Opposition: Regime Cannot Fulfill Protest Demands Because It Would Expose Its Nature

Vladimir Medjak (BetaPhoto/Amir Hamzagic)

Vladimir Medjak, a member of the oppositional European Movement in Serbia, said on March 3 that It is absolutely impossible for the Serbian regime to fulfill the demands of the protesting university students because full transparency – particularly financial – would mean exposing the system to its core, including the culpability of individuals President Aleksandar Vucic cannot afford to expose.

“He further has no intention of punishing those responsible for physically assaulting the students,” Medjak told the latest edition of the Nova daily.

In his opinion, the university students’ insistence on remaining unaffiliated with any politics, political party or civil society organization represents Vucic’s greatest systemic victory, because the ongoing protests cannot end without a political solution.

“The students will have to discuss this among themselves, because I’m convinced that, being among the population’s more educated segment, they are aware of this [fact]. The question remains whether they will have the courage and strength to step beyond the boundaries they’ve imposed on themselves, which initially served a purpose yet now represent a hindrance in this final stage,” Medjak explained.

According to him, “a free election can only be ensured by an interim government, whose mandate would be limited to 3 to 9 months, and which would be elected by the current convocation of Parliament.”

“Who would serve in this Cabinet would be up for discussion. Vucic rejected this solution because he knows he would lose any election that is even remotely free, while accepting an interim government would immediately paint him as a loser,” the opposition politician concluded.