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Participants in the first debate “The EU closer to citizens: What is the EU for you?” They pointed out that citizens of Serbia do not always understand the advantages of being a member of the EU and the benefits of EU rules, that stereotypes about the EU are fueled in Serbia and that there is sometimes a conscious search for the positive in the EU.
The coordinator of the National Convention on the EU, Natasa Dragojlovic, said in that online debate of the series “EU Talks 2.0”, that it is true that the citizens of Serbia do not understand enough the path of accession to the EU, but that it is not a problem in them, because it is a complicated technical process. for experts, thousands of pages of trading positions …
“Experts know that such language cannot be used to communicate with citizens, and opponents of EU membership seem to communicate better with them than those involved in the accession process,” Dragojlovic told a meeting organized by the European Movement in Serbia (EPuS). cooperation with the EU Information Center.
Despite that, Dragojlović noted, half of the citizens of Serbia have been declaring their entry into the EU for a whole decade, seeing the benefits of that.
“At the same time, there are a growing number of people who are not sure if, if there were a referendum to join the EU tomorrow, they would vote ‘for’ or ‘against’, so there are many undecided, those who do not You know, those who are confused and the information in the media contradictory, “said Dragojlović.
He also stated that citizens of Serbia ask logical questions about the EU, just as in the EU citizens ask about the future of the Union, adding that discussing the issue of European integration with dissidents is the only thing that helps against the misconceptions.
Teacher: Lack of will in Serbia to invest in knowledge about the EU
Dusko Radosavljevic, professor at the “Faculty of Law and Business Sciences, Dr. Lazar Vrkatic” of Novi Sad, pointed out in the debate Serbia’s unwillingness to invest in knowledge about the EU.
He noted that “there is a conscious search for what is really positive in the EU” and that state policy encourages stereotypes, which will endanger our national identity, language, public interest, relationships with someone. “
Radosavljevic also said that “young people are privately aware of the advantages of the EU, but when they go public … a young person is influenced by their parents, the media, the environment who tell them that some things are not they are patriotic. “
“On the one hand, there is a tendency to enter the EU, and on the other, things are being done not to enter, because then everyone will have to behave in accordance with European values, both the State and the citizens,” he said. Radosavljevic.
The director of the Center for Intercultural Communication, Aleksandra Đurić Bosnić, pointed out the communication about the EU, which is not good, the misinformation of citizens and the narratives that need to be changed.
He said that discussions on EU accession take place in the circle of like-minded people and that the problem is that the “enclaves” of dissidents and like-minded people are closed to each other, and those borders must be crossed. .
“We have state institutions that are obliged to deal with the enlargement process, media that convey to citizens how the process is going, but communication between citizens and institutions is insufficient,” said Đurić Bosnić, adding that this is why some citizens in Serbia they are misinformed, with stereotypes about the EU and its values.
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