Serbia Update – Protests & more – 16th May 2023

th of May: 2023

On Friday the 12th, thousands of people participated in the Serbia Against Violence rally in Belgrade. They protested against all forms of aggression in the media and demanded the ousting of security officials. The forerunners of the rally were two mass shootings that happened two weeks ago, in the span of two days. All the parties which participated in the rally are opposition parties, however the rally itself didn’t portray any political symbols.

During the rally, almost all pro-government media tried to minimize the protest and label the organizers and participants as violent people. The day after, those media outlets mentioned the protest only in an extremely negative context. Similarly, Serbian PM Ana Brnabic ridiculed the protesters on Twitter and called the crowd violent.

After the protest, president Vucic stepped in to defend his party and its officials. Firstly, he praised Serbian officials for the actions they had taken regarding the two mass shootings. He then explained that his obligations as the president were to pay attention to citizens' requests and to take them seriously regardless of the number of those protesting.

Vucic, however, noted that the images of the protest were photoshopped to look like the turnout was higher than it was. He defended Prime Minister Brnabic’s statements and supported her ironic photo on Twitter which showed her, Vucic and the finance minister photoshopped.

Since we mentioned Vucic and rallies, he announced the country’s biggest political rally, which will take place on the 26th of May. Commenting on the Friday’s rally, he said that it was misused and that the organizers wanted to violently gain political power. He then invited all citizens to participate in the biggest gathering ever held in Serbia. The day after the announced rally, the ruling SNS party will hold a meeting in which they will make big and important decisions.

Speaking of politics,

On Thursday the 11th, Miroslav Lajcak, EU envoy for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, met with Kosovo's PM Kurti to discuss the Association of Serb Municipalities issues. After the meeting, Lajcak said that he and Kurti discussed the EU's expectations of Kosovo and the progress on forming the Association of Serb Municipalities.

Two weeks ago, Kurti rejected a draft for the association which an EU-backed team made, calling it unconstitutional. Kurti then presented his own draft for the association.

After the meeting, Lajcak said that the EU must find middle ground between the two drafts to ensure both sides are satisfied.

A day later, on Friday the 12th, EU envoy Lajcak went to Belgrade in order to speak with president Vucic. Like in Kosovo, Lajcak predominantly spoke about the Association of Serb Municipalities in Belgrade. Vucic voiced his concerns about the slow progress on the formation of the association, as well as the constant provocations from Pristina. He also told Lajcak that he is concerned about Pristina’s government decision to continue to expropriate land in north Kosovo.

Lajcak shared some of Vucic's worries and advised the president to avoid any possibility of escalation and focus entirely on normalization.

Since we mentioned the EU,

Viola von Cramon, the member of the European parliament, or EP, had an interview with a Serbian media outlet N1, in which she discussed the political aftermath of the mass shootings and Serbia’s future with the EU. Von Cramon said the protests of the opposition show that people think it is time to work on highly relevant topics for Serbian society, such as domestic security. She added that the EP wants to see more cooperation between the countries in the Western Balkans.

Von Cramon said that the EU and the EP need to understand whether Serbia has real intentions to cooperate with the EU and adhere to their principles. She added that Serbia must not choose to spread Russian propaganda and pointed out that this is something the Serbian government should focus on.

Speaking of EU and Serbia relations,

Serbian PM Ana Brnabic met with David O’Sullivan, International Special Envoy for the Implementation of EU Sanctions, on Friday the 12th. They focused predominantly on Serbia’s position regarding Russia sanctions. O’Sullivan highlighted the fact that Serbia has failed to impose sanctions on Russia, and align its foreign policy with the EU's. Brnabic said that Serbia is not value-neutral and that it recognizes the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Later on, O’Sullivan said that Serbia should consider implementing concrete steps to prevent further circumvention of sanctions.

Ever since the Ministry of Internal Affairs announced the government’s call for overall disarmament, citizens gave up a total of 9,400 illegally-owned weapons. Two weeks ago the government launched a campaign to disarm Serbia, in which they called on citizens to voluntarily hand in their illegal weapons without facing criminal charges.

The Crime Suppression Department of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs said that the results of the campaign are notable. They explained that they exceed the results of any other campaign previously conducted for overall disarmament. The Ministry of Internal Affairs praised those who participated.

On Thursday the 12th, Bosnian state-level executive government Council of Ministry voted unanimously in favor of a construction of a new gas pipeline from Serbia called Eastern Interconnection. The pipeline will supply cities in the Republic of Srpska, an entity with predominantly Serbian population within Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, there has been opposition within Bosnia that was against the pipeline because Milorad Dodik, the president of the Republic of Srpska, threatened to paralyze state-level institutions if it wasn’t approved. Moreover, Dodik started the construction project with Serbia even before state-level institutions approved it. Some members of the Bosnian tripartite presidency also think that the pipeline will separate the energy infrastructure from Bosnia and integrate it with Serbia.

In other news,

On Friday the 12th, at their annual meeting in the Hague, European Federation of Journalists, or EFJ, supported a joint statement of Serbian Journalists Associations, or UNS, regarding the violence towards journalists. In the statement, they requested an end to impunity for crimes against journalists, among other things. They asked the representatives of the executive power and members of the National Assembly and other state officials to stop using abusive narratives against journalists. They also requested that the judiciary conduct effective investigations into all cases of murders and attacks on journalists.

From January to March: 2023

Speaking of abuse,

On Monday the 15th, the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, or GI-TOC, published a report which notes that Balkan airports are regional hubs for human trafficking, among other crimes. The report states that Belgrade airport Nikola Tesla is one of the most vulnerable ones, since it is close to road corridors which are known for drug transport and human trafficking. GI-TOC also reported evident corruption at Balkan airports, ranging from petty bribes to serious abuse of public funds. Balkan airports are also a starting point for human-trafficking victims, who are then transported to Europe's west for sexual exploitation.

Now for some health news,

About 1,400 COVID-19 cases were confirmed and seven people have died this week. Compared to last week, the number of confirmed cases has decreased by 600.

Aaaaand that’s it for this week! We are a few people trying to share knowledge, with no ads, and no screens. Support us so we can keep doing what we love. Check the link in our show notes to support us.

Do daljnjeg, zbogom!