SERBIA: Law Amendments & more – 14th May 2024

Dobar dan from BA! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 14th of May twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Thursday the 9th, representatives of parliamentary groups, both from the ruling coalition and opposition, discussed whether the country should make amendments to the Law on the Unified Electoral Roll. Ahead of the local elections, which are scheduled for the 2nd of June, around forty opposition MPs proposed changes to the law, which aim to prevent organized voter migration to get more votes. Recall that last December, during the parliamentary elections, observers reported that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, or SNS, organized voter migrations. They bussed people from foreign countries to vote as if they were Serbian. They faced accusations of election fraud, for allegedly registering foreigners in municipalities where they believed they needed more votes to win.

The modifications would forbid people who have changed their address in the past six months to vote in their new municipality (they’ll have to vote in the old one). Many MPs agreed to implement the changes. However, the discussion will continue this Friday.

Speaking of corrupt activities, the Center for Contemporary Politics, or CSP, published a report on the assessment of corruption in Serbia. The report features results from a national twenty twenty-three CPS survey on the citizens’ opinions on corruption in the country. The report showed that more than half of the participants believe that corruption is and will always be present in Serbia. Approximately ten percent of them think that all public sector officials are involved in some form of corruption. The survey also showed that the respondents thought that the most corrupt officials were judges and political leaders.

Moving on, the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media, or REM, announced on Wednesday the 8th that they have updated their rulebook, which defines the criteria for the allocation of national frequencies. REM removed the regulation that obliged national TV channels to dedicate at least 20% of that channel's annual program to quality programs, meaning documentary, scientific-educational, children's and cultural shows. There are currently seven TV channels with a national frequency, which means their programs are visible across the whole country. Among these, the most popular are the state-owned Radio Television of Serbia, or RTS, the privately-owned Pink TV and Happy TV, all of which support the ruling party.

In the past, REM received criticism for giving out national frequencies to TV channels whose annual programs did not include quality programs. They also faced accusations of contributing to the lack of free media, by favoring pro-regime TV broadcasters when allocating national frequencies.

Last week, Luca Gori, the Italian Ambassador to Serbia, said that Kosovo is not ready to be a member of the Council of Europe. Gori shared Italy’s belief that the formation of the Community of Serbian Municipalities, or CSM, in Kosovo should be a prerequisite for their Council of Europe membership. The CSM is a planned inter-municipal association of ethnic Serbian majority municipalities in Kosovo.

He also said that the creation of the CSM is crucial for the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.

These statements come after France’s request to delay the decision on Kosovo’s Council of Europe membership. Most EU member states supported the request, noting that Kosovo made no progress on the CSM.

On that note about Kosovo, last week its authorities denied entrance to the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, or SPC, and the seven bishops who accompanied him. They planned to visit the Monastery of Patriarchate of Pec as part of their annual meeting with the bishops there. However, Pristina authorities banned them from entering, giving no explanation. The head of the SPC described the situation as unreasonable, and added that it violates human rights and freedoms, including the right to freedom of movement of the Serbian Patriarch, Bishops, and clergy.

In some news on the economy, the National Bank of Serbia, or NBS, reported that the gross foreign exchange reserves amounted to around twenty-seven billion dollars at the end of April. This is the highest end-of-month level of gross foreign exchange reserves since NBS started monitoring the data in two thousand. From March to April, the foreign exchange reserves increased by around 200 million dollars. Their net values amounted to around twenty-three billion dollars in April, which is an increase of around 300 million dollars compared to March.

Speaking of funds, the government will give Palestine around three million dollars worth of humanitarian aid to support the vulnerable population suffering because of the ongoing war. The aid will include food, water, medical equipment, and tents to accommodate families. The executive also decided to provide 10,000 dollars in financial support to Gaza.

In other news, Xi Jinping, China’s president, visited Serbia on Tuesday the 7th as part of his European tour. During his visit, various sectors, such as infrastructure and education, saw around thirty different deals, protocols or memorandums of understanding between the Chinese and Serbian companies. All these deals aim to strengthen the cooperation between the two countries. President Vucic said that China is the best country to form a strategic partnership with.

Such development of relations with China is not coming at a good time, since the West, particularly the EU, is pressuring Serbia to align with their foreign policy. While the EU is not fond of China, mostly due to the country’s abuse of human rights and the lack of media freedom, Serbia considers it a friend. The country is on good terms with Serbia because it is one of the few countries that condemned NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia in nineteen ninety-nine, and does not recognize Kosovo’s independence.

On a related note, Serbia signed a deal with the Chinese rolling stock manufacturer CRRC. The government said that as part of this agreement, Serbia will purchase nine electric locomotive trains from China, in an attempt to renew the fleet of state-owned railway operator Serbia Train. The construction minister said that these trains would operate on lines connecting Belgrade’s central neighborhood of Zemun, the Nikola Tesla International Airport and the new national football stadium in Surcin — which is currently in the works. Serbia is expecting the vehicles to arrive by twenty twenty-six.

While on the topic of traveling, the State Statistics Office reported that Novi Sad was the most visited city in the country in March with around 18,000 visits and around 44,000 overnight stays. These numbers show an increase in foreign visitors of around eleven percent compared to the same period last year, and around four percent in domestic tourists.

In unrelated news, the government announced the introduction of paid internships for the best students at state universities. Starting from the 3rd of June, students who have the highest grades will have the opportunity to intern in state bodies, public service companies and local governments. This decision applies to students who enrolled in the last two years of basic academic and integrated studies. The program includes the universities of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis, Kragujevac, Pristina and Novi Pazar. These internships will last around three months, with a maximum of twenty working hours during the working week, with each student receiving around 140 dollars a month.

More on education as the Forestry Faculty of the University of Belgrade will host the third annual Science Picnic on the 17th and the 18th of May, under the slogan Think Green.Tthe event aims to introduce visitors to sustainability and environment protection. The picnic will have free admission and will feature workshops and guided tours through the Arboretum of the faculty, with an emphasis on biology, ecology and sustainable development. For more information, check out the link in the show notes!

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

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!