Opposition Wants Early Elections & more –12th Sep 2023

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 12th of September twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Tuesday the 5th, in the parliamentary session the attendees discussed the opposition’s demand for early parliamentary and local Belgrade elections. PM Brnabic announced that the government is looking to hold them as quickly as possible.

The pro-European opposition said that early parliamentary and local Belgrade elections need to happen before the end of the year since they believe the elections are the only way for Serbia to overcome the recent downfalls it has experienced, such as high inflation, increased violence and crime rate, and the lack of free media. Their conservative counterparts share the same opinion, adding that they are calling for both the removal of President Vucic and early elections at all levels.

(Speaking of politics…

On Thursday the 7th, Kosovo President Vjosa Osmani attended a press conference with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, in which she called on Serbia to align itself with the EU and NATO values. Osmani highlighted Kosovo’s commitment to the West, saying that Kosovo is “in full compliance with every foreign and security policy decision with the EU and NATO”. Osmani also addressed the EU support funds that Serbia is receiving and said that Serbia should work on the European Union’s requests, adding that EU funds should go hand in hand with EU values. These requests include efforts in a de-escalation of the conflict with Kosovo and freedom of media, among others.

Kosovo is still facing punitive measures from the EU and the US, ever since the escalations with Serbia and the Serb majority in Kosovo’s north. However, Serbia has not faced any such measures, which Kosovo politicians heavily condemn.

Still, Serbian investigators are looking into the attacks on NATO peacekeepers that Serbs inflicted during their boycotts of the elected ethnic-Albanian mayors in Kosovo. Recall that in May, Serbs in Kosovo organized peaceful protests in front of the buildings where the elected mayors worked, after an election that had record low turnouts. The idea was to show dissatisfaction with the concept of ethnic Albanians representing the municipalities that comprise a Serb majority. However, during these protests, some of the attendees attacked NATO peacekeepers, injuring dozens of troops and police officers, some of them seriously.

President Osmani called on EU officials to hold Serbia accountable for these attacks, advising them to refrain from showing favoritism during the upcoming Serbia-Kosovo de-escalation talks. Osmani accused Serbian investigators of stalling the inquiry into attacks on NATO peacekeepers, adding that those who attacked the peacekeepers were Serbian police officers. She also condemned the lack of consequences Serbs have faced for these attacks.

The nineteenth Serbia Against Violence protest took place in Belgrade on Saturday the 9th. Hundreds of people gathered in front of the government building and walked to the building of the Pink TV headquarters. While in front of the building, the protesters held their phones in the air while one journalist held a speech about the media darkness in Serbia, referring to the ongoing issue of the ruling party silencing criticism and controlling the media. The protesters also threw eggs and toilet paper at the building.

The reason for the gathering in front of the Pink TV headquarters is their constant broadcasting of inappropriate content, especially the blatant broadcast of violence in their very popular reality TV show Zadruga. Protest organizers demanded that the Regulatory Media Body, or REM, revoke Pink TV’s broadcasting license. However, the REM has not yet responded to these demands. Moreover, Pink TV is launching yet another reality show, and the protesters deemed that as an insult to the nation.

On that note about protests…

Hundreds of Pride activists gathered in Belgrade on Saturday the 9th in a march for LGBT+ rights known as the Pride parade, despite the heavy anti-LGBT messages that the ruling party and other conservative groups sent in their speeches and on social media. In the 15th edition of the march, the participants held signs that read “We are not even close” as well as “Queer Liberation not Rainbow Capitalism”, referring to the constant struggles that the LGBT+ population faces in Serbia. Police officers in riot gear were present at the gathering, along with a rally against the march consisting of Orthodox priests and other anti-LGBT protesters.

On the opposite side, the representatives of opposition parties - Movement of Free Citizens, Green-Left Front, Democratic Party and coalition Together sent messages in support of the Pride march via social media.

Along with the mentioned liberal parties, the EU Delegation and twenty-five countries have expressed their support for the Pride march and for the protection of the rights of the LGBT+ community in Serbia. The embassies and representative offices of these countries issued a joint statement of support, adding that LGBT+ rights are human rights. The statement read that these countries, along with the EU, support the values ​​of acceptance, inclusion, and diversity, which Pride represents. They added that they will continue to work with local LGBT+ organizations in order to support the community in their fight for equality and non-discrimination.

Moving away from the Western narrative…

On Thursday the 7th, the city of Novi Sad opened the Center for Open Education in Russian and the Teaching of the Russian Language in one of the city’s high schools. During the opening ceremony, the City Council education official said that more than 650 Russian children are enrolled in schools in Novi Sad, and added that the school system is trying to integrate them. The Russian ambassador to Serbia Alexander Bocan Harchenko also attended the ceremony. The Russian education center is a project implemented with the help of the Russian Federation Education Ministry.

Despite the criticism from the EU and their constant efforts to pull Serbia away from Russia, Serbia is still trying to preserve Russian influence and culture, mainly because Russia is against the independence of Kosovo. Serbia is one of the few countries that has not sanctioned Russia for its aggression on Ukraine.

Serbia’s National Employment Service reported that Serbia is experiencing an increase in the number of foreign workers, with 30,000 in the first six months of twenty twenty-three. These people work mainly in the industrial, construction, and skilled trades. Many workers are also from the IT field. The employment platform Jobs Infostud commented on these advancements and said that this increase means that Serbia is developing its employment infrastructure. They also added that the qualified workforce that remains in the Serbian labor market is not enough, resulting in increased service costs

In some news about the environment…

The vice-president of the European Economic and Social Committee addressed the pollution issue in Serbia, saying that the contamination generated in the nation will start to affect neighboring countries. He said that the recent decision that the government made to lower the taxes on water polluters is a short-term economic interest and that it is actually encouraging polluters. This follows the recent amendment to the Law on fees for the use of public goods, where the state drastically reduced the fee that companies that pollute water pay. He said that once the pollution generated in Serbia starts affecting Romania and Bulgaria, it will become an even bigger problem.

Serbia is one of the countries with the worst wastewater treatment in Europe, processing just around sixteen percent of it, with the biggest issue being the outdated technology it uses.

Now onto some health updates.

Even though COVID-19 cases have been declining for the past several months, last week, The Institute for Public Health confirmed nearly a thousand cases, which doubled the number of cases from the week before, with zero deaths. They have also confirmed that these cases are from the new covid variant named Eris. The director of the Belgrade Clinic for Tropical and Infectious Diseases said that the symptoms are usually mild for young people, but warned about the possible complications for the elderly, such as pneumonia.

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!