Brnabic: Socialists' Official Ruzic Acting as Opposition Leader Djilas, Progressives Get the Message

Ana Brnabic (Photo: Serbian Government/ Pedja Vuckovic)

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic on Dec. 5 said that the vice chairman of the Socialist Party of Serbia Steering Committee, Branko Ruzic, did not want to condemn an opposition leader for “using drugs,” describing such Ruzic’s behavior as “questionable” and comparing him with Freedom and Justice Party leader Dragan Djilas.

“For the sake of our children and a normal, decent Serbia, we should all clearly condemn that, so that no one should think that a normal Serbia should look like that. That is not a decent Serbia, but obviously it is for [Djordje] Miketic [a former MP and a member of the opposition Together party], Djilas, [Aleksandar] Cuta [Jovanovic, a former MP and the Ecological Uprising leader], Milica [Djurdjevic Stamenkovski, the opposition Oath Keepers party leader]... After all, I have not seen the Socialists having distanced themselves from that,” Brnabic told TV Prva.

She also said that “in interviews to all tycoon-run media outlets, where he often appears, Ruzic spoke in a Djilas-like manner,” which she described as “demeaning, considering that he has served as education minister.” Brnabic added that the Serbian Progressive Party “has clearly understood the message.”

Asked to comment on the abuse of personal data against political opponents and the latest incident, involving a private video of former MP Djordje Miketic, Ruzic told portal Slobodna Rec (Free Word) that the private and intimate life of any individual should not be the subject of political struggle.

“Regardless of how it has happened and regardless of how much we discuss some moral practices, the ethics and some sort of value systems nurtured by some people, and regardless of how it can be portrayed as something negative, I believe that such practices should not be used in Serbia in the 21st century,” Ruzic specified.