SERBIA: Parliament Seats & more – 30th Jan 2024

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 30th of January twenty twenty-four A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

Last week, the Republic Electoral Commission and Belgrade Electoral Commission confirmed the allocation of seats in the national parliament, despite the ongoing protests in Belgrade against electoral fraud in the parliamentary elections. President Vucic said that the new parliament should be formed by the end of January, and that the new government will likely be ready in March. Recall that the constitution states that the first session of the new Assembly has to be held in less than thirty days after the election results are published. Vucic also denied vote rigging, despite the numerous reports by the official election observers.

If the deadlines that Vucic predicted are correct, officials will form the government before the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe publishes their final observation report announced for the end of February. OSCE's report will determine whether there was electoral fraud or not. With the report unpublished, the ruling SNS party will be able to form the government without having to deal with evidence of alleged electoral fraud.

Several days after, on Friday the 26th, the opposition coalition Serbia Against Violence, staged a protest after the Constitutional Court didn’t annul the parliamentary elections, which were marred with irregularities. The coalition said that the elections should be held again. Around 2,000 people gathered in Belgrade and marched from the Constitutional Court to the headquarters of the state-owned Radio Television of Serbia, or RTS, which the protesters accused of being pro-government.

As the opposition coalition’s policies are anti-corruption, they are strongly condemning Vucic's control over mainstream media and all state institutions. The coalition's pro-Western views are also playing a part in the protest, as the EU obliged Serbia to boost the rule of law and democratic freedoms in order to become an EU member.

Speaking of the EU, the members of the European parliament will vote on a resolution on the Serbian parliamentary elections during a plenary session on the 7th of February. However, the Demostat research and publishing center reported the resolution will most likely not be in favor of the ruling SNS party.

The resolution will probably benefit the opposition because last week, a movement of Serbian students called Borba, which means fight, visited Brussels to meet with members of EU institutions and talk about their dissatisfaction with the Serbian regime. The EU institutions later said that the students left an excellent impression since they provided concrete examples of violations of the electoral process and police brutality at the protests.

In more political news, the State Department spokesperson addressed Kosovo on Tuesday the 23rd and said that their PM Kurti should reverse the suspension of the Serbian dinar in Kosovo. Last week, we mentioned that the Kosovo Central Bank announced that the suspension of the Serbian dinar would take effect on the 1st of February. However, the US State Department criticized the move, and added that they are concerned about the impact the decision will have on the ethnic Serbian community in Kosovo. The spokesperson encouraged Kosovo’s government to go back on its decision, since that would be in the best interest of both Kosovo and Serbia: Kosovo will benefit from keeping peace with neighboring Serbia, as the EU obliges its candidate countries to keep good relations with their neighbors. As for Serbia, reversing the decision would mean that Serbians in Kosovo will be able to continue using their currency.

On a related note, Kurti said that Kosovo’s EU integration shouldn’t depend on the normalization dialogue with Serbia. Kurti said that he does not want Serbia to ruin Kosovo’s economic and democratic progress. He also added that the EU’s demands for good neighborliness between EU candidate countries will slow Kosovo’s integration process because of Serbia’s destructiveness.

Kurti’s comments come after EU’s warnings to both Kosovo and Serbia about the risk of falling behind on their path to the EU if there is no progress in the Belgrade-Pristina normalization dialogue.

Speaking of paths, the employees of the Roads of Serbia public enterprise organized a protest on Friday the 26th in Belgade’s city center due to their poor work conditions. Radovan Loncar, the head of the Serbian Road Workers’ Independent Union, said that the workers’ wages are nearly half of the current average salary in Serbia, which is around 800 dollars. Loncar also added that the toll collectors are billed tolls when arriving at their workplace, and said that they are not given refunds for them.

Since we mentioned salaries, the Serbian State Statistics Office, or RZS, published a report on the average and median net salaries of the twenty twenty-three January-November period. They reported that in November twenty twenty-three, the average net salary in Serbia amounted to around 800 dollars, while the median net salary was around 600 dollars. The RZS reported that the average gross salary in November twenty twenty-three amounted to nearly 1,200 dollars, which is an increase of almost fifteen percent compared to the same period in twenty twenty-two. RZS reported that the municipalities with the highest average salaries were Stari Grad and Vracar in Belgrade, with 1,600 dollars. The lowest average salaries were in Bojnik and Presevo, with around 500 dollars.

Moving on, medical professionals in Serbia have condemned health authorities in Pancevo for allowing Pancevo’s ER medical staff to wear the logo of a betting company on their uniforms.

Recently, the Mozzart foundation, which the Serbian betting company of the same name owns, donated uniforms with their logo to Pancevo’s Emergency Medical Service. Both the foundation and the betting company share the same logo.

Doctor Slavica Plavsic said on Wednesday the 24th that health authorities in Pancevo are allowing the advertisement of betting companies, adding that health facilities should not promote industries that harm human health.

In February of twenty twenty-three, Serbia’s Ministry of Health signed a cooperation protocol with the Mozzart Foundation, which works to promote a healthier lifestyle and improve the working conditions of health institutions in Serbia.

As the EU directives mandated, starting from the 1st of February, companies in Serbia will have to report on non-financial data—that is, corporate governance, environmental protection, and social responsibility. Alongside the non-financial data reports, the companies will also have to meet the environmental, social and governance, or ESG, standards. These include transparent management, respecting gender equality, as well as promoting and engaging in recycling. The director of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers, a company that provides business advisory services, said that these obligations will mostly affect large companies that do business globally.

After HBO’s recent decision to cast Milos Bikovic, a Serbian-Russian actor, in their new White Lotus TV show, Ukraine said that he is a genocide apologist who also violates international law, because of his support for Russia and Vladimir Putin. On Wednesday the 24th, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry posted on Twitter that Bikovic has been openly supporting Russia since it invaded Ukraine, condemning HBO for casting him. While HBO has not responded to the post, Serbia’s Foreign Ministry has, calling Ukraine’s claims unfounded. They labeled Bikovic as the most popular and talented Serbian actors of his generation, and said that he has already influenced Serbian and international cinema.

Speaking of cinema, starting from the 1st of February, the MTS Hall in Belgrade will hold the sixth edition of the international festival of feature-length documentary films. The festival will go on for four days, and will feature four documentaries focusing on cinema, its influence on people, its history, among others. The tickets for the festival are available at MTS Hall’s ticket office, as well as on their website, link in the show notes!

Aaaaaand that's it for this week. So you listen to us, ideally almost every week, but we don't actually know each other. Here's a chance to fix that. On Monday the 8th of April there is a total eclipse of the sun in Dallas, Texas, in the US. There will be events organized the whole weekend before. So on the off chance you can get here, send us an email or check the show notes for more information.

Do daljnjeg, zbogom!