Source: Blic
In the beginning of May, our country will take over the presidency of the Council of Europe for the following six months. Given the number of CoE Member States, an occasion like this arises about every 25 years. This rare occasion to preside over the largest international organization of countries after the UN should be of particular importance for Serbia, given the country's delicate international position and the negative attitudes of many members of the international community toward us. A State that takes the presidency of the Council of Europe is placed in the focus of the international community and is thus given a major opportunity to affirm its advantages and to disperse with possible negative prejudice against it. And we all know that many figures in our political life tend to blame our negative image on isolation and prejudice.We are embracing the opportunity to preside over the Council of Europe in a way no country has done before us. An organization focused on the exercise of human rights and on the functioning of democratic institutions is about to be presided by a country that has a “technical” Government, an obstructed Parliament and Constitutional Court, with an Ombudsman and a financial audit body extant only on paper, to quote but a few striking issues. With such state of affairs, we ought to ask ourselves: who is more responsible for our bad image - the prejudicial others or we ourselves?
Rodoljub Sabic Commissioner for Information
