Belgrade 8/14/2024
PUBLIC STATEMENT
THE PROTESTORS NEED TO KNOW
- THE EUROPEAN UNION IS THEIR MAIN AND MOST RELIABLE NATURAL ALLY
WHEN IT COMES TO PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
Forum for Security and Democracy expresses serious concern with regards to the social circumstances in Serbia after the protests against the mining of lithium that took place in Belgrade on August 10th which have one again demonstrated the depth of political divisions within the country.
FSD is especially concerned with the notable absence of capacities and political willingness to address the ongoing crisis of political credibility and negotiation in ways that bring into question the achievement of the country's strategic goals - especially those pertaining to full-fledged membership in the European Union.
FSD with this in mind expects and deems that the government and it's officials should refrain from further escalating the already worrisome level of tensions and intolerance among the actors of the ongoing crisis and also avoid taking repressive moves through which the crisis would only deepen, such as the truncated court proceedings against the organisers of the demonstrations and their participants.
FSD also emphasises and holds that the demonstrators should deradicalize their methods of protest, keeping in consideration the interests and rights of all citizens, and emphasizes the necessity of correction of positions of the protests' protagonists towards the EU.
FSD points out that not only is the European Union not their enemy but, on the contrary, is the main and most reliable and natural ally of Serbia's citizens when it comes to the protection of the environment.
FSD underlines that it is exactly because the opposition to Serbia's EU membership is trying to use the ongoing turmoil and protests against the mining of lithium in the country to discredit and undermine the EU's political credibility in Serbia that the European Union must take a clear position with regards to the protests in Serbia.
FSD sees this as a partnership obligation of the EU to put an end to the situation in which its' silence benefits only to the further activities of those political groups who see the European Union as an adversary and the protests against the mining of lithium in Serbia as a convenient opportunity to further distance Serbia away from the EU!
FSD thus calls on the representatives of the European Union - as a signatory party of the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation with Serbia - to publicly dispel all doubts spread by the opponents of Serbia's accession to the EU and their foreign mentors.
FSD emphasizes that this especially pertains to the honoring of the high standards of environmental protections within the EU itself, which need to be equally applied in Serbia! This would disperse those rumors through which attempts are being made to deceive Serbia's public that with the signing of the Memorandum Serbia as a candidate for EU membership is being freed of the obligations it has in the field of environmental protection and climate change in the accession negotiations.
FSD, last but not least, expresses it's hope that the authorities will overcome the situation in which they have, burdened with other political activities, unwittingly and careslly allowed the opponents of Serbia's EU membership to seize upon the narrative of lithium mining and simultaneously tear down every Euro-Atlantic narrative, which be immediately politically resolved within the government and the ruling majority.
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