French media: Vuçiq rules by printing money and selling national wealth
In an extensive analysis published on the renowned French portal 'La Vie des Idées', journalist and analyst Jean-Arnault Derens describes how Serbian President Aleksandar Vuçiq, builds and maintains its power: through unregulated money printing, the sale of national assets, and deep systemic corruption – always with the tacit support of the European Union.
According to French media, while the West talks about democracy, Serbia is sliding towards a "stabilocracy" - an authoritarian regime that guarantees calm as long as it remains silent about the state of human rights, media freedom, and the capture of institutions. Vuçiq, as noted, combines economic populism with total control of state institutions, using far-right groups as "controlled opposition" and "monsters for intimidation", both for domestic and international opinion.
The article emphasizes that Serbia's economic model is not based on real growth, but on printing money and the massive sale of natural resources - copper to Chinese companies and lithium to the international giant Rio Tinto. All of this takes place in a political system where the government controls public tenders, local municipalities, the judicial system and the media, it reports. N1.
The French author recalls that Vuçiq He was politically formed in the extremist-oriented Serbian Radical Party, was Minister of Information during the war in Kosovo, and today he skillfully plays between East and West, maintaining close ties with Putin, Xi Jinping, but also with EU leaders such as Macron and Meloni.
"The purchase of 12 French Rafale jets in August 2024 has become a political symbol – because a buyer of Rafales cannot be a bad person," the author writes ironically, highlighting the reality of the interests of great powers and the tolerance of authoritarian regimes in the Balkans.
Although Serbia is formally a candidate for EU membership, according to French media, this process has long entered a dark zone. Vuçiq uses this status to consolidate its power, while the EU is content with "stability" - as long as there are no open conflicts, it reports KosovaPress.
Focusing also on the current protests and student assemblies in Serbia, the author emphasizes that a new form of resistance is emerging in the country that rejects classic left-right divisions and demands true democracy, justice, and moral integrity.
