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The Center for Contemporary Politics / Western Balkans Europe has published its fourth annual parallel report on the state of democracy in Serbia.
Photo: FoNet / Aleksandar BardaThe report “The State of Democracy in Serbia 2020” provides an overview of the situation across five criteria for EU accession since Copenhagen, as well as the areas through which the European Commission gives its assessment of the candidate countries: elections, parliament, governance, civil society and freedom of expression.
Referring to the parliamentary and local elections held on June 21, the Center states that significant irregularities and controversies were observed in various aspects, including the process of collecting signatures for electoral lists and cancellation of voting records in polling stations, as well as as changes in electoral laws in the election year.
Furthermore, the report notes that the democratic nature of the electoral process was disrupted by two factors. The first refers to the decision of the majority of the opposition to boycott the elections, while in the second, the Center for Contemporary Politics points out the suspicion that the ruling party abused the situation caused by the corona virus pandemic.
The final result of this year’s elections was characterized in the report as an “unprecedented result” in the last 20 years.
According to the Center, the reduction of the census in the electoral year is also debatable, as well as the modification of the electoral law that allowed not only public notaries (notarios), but also municipal and municipal administrations to verify the signatures of citizens for electoral lists.
Although the election campaign was formally suspended, during the state of emergency, the “problematic role of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić”, who was not a formal candidate in these elections, came to the fore, according to the report.
The work of the parliament in the previous year was marked by the boycott of the majority of the opposition deputies. After that, the state of parliamentarism in Serbia was in danger in the first half of the year, due to the non-meeting of the National Assembly during the state of emergency.
“No explanation was given as to why a way could not be found to comply with the safeguards while parliament continued to operate, as was the case in other countries,” the report said.
The center also noted the increase in tensions that arose with the return of the deputies to the National Assembly, as well as the incidents and the hunger strike.
The new parliament has not been fully constituted even three months after the elections and, according to the report, there is no objective obstacle to this.
Although Serbia’s accession to the European Union is, formally at least, the main foreign policy objective, certain statements by state officials during the state of emergency have overshadowed the process.
In that sense, the center emphasizes favoring China and emphasizing “the centuries-old and steel friendship”, while at the same time there were messages that “European solidarity does not exist” and that it is just a “fairy tale on paper” .
“The capacities for the coordination and implementation of the European integration process have been significantly reduced, as the position of Head of the negotiating team on the accession of Serbia to the European Union has been vacant for a year, after Tanja Miscevic resigned from end of September 2019, “the report adds. .
Within the scope of the work of independent institutions, the work of the Protector of Citizens is mentioned, who initiated the control procedure in several cases, but the way in which he did it was criticized on several occasions.
Criticism was directed at the July protests and claiming that the police did not use excessive force, then the reaction in the case of the arrest of Aleksandar Obradovic, a Krusik worker, and the arrest of journalist Ana Lalic .
The report also addressed the institution of the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Protection of Personal Data, as well as the work of the Anticorruption Agency.
The area of free action and development of civil society organizations (CSOs), according to the Center, continues the trend of narrowing. The pressures on researchers, activists and journalists, intimidation and reputation campaigns through government NGOs, and statements by government officials were taken into account.
“The fact that there is no political will to improve the position of CSOs is demonstrated by the fact that the National Strategy for an Encouraging Environment for Civil Society Development (2015-2019) has yet to be adopted, while in 2020 this document should have been adopted for the next period “. report.
The most serious case of an attack on the freedom of civil society organizations was characterized by the request of the Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing that commercial banks send data on financial transactions of 37 organizations and media outlets. communication, as well as 20 people.
The Center for Contemporary Politics points to a downward trend on global free speech charts, with an emphasis on reports from Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House. Furthermore, the report points out that in the period from October 2019 to September 2020, the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia recorded 129 pressures, verbal threats, attacks on property and physical attacks on journalists.
The objections are also directed to the work of the Electronic Media Regulatory Body (REM), especially during the electoral campaign. The reports of the Serbian Radio-Television (RTS) and the Vojvodina Radio-Television (RTV) were also defined as problematic, because during the election campaign they did not contribute to impartially inform citizens or to promote pluralism of political ideas.
The full report, which was created within the project “Civil society to improve Serbia’s accession to the European Union”, can be read at the following link: State of democracy in Serbia 2020.
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