Vulin: This is no time to call elections, gov't reshuffle necessary

BELGRADE - Speaking to reporters after his party's consultations with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Movement of Socialists leader Aleksandar Vulin said the discussion had been serious and substantial and that the Movement of Socialists had expressed the position that elections should not be called in the present atmosphere and that a government reshuffle needed to be carried out as soon as possible.

"We believe elections should not be called in this atmosphere, that we should not have elections where we will have more violence than elections and where the very holding of elections would be put into doubt by violence from those who have been keeping Serbia afraid of violence and constant and repeated clashes for 15 months," Vulin said.

He said the Movement of Socialists believed the government was not doing its job well enough and that a reshuffle was necessary as the majority of ministers did not understand their responsibility and had failed to demonstrate they were capable of performing their duties.

A government reshuffle would help calm political tensions, Vulin said.

He said the Movement of Socialists had also proposed that all Serbs living in the territory of the former Yugoslavia be automatically granted the right to obtain Serbian citizenship, and added that the move would strengthen Serbia's position in the region.

Vulin said his party had also proposed a binding referendum on the continuation of Serbia's EU path as the EU had demonstrated clearly that its policy on Serbia was a policy of double standards and that it had no respect for the country.