(Vatican Radio) Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic, is expected to win early elections held Sunday, despite a major challenge from far-right groups seeking an alliance only with Russia. Vucic hopes a victory will make it easier for him to introduce reforms demanded by the European Union. Listen to Stefan Bos' report Serbia's conservative Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic called Sunday's vote two years early to in his words receive anew mandate to steer Serbia further towards European Union membership. Yet critics say Vucic wants to consolidate powerwhile his popularity is still high.Ahead of the ballot, opinion polls showed Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party on course for a landslide winin the next parliament.Analysts say the 46-year-old veteran politician who has transformed from a radical anti-Western nationalist into a pro-EU reformer,has positioned himself as a dominant player both in Serbia and elsewhere in the postwar Balkans.PRAIS...
(Vatican Radio) Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic, is expected to win early elections held Sunday, despite a major challenge from far-right groups seeking an alliance only with Russia. Vucic hopes a victory will make it easier for him to introduce reforms demanded by the European Union.
Listen to Stefan Bos' report
Serbia's conservative Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic called Sunday's vote two years early to in his words receive a
new mandate to steer Serbia further towards European Union membership. Yet critics say Vucic wants to consolidate power
while his popularity is still high.
Ahead of the ballot, opinion polls showed Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party on course for a landslide win
in the next parliament.
Analysts say the 46-year-old veteran politician who has transformed from a radical anti-Western nationalist into a pro-EU reformer,
has positioned himself as a dominant player both in Serbia and elsewhere in the postwar Balkans.
PRAISING EU EFFORTS
He has won praise from the EU for efforts to reconnect broken Balkan ties, promote reconciliation and push through some tough economic
reforms. However at home he faces accusations of creating a one-man rule in the style of Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Vucic's government has refused to join Western sanctions against Russia over its role in the conflict in Ukraine that has killed
more than 9,000 people.
The prime minister has made clear that would be disastrous for the country's stagnating economy — especially since most of its energy
sector is controlled by Gazprom, the Russian energy giant. He says he wants to maintain good relations with both Brussels and Moscow.
"Our obligation and mine as prime minister is to do everything possible for Serbia and its citizens. So I must act
accordingly," he said in a recent interview.
"Our path is the European path. We are going towards Europe, but we also want good relations with Russia. As long
as we are able to we will maintain those good relations."
Traditional ties with Russia also explained why Belgrade proclaimed military neutrality to avoid Russian fury.
DIFFICULT TIMES AHEAD
But commentators say that remaining politically and militarily neutral could prove difficult as Serbia advances on its EU path.
Prime Minister Vucic already faces mounting opposition from far-right groups wanting ties exclusively with Russia.
Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj, who was recently acquitted of war crimes by a United Nations tribunal and whose popularity in Serbia has been rise
recently burned EU and NATO flags outside the Higher Court in Belgrade.
He has pledged to turn the upcoming vote into a referendum on EU and Russia ties. "We are facing elections and the Serbian
nation will know to assess who are the patriots and who are not. Who is fighting for an upright and free Serbia, and who
wants Serbia in the EU and NATO slavery?"
Realizing those pro-Russian sentiments Vucis's government send its foreign minister to Serbia's only wax museum
where last month a larger-than-life figure of Russian President Vladimir Putin was unveiled.
Asked why Putin's figure appears to be taller than the Russian president himself, the museum manager reportedly explained:
"We could not allow some high-school student to stand beside the figure and find himself taller than Putin."
The Oregon State Capitol in Salem. / Credit: Zack Frank/ShutterstockWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 15:00 pm (CNA).The Oregon Health Authority (OHA) is reporting a significant rise in assisted suicide prescriptions and deaths in the state, a move that comes after authorities in 2022 began allowing out-of-state residents to access the lethal services.Since the state's passage of the "Death with Dignity Act" in 1997, assisted suicide numbers have been generally rising there, with a markedly sharp uptick since 2013. OHA on March 20 released its 2023 assisted suicide data summary that reported a considerable increase in suicide prescriptions in 2023. The study found that assisted suicide prescriptions in the state rose from 433 in 2022 to 560 last year.Of those 560 prescriptions, 367 people are known to have died from ingesting the suicide "medications." This is up from the 304 who died from assisted suicide drugs in Oregon in 2022.Over half, or 56%, of the assisted ...
The state capitol building of New Hampshire in Concord, New Hampshire. / Credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesCNA Newsroom, Mar 28, 2024 / 11:30 am (CNA).The New Hampshire House of Representatives is poised to reconsider its narrow passage of a bill that would legalize assisted suicide in the "Live Free or Die" state.Last week, New Hampshire state representatives passed HB 1273 by a margin of just three votes, 179-176. Twenty-four representatives abstained during the vote. However, the bill has not been advanced to the New Hampshire Senate, as one member of the slim majority, Rep. Mike Ouellet, filed a motion to reconsider. The Republican politician had initially voted in favor of the proposed law. However, the following day, Ouellet revealed that he wanted to change his vote due to his faith."I've been a practicing Catholic my whole life," the lawmaker told the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism. The Republican politician felt "torn because the bill w...
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