No Agreement in Brussels Meeting, Again & more – 31st Oct 2023

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 31st of October twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Thursday the 26th, Kosovo’s PM Kurti and Serbian president Vucic visited Brussels for separate meetings with EU officials to discuss the relations between Kosovo and Serbia. To reduce tensions between the two sides, Joseph Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, submitted several proposals for overcoming the problems Kosovo and Serbia have with each other. However, after the meeting, Borrell said that neither of the sides was ready to agree to his proposals without setting preconditions that were unacceptable to the other side.

Additionally, Kurti and Vucic blamed each other for the unsuccessful talks. Kurti said that what Borrell had offered was generous and highlighted that Vucic was the one disrupting the dialogue. However, Vucic denied this, saying he was ready to sign any agreement with Kosovo as long as it wasn't accepting Kosovo in the UN or recognizing Kosovo’s independence. With the inconclusive result of the talks, Borrell said that he could organize another meeting aimed at improving Kosovo-Serbia relations soon.

Kurti expressed his criticism against Serbia by blaming Milos Vucevic, Serbian Defence Minister, and his group Clan of Novi Sad for being involved in the Banjska attack that took place on the 24th of September. Vucevic, aside from his role as defense minister, is also deputy prime minister and the president of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party. Kurti pointed out that Vucevic served as a mayor of Novi Sad between twenty twelve and twenty twenty-two, adding that forty of the Orthodox pilgrims to Banjska Monastery were from Novi Sad, further raising his suspicion of Vucevic having a hand in the attack. He also noted that Vucevic is a close friend and confidant of President Vucic and his family. The Serbian Defense Ministry had denied Kurti’s claims and called them baseless, further calling the international community to put a stop to his “hostile media campaign.”

Recall that in late September, in the village of Banjska in Kosovo, a group of armed men opened fire on the Kosovar police, killing one of their officers.

After the Banjska attack, Milan Radojcic, the former leader of Serbian List, the main Belgrade-backed Serbian party in Kosovo, confessed that he orchestrated the attack, after which he resigned from his position as the party leader. However, amid the unrest in the Serbian List party, they announced on Tuesday the 24th, their new president - Zlatan Elek, the head of the Clinical Center in the city of Kosovska Mitrovica in northern Kosovo. Elek highlighted that all the crucial decisions the Serbian List has to make will be in coordination with the Belgrade authorities.

With the new leader, the Serbian List party will participate in the potential new mayoral byelections in Kosovo. Recall that in April, Serbian List, then led by Milan Radojcic, boycotted local elections in the four predominantly Serbian municipalities in Kosovo. This led to protests, which later turned into violent clashes between Serbians in Kosovo and NATO’s Kosovo Force.

Ahead of Serbia’s parliamentary elections that will take place on the 17th of December, Serbia’s Bureau for Social Research reported that President Vucic has been getting almost forty percent of the airtime on state TV news programs. The bureau said that such numbers show that Vucic is dominating the media ahead of the elections, which many watchdog organizations brand as a key to his previous election victories.

The Serbian government, which is not in charge of promoting Vucic but of informing the public of state politics, had a media coverage rate of seventeen percent. The liberal opposition had a coverage rate of five percent, while the conservative opposition parties had less than one percent.

For years, the opposition parties have complained about Vucic’s media domination, along with the smear campaigns he often runs against his opponents. The opposition argued that without equal media presence, there are no fair elections.

Speaking of the upcoming December parliamentary elections…

The pro-European liberal opposition parties announced on Friday, the 27th, that they will participate in the parliamentary elections under a joint list called Serbia Against Violence. At a press conference, journalist Smiljan Banjac, one of the Serbia Against Violence protest organizers, said that a joint appearance in the elections aims to provide cooperation in parliament. The joint list comprises the Freedom and Justice Party, the People’s Movement of Serbia, the Green-Left Front party, the Heart Movement, the Democratic Party, the Movement of Free Citizens, and the Together Party.

This agreement comes after numerous Serbia Against Violence protests followed by the constant lack of action from the ruling party regarding the troubled environment in Serbia, which started after two mass shootings in May.

While on the topic of shootings…

On Friday, the 27th, another shooting between illegal migrants took place at the Serbo-Hungarian border, leaving three people dead and one injured. Police reported that they had raided the area, seizing two automatic rifles and ammunition. The clash between the migrant groups took place in an abandoned farming warehouse. Later that day, the police arrested four Afghan and two Turkish nationals on suspicion of possessing illegal guns and explosives. However, they did not specify whether the arrested men would be charged for the shooting.

Unfortunately, reports of violence and shootings are becoming much more frequent at the border between Serbia and Hungary. People smugglers at the border have snuck over a thousand migrants, who often camped in the area. Serbian police have been very active at this border to reduce the smuggling of people and violent behavior.

In other news…

Donal McGettigan, the delegation head of the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, and Sinisa Mali, Serbian Finance Minister, attended a meeting regarding Serbia’s budget for twenty twenty-four. McGettigan said that the discussion was very successful, adding that the goals he and Mali set under the standby arrangement that the IMF granted to Serbia have been mostly fulfilled. Mali said that Serbia is on the right path, which McGettigan confirmed, adding that Serbia will focus on reforming the energy sector, as well as the tax administration.

In twenty twenty-two, the IMF Executive Board granted Serbia a two-year standby arrangement worth around 2.5 billion dollars, which supports Serbia’s agreed-upon economic program.

However, Serbia is not as good in other fields…

The twenty twenty-three World Justice Project Rule of Law Index researched 142 countries and recorded a decline in the rule of law in almost sixty percent of the surveyed nations, including Serbia. Of 142 countries worldwide, Serbia ranked 93rd in the rule of law index. Of fifteen countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Serbia ended up in the 11th place, with Georgia scoring 1st and Turkey scoring last. Globally, the country with the best results in the twenty twenty-three Rule of Law research is Denmark, and the country with the worst results is Venezuela.

In some health-related news…

Last week, the Institute for Public Health confirmed around 4,400 COVID-19 cases, with zero deaths. Compared to the previous week, the number of confirmed cases has increased by almost 500.

Now, for all the fashion fans…

The fall edition of the Belgrade Fashion Week will take place from the 2nd to the 8th of November. It will feature catwalk shows, exhibitions, and the promotion of sustainable fashion. The opening act will be the fashion show called TRANSFORMATIONS – From Slavic Traditions to Contemporary Creations, which will present ten designers, each from a Slavic country. Most fashion shows will take place in the Hangar in the Port of Belgrade. As a part of the event, the Swedish Institute’s Fashion Forever show and the Circular Monday project will focus on Fashion Sustainability and the Circular Economy. They aim to promote a model of production and consumption, which involves reusing and recycling existing materials for as long as possible. For more information, follow the link in the show notes!

And that's it for this week!

We want to make these updates better. Help us. It doesn’t matter if you are a new or a long-time listener, talk to us. We want to have a conversation with you. Do you want to talk on the phone? We’ll do that! Do you want to talk via email, Twitter, Instagram or Linkedin? We can do that! Just please, give us a hand. We want your honest opinion. We really want to hear from you.

Contact us at serbia@rorshok.com or @rorshok on social media

Do daljnjeg, zbogom!