SOLIDARNOST: THE STATE IS NOT AN ELECTION CAMPAIGN HQ

While Deliblato Sands is burning, we are once again witnessing the consequences of a government that has replaced politics with a permanent election campaign.

The Russian Ilyushin is welcome. When the land is burning, assistance should not be divided according to flags. But a responsible state does not choose assistance based on a political narrative. It chooses it based on what is fastest, most effective and most cost-efficient for its citizens.

Serbia has access to the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism. This summer, through the European system, Serbia sent a helicopter and a team to help Spain fight wildfires.

However, when Serbia was burning, the European Commission confirmed that Serbia did not immediately activate this mechanism. When assistance was finally requested, European helicopters, firefighters, rescuers and vehicles arrived.

If Serbia can be part of European solidarity when Spain is burning, there is no reason for it to remember European solidarity only when Serbia itself is already on fire.

There is another question to which citizens deserve an answer: how much does all of this cost?

According to data previously published by Nova ekonomija, the previous deployment of the Russian Ilyushin cost Serbia around €180,000. We therefore demand that the Government publish how much citizens will pay for its current deployment.

For the European Civil Protection Mechanism, funding rules are known and transparent in advance: the European Union finances the majority of eligible costs associated with the deployment of European capacities, while for certain rescEU capacities, EU financing covers at least 75% of relevant operational costs.

Therefore, we are not asking: Russia or the European Union.

We are asking: how much does it cost, how quickly can it arrive, what capacities do we receive, and why did the state not immediately activate all available mechanisms and choose the best combination for the citizens of Serbia?

That is what politics is.

Politics means choosing the best possible solutions for citizens. The SNS has long since stopped doing politics. It is engaged in a permanent campaign in which every decision must first serve a political narrative, and only then the citizens.

Solidarnost therefore proposes that Serbia introduce a binding protocol for major wildfires and other natural disasters. When domestic capacities reach a predefined level of strain, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and all other available international mechanisms must be activated immediately, based on an expert assessment by the Sector for Emergency Management, rather than a political assessment by the government.

For every international intervention, four pieces of information must be publicly available: when assistance was requested, when it arrived, what capacities Serbia received, and how much the deployment cost citizens.

Serbia must also develop a multi-year plan for expanding its own aerial firefighting capacities, further equip and train specialised units, and establish regional cooperation for the wildfire season in advance.

Because a serious state does not wait for a disaster to decide whom to call.

It has a plan before the fire starts.

The state is not an election campaign headquarters. Its purpose is not to produce images, enemies and political narratives, but to choose the best solutions for its citizens.

The SNS's permanent campaign has begun to consume itself. The problem is that, while consuming itself, it is setting the country on fire.