Europride to Be Cancelled or Postponed, Vucic Says, Government Confirms

Aleksandar Vucic (BetaPhoto/Milos Miskov)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Aug. 27 that the pan-European LGBTI EuroPride event, which Belgrade was supposed to host in September, would be either “cancelled or postponed.”

In a presidential address Vucic said that the gay pride parade could not be held amidst “a serious crisis in Kosovo and Metohija,” which, he said, would not be over before Oct. 31 at the earliest. “I’m not saying this because I’m very happy that the parade is not happening. We are threatening the right of a minority, but there’s a number of problems on Serbia’s shoulders – we need to deal with food shortages, drought, energy problems. Simply said, you can’t do everything at once,” Vucic said.

Shortly afterwards, the Government of Serbia released a statement saying that, “Given the political situation in the region and daily tensions,” the conditions had not been met for a safe EuroPride 2022 in Belgrade. In the press release, after the session, the cabinet explained that another reason for its decision “is the fact that some extremist groups might use and abuse the event and Serbia’s readiness to organize it to raise tensions and create instabilities in Serbia.”

Radomir Lazovic, a Let’s Not Drown Belgrade MP, said that “the way Vucic prohibited the gay parade today, is the way that he will ban rallies against pollution and high prices tomorrow.” Lazovic told BETA that under the Serbian constitution and laws everyone had the right to protest and organize events centered on topics that they found important, including LGBTI persons.

The director of the Belgrade Pride, Marko Mihailovic, said that the state “cannot cancel the EuroPride,” but only “try to ban it.” Mihailovic said on Twitter that the EuroPride “will take place as planned” outside the Parliament of Serbia, at 5 p.m., on Sept. 17.