BIRN Attack 'Part of Balkan Democratic Crisis'

The orchestrated campaign against BIRN in Aleksandar Vucic's Serbia was a prime example of the new authoritarianism sweeping the Balkans, which is the rolling back the democratic gains of the 1990s, Balkan expert Florian Bieber said in London on Tuesday.

Speaking at the London School of Economics on the "Crisis of Democracy in the Balkans", Bieber, a Professor for Southeastern European Studies in Graz, said the case fit "a regional pattern of authoritarian temptation". This has seen the rise of governments with marked authoritarian and anti-democratic traits, which are not to be confused with classic dictatorships, however.

Bieber said Vucic's repeated claims that BIRN had lied in connection with its report on the dewatering of the Tamnava mine formed part of a broader pattern of orchestrated offensives against dissenting, critical voices that relied on tame tabloid media.

Other examples were the ferocious campaign against the rights group MANS in Montenegro and the arrest and jailing of the investigative journalist Tomislav Kezarovski in Macedonia. 

Bieber noted the apparent paradox in Vucic accusing BIRN of "getting money from [Michael] Davenport" - the EU chief in Belgrade - to spread alleged falsehoods, while his government actively pursues membership of the EU.

The paradox was not unusual, he added. Throughout the region, governments have appropriated a discourse about Europe, reform and fighting corruption while in practice behaving very differently.

Bieber said the new authoritarian governments of the region were not to be confused with their predecessors in the 1990s. They did not need to promote war or ultra-nationalism, speak through a "state media" or win elections by blatant fraud.

The new model of governance...