Djilas: New Government’s Priorities Will Be Domestic Economy, Healthcare, Education and Pension Reimbursement

Dragan Djilas (BETAPHOTO/AMIR HAMZAGIC)

On Oct. 30, Freedom and Justice Party leader Dragan Djilas promised that a new government formed by the Serbian Against Violence ticket would reimburse all the money which the Serbian Progressive party and Aleksandar Vucic “stole from pensioners in 2014.”

In an interview for BETA, Djilas stated that restitution would be made even in the case of individuals who have since passed, with the misappropriated funds being returned to the deceased pensioners’ heirs.

“In 2014, then-Prime Minister Vucic reduced pensions, thereby violating the rights of pensioners. The new government will reimburse all the pensioners from whom the Progressives and Vucic stole money, including the heirs of those who have, unfortunately, passed. Just as old [foreign-currency] savings were reimbursed following [the change of government on] October 5, 2000, so will the portion of pensions seized by the government [in 2014] be reimbursed,” Djilas said, referencing the fact that, following the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, many citizens could not access their foreign-currency savings accounts for years.

Asked how this new government will finance such reimbursement, Djilas maintained the government has enough money, but that “it is being spent on senseless projects, while the majority is lost to corruption.”

A government composed by the Serbia Against Violence coalition, he said, would eradicate crime and corruption from the public sector.

Djilas went on to state that Serbia’s economy is on the verge of ruin. “Serbia’s true [foreign] debt amounts to tens of billions of euros. The debt to China alone will be EUR17 billion. The [country’s] salaries are among the lowest in Europe, while the price hikes are two times greater than in the European Union. The best indicator of how people [in Serbia] are faring is the fact that, in 2012, 25,000 people left Serbia for the EU, while, in 2022, the number [of emigrants] was a whopping 70,000,” Djilas said.

The politician concluded Serbia’s unchecked borrowing and money-printing must be put to a stop.