Democracy and Human Rights

The EU is a promise to its citizens of a life of democracy instead of dictatorship, with the rule of law instead of arbitrariness, with equal rights instead of discrimination, it is the promise on joint efforts to increase prosperity and social protection and it is the promise of long-term security for a life of freedom and peace.

The incoming president of the Foundation Dr. Ellen Ueberschär.  Dr. Ueberschär succeeds Mr. Ralf Fücks as President of the Foundation.

One day before the expiry of the legal deadline for the formation of a new Serbian government, ministers from the cabinet of the new prime minister Ana Brnabić took their oath of office. It had needed almost three months since the presidential election (on 2 April) at which the former premier Aleksandar Vučić was elected president of the republic, for Serbia to gain an almost identical government, the fourth since 2012, when the coalition headed by the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) came to power.

The simplest explanation for the outcome of the vote held on 11 June would be to use the title of a popular feature film from former Yugoslavia: Već viđeno (“Déjà vu”). After this latest snap election, the situation is so complicated that there is already an opinion prevailing that no solution can be found and that these results can with certainty lead only to a new snap parliamentary election.

The first Belgrade Crowdfunding Convention was held on 7 June 2017. “If Nikola Tesla had stayed here, we wouldn’t have been able today to enjoy what he created. Today’s Nikola Teslas can choose – whether to leave for the USA, or to stay here and opt for crowdfunding. This means that we could have our own Tesla here with us today”, said Marko Gregović from Brodoto.

Almost every museum in Cape Town which in some way covers the period of apartheid includes among its exhibits a wooden bench with a variant of the sign “Whites Only” on it. This is no surprise, because these benches are a very vivid reminder of the brutal racial segregation which lasted in South Africa up to the mid-1990s. However, I was somewhat amazed that, in Cape Town today, there are almost no public benches, so that, if you want to sit down somewhere and have a rest in the city centre, you have to buy a coffee, a juice or a sandwich.

In just under two months, Serbia will have a new President and a new Prime minister. What was the electoral process like and what will the switch at the helm mean for the state of democracy in Serbia?

The Kosovo Special Court will be operational on January 1. If it indicts all the persons mentioned as suspects in the Marty Report, this would represent a tsunami of sorts, one that could cause tectonic shifts.