Vučić is "a despot who is pathologically obsessed with power"

People in Serbia think that the victims of the falling canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad are actually victims of corruption, nepotism, and crime, says Vedran Džihić, a political scientist from the Vienna Institute for Political Studies, writes Deutsche Welle (DW).

"But these student protests are much more than a reaction to this tragic event. They are the birth of something new," says Džihić in an extensive interview for the German Frankfurter Rundschau.

He says that students were believed to be apathetic, focused only on themselves and their careers. Or ready to move out of the country. "And now they are taking their destiny into their own hands. They are full of energy, enthusiasm and confidence in success, their tools are hope and love."

According to Džihić, the opposition in Serbia is weak and divided, without the "pulling power" to implement major changes. On the other hand, the regime reacts by staging the will of the people - tens of thousands of people are forced into buses and to rallies, says Džihić.

According to him, people in Serbia have lost their fear of the authorities, but this does not mean that the repression has come to an end.

"Vučić now has two options - to give in to the pressure, which he will not do, or to intensify the repression. In the so-called Belarusian model, the regime exerts more pressure on civil society, the police interrogate people, organize proletarian beating troops, the regime tries to maintain itself with massive violence. (...) Serbia has not yet reached that point," says Džihić.

He explains that at the age of 13, Vučić concentrated all the power in his hands - the parliament, the judiciary and the government are "just puppets".

"Vučić is a classic authoritarian despot with a very pronounced pathological obsession with power. He identifies the Serbian people with himself. The dimensions are messianic. You cannot live without Vučić. Because, as with similar regimes, the fall from power or the loss of office can mean prison if there is a process for corruption or other criminal acts," adds Džihić in an interview with Frankfurter Rundschau.

Speaking about the fact that the students are still turned towards the European Union - they are running towards Brussels, and before they rode bicycles to Strasbourg - Džihić says that it seemed that the EU was ready to sell democracy for lithium.

"But I have the impression that awareness is slowly developing in Berlin, France, Austria, the Scandinavian countries, among many European MPs. This is noticeable in the tone heard from the European Commission. The Commissioner for Enlargement, who was just visiting Belgrade, is now talking about things differently, signaling that student protests must be taken seriously, that there must be no violence," says the political scientist.

"The question of what to do when Vučić is gone is becoming more and more important. A lot depends on whether Europe will stand more courageously and decisively on the side of the pro-democratic forces," concludes Džihić.

Source: Deutsche Welle (DW)