Aleksandar Vučić built his power on corruption, students put forward lustration

Students without prior political engagement possess significant legitimacy to advance demands related to lustration

The fight against corruption was one of the most politically charged themes promoted by the current president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, during the consolidation of his power in his first five-year term in office. He has returned to this issue intermittently since then.

Lustration, by contrast, could become the most politically costly concept for the rebelling students, who regard it as one of the primary mechanisms for challenging the current government and its pervasive corruption.

At their gathering on Saturday entitled “What Does Victory Mean?”, students participating in the blockade presented part of their post-transition program. This program includes the strict implementation of lustration, a process that failed after October 5, as well as the enforcement of the Law on the Origin of Property.

That these proposals struck a sensitive point is demonstrated by Vučić’s swift reaction. He assessed lustration as undemocratic, while at the same time expressing acceptance of the proposal to examine property assets.

In previous years, opposition parties proposed identical or similar measures. However, they failed to secure sufficient public support in elections and therefore did not come to power.

Under these circumstances, the key question is what distinguishes the students’ proposals from those previously advanced by the opposition, and how citizens, who have been misled repeatedly, can now believe that justice will be delivered. In other words, will those who illegally enriched themselves over the past fourteen years be held accountable, prevented from holding public office, and excluded from political life that enabled and facilitated their enrichment? Additionally, the question arises as to whether the opposition can meaningfully assist the students in this process.

Marko Miletić, editor of the Mašina portal, argues that students, as young people without prior political engagement, possess significant legitimacy to advance demands related to lustration and the examination of the origin of property.

Miletić further notes that it is particularly noteworthy that lustration is among the first political proposals articulated by the students. This, he suggests, clearly illustrates both the deep divisions within society and the profound lack of trust not only in those currently in power but also in politicians more broadly.

He concludes that the path from proposing such measures to their actual implementation is long. For the time being, citizens who support these policies can only hope that a new political actor will emerge capable of leading the process of lustration and reviewing the origin of property.

Miloš Đajić, a member of the Rebel University, states that a segment of the program being developed by students and their supporters was presented at Saturday’s gathering, and that it has already been established that corruption represents a systemic and deeply entrenched social problem.

Regarding cooperation, Milan Turanjanin, a provincial member of parliament from the Green-Left Front (ZLF), emphasizes that ZLF is prepared to work with all actors committed to combating corruption. He offers the party’s expertise and cooperation to students and other anti-regime forces.

According to Turanjanin, it is both natural and expected that students would place the fight against corruption at the center of their political engagement, as corruption, and its tragic consequences, constitutes the immediate catalyst for the emergence of their movement.

He explains that individuals found to have unjustified increases in property, and who are consequently required to pay a special tax, could be prohibited from holding public office or standing for election.

Turanjanin concludes that even after the replacement of the Progressive government, tycoons and powerful individuals who enriched themselves through corruption will attempt to preserve their positions and influence, and will not relinquish them without resistance.