Fajon: Without Real Opposition Legitimacy of Serbia’s Parliament Debatable

Tanja Fajon (Photo: STA / Bor Slana)

Tanja Fajon, a Slovenian MEP, said on Sep. 7 that the legitimacy of Serbia’s new parliament is debatable, as it does not include any real opposition.

In an interview for the Nova.rs portal, she said that the new assembly composition does not represent Serbia’s society at large, adding that a diverse parliament and free media are the pillars of democracy, which, according to many, Serbia is lacking.

“The recent mass protests showed that the people are not satisfied with the current state of affairs and that they demand change. Lack of media freedom and attacks on journalists, remain one of [Serbia’s] main problems,” she said.

Fajon pointed out that it is also important to work on improving and reforming the country’s political culture. “Especially because the national assembly doesn’t represent the entire society, as the opposition parties are not in the parliament. Also, the government has lost the trust of the big portion of the electorate, which the voter turnout of less than 50 percent testifies to,” the MEP said.

Fajon also said that she supports the decision of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to accept the new EU enlargement methodology, because, according to her, Serbia has seen a visible decline in key areas such as democracy, media freedom, the rule of law and anticorruption efforts.