limit sale of agricultural land to foreigners," EurActiv.com, July 13, 2017.
Ševarlić lives in the Belgrade municipality of Zemun.MILADIN ŠEVARLIĆ, Otvoreni Parlament, accessed June 20, 2018.
Politician Ševarlić became the youngest ever member of the Belgrade City Assembly in 1967, serving on the education and cultural council during the mayoralty of Branko Pešić."Zamenili me u porodilištu", Vesti, April 22, 2012, accessed June 20, 2018.
He received the seventh position on a combined electoral list of the Democratic Party of Serbia and Dveri as a non-party candidate in the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election and was elected when the list won thirteen members.Избори за народне посланике 2016. године » Изборне листе (ДВЕРИ – ДЕМОКРАТСКА СТРАНКА СРБИЈЕ – САНДА РАШКОВИЋ ИВИЋ – БОШКО ОБРАДОВИЋ) , Republika Srbija – Republička izborna komisija, accessed April 28, 2017. The election was won by the Serbian Progressive Party and its allies, and Ševarlić sat as an opposition member. He was a member of the assembly's agriculture, forestry, and water management committee; a deputy member of 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 Belarus, Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Russia, and Slovenia.MILADIN Prof. Dr SEVARLIC, National Assembly of Serbia, accessed June 26, 2020. In 2017, he attracted media attention for reciting an anti-GMO song by the poet Ljubivoje Ršumović in the National Assembly.Jovana Štetin, "Ševarlić u Skupštini recitovao pesmu protiv GMO", N1, November 14, 2017, accessed June 20, 2018.
He left the Dveri parliamentary group in February 2019, after disagreeing with the party's boycott of the assembly."Dveri: Ševarlić ne prihvata odluku o bojkotu, nije više deo poslaničkog kluba", N1, February 13, 2019, accessed March 6, 2019.
During his time in parliament, Ševarlić gave several press conferences dressed in traditional Serbian folk clothing. In 2020, he conducted a one-day hunger strike on the steps of the national assembly to protest the Serbian government's call for Serbs in Kosovo to participate in disputed entity's governmental institutions.Mirjana R. Milenković, "Miladin Ševarlić: Domaćin u politici", Danas, May 11, 2020, accessed February 3, 2021.
Ševarlić received the sixth position on the combined Healthy Serbia–Better Serbia electoral list in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election as a non-party candidate."Ko je sve na listi Milana Stamatovića i Dragana Jovanovića za poslanike?", Danas, May 22, 2020, accessed February 3, 2021. The list did not cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly.
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