Opposition Freedom and Justice Party Leader Hopes EU Will Finally Realize the Level of Autocracy in Serbia

Dragan Djilas (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Freedom and Justice Party leader Dragan Djilas has said he hopes that after EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos’ statement that the Serbian government had not implemented any of the reforms it had committed to last December, “the EU will finally begin to conscientiously see the level of autocracy in Serbia”.

“The new prime minister and the Parliament speaker promised me that reforms would be implemented quickly, but the same promise was made by the Serbian president to the president of the European Commission and the president of the European Council in late March, but nothing has happened since,” Kos said on May 12 in the European Parliament.

Commenting on Kos’ statement, Djilas said that European officials “were wrong to believe that Serbian government representatives would keep their promises.” “You were wrong, but I do not see that admission in your statement. I only see the claim that (Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic) has lied to you and that Serbia has not implemented any of the reforms it committed to last December. You have trusted a man who has hijacked institutions, removed free media, networked with organized crime, raised the level of corruption, and has turned elections into scandalous ballot rigging,” Djilas said.

He further said that the EU had seen a partner in Vucic, “while fear has been growing in Serbia, and citizens have been standing up against the dictatorship.” “If you continue to support Vucic, we will know that you have sacrificed us for private deals of European statesmen, because of lithium and procurement of technology for the construction of nuclear power plants,” Djilas stressed.