CRTA: Ruling Majority’s MPs Are Dragging Us through Mud Instead of Dealing with Citizens’ Issues

Rasa Nedeljkov (Beta/Media center)

Rasa Nedeljkov, the program director of the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA), is of the opinion that the ruling majority’s MPs “drag through the mud” everyone whose opinion differs, forcing the latter group to respond to trivial issues, instead of all of them discussing the key problems of citizens.

Referring to a series of speeches made by Aleksandar Martinovic, the head of the Aleksandar Vucic – For Our Children caucus before the Serbian National Assembly, Nedeljkov said in the evening on March 21 that he feels “uncomfortable” when he is listening to the statements of the high government officials “who should be the source of law and not the tabloid headlines.” 

Martinovic used the past several assembly sittings to accuse CRTA members of financial fraud, citing their financial standing.

“We don’t trust anything anymore, because everything can be a lie. [Releasing] misinformation every two to three days generates chaos, and [then] we don’t talk about key problems and matters,” Nedeljkov said, adding that the current assembly structure is “a model of a Serbia perfectly tailored to the ruling elite’s needs.”

“You either glorify with adoration our president or you are a traitor. The only institution that’s operating [in Serbia] is the Office of the President,” Nedeljkov said. He added that such attitude creates a space in which physical attacks on journalists or activists could be justified with, “It serves them right because they are thieves.”