SERBIA: Corruption & more – 25th Jun 2024

Dobar dan from BA! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 25th of June twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

Transparency International, a watchdog organization, published a report on Wednesday the 19th analyzing the fight against corruption in the Western Balkans. According to the report, Albania, North Macedonia, and Kosovo made institutional efforts to combat corruption, whereas Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina showed stagnation.

The report said Serbia had flawed electoral processes, referring to the December twenty twenty-three parliamentary elections, which were full of irregularities. Transparency International said authorities in Serbia don’t react timely and adequately when NGOs and the Media expose corruption cases. They added that the government sees media and organizations that either criticize authorities and public officials or report on possible corruption as political opponents of the executive.

Moreover, Stevan Dojcinovic, the Editor-in-Chief of the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network, or KRIK, said that the government is trying to silence the media and NGOs that criticize its policies. Dojcinovic said that KRIK is dealing with around fifteen court cases because the government filed strategic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs. He added that the executive is trying to put a stop to independent media, since they tend to criticize the ruling party’s regime. The national group for the fight against SLAPPs called for the government to implement recommendations of the European Commission on the protection of journalists and human rights defenders.

On Saturday the 22nd, the news outlet Financial Times published their estimates on Serbian exports of ammunition to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion. In the report, Financial Times stated that the export’s worth amounted to around 800 million dollars, all of which happened through third parties. Aligning with the report, President Vucic said that the nation does not intend to side with any of the nations at war, adding that Serbia exported its ammunition to other countries, which then further exported them to Ukraine. He labeled the situation as a business opportunity, and said that it is not Serbia’s job to keep track of where the ammunition ends up. One Western diplomat pointed out that the West’s intentions to separate Serbia from Russia might be succeeding, as Vucic has not been in contact with Putin for years. He added that the shipment of ammunition ending up in Ukraine could also be a sign of Serbia defying Russia’s influence.

Speaking of war, many activists gathered in Belgrade on Wednesday the 19th to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. Behind the gathering were Women in Black and the Autonomous Women’s Center, the two largest feminist organizations in Serbia. The aim of the gathering was to urge the authorities to grant legal recognition to victims of wartime rape. Participants carried banners with slogans saying “We remember women raped in the war.”

Out of all ex-Yugoslav countries, Serbia is the only one that does not consider survivors of sexual violence (inflicted during a war) as civilian war victims. The feminist organizations behind the meeting urged the government to impose a law that would overturn this, enabling wartime rape victims to receive welfare benefits and support from the state.

Also on Wednesday, the European football governing body UEFA received calls to take action against the national teams of Croatia and Albania due to hateful messages their fans were chanting during a game at the European Championship. The fans of the two countries gathered in the stands and chanted the message “Kill a Serbian.”

Serbia has threatened the UEFA to withdraw from the European championship if the body does not punish the teams of Croatia and Albania.

Now for some news on the economy, the European statistical authority, Eurostat, published data about GDP per capita values in forty-one different countries. Serbia’s GDP amounted to forty-six, which is more than fifty percent below the European average of 100. However, compared to ten years ago, the country’s GDP increased by around five percent.

Out of the EU countries, Luxembourg scored the highest on the list, with a GDP per capita of around 140, and Bulgaria scored the lowest with sixty-four.

The Annual Financial Reports Bulletin of the Business Register Agency, or APR, showed that companies in Serbia generated profit amounting to nearly nine billion dollars in twenty twenty-three. The agency said that this sum is an increase of around thirteen percent compared to twenty twenty-two. However, twenty twenty-three also showed an increase in expenses for companies. The APR said that the expenses for financing doubled last year compared to twenty twenty-two, noting that this trend affected the processing industry the most, with expenses standing at around 500 million dollars last year. The APR also said that the interest-related expenses saw the biggest increase of nearly seventy percent compared to twenty twenty-two, costing the business sector more than 1.5 billion dollars in twenty twenty-three.

Up next, on Wednesday the 19th, Serbia’s Ministry of Energy launched a tender to draft a preliminary study to explore the potential use of nuclear power in the country. In a statement, the ministry called on the interested bidders to submit their proposals by the 16th of July, adding that the estimated value of the procured work is around 130,000 dollars. They also said that they expect the state to implement the project in the second quarter of twenty twenty-four, and that it will take eight months to complete. The minister of Mining and Energy said that the tender had already attracted a few investors, adding that a French state-owned energy giant Electricity France expressed interest in participating in the project.

On that note about energy, last week, we mentioned that the government is looking into re-opening the lithium mining Jadar project with Rio Tinto, with President Vucic estimating the official start of the project to be in twenty twenty-eight. Environmental groups and green opposition parties condemned the decision, fearing that the project would contaminate the water and the land of the Jadar region, as it has done in the past. However, Ana Brnabic, the Assembly Speaker, supported the project, adding that Serbia is lucky to have the only significant lithium deposit in Europe and that it would be abnormal and unwise to give up on its worth. She was adamant that the Jadar project would follow the EU’s environmental protection standards, adding that the Union would ensure the project’s implementation is in line with them.

However, You Move Europe, an international initiative, launched an online petition to ban the re-opening of the Jadar project. The petition calls on citizens to participate in the preservation of the Jadar region, and it requires 300,000 signatures for its submission to the authorities.

Moving on, on Tuesday the 18th, the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, published the results of the creative thinking test they had conducted in twenty twenty-two. Approximately 700,000 elementary and high school students from sixty-four different countries participated in the test. The highest score students could achieve was sixty. Serbian students got an average score of twenty-nine points, which is below average. The most successful were the students from Singapore, with forty-one points, followed by South Korea with thirty-eight and Australia with thirty-seven. The worst-performing countries were the Dominican Republic, Morocco and Albania, with scores ranging between thirteen and fifteen points.

And to wrap up this edition, on Sunday the 27th, Novi Sad’s experimental electronic music band Laptop Ensemble Novi Sad, or LENS, will hold a concert at the Student Cultural Center’s small gallery. LENS uses laptops as musical instruments. The band features compositions with their sounds mixed and edited with various tools, such as controllers, sensors, and other gadgets. The event is free of charge and starts at nine pm.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!