Opposition Official: Oct. 25 Elections Are a Turning Point for Serbia in Choosing between Europe and Isolation

Dragan Djilas (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC)

Dragan Djilas, the Freedom and Justice Party leader who heads the election ticket European Serbia, on Oct. 20 said that the upcoming parliamentary elections are a historical turning point when Serbia will permanently choose between the European standard and isolation.

“In these elections, the offer is clear and we draw the line: NO to (former Serbian President Aleksandar) Vucic, and YES to Europe! We are looking at politicians who allegedly want to overthrow Vucic, but are running away from Europe, and those flirting with the regime. The election list European Serbia does not have two policies. Whoever tells you that Serbia can survive without Europe, is knowingly lying to you and pushing you into economic ruin,” Djilas said and called on citizens to go to the polls in large numbers on Oct. 25 and “finish the job started on Oct. 5 2000.” 

Zdravko Ponos, the Serbia Center (SRCE) leader and a candidate on the election ticket European Serbia, said that a vote for the student list is “only half a step” toward Serbia’s membership in the European Union (EU), and that only a vote for the list European Serbia “guarantees a full step in that direction.”

Milos Jovanovic, the leader of the New Democratic Party of Serbia who heads the election list The Authentic Right, said that “only a defeated and humiliated Serbia can join the EU,” but added that, although membership is not desirable, cooperation with the EU is. “Serbia is a European country and we are aware that we have to cooperate with Brussels. Such cooperation is mutually beneficial and desirable,” Jovanovic said. 

The election ticket comprising the New Democratic Party of Serbia and the Monarchists said in a news release that aside from territorial, economic and foreign policy issues, it cannot accept the EU path because it means “legalization of same-sex marriages and uncontrolled migration, which destroy the cultural identity of a nation.”