Vučić: "I returned Law on Expropriation to Parliament, Referendum Act to be revised"

Vučić: "I returned Law on Expropriation to Parliament, Referendum Act to be revised"

The address was dedicated to the current protests and the company Rio Tinto.

"The previous two years and the previous seven are some of the years in which we can boast of the rapid development of our country, our growth rate will be 2.7 percent. We expect two chapters or one cluster to be opened by December 14. It is possible that Serbia will be the only country to open new chapters", Vucic said.

"I am proud of all the results we have achieved, but I know that we could have done even more without the laziness of some people, but also with bureaucratic problems we had faced," he said.

"As for the law itself, as I said in previous addresses, and despite the fact that I am one of the few presidents who returned laws to the Assembly, such as the Law on Waters," he said.

"Something happened that in the desire, as I understood the people from the government, to pass the best possible law, they passed a law in which one thing was problematic for me, and that is the insanely short deadlines given to the owner of real estate, either land or house", he said.

"It was not unconstitutional, the law did not go through a public debate, due to COVID crisis, which is unacceptable", said Vucic.

"I saw ministers' flaws in taking over responsibilities that did not belong to them."

"I made a decision and signed that decision on returning the Law on Amendments to the Law on Expropriation to the parliamentary procedure," he said.

"There was a possibility of interpretation that the law could be overthrown, due to Article 58 of the Constitution, where property rights are violated. Although in many EU countries they do it even after 8 days, I certainly think that the deadlines are insanely short," Vucic said.

This means that the Law on Amendments to the Law on Expropriation has been returned to the Assembly. Tonight or tomorrow, they can make a decision to withdraw the law. My proposal to the Government of the Republic of Serbia is not to pass any new Law on Expropriation, but to make one of the broadest public debates instead", he said.

He also blamed ministers who, as he said, did not bother to organize a broad debate on the Law on Expropriation and failed to visit the area most affected by a potential mine to talk to people there.

I signed the Referendum Act

"I signed the Law on Referendum, there is nothing unconstitutional about that law," he said about the Law on the People's Referendum.

"Everyone will say this is Vučić's defeat, but I am the president of all citizens, and my job is to take care of all citizens," he said.

"I know there are a lot of citizens, wonderful, ordinary people who are worried," he said.

"Although it is not part of my competence, I accept it as part of my guilt," says Vucic.

"I listened to the people in Gornje Nedeljice, this is my address to them. People, that's 5.000 people and less, but it's not just those 5.000, I would fight for a single man. I listened to them, I saw how painful it is for them, my job is to hear them out. So, I am addressing them, primarily", Vucic explained.

"Everyone knows it's not my fault, I didn't bring Rio Tinto, but I'm eating myself from the inside because I didn't pay enough attention to it, I thought others cared about it," he added.

"Roadblocks are so harmful; I want to apologize to people"

"Here, we fulfilled all the requests, and you know why? They say Vučić is scared, wants to preserve the government," he said.

"We will accept all demands, as the blockade of highways is causing us great damage. This is not good for the image of our country. And I am proud that the police did not use water cannons. We have a fragile democracy and we must protect it," he said.

"I want to tell the citizens of Serbia that no one is working against them. I want to tell them that I do not intend to do something against their interests," he said.

"I want to apologize to all citizens who suffered the terror of irresponsible people, and those who were beaten in illegally organized protests, I apologize to the old people who suffered, I apologize because the state did not do its job and did not protect them," he said during the address.

"But it is all the price of democracy. We have to fight for the country to move forward. The people will evaluate each of us in the coming period," he said.

"I really tried. We fulfilled all the demands they made, although some were, from my point of view, a political whim. And then you will see that politics is behind everything. But it was important to me that we meet the needs of ordinary people and I care about them more than anything", said Vucic.

Vučić thanked the citizens for their patience and the people who showed their strength, and invited political opponents to compete on April 3.

"Those who are tired do not have to be ministers. They can spend the little time they have left serving the people," he said.

"I have been angry countless times because we did not explain to people about the medical treatment of children," he said.

"I apologize for not visiting eight and a half thousand villages"

"I am the man who, I think, visited all places in Serbia the most times. I was in the area of ​​Loznica and Krupanj many times, I was 26 or 27 times officially, only in those two places. I worked hard on the floods, we helped. Do you know the names of the rivers in Loznica area? I know, because I've been there 11 times," he said.

"I apologize for not being able to visit eight and a half thousand villages in Serbia," he said.

Vucic denied he yielded to the protests though earlier claimed the street would not lead politics in Serbia.

“As for the street protests, they take place every year,” he said.

In the end, he said that he was happy that the demands of the citizens were met, but that he knew that there were those who were happy because they perceived this as his defeat.

It should be reiterated that on the eve of the address, the Government of the Republic of Serbia made a decision at tonight's session to withdraw the Law on Expropriation from the parliamentary procedure.

He said he pledged with the Government to make some changes to the Law on Referendum, which he had signed to fulfil the demands of thousands of people who protested over the last two weekends against both laws.

At the same session, the government proposed to the National Assembly amendments to the Law on Referendum and People's Initiative, in Articles 7, 20, 43 and 44. The mentioned articles refer to the certification of signatures, representatives of the authorized proposer in the referendum body calling a referendum, and to the deadline for re-calling the referendum.