Alliance of Serbia Leaders Write for EURACTIV: State Capture Threatening Serbia's EU Integration

Dragan Djilas (Beta/Sasa Djiordjevic)

Leaders of the opposition Alliance for Serbia Dragan Djilas, Nebojsa Zelenovic and Dejan Nikolic have called on the EU leaders to help them achieve freedom of the media, conditions for free and fair elections and an independent and functional judiciary, because that is the only way Serbia can realize its European future.

In a text they co-wrote for the Brussels-based website EURACTIV, the three leaders said on Dec. 17 that they were determined to work with the EU on a peaceful and democratic transformation of Serbia as a force for positive change and complete reconciliation in the region, warning that the European future of Serbia was jeopardized by state capture.

Since 2012 and the coming to power of the Serbian Progressive Party and incumbent President Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia has been falling behind dramatically in terms of democracy, while the authoritarian type of rule is noticeably on the rise again and has almost completely captured the state, they said.

In the article entitled State Capture Threatens Serbia's EU Integration, the authors add that Serbia is experiencing very serious backsliding in media freedom. They added that, as a result of growing pressure, almost all relevant opposition parties in Serbia were boycotting both the parliament and the upcoming general election because, as they put it, in current circumstances taking part in such an election would legitimize the existing system of corruption and repression.