SERBIA

“POLICE ACTIONS WERE RESTRAINED”: Vučić sent a response to the British Guardian, here’s what he claims!

by Serbian Times29. August 2025.29. August 2025.

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, sent a response to the editorial office of the Guardian newspaper, regarding the text that this newspaper published on August 25. Vučić’s response was published on the Guardian’s website, and it states that “Serbia’s deep connection to Europe can hardly be reconciled with the image that it is an ‘authoritarian’ and ‘malign’ exception in the region.”

We are publishing the Serbian president’s response in its entirety:

“I am writing in response to your editorial on Serbia (August 25). Over the past nine months, more than 23,000 unapproved gatherings have been held in Serbia. Most were small, sometimes only a few dozen people, but they disrupted daily life, stopped government work, and recently turned violent. More than 170 police officers have been injured. Despite this, police actions have remained limited and restrained, aimed only at those who damaged property or attacked police officers.

The initial demands of the student demonstrators at the end of last year were quickly met. Investigations were launched, thousands of documents on the renovation of the train station were published, and funds for education were increased, and the prime minister resigned, taking responsibility for the conflicts among young people over this issue. Still, the demonstrations continued, shifting from demands for justice to open political goals: the removal of the government outside of democratic processes.

Serbia is deeply connected to Europe and is constantly making progress in its democratic and economic development. The EU provides more than 60 percent of direct foreign investments and has committed 1.6 billion euros until 2027 to support reforms. Such a level of engagement is hardly consistent with the image of Serbia as an ‘authoritarian’ and ‘malign’ exception in the region. The EU would not invest so much in a country where its values and interests are fundamentally rejected.

Serbia is a democracy. It will hold elections before the 2027 deadline, as it has consistently done for more than a decade, and in the meantime, it is making progress in electoral reforms. What Serbia cannot accept is violence disguised as activism, which undermines the institutions carefully built with the dedication and support of its European partners.”

“POLICE ACTIONS WERE RESTRAINED”: Vučić sent a response to the British Guardian, here’s what he claims!

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