Years ago Zoran Lutovac In the arena of Serbian politics. In the nineties he was already among the leaders. Serbian Democratic Party (SDS)an organization that leads political resistance against the autocrat Slobodan Milosevic and its oppressive policies. Today, as head of the SDS, he is an older opponent who still has to fight. That is why he is one of the top leaders of the ‘Serbia Against Violence’ campaign, which is the main innovation of the early parliamentary elections to be held this Sunday. Serbia: a new coalition of parties that decide to merge Face the bloc of the nationalist Aleksandr Vučić, president of Serbia.
What Exactly Is Serbia Non-Violence? There are all kinds of parties in the coalition; from the left, the center, environmentalists…
A coalition consisting mostly of left-wing and center-left parties. There is only one party that is closer to the right or centre-right. What is fundamentally important is that we are all pro-European.
Why do they want to win elections?
Here we want to put an end to all verbal and physical violence, which is a huge problem in different social, political and institutional environments. We also want to stop very high inflation. The third, equally important goal is to fight against corruption and organized crime in our country. We want to carry out a total purge to exclude from the political life of Serbia everyone who has connections with organized crime.
So how will they do this?
Appointment of a technical government. From now on, when all our goals are achieved, we plan to hold new elections that can be held within a year.
Serbia is a candidate country to join the European Union, you say they are pro-European. What does this mean? Does the EU support them?
No. Unfortunately, the EU and the West generally still support the ‘stability’ strategy (a doctrine that involves turning a blind eye to democratic violations within countries in exchange for cooperation to de-escalate conflicts between countries in the region). It is a system that does not allow changes. ‘Stability democracy’ has been a disastrous policy for Serbia, as security has become privileged over the defense of human rights and criticism of autocratic leaders. Perhaps we are the only pro-Europeans who are not supported by the European Union.
Do you have a common stance within the coalition on the conflict with Kosovo?
It is unacceptable for Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to decide alone on a complex issue like Kosovo. There is the parliament, there is civil society, there are the citizens, everyone needs to participate in the discussion of such a serious issue. This is democracy.
So what plan does your coalition have?
Of course, we want to establish a dialogue with them. First of all, we must establish a serious relationship with the Albanian side. What’s happening today? They send completely vague messages and we don’t know what they’re thinking. Moreover, we want to talk about people, not land. What matters are people and their living conditions.
Does Russia really have influence in Serbia or not?
My opinion is that this impact is huge. However, I think we should divide our feelings because there is a Russian people and a Russian regime that is an undemocratic autocracy. Our president Vučić is being vague on this issue and playing deceptive games. Our country voted against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the UN, but still very few sanctions were imposed. It is a controversial attitude.
Are you trying to do something about this?
The European Union can help us save ourselves from the Russian government. They should accept us into the EU before we fulfill all the conditions for the country’s accession. There is a precedent: Romania. They took him in when he was in a similar situation. Because the truth is that Vučić does not want to comply with EU conditions, such as complete media freedom, because he knows that if he does that he will lose power here.
Some say one of the reasons Vučić has international support is that there are far-right parties in Serbia that are more controversial than him.
He controls these games. It needs them to prove itself as a better actor in the European Union. They are clearly more radical than him, but this shows that he acts as a firewall preventing these parties from progressing.