This time around we have also asked the representatives of the authorities, diplomatic corps, international institutions, business associations, media and many others to express their views on the possible re-arrangement of power in the world, the European and regional political scene, the influences on Serbia’s accession to the EU, economic development, investments in culture, and as an inevitable question this year, elections which are taking place in many countries, including Serbia. We talked to Professor DANICA POPOVIĆ, Faculty of Economics
Serbia is facing another election year, with certain political parties announcing an election boycott. How good or bad can that be? Can it change the current situation?
The only purpose of the boycott is to take away the legitimacy from the ruling party. Without opposition in the parliament, all decisions regarding the amendments to the Constitution and the recognition of Kosovo’s independence will be de facto controversial. That is why the ruling party has lowered the electoral threshold and calling on the opposition to participate in the election, hoping that financial motives (surviving with the help of the funds they would receive from the budget) will be stronger than political and moral motives, i.e. to strike a sharp blow to the policies endorsed by the ruling party. By contrast, the opposition is also very aware that, should it take over the power in the near future, it would (like the ruling party) be pressured to recognize Kosovo’s independence and then agree to the gradual abolition of the Republic of Srpska. Therefore, it is quite convenient for the opposition that all these shameful decisions are made by Vučić, and that they (if they survive) then take over the power in Serbia
In the light of the latest turbulences in Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia, as well as the elections in Kosovo and Croatia, what are the region’s prospects?
The region’s prospects are rather bleak, because whoever wants to live in a better and more orderly political system will rather emigrate than deal with politics in order to change things here. We are witnessing that accession to the European Union does notdiminish but, on the contrary, intensify the wave emigration, so that with such a massive outflow of the best people, the prospects in the region can hardly be optimistic for anyone.