After writing to the "Financial Times", the president of Serbia is now writing to the journalists of "The Guardian" because of criticism of him. There is nothing new here: Vučić is once again trying to present himself to the international public as a conciliatory democratic leader, while within the country he is fiercely dealing with dissenters
"Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to send a response of up to 300 words by e-mail for us to consider for publication in our letters section, click here," reads the end of an editorial about Serbia published on the British newspaper's website.The Guardian“August 25th.
This, it seems, was taken literally by the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, who, after writing to the Financial Times, has now decided to address the editorial board of the Guardian. Both media they harshly criticized Vučić's increasingly repressive rule in Serbia. He respected the president and the procedures, so his letter to the British newspaper is 268 words long.
What is written in the new letter of the Serbian president?
Vučić: Prime Minister resigned due to "conflict of youth"
"During the past nine months, more than 23 unauthorized gatherings were held in Serbia. Most of them were small, sometimes only a few dozen people, but they disrupted daily life, stopped the work of the government and recently turned into violence. More than 000 policemen were injured. Despite this, the reactions of the police remained limited and restrained, aimed exclusively at those who destroyed property or attacked officials," reads the introduction of Vučić's letter.
The President of Serbia then states that the initial demands of the student movement at the end of last year were "quickly fulfilled".
"We launched investigations, released thousands of documents on the renovation of the train station and increased funding for education."
After the thugs left the premises of the Serbian Progressive Party in Novi Sad at the end of January and broke the jaw of student Ana with baseball bats, Prime Minister Miloš Vučević resigned.
Vučić interprets this event differently - as he says in a letter to "The Guardian", Vučević resigned "taking responsibility for the conflicts of young people over that issue".
One story for foreigners, another for locals
The president continues in a similar, conciliatory tone, reserved mainly for the international media. On the other hand, domestic media has been talking about some kind of "color revolution", "Ustasha", "terrorists" and "overthrow of the state" for months.
There are also open untruths: Vučić claimed for the "Guardian" that the protests continued, "moving away from the demand for justice and moving more and more into open political goals: replacing the government without democratic processes."
The truth is quite the opposite: students and citizens are protesting demanding early parliamentary elections, as one of the oldest and best-known democratic mechanisms.
Furthermore, Vučić points out that "Serbia is deeply engaged in cooperation with Europe and is gradually making progress in democratic and economic development. The EU provides more than 60% of foreign direct investments and has committed to invest 2027 billion euros in support of reforms by 1,6. Such a level of engagement can hardly fit into the idea of Serbia as an 'authoritarian' and 'malignant' exception in the region. The EU would certainly not invest so much in a country where its values and interests would be fundamentally rejected".
Again, the story is completely different from the one that the President of Serbia often repeats in the domestic media - that a so-called colored revolution is taking place in Serbia, which is supported by foreigners, primarily the West.
"Serbia is a democracy. It will hold elections before the deadline of 2027, as it has consistently done for more than a decade, and in the meantime it is advancing electoral reforms. What Serbia cannot accept is violence disguised as activism, which undermines institutions carefully built with the commitment and support of European partners," concludes Vučić.
Second letter in a few days
The letter to "The Guardian" is Vučić's second letter to a British media outlet in a very short time. Just a few days earlier, Vučić had written to the "Financial Times" about their editorial entitled "It's time to stop giving in to the authoritarian president of Serbia."
The two letters are almost indistinguishable - according to Vučić, the government is conciliatory, open to dialogue, but the protesters - strangely enough - do not want to talk at all. There is not a single word about the police violence that has escalated in the past weeks, the dismissals that are pouring in everywhere, the attempts to shut down independent media and the regime's reckoning with dissidents.
"It is true that democracies cannot change election deadlines every time a protest breaks out. That would be destabilizing, expensive and harmful to the very citizens that the protesters claim to represent. The goal of these protests is no longer reform, but disruption - instability instead of a solution. The government, on the other hand, remains committed to dialogue, stability and reforms that strengthen democratic institutions. That is the only way that serves the people of Serbia," he points out.
He also stated that, unfortunately, media portrayals of Serbia as a country on the brink of civil war, faced with a choice between authoritarianism or capitulation to the minority, further worsen the space for dialogue by fueling internal tensions.
"They are also seriously damaging the economy and reputation of Serbia," concluded Vučić.
When the president writes a letter
The critical texts of two well-known world media about the President of Serbia caused great fanfare among the domestic public. Vučić immediately tried to pull the chestnuts out of the fire with an interview for "Juronuj". The interview of the President of Serbia with the "New York Post" was soon published, in which Vučić claims that every protester in Serbia receives 30 euros per day from abroad for the protest.
However, how often is it that the leader of a country directly writes letters to the media expressing critical views on his policies? Although it is not a frequent practice, it will turn out that some of Vučić's closest allies have done something similar before.
Macron and Erdogan
In November 2020, the Financial Times published a letter from French President Emmanuel Macron in response to an article accusing his government of Islamophobia. Macron fired back, stating that France opposes "Islamist separatism" but not Islam as a religion.
The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is also known for his comments on the coverage of the world media. During the Gezi Park protests in Turkey in 2013, he accused the international media of biased reporting. He claimed that they "fabricated news" and portrayed Turkey negatively.
Three years later, after the publication of a poem by satirist Jan Bemmermann in the German media, Erdogan criticized the Western media for reporting on the incident and accused them of supporting anti-Turkish sentiments. In the same year, after Turkish military operations in Syria, Erdogan responded to international reporting, especially writings by the "Washington Post" accusing them of biased reporting and misrepresentation of Turkish actions.
Nenad Stefanović filed a disciplinary complaint against Branko Stamenković, claiming that his public appearances damaged the reputation and trust in the work of the public prosecutor's office. Among the disputed statements is the one that Stamenković gave to the weekly "Vreme", talking about the "para-prosecutor system" in Belgrade.
"I have not terminated the employment contract of any employee," said the principal of the "20. Oktobar" elementary school, Gordana Radojević, in her denial regarding the article about the parents demanding her resignation. He claims that the employees left at their own request or their fixed-term contracts expired.
The mayor of Smederevo, Jasmina Vojinović, was arrested along with two other city officials
The BIA rejected Radar's allegations of personnel changes and documentation, calling them part of a hybrid attack on the security system. The agency points out that by law it does not inform the public about internal personnel decisions.
The findings of the experts represent new evidence in the proceedings regarding the physical confrontation between Šapić and Mićić, which took place on September 28 at the Bežanijska Kosa.
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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