Page 21 - SE Outlook Regions 2022

discrepancies in Europe, might welcome.

The collapse of the centre right alliance formed by Liberals with
reformist USR is highly relevant in the process of defining expectations.
Officially, USR blamed Citu for allocating some €10bn “helicopter
money” to local administration, in exchange for political support.
Unofficially, USR and President Klaus Iohannis argued over who should
appoint the head prosecutors. Iohannis went on to deepen the crisis
though his unwavering support for Citu.

In the absence of a robust domestic reformist administration, the
milestones, targets and the budget consolidation trajectory negotiated
with the European Commission remain Romania’s main anchors over
the coming years. Other targets, such as the adoption of the euro and
Schengen area membership, remain in limbo.

The government itself, controlled by the Social Democrats but
incorporating Liberal elements as well, has sketched a model of
economic growth based on local capital (supported by the PSD) and
more manufacturing and investments (required by the PNL) that
focuses to a lesser extent on foreign direct investment. Encouraging
local capital is economically sustainable and profitable in terms of
Gross National Income. But the real challenge concerns the design and
implementation of such a strategy that exists so far only at the level of
petty political rhetoric.

1.10 Politics - Serbia

Extraordinary parliamentary and regular presidential and Belgrade
elections will be held in April 2022. President Aleksandar Vucic and his
Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), who have dominated the political
scene for almost a decade now, are seeking — and are likely to secure
— re-election.

The latest poll from Factor Plus, for example, puts the SNS-led coalition
on 57% of the vote and the United Opposition on just 12%. Vucic
personally has huge support among the citizens of Serbia.

However, the mood of voters in Serbia is very volatile. For now, there is
no leader who can defeat Vucic in the election, but the united
opposition parties think that with the support of citizens they may yet be
able to do so. That is why representatives of different parties are
increasingly coming together for street protests throughout Serbia, and
new political coalitions are being formed almost every day. The mass
protests in December 2021 by Serbian citizens who opposed Rio
Tinto’s plans to build a massive lithium mine in Loznica were backed by
key opposition figures.

As the elections approach, opposition parties will continue trying to use
these and similar protests to achieve their political goals. It was a
similar situation during the protests against a mooted second lockdown
and curfew in Serbia in 2020, which met with strong resistance. The
July 2020 protests may have started from anger among ordinary

21 SE Outlook 2022 www.intellinews.com