Vucic: RTS Has Nothing To Do with Electronic Watchdog, so Why Protesters Didn’t Block REM or Parliament

Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/EMIL VAS)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on April 29 asked why Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) had been blocked for 15 days considering that the state public broadcaster had nothing to do with the election of members to the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), which was the demand of the citizens who had been blocking RTS’ buildings. 

“They say: The demand has something to do with REM. So, why are you lying? I told you this after the meeting with Ursula von der Leyen and Antonia Costa in Brussels a month and a half ago!? Back then, I told you that a new process for electing members of the REM Council would be organized, that a set of media laws would be passed and that ODIHR's recommendations would be implemented,” Vucic said while touring works on a tunnel on the Iriski Venac road/  

He also asked why citizens had not blocked REM “which has been dissolved, or the Serbian Parliament that elects REM members.” Commenting on the demands to revoke the Government’s Regulation on the working conditions at faculties, Vucic said: “It cannot be done, you should finally accept it. There is no such threat that would secure you a majority in the Government or the Parliament to do that. No, there is not. You should first go back to work to get your money”.

Vucic also said he was not happy with the police response during the incidents outside the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education in Novi Sad, noting that their task was not to beat anyone, but to enable the dean and his associates to enter their workplaces.

Asked about a rally of the People’s Movement of Serbia, scheduled to take place in Nis, Vucic said that it would he held May 16 to 18, adding that he still did not know the program, but was expecting to see speakers from abroad, who were friends of Serbia. He once again stressed he would demand that “all” who had been destroying Serbia over the past six months be held responsible for their acts. 

Vucic further said he “believes” the rate of economic growth in the first three months of this year was 2.1 to 2.2 percent, or below projections, due to the crisis caused by the blockades, stressing that the service industries had been affected the most. This, according to him, “is a direct consequence of the criminal blockades and the criminal destruction of Serbia, both from the outside and the inside”.