Djilas, Tepic, Ponos Sign for European Serbia List

The leaders of the “European Serbia” election list, Marinika Tepic and Zdravko Ponos, along with Dragan Djilas, who tops the list, signed their support for their own list on Saturday, September 12, at a stand at number 7 Cuburska Street in Vracar. The stand was open from ten in the morning until three in the afternoon, and the signature drive was organized by the Freedom and Justice Party and the SRCE movement, two parties that, together with Goran Jesic’s Solidarity, make up “European Serbia.” The message from the stand was unambiguous: the fight for the October election starts immediately, and it demands maximum engagement from everyone opposed to the current government.

Freedom and Justice Party deputy leader Marinika Tepic told reporters that by signing, the list’s leaders had taken on the responsibility of delivering citizens a “modern, orderly and European country.”

“Our priorities are justice, order, equal laws for everyone, zero tolerance for corruption, an independent judiciary, free media, free elections, better healthcare and education, and an economy that values knowledge,” Tepic said at the stand in Vracar, for N1.

SRCE leader Zdravko Ponos described the October 25 election as a crossroads, saying that some change follows every election cycle, and that this time it could go in one of two directions.

“For there to be major change for the better, we have to remove this government. However, there is a great risk,” Ponos said at the stand in Vracar, for N1.

Freedom and Justice Party leader Dragan Djilas, who tops the list, said that “European Serbia” offers citizens a concrete alternative rather than promises.

“That life has a name as of today. That name is European Serbia. We’re guaranteeing it, not with nice words,” Djilas said at the stand in Vracar, for N1.

Asked about cooperation with the rest of the opposition, Djilas added that nonparty candidates have long been part of the strategy shared by the Freedom and Justice Party and SRCE, recalling that the two parties had, two and a half years earlier, nominated Sofija Mandic and Tanasije Marinkovic as their representatives on the Republic Election Commission.

“We’re ready to talk with everyone. With everyone, so that we can win,” Djilas said at the stand in Vracar, for N1.

Who makes up the European Serbia list?

The “European Serbia” list is made up of three groups: the Freedom and Justice Party, Serbia Center (SRCE) and Goran Jesic’s Solidarity. Tepic and Ponos are the list’s leaders, while Djilas tops it. That splits the opposition ahead of the October 25 election into two pro-European columns: alongside “European Serbia” there is also “People’s Choice,” a coalition of the National Movement of Serbia, the New Face of Serbia and the Ecological Uprising.

The signing in Vracar was not the only step taken that day. In Kragujevac, the collection of signatures for “European Serbia” was underway at the Freedom and Justice Party’s offices at 90 Aleksandra I Karadjordjevica Street, where academician Dusan Teodorovic was among the first to sign. His signature shows the list is counting on support beyond the narrow circle of party membership, not just on the two parties’ own ranks.

Collecting signatures is a legally required step before submitting an election list to the Republic Election Commission, and it comes less than a month and a half before the October 25 vote. For “European Serbia,” Saturday’s round of stands, from Belgrade to Kragujevac, was the first public test of how well the coalition can mobilize voters beyond its narrow circle of party members, a question that, together with the actual number of signatures collected, will serve as a measure of how serious it is at this stage of the campaign.

Serbian News had not previously reported on the collection of signatures for the “European Serbia” list.