Serbia's worst since Milosevic's fall

The state of media in Serbia is disturbing and, thus, so bad, has not been since Slobodan Milosevic's fall, has declared for “danas” Florijan Biber, university professor at Graz. He thinks Serbia “under Vuciki's control can hardly enter the European Union, and will also be obliged to Kosovo”, Koha.net broadcasts.

“Nationalism and hate speech in government-related media, attacks on independent media, control and threats hinder the work of critical media and it is normal for these media to exist”, Biber has said.

He sees the problem in the fact that the EU's “do not understand how serious the situation is and how serious the situation is they are willing to close their eyes” because this, for them, Biber says, is useful.

Biber says there is a trend of strengthening authoritarianism in the Western Balkans. He notes that Macedonia has become more democratic than it was a year ago.

According to him, statements by EU officials show that”Union still has no will to pressure those governments and in their undemocratic practices”.

Biber thinks Serbia “under Vuci control can hardly enter the EU”. He adds that Serbia, before membership in the European Union, must recognise Kosovo, without eye-to-eyeing what it is called.