Serbia cannot accept violent street protests Serbia

Write in response to your opening article in Serbia (August 25). During the past nine months, Serbia has witnessed more than 23,000 unauthorized paths. Most of them were young, sometimes only a few dozen people, but disturbed daily life, stood up to the government, and recently turned into violence. More than 170 police officers were injured. Nevertheless, the police procedures remained limited and restricted, and only targeted those who have harmed property or assaulting officers.

The initial demands of the demonstrators were met in late last year. We have opened investigations, and we issued thousands of documents in the renewal of the railway station, promoting education financing, and the Prime Minister’s resignation, and assumed responsibility for youth clashes on this issue. However, the demonstrations continued, and the search for justice and towards public political goals: removing the government outside democratic processes.

Serbia is deeply involved with Europe and stems steadily developing democracy and economic. The European Union provides more than 60 % of foreign direct investment and committed 1.6 billion euros by 2027 to support reforms. Such a level of participation is not compatible with the idea of ​​Serbia as “authoritarian” and “malicious” in the region. The European Union will not invest extensively in a country where its values ​​and interests have been rejected mainly.

Serbia is a democracy. The elections will take place before the deadline for the year 2027, as they have done constantly for more than a decade, and at the same time make progress in electoral reforms. What Serbia cannot accept is disguised violence as an activity, as institutions that were carefully built with dedication and support for its European partners are undermined.
aleksandar vučić
President of the Republic of Serbia