Opposition Leader Advocates Pro-EU Election Ticket

Dragan Djilas (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC)

On June 8, Freedom and Justice Party head Dragan Djilas said that a pro-European bloc which would run in Serbia’s next parliamentary elections on a joint ticket could comprise any party supporting Serbia’s EU membership but also individuals with those same values.
 
Asked whether such a bloc would have room for the Green-Left Front – which announced its support for the university student ticket – Djilas told N1 that any pro-European party is welcome and that the Green-Left Front is “absolutely pro-European.” Hence, the Green-Left Front is free to join the bloc should it change its stance and decide to run rather than back the university students, Djilas explained.

In discussing the opposition, Djilas pointed out there are those who oppose President Aleksandar Vucic’s regime but will vote neither for the university student ticket nor for the pro-European bloc: a bloc he called nationalist. “When we speak of a referendum-like atmosphere, then you have one simple question to answer: do you support this regime and Vucic, or not,” Djilas concluded.

The current government is “an organized criminal group,” Djilas opined, adding that today’s Serbia is the epitome of the values of Radical Party founder Vojislav Seselj. Djilas went on to state that Vucic – who spent 15 years as a Radical before co-founding the Serbian Progressive Party – remains “a Radical who never wanted Serbia to be a part of Europe.”

During the segment of the June 7 Freedom and Justice Party presidency meeting which was open to the public, Djilas announced the party will run in the next parliamentary elections – whenever they are called – together with other pro-European parties. Collaboration with the university student movement will be possible after the vote, he stated but underlined that there will be no negotiations with members of the current regime.