Dictatorship in Serbia? Vaczić either loses power, or will turn the country into Balkan Belarus

President Serbia Aleksandar Vuczic remained a choice between real reforms, which would mean his loss of power, and the transformation of the state into a Balkan version of Belarus – notes the Euobserver portal, commenting on the wave of mass protests lasting in Serbia.

The allegedly stable Vuczic regime is now weaker than ever. There is an obvious way to how dictators can strengthen their popularity – starting war. We saw it in the case of Putin, and the wars of the 90s are still fresh in Serbia – warns the portal.

The latest wave of protests has proved that the cooperation of the EU with President Vuczic is a mistake, and the community must realize that the Serbian leader is no longer a guarantee of stability, “says Euobserver, adding that” the relative silence of the EU on recent protests is a blow to liberal and focused layers of Serbian society. “

The text reminds of Brussels's rhetorical support for demonstrators, but “no practical support”. The situation in Serbia was compared to the Maidan in Ukraine from 2014 and the restrictions introduced by the EU towards people considered to be responsible for violence and the ban on exports to Ukraine of equipment that could be used for repression.

Euobserver reminds that the support provided by Brussels Vaczici is associated with the expected cooperation on the extraction of lithium in Serbia. Plan of its operation – supported in the past by EU officials, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz – is widely criticized by Serbian activists and citizens.

“In recent years, support for Serbia's membership in the EU has been systematically falling in this country, and the EU support for protesters could reverse this trend. Unfortunately, currently in the eyes of many Serbs, the EU abandoned hypocrisy is confirmed” – notes the portal.

Protests organized in Serbia are a response to a construction disaster at the railway station in Nowy Sad from the beginning of November, as a result of which 16 people were killed – the last victim died in the hospital in March. From December, the initiative in the organization of mass demonstrations was taken over by students who have also been occupying 60 faculties in all academic centers of the country for several months.

Students demand the disclosure of contracts related to the renovation of the station in Nowy Sad, punish guilty robbery of demonstrators, dismisses the charges against protests participants and increased by 20 percent. budget expenditure on higher education.

The government and President of Serbia assured that all demands were met or would be implemented soon. Students point out, however, that none of the postulates have been completely fulfilled so far and therefore continue their actions. As a result of the protests, Prime Minister Milosz Vuczević, who still performs the function until the new office was selected.

On Thursday, Vuczević announced that the parliamentary majority managed by him will present a new candidate for the head of the government this week, thus avoiding the need to conduct new parliamentary elections.

Germany and Austria will infect the entry of Dodik and his colleagues

Milorad Dodik, president of the Serbian Republic in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and his two colleagues will receive a ban on entering the territory of Germany and Austria – the head of Austrian diplomacy Beate Meinl -Reisinger and the German Minister for European Affairs Anna Luhrmann announced on Thursday in Sarajevo.

The Prime Minister and the Chairman of the Serbian part of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Radovan Viszković and Nenad Stevandić will be a ban. The Bosnian prosecutor's office is investigating them regarding the alleged assassination of the country's constitutional order.

The BiH court issued a nationwide arrest of three politicians, and in the last week he asked Interpol to issue an international detention order for Dodik and Stevandic. He rejected the interpol on Wednesday.

Representatives of Germany and Austria's rule met on Thursday with the head of the Central Government BiH Borjana Krishto. After the meeting, they announced “taking action preventing three politicians from entering Germany and Austria.”

“Attacks on the constitutional integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the leading politicians of the Serbian Republic are unacceptable and pose a threat to the security and stability of the country and the entire region. They also block the process of accession to the EU and threaten the future of the country in the community” – emphasized Meinl -Reisiger and Luhrmann in a joint statement published on the government's pages of Austria and German.

“Dodik with his secessionist provocations clearly exceeded red lines from a legal point of view. It threatens the security, stability, constitutional order and the territorial integrity of the state,” noted Meinl -Reisiger in Sarajevo.

Minister Luhrmann appealed to “return to the reform path and continue the road to the European Union.” Both emphasized the support of their countries for the European aspirations of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Austrian daily Der Standard was noticed in a commentary to the visit of Minister Meinl-Reisinger in BiH that “Austrian sanctions can hurt Dodika especially because he often goes to a country where he has a substantial group of supporters.”

The latest political crisis in BiH broke out after at the end of February the court of first instance sentenced Dodik to a year in prison and six years of ban on performing public functions for hindering the implementation of the decision of a high representative of the international community in BiH, Christian Schmidt.

After the verdict was announced, the RS Parliament voted a number of laws prohibiting the activities in the territory of several BiH central institutions, including courts, prosecutor's office and federal police. After the documents signed by Dodik, the BiH Constitutional Tribunal suspended their validity on March 7 until the final decision was made.

From Belgrade Jakub Bawołek (PAP)

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