Vucic: Elections could be held on June 14 or 21; here's when state of emergency will be lifted

Photo Tanjug/Andrija Vukelic, Dragan Kujundzic

The state of emergency in Serbia will be lifted on Wednesday, May 6, on the religious feast of Djurdjevdan, and the overnight curfew will end starting on Thursday, announced President Aleksandar Vucic, who appeared alongside epidemiologist Dr. Predrag Kon on the Hit Tvit talk show last night.

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The state of emergency in Serbia will be lifted when conditions have been met, said the president of Serbia, adding that the main condition is the start of reduction of the number of people sick with coronavirus who are on ventilators, and to have below 5% infected for seven days in a row - and we have reached this goal.

The president said that he expects himself and the government to receive a reasoned opinion and position from the Ministry of Defense today, in accordance with constitutional and legal procedures, and after that, the government will reach a conclusion, and then the prime minister and her decision will go before to the Assembly.

"If all goes to plan, the state of emergency will be lifted on Djurdjevdan. On Wednesday, a proposal for the abolition of the state of emergency will arrive in the Assembly, and after it is adopted and published in the Official Gazette, it will enter into force," he said.

From that moment on, he said, all the responsibility will be on the citizens.

Vucic said he knows that it was difficult for citizens to spend more time at home, not being able to engage in all the activities they were accustomed to, but stressed that this was the only way to save our parents, and sometimes even younger people.

About elections

June 14 or 21 are two possible dates for holding parliamentary elections, but more will be known after the meeting with party representatives, which will be held today, said the president of Serbia.

Printscreen: TV Pink

Will those over 65 have to go back to work when we state of emergency is lifted?

Following the end of the state of emergency, expected for Thursday on this week, emergency measures will remain in force, in the context of an epidemic of particular importance.

Epidemiologist Kon said that everyone can be expected to start working in a few weeks.

Asked specifically for those over 65, Kon said it that would depend on the company and the industry.

"IT sector is growing enormously, it will amount to 10 percent of GDP"

For the first time, Serbia's IT sector will outperform agriculture in terms of GDP, President Vucic said, pointing out that the IT sector is a growing industry for us, and that software exports will participate in growth with 10 percent.

"The IT sector is growing enormously for us and will outperform agriculture, which has a 9.5 percent share in GDP," he says.

He added that the hotel, music, and event industries will be the hardest-hit.

From state of emergency, we move to emergency measures

We are moving from a state of emergency to emergency measures in the framework of the declaration of the epidemic, said Dr. Predrag Kon.

Printscreen: TV Pink

"If the virus activity goes declines, we expect everyone to continue behaving as they did before," said Kon.

Did politics and experts clash?

There was no conflict with the professionals, said the president of Serbia, and added that the state must make decisions that are necessary at a given moment, even when someone doesn't like them.

"We didn't have any problems, we also spoke in smaller circles, and then in Crisis HQ meetings, they were making agreements and no one made any decision on their own. We tried to come up with compromise solutions between their opinions," he said, commenting on the allegations that decisions to impose certain measures had led to conflicts between the professionals and politics.

He explained what his task had been.

"We tried to provide equipment, masks, gloves, ventiltors. That was the job of the state. We are proud of these people. Unfortunately, this has caused us severe economic consequences, but this year we will be still be the best when it comes to the economy," said the president.

(Telegraf.rs)