Minister Mali: Belgrade city elections are most important so far

Photo: Tanjug/Marko Djokovic

Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said today that the upcoming Belgrade city-level elections, in his opinion, are probably the most important ones in Serbia's recent history, because "the direction in which Belgrade will develop is very important, and the way Belgraders see further development of their city, but also of the country."

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Appearing on TV Prva, Mali said it is especially important that there is leadership unity at the level of the local self-government and the Republic, because, "it cannot be done otherwise."

"Therefore, we work together, we solve problems together, we deal with and invest in all those big projects that are important for all local governments together, for the whole of Serbia, not only for the city of Belgrade. Just imagine what it would look like if there was no communication between the city's leadership in Belgrade and the government of the Republic of Serbia. There would be no growth, no projects, no progress for Belgrade," said Mali.

He added that it is very important to show unity and harmony, and that there is vertical integration, cooperation and togetherness between the city of Belgrade and the Republic of Serbia in terms of projects, since that this is the only way we can move forward.

"I am sure that the voters will recognize that, as they have already recognized our policy, and that we will achieve a better result than in the previous elections," Mali said.

Speaking about the opposition, Mali said that they have no policies or program except hateful words aimed at Aleksandar Vucic and his family, as well as that Belgraders could not hear anything useful from the opposition during the campaign.

"Their desire is only for Dragan Djilas to come to power, in whatever way, despite the majority will of the people and citizens of Serbia and the citizens in Belgrade not wanting them. They need someone else to bring them to power. I said it - solely for their own petty interests, especially those of Dragan Đilas," said Mali.

He believes that it would be good if the elections were to be held as soon as possible.

"It is a good decision to repeat the vote in Belgrade, let's compete again, see how and what the citizens will say. We are coming out again with concrete programs, we talked about EXPO, 'Serbia - Leap into the Future 2027'. We will also talk in this campaign about the concrete problems of the citizens, about how we will solve them, how the whole of Serbia, how Belgrade will move forward," Mali said.

He added that during the SNS campaign, he will also talk about investments in infrastructure, building sewage networks, healthcare, education, kindergartens, landscaping of parks and everything else that is important for the daily life of the citizens in Belgrade.

When asked about the ban on payments in Serbian dinars in Kosovo and Metohija, Mali said that they are trying every day to find a solution and solve the problem caused by Albin Kurti.

"It is a big problem for our citizens in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, but we will not give up on finding a solution. We have to ensure normal life to those citizens there, but that is only one part of the pressure that you can see," said Mali.

According to him, the situation in the world is changing and Serbia is facing many challenges, starting with Kosovo and Metohija, regional challenges, pressure related to the conflict in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.

"What we need today, as never before and never more than now, is unity, harmony, that is, to preserve our Serbia as an independent, sovereign state, and on the other hand, to do everything to continue growth and for the citizens to be improving their standard of living year after year," said the minister.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)