EWB: Serbia's response to FH shows even darker image of democracy

The EWB says the response refers to other reports none of which has shown any improvement in democracy, the rule of law and freedom of the media. On the contrary, it adds.

“When the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) came to power in 2012, Serbia’s average score on the FH scale from one to seven was 4.36, putting it in the category of semi-consolidated democracies,” the EWB recalled, adding that “since then, this international organisation hasn’t noted single instance progress in any of the seven areas it monitors, only regressions – before the latest decline in results in the field of corruption, Serbia’s score has been revised as many as ten times since 2012, every time downwards.”

It added that “the average score of seven areas, which include electoral conditions, freedom of the media, judiciary and others, is now 3.96. In other words, under the level separating semi-consolidated democracies and hybrid regimes, located at four.”

The EWB says “the Government has tried to refute the latest revision, arguing that there has been no further deterioration in the area of corruption. To that end, it cited reports of other international organisations, which have not (yet) downgraded Serbia into a category denoting states in which democratic institutions are largely the facade of an authoritarian rule. What the Government missed is that the reports it cited also record Serbia’s long-term decline in the areas of democracy, the rule of law and freedom of the media.”

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