Serbian Deputy PM: elites, not people, make decisions on all aspects of life in the West
There is no more democracy in the West, governments there do not fulfil the will of their peoples – as noted by the Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin, at the 17th Verona Eurasian Economic Forum
The West is in a turbulent state. According to the Serbian politician, there has been a complete change in values, “We have always been told that there is democracy in the West, and this will never change. However, that scheme worked only when the West was superior to everyone else and dictated them what to do. Actually, when the economic recovery of the East began, the West immediately began to change. Political crises in France, Germany and other countries happened, and people there voted for the far right and the far left. Democracy ended immediately then, as the elite said the choice of people had been wrong. It turned out that there is no democracy. The elites say that people do not have the knowledge and qualifications to make the right choice.”
Aleksandar Vulin stressed that Serbia is a European country that has been striving for decades to join the European Union, the only question is whether the European Union wanted to see Serbia as its member, “If you want to be part of the EU, you need to be aware of the political consequences. For example, the European Union calls on us to recognise Kosovo, which is part of Serbia, and we will never do that. The EU urges us to impose sanctions against Russia, we do not want to, and we will not do this. They are calling for the removal of all customs barriers, to stop subsidising our farmers, but it is not so simple, it is not in our interests. Meanwhile, BRICS does not make such demands. The organisation does not ask us to impose sanctions against the EU. BRICS offers us to become part of a growing economy that covers almost half of the world. We want to learn more about BRICS: how the organisation will expand, whether it will want to become part of specific economies, and how the security issue will be resolved.”
The Verona Eurasian Economic Forum is a platform that traditionally brings together politicians, experts, diplomats, heads of major companies and journalists from the West and the East. It was hosted by Italian Verona for fourteen years – even at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, geopolitical realities forced the organisers to change the traditional venue. In 2022, the forum was for the first time held outside Italy: in the capital of Azerbaijan, Baku. Later, it was hosted by Uzbek Samarkand. This year, the organisers — the Italian non-profit Conoscere Eurasia Association, the Roscongress Foundation and the UAE Chamber of Commerce and Industry – have chosen the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah as the venue.
The forum is taking place on December 5th-6th, and its agenda includes sessions on a wide range of global issues, including the development of energy, infrastructure, transport, finance, digitalisation, and medicine. The general topic covers the development of business dialogue and effective ways of co-operation between countries and organisations in the territory of Greater Eurasia.
