Serbia Center: Vucic’s Regime Turning Serbia into A Mining Colony

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The opposition party Serbia Center – SRCE declared on Aug. 7 that the regime of Aleksandar Vucic was obviously trying to covertly and “via a back door” permanently turn Serbia into a mining colony, without allowing the professional public and the opposition to attend public debates about important documents, and as far away as possible from professional media.

The party requested the Serbian Chamber of Commerce to explain why they did not allow the interested citizens, representatives of environmental organizations, or even members of parliament and journalists, to attend the Aug. 7 public debate about the draft strategy on mineral resources, which the Jadar project is part of, and only allowed in those people who were on “lists prepared in advance,” and also how and on which basis had those lists been made.

“The very term ‘public’ implies that entry is allowed to everyone. However, the fact that the two entrances of the Chamber of Commerce were blocked by members of a private security firm, called Soko, with the police standing behind them, tells that it was everything but ‘public’ – it was strictly controlled,” the party said in a release. They added that only a third of seats in the room were occupied, as seen on photos presented by Serbia Center that were taken at the debate, showing how false, in their words, was the excuse of the organizers from the Chamber of Commerce that the MPs and environmental activists could not enter because the room was “full to the brim.”

“An open question is who has engaged the private security firm, under which contract, and why do those people not carry their official ID credentials, as is required by the law? Why do the police stand behind them, when it should be the other way round? Why do the police act on the orders of staff of the Soko security?” the Serbia Center party wondered.