Escalating violence at protests in Serbia
After months of demonstrations, the protests against Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić have reached a new peak. Several cities have seen violent clashes, including Valjevo, where protesters set fire to the headquarters of the Serbian ruling party SNS after alleged party thugs attacked sympathisers on the fringes of the demonstrations and vandalised their shops.
Vučić letting his mask slip
The Serbian president has his back to the wall, says the Salzburger Nachrichten:
“With his outbursts against unpopular media and civil rights groups, the nervous-looking string-puller is increasingly letting all his masks slip - and revealing his true authoritarian character - even in his dealings with well-meaning EU partners. ... For years, the permanent election campaigner Vučić sought refuge in early elections whenever problems arose. But even if the elections were rigged again, this time his SNS would have to fear being voted out of office. More and more Serbs see the ruling party as nothing more than a corrupt and authoritarian kleptocratic clique.”
Headed towards phoney democracy
The EU must finally put a stop to the Serbian president's authoritarian course, The Financial Times urges:
“The EU and Britain have indulged [Vučić] for too long. Realpolitik has reflected a desire not to see Serbia slip into Russia's orbit. But this hands-off approach is no longer tenable. Vučić has to be pushed to be more accountable and hold genuinely fair elections; this is anyway essential for any hope of EU membership. The alternative is that Serbia will slide down the path that Georgia has regrettably taken, becoming a phoney democracy over which the EU has no influence and about whose excesses it can do no more than issue statements of protest.”
Europe discrediting itself
Tagesschau.de criticises the EU's silence:
“Serbian civil society is demanding what should be taken for granted in a democratic European country. After all, Serbia is a candidate for EU membership. But instead of supporting the democracy movement, the EU Commission is giving the protesters there the cold shoulder. Not a word of support has come from Brussels. Europe wants to benefit from Serbia's economic strength, no matter how many corrupt hands this involves. For this reason, the EU concluded a lithium mining pact with Serbia last year. With this form of accession policy, Europe makes itself untrustworthy and tramples on its own values.”