Serbia Update –Serbia Against Violence & more – 23rd May 2023

rd of May: 2023

The third opposition-organized Serbia Against Violence protest happened on Friday the 19th where tens of thousands of people swarmed the streets of Belgrade protesting against the ruling regime. During the rally, the protesters chanted slogans against Vucic, demanded the resignations of two senior ministers and requested the removal of two TV networks which promote violence. Some labeled the protest as the biggest one in Serbia since the start of the 21st century.

In the protest, PM Ana Brnabic rejected allegations which blamed the government’s regime for the recent mass shootings. Instead, she accused the opposition of promoting violence and labeled the opposition-organized protests as political. President Vucic supported Brnabic’s claims and blamed the mass shootings on “foreign intelligence services”.

Last week, we mentioned that Vucic announced his own rally which he claimed will be the biggest one in Serbia. Recently, news has come out that the ruling SNS party has been giving peculiar orders to Serbian citizens, along with several threats if they do not attend the rally. Employees from the public sector reported that their higher ups urged them to attend the rally and labeled it as their special work assignment. SNS also strictly instructed the pro-regime media to constantly report about the rally. One woman from Zrenjanin said that her workplace threatened to fire her if she refused to participate in the rally. Many other citizens reported similar threats and some have even been blackmailed. The rally is scheduled for the 26th of May.

Speaking of politics,

On Thursday the 18th, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee concluded that the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue is one of the main issues of concern in the Western Balkans. Derek Chollet, State Department Counsellor, pointed out that Serbia and Kosovo are both failing to cooperate on the implementation of the EU-backed Franco-German proposal.

since they agreed upon it in: 2013

Similarly to the US, the EU is also trying to help solve political problems within Serbia.

Karoline Edtstadler, Austria’s EU Minister, said that the EU is not complete without the Western Balkans and advised Serbia not to circumvent EU sanctions against Russia. Last week she visited Serbia with the goal of discussing the necessary progress in EU enlargement given the war in Ukraine. During the visit, Edtstadler met with PM Brabic, who assured the EU that Serbia fully supports European values. However, despite these statements from Serbian officials, Serbia has failed to align with the EU’s foreign policy, which is the EU's main request to Serbia. Apart from that, the EU representative also insisted on progress in Serbia’s dialogue with Kosovo.

Speaking of Kosovo,

On Friday the 19th, Kosovo appointed a new mayor of the Serb-dominated North, a month after the extraordinary elections which Serbs boycotted. Despite the low turnout in April’s elections of 3.5 percent, Erden Atic, who is a part of Kosovo's Albanian majority, won with 519 votes out of 780. Some countries, including the US and Germany, feared that Atic's inauguration would cause a flare-up of tensions between Serbia and Kosovo. They advised the newly elected Albanian officials against the use of force in taking office. Local Kosovo Serb politicians accused the ethnic Albanian authorities of repressing Serbs in the north of Kosovo. President Vucic said that Kurti’s problematic behavior, such as his attempts to erase Serbian culture in Kosovo, could lead to a new problem.

The European Commission has expressed concerns about certain simplified procedures for granting citizenship in Serbia. Since Serbia enjoys a visa-free movement within the EU, many seek Serbian citizenships in an attempt to access the EU more easily. The European Commission pointed this out and said that it poses a public and security risk to the EU. The spokesperson of the Commission said that they will continue to monitor countries with visa liberalization, and their granting of citizenship to internationals. This process enables the EU to temporarily suspend the visa-free regime for non-EU countries, in case of a significant increase in irregular migration. The Commission then encouraged Serbia to continue adapting its visa regime to that of the EU.

In other news,

Farmers all over Serbia are protesting for better milk prices, following the conversation between government officials and the representatives of several agricultural associations. On Thursday the 18th, these representatives pointed out the difficulties they face in the industry and presented specific proposals to the government which will solve their problems. However, PM Ana Brnabic disagreed with the representatives. After the news, farmers blocked roads with their machinery and demanded an increase in subsidies per hectare of arable land. They also requested an increase on the premium for a liter of milk, that is the government’s fee that it pays on top of the price at which they buy the milk off of the dairy farmer, and an increase on the minimum price of milk.

Speaking of prices,

year’s peak in October. In: 2022

While on the topic of economy,

percent at the end of: 2023

es took place in September of: 2022

In other news,

en a tradition since the late: 1970

Speaking of health,

About 1,100 COVID-19 cases were confirmed and seven people have died this week. Compared to last week, the number of confirmed cases has decreased by 300.

Aaaaand that’s it for this week! We want to hear from you! Write to us at serbia@rorshok.com

Do daljnjeg, zbogom!