J. Joksimović: A lower census - impulse to the European value of pluralism

January 14 2020 | Belgrade

J. Joksimović: A lower census - impulse to the European value of pluralism

Minister of European Integration Jadranka Joksimović has said today that she is perplexed by "so much caution" and that the comment regarding the initiative to reduce the electoral threshold from five to three percent by the EP rapporteur for Serbia, Vladimir Bilcik, who has said that election rules are not supposed to be changed in the year of holding the elections, comes as a surprise to her.

She has said that the same holds true for the statement by the Chair of the EP Delegation to Serbia, Tanja Fajon, who, among other things, has said that radical changes to the electoral rules so close to the elections are a very dangerous tactics.
"I am particularly surprised by the comment that the election rules are not supposed to be changed in the year of holding the elections, which was made in the statement of European Parliament's rapporteur for Serbia Vladimir Bilcik, as one of the mediators within the dialogue on improving the electoral conditions, in the election year, regarding the idea of an initiative for reducing the census from 5 to 3 percent for political parties,” Joksimović has said.

She has said that she usually expects so much inconsistency and inverse logic from members of the opposition, to whom, according to her, not even the reduction in the census threshold to three percent would enable the entrance into the Parliament, but that EP mediators are expected to be more committed to the pluralism of a democratic political race, which is certainly strengthened by this proposal, as is the institution of the Parliament as the highest legislative representative body of all citizens.
"At least the Members of the EP, whose parties have crossed the threshold for joining the European Parliament through the eye of a needle, should themselves be encouraged and inspired by such initiatives," Joksimović has said.

She has said that this will only do good to the citizens and their nuanced interests, stressing that the strengthening of democracies is the most important topic for politicians acting responsibly towards the citizens of both Serbia and all European countries.
"These are the European values of pluralism at work," Joksimović has concluded.

Source: Tanjug