After the visit President of the European Council Antonio Košta and the European Union - Western Balkans summit in Tivat, EU officials have repeatedly emphasized that reforms in the areas of electoral laws, media freedom and the rule of law are necessary for Serbia's further progress on the European path.
Former Ambassador of Serbia Ivan Vujacic in an interview for Fonet, he says that if Serbia does not fulfill the requirements clearly formulated by the European Union, there is a huge chance that the EU will not recognize those elections.
Vice President of the European Movement in Serbia Vladimir Medjak he says for "Vreme" that if that were to happen - which would really be a "nuclear option", the consequence would be the complete delegitimization of the regime in Belgrade.
"Everything is it is based on the fact that you talk to the authorities in a country because they have a certain legitimacy. In a democratic state, legitimacy comes from elections, if you don't have free and fair elections, you don't have legitimacy," says Medjak and adds that the legitimacy of this government is already questionable for many in the European Union, because "we have December elections in 2023. years that were neither legal nor legitimate. If it were to happen again, and the recommendations were given three years ago, then it would really be a big problem".
"Illegitimate regime"
The vice-president of the European Movement says that the question would then be raised - why is money given to an illegitimate regime?
"What is the difference between Belarus, Serbia and Venezuela, if you have illegal elections and declare victory - then it is not an election. The condition for everyone in the accession process is to respect the principles of a democratic state that shares the same values with the European Union," says Medjak.
Program director of Crta Raša Nedeljkov he says for "Vreme" that free and fair elections can be brought to Serbia by the application of the laws that are currently in force in the Republic of Serbia, as well as that the ODIHR, on which the European Commission relies, and above all the European Parliament, focuses on the recommendations that were delivered to Serbia after the elections in 2023 and 2024.
"We as a state have not been fulfilling those recommendations for years. From election cycle to election cycle, we apply the laws of the Republic of Serbia less and less. We have a situation in which the institutions are no longer just trapped, which means that they are not working in the public interest, but in the interest of one political party," says Nedeljkov.
Implementation of reforms
During last week's visit by the President of the European Council, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, said that all the demands of the Venice Commission will be met, but that he has "no idea" how to resolve the REM issue.
"They won't say that they didn't do what they can, but they will try to pretend that they did everything. That is the essence of the reform policy of the last ten years", says Vladimir Medjak.
He also states that "the plan of our government is to convince the other side that what we have done is actually a completed reform, without changing anything."
Raša Nedljkov emphasizes that the European Parliament has passed very significant resolutions regarding the state of democracy in Serbia and that there is a progress report on progress for Serbia in previous years that decisively apostrophizes the bad election conditions, the situation in the media, the abuse of the positions of the authorities and public institutions in the campaign, as well as that they very directly point out the pressures on voters and employees in the public sector.
He reminds that one of the priority recommendations of the ODIHR, which is fully supported by the European Union, is the separation of the position of the president of the republic in the election campaign, bearing in mind that in their findings they document and say that the boundaries between the state and the parties in power practically do not exist, which means that "the conditions are unequal and that one side has an incredibly large advantage at the very start".
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