Official: Belgrade still waiting for MEPs suggestions; 3 pct threshold remains

IVICA DAČIĆ
Tanjug/Miloš Milivojević

Ivica Dacic, Serbia’s Parliament Speaker, said on Thursday that the members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who facilitated the inter-party dialogue on election conditions had not yet sent their suggestion and that he called them regarding the issue.

The MEPs’ ideas should arrive in Belgrade by September 1, and by September 17 or 18, a new meeting between them and the representatives of Serbia’s authorities and opposition should occur.

MEPs tried to mediate between the regime and opposition in 2019 ahead of previous general elections. Still, the talks proved fruitless, and the leading opponents of President Aleksandar Vucic boycotted the vote.

The opposition said the authorities failed to implement what had been agreed and abstained from the election.

The boycott ended in an almost uniform Parliament without any serious opposition to the ruling coalition.

Observers say that has made Vucic announce a possible early general vote in spring of 2022, at the same time as regular presidential, Belgrade, and some local elections are due.

The main opposition parties say they won’t boycott the next elections and hope to win in Belgrade, where they believe people are better informed and less submissive to the ruling coalition influence.

Dacic on Thursday said he would meet Vucic on Friday to discuss several state-related issues, including the changes to the Constitution, which required a referendum before possible early general elections.

On Friday, Dacic, who chairs a separate dialogue on elections conditions between the ruling coalition and the opposition parties which are against the MEPs’ participation, has said the threshold reduced from five to three percent ahead of the 2020 vote remains. He has added Vucic will attend the next meeting of the separate dialogue due on Monday, which, according to the Parliament Speaker, „goes better than the one mediated by the MEPs.

Dacic added he would meet Slovenian Parliament Speaker Igor Zorcic later in the day “to try to speed up our European agenda.”

Slovenia holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU.