Photo credit / Zoran Drekalovic, CRTA
The referendum, lithium crisis, energy crisis, environmental protests, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina are all going to be topics in 2022. Which of these issues should be priorities in the context of Serbia’s accession to the EU?
We have only barely entered 2022 and who knows which topics will turn out to be neuralgic for the rest of the year? There is, however, a broader, fundamental problem that is strongly linked to all the diversity of difficulties we face, and that is the collapse of democracy and the rule of law. It is especially important for us, in CRTA, that 2022 is an election year, which means that we are once again able to observe and see how ready Serbia is to ensure the basic value of democracy – free and fair elections. The quality of the election process shows all the systemic shortcomings that distance us from the EU membership – from institutions that do not enforce laws and prevent various forms of electoral corruption, through unprofessionalism and lack of media freedom, a deficit of pluralism and public dialogue, to the apathy of citizens who do not believe they can change anything with their vote.
What do you think of the social and political context in which our country finds itself and what should be changed? Do these changes include a change of direction or is our place still in the European Union?
The rule of law is a key prerequisite for our EU accession, but also the essential sphere of interest of the people in Serbia, regardless of the “demands from official Brussels”. I guess it is important for all of us to be equal before the law (and not only on paper), that corruption is punished, that no one has unlimited and uncontrolled power, that citizens are sovereign and the authorities changeable. I am not, unfortunately, sure that our society is strong enough to fight for those values outside the context of European integration. I am confident that the EU is the best framework for all other development perspectives of Serbia, but the question is how long we can count on the Euro-enthusiasm of our citizens, given the questionable commitment of our political elites to Serbia’s future in Europe and the EU’s obvious enlargement fatigue. Due to political cowardice, we have already missed many ’trains’ in more favourable circumstances, and now, I am afraid, we are in danger of being left without a ’railroad’ that is stretching in the direction of the EU.