NEW GOVERNMENT IN BUDAPEST DESPERATELY TRYING TO PROVE ITSELF TO BRUSSELS

BELGRADE, APRIL 14 /SRNA/ – The leader of the Serb League, Aleksandar Đurđev, assessed that the attacks made by Hungarian opposition leader Peter Magyar against Serbia and its president Aleksandar Vučić do not represent serious statesmanlike policy, but rather a desperate attempt by the new government in Budapest to prove itself to centres of power in Brussels and to conceal increasingly evident questions about foreign influence on electoral processes in Europe.

"When someone, in their first appearances as the election winner attacks a neighbouring country, that is not accidental, but a signal of whom they want to please. In this case, it is clear that this is an attempt to gain points with the Brussels bureaucracy and circles that have been running a campaign against Serbia for years," Đurđev believes. He says that no foreign politician, including Peter Magyar, will determine how Serbia conducts its policy or who will be its president, as this is decided exclusively by the citizens of Serbia. "The Balkans do not need new confrontation, but stability; the stability is not built by attacking neighbours, but through cooperation. Serbia wants good relations with Hungary and remains committed to cooperation, but it is no longer a country that can be targeted with political statements without a reaction," he said. In a written statement delivered to SRNA, Đurđev emphasized that “anyone who thinks they will build their political career by attacking Serbia is deeply mistaken”. He says it is particularly hypocritical to lecture Serbia about democracy while, at the same time, there is a growing number of serious allegations of systemic interference in elections within the EU, from Romania to Hungary, along with calls for the European Parliament to form an investigative committee to investigate the European Commission’s interference in democratic elections across Europe. "Even some American lawmakers publicly condemn such occurrences. In that context, attacks on Serbia appear as an attempt to divert attention from fundamental problems within the EU," Đurđev stressed. According to him, speaking about a lack of democracy in Serbia while simultaneously coming to power with the support of structures that, in certain European countries, censor the media, abolish freedom of speech, and persecute political opponents, represents the top hypocrisy. Đurđev emphasized that Serbia has elections, institutions, and a people who decide, which is the essence of democracy that cannot be replaced by any external factors, adding that allegations about endangered media freedoms in Serbia are unfounded and politically motivated. Recalling that Serbia - Hungary relations have reached a historic high in recent years, Đurđev pointed out that attacking that cooperation means attacking the stability of the region. He stressed that Serbia will not change its policy under pressure. Đurđev says that Serbia pursues an independent and balanced policy, taking care of its citizens rather than foreign agendas, noting that it is known that Magyar also has allies within the ruling political structures in Serbia - people who do not build their policies on Serbia’s interests, but on expectations and instructions coming from Brussels, Davos, and broader liberal centres of power.