Serbia is changing and fast, because there is no time to lose, said the Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, in an interview with the British "Guardian".
This is her first interview with a foreign newspaper since assuming the position of Prime Minister of Serbia.
"The Guardian" states that "this 41-year-old woman, who has never been in a political party" is no longer unknown and is working to change the image of Belgrade.
The paper notes that her appointment as prime minister was "accompanied by the sound of breaking glass ceilings all around her".
The British daily emphasizes that she "is not the first woman to take on that role, but Brnabić is also a gay person and has reached a high position, even though she is not in a political party."
"Serbia is changing and fast, it can be said that I am part of that change, but I don't want to be labeled as the 'gay prime minister of Serbia'. The message we need to send is a message related to ability, professionalism and reliability." said Brnabić.
"The Guardian" states that she is "committed to changing the name and reality of Serbia" and that she is "working tirelessly with a large young team on administrative reforms as part of the preparations for EU membership that should follow at the end."
"We are a country that has no time to waste," said the Serbian Prime Minister.
The paper states that Brnabić "after 16 years spent abroad, where she completed her master's studies at the British University of Hull, returned to Serbia to be an aunt to her sister's children and devote herself to a career in private business, but says that she was always interested in politics ".
"The Guardian" states that she is "decided not to emphasize her gender or sexual orientation, at least for now" and adds that "as a gay citizen of Serbia, she cannot get married", but also that Brnabić says that at the moment "she has no plans to pushes for legal reforms concerning the LGBT population".
"The reason I'm not focused on it now is that I deeply, sincerely believe that Serbia will be a more tolerant society when people have jobs, better paid jobs, when they don't have to worry about how they will survive, nor about the future of their children, when they won't have to choose because two or three generations live under the same roof," said Brnabić.
She added that she "doesn't think Serbia is that homophobic."
"I know that this is one of the perceptions and I understand that attitudes are different in different parts of Serbia. But some journalists were also in the village in central Serbia where part of my family comes from. They saw a group of people drinking beer in front of a local shop and asked them for me and they answered: 'In this part of Serbia we grow raspberries, we grow fruits and vegetables, we don't cultivate discrimination,' said the Prime Minister of Serbia.
She told the "Guardian" journalist that "we simply need to hear people like this."
"Citizens of Serbia have the right not to be portrayed through the opinion of a vocal minority. We can have a culture in which we disagree, as long as there is tolerance and no violence. We all have different views and values, but I do not want to change the law the way people think," said Brnabić.
"The Guardian" states that "those who slander her, and she herself admits that some of the Serbian media can be brutal, claim that her sexual orientation is designed to hide the truth that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, is still leading the country, and that the word about an authoritarian, corrupt and ethnically divided country".
In addition, they write that "Vučić, who started his career as an extreme right-wing minister of information in the era of Slobodan Milošević, is determined to show the West that Serbia is changing and improving its chances for EU membership".
It is stated that "Brnabić insists that the president is in no way someone who manages every detail and says that he only gave her a rough advice to 'focus on a limited number of issues, not to expand the scope too much, to avoid meaningless meetings and leave time to think and act quickly".
The British journalist notes that the Serbian Prime Minister is "pragmatic, smart and agile" in the conversation and adds that "given Serbia's delicate balancing act between Europe and Russia, she has to be like that."
It is reported that she emphasized that Serbia's strategic goal is EU membership, but that this does not require abandoning the traditional friendship with Russia.
"Without any doubt, the EU is what we are heading towards. Our relationship with Russia is deep, it is historically deep, it is in our tradition and our faith... We have never been asked to choose 'either-or'," she said. Brnabićeva.
As they state, as a sign of her commitment to the EU, Brnabić established the Ministry for Environmental Protection and the Ministry for European Integration in her cabinet.
"Environmental protection will be one of the most difficult and certainly the most expensive chapters in the accession to the European Union," says Brnabićeva.
"The Guardian" points out that negotiations between Serbia and the EU formally began in 2014, but that "many Serbs are losing faith in that process and remain emotionally attached to Russia."
According to Ana Brnabić, public opinion surveys show that there is support for recovery, as well as that many Serbs recognize that the reforms needed to enter the EU are necessary.
"Entering the EU is just the icing on the cake, the road to get there is equally important. "We spent the first three years focusing on the economy, mostly turning the Titanic away from the iceberg of corruption," she says.
Administrative changes are the next and most important reforms for the rule of law, the "Guardian" points out.
"If we don't have the rule of law and an efficient and transparent judiciary, everything else will start to collapse," emphasizes Brnabić.
"The Guardian" concludes that "it is still too early for assessments and that Brnabić might not succeed in changing Serbia, but at the moment it is an experiment that is worth watching".
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