SERBIA: Belgrade local elections re-run & more – 12th Mar 2024

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

On Sunday the 10th in a televised speech president Vucic announced the re-run of the Belgrade local elections, setting the date for the 2nd of June. He then called on the Ministry of internal affairs to follow the recommendations which the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights provided earlier this month, in order to ensure safe and free voting. Vucic urged the elected parliament members to form the government before the 1st of April, so that Serbia can have a functioning government.

The decision to re-run the local Belgrade elections came after reports on irregularities during the original voting day on 17th of December. The opposition coalition Serbia Against Violence has since protested the results, calling for repeat elections.

Speaking of Vucic, on Wednesday the 6th, he said that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, or SNS, decided to nominate Ana Brnabic, the current Prime Minister, for the parliament speaker position.

As we previously mentioned that Vucic is rushing the formation of the government, Brnabic seconded his opinion, adding that important roles are yet to be filled, such as the speaker and the committees. The SNS will soon pick out the new Prime Minister of Serbia, after Brnabic occupied that position for seven years. Commenting on her nomination, Brnabic said that being a parliament speaker is not something she has done before, and added that it will be a huge challenge for her.

Since we mentioned elections, on Friday the 8th, Kosovo's Central Electoral Commission, or CEC, announced the vote on the removal of four Albanian mayors in four mainly Serbian municipalities for the 21st of April. This decision came after a petition for this change, which the residents of the municipalities launched in mid-January, the CEC said that the number of signatures amounted to nearly 10,000. Tomas Szunyog, the EU Ambassador to Kosovo, supported the decision, adding that the EU was ready to offer support throughout the voting process so that it is fair and free.

Recall that last year in April, Serbians living in Kosovo boycotted local elections, because despite the low turnout of four percent, the government still decided to appoint new mayors.

Speaking of ministers, Ivica Dacic, Serbia’s foreign minister, met with Sergey Lavrov, his Russian counterpart at an international conference in Antalya, Turkey. Dacic told reporters that the two countries aim to maintain good relations, thanking Lavrov and his country for Serbia’s support in the UN Security Council session regarding Kosovo’s ban on the Serbian dinar. This is because Russia is one of the few countries that did not recognize Kosovo’s independence. He also said that he does not see how the lack of sanctions from Serbia against Russia is harming others.

Speaking of Russia, a US-based digital newspaper focused on politics called Politico, reported last week that Novica Antic, the head of the Serbian Military Union, is an associate of the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB. Politico quoted a Western intelligence briefing that accused Antic of being tasked with spreading the pro-Russia narrative and weakening the pro-EU sentiment. They then said that Antic has been working closely with certain FSB associates, accusing him of trying to influence the European trade union, veterans’ organizations and the MEPs to warm up to Russia.

The police are currently detaining Antic on unspecified charges. His arrest came after Serbian officials condemned him for his outspoken criticism of the country’s armed forces.

On that topic of bilateral relations, on Thursday the 7th, Dubravka Djedovic, the Minister of Energy, met with her counterpart from the Republic of Srpska, Petar Djokic, and Montenegro, Sasa Mujovic, where they discussed the Buk Bijela power project. After the meeting, Mujovic said that Montenegro will not allow the development of the Buk Bijela hydropower plant if it poses a risk for the pollution of the river Tara and the Durmitor National Park. He said that he will be seeking scientific opinions on whether that project endangers Montenegro’s environment. Still, Djedovic and Djokic said that they have no intention of stopping work, as the project is worth around 220 million dollars.

In other news, on Wednesday the 6th, the Raska-Prizren Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church discussed the Visoki Decani monastery’s land in Kosovo. Recently, there have been numerous media reports that the Kosovo government will enforce a court ruling that states that twenty-four hectares of land belong to the Visoki Decani monastery. Yugoslav-era communist authorities had previously confiscated this area. Ever since, the Serbian Orthodox Church has been trying to earn it back, and it has succeeded in court, however, the newest information from the Church states that they have not heard from Kosovo's government. The Diocese urged Kosovo to register the land in the cadaster and to issue ownership proof to the Monastery, adding that such a move is important for the rule of law.

Last week, the Association of Journalists of Serbia and the country’s Independent Association of Journalists requested the punishment of a security guard who assaulted a journalist covering municipal council proceedings in the northern town of Indjija. A security guard assaulted Verica Marinic, a journalist for a news outlet IN Media. She forcibly threw her out of the municipality building, saying she was not on the list of attendees. Ever since the incident, journalists’ associations stressed the ever-growing discrimination against reporters and the media, which is prohibited under Serbian law. They noted that such violence usually goes unpunished, accusing the authorities of their lack of action against the attackers. One example for this being the Slavko Cuvurija case, an anti-regime journalist in the nineties, whose suspected murderers have been acquitted, leaving the case unsolved for over thirty years.

During last week’s Kopaonik Business Forum, Pavle Petrovic, the president of the Fiscal Council noted that Serbia’s economic growth is slow, but said that it has great potential. He added that one of the reasons why the country is falling behind compared to the states in Central and Eastern Europe, or CEE, is the fact that these countries adopt new technologies quicker than Serbia. Petrovic did note, however, that certain Serbian sectors are growing at a rate similar to those of the CEE countries, such as the IT sector.

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In other news, the Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure confirmed that the works on the railroad connecting Belgrade and Nis will begin in twenty twenty-five. The process will be split into three phases, so that the construction does not interrupt the existing railway traffic along the route. The railway is planned to be more than 200 kilometers long, which is around 130 miles, and the minister noted that it will take the train 100 minutes to travel between Belgrade and Nis, which is significantly faster than by car, which takes a little over two hours.

Moving up to the north of Serbia, the city of Novi Sad will host their annual book fair at the Hall 1 of the Novi Sad Fair building. The fair will feature meet and greets with numerous authors, such as the winner of this year’s NIN Book of the Year Award, Stevo Grabovec. Sixty national and international exhibitors will present their books, selling them with discounts of up to sixty percent. The fair will begin on the 18th of March and will last until the 25th of March, with free entry and the working hours from ten AM to eight PM.

And.. that’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!