KOMS: Only Ten Young MPs in Parliament’s New Convocation

Serbian parliament (BETAPHOTO/Ana Slovic)

In the new convocation of the Assembly of Serbia, only ten MPs are in the category of youth (up to 30 years of age), with five of them about to grow out of that category next year, resulting in a parliament with one of the lowest numbers of young people, stated the program manager of the Umbrella Organization of Serbia’s Youth (KOMS), Milica Borjanic.

She told BETA that the trend of “decorative presence of young people” in election campaigns continued in Serbia, i.e. that politicians and political parties often spoke about the young in a populist manner. “They spoke about young people being the future of the country, but very few concrete measures have been proposed,” she assessed.

Borjanic said that, for this reason, KOMS would continue to insist on political parties presenting young people, and what they believe should change for the quality of their life to improve, in their programs in a better and more adequate manner. Commenting on the National Youth Strategy that was adopted last year, Borjanic said that KOMS had participated in the drafting of the document and that, during the entire process, they advocated for young people to participate in all segments of creation of the strategy.

She assessed that the essence lied in them being asked about what they thought about crucial matters, such as the health system, violence in the society and housing independence, which, in her words, is one of the biggest problems for young people in Serbia. According to the survey of BETA, 45 percent of young people in Serbia wish to emigrate before the age of 30. Borjanic stated that this problem should be approached in a systemic fashion.