The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic took part today in the online conference of speakers of parliament of EU Member States and candidate countries organised by Germany. In addition to the EU Member States, the conference was attended by the parliament speakers of Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
The hosts of the conference dedicated to digitalisation and the changing public sphere – risks and opportunities for representative democracy, were the President of the German Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble and the resident of the Bundesrat Reiner Haseloff.
In his address, National Assembly Speaker Ivica Dacic stressed that the many benefits of digitalisation are accompanied by just as many challenges for the democratic development of our societies. We saw its positive effects for our citizens during the pandemic, said the National Assembly Speaker, stressing that widespread digitalisation has significantly facilitated the vaccination process, placing Serbia among the top countries in Europe and the world in the number of vaccinated citizens. On the other hand, the "dark" sides of the digitalisation process are visible at every step, above all in the sphere of public communication through hate speech, spreading fake news, conspiracy theories, and these negative sides disrupt some of the basic democratic achievements of our society.
THE FOLLOWING IS THE SPEECH OF THE SPEAKER OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA IN ITS ENTIRETY:
“Dear Mr Schäuble,
Dear Mr Haseloff,
Dear colleagues,
Thank you for the opportunity to discuss one of the most important topics of modern societies in Europe and the world. I would not call it a problem, but as in any global trend, digitalisation brings with it many benefits, and at the same time, many challenges for the democratic development of our societies.
I see our role, the role of our parliaments in the digitalisation process, as one of the leaders of the effort to get the maximum benefit for our societies from modern digitalisation processes on the one hand, and on the other hand to minimise its negative sides. I am convinced that our influence is truly great in that sense and we should not run away from it. On the contrary, we should use that influence to promote a democratic culture in the digital sphere, because it is already becoming the main field where all political and social life takes place.
Serbia is a highly digitalised society. Almost two thirds of our citizens use the Internet every day and 80% of our households have an Internet connection. This has numerous positive effects for our citizens, I will only mention that due to efficient and widespread digitalisation, Serbia is at the very top in Europe and the world in terms of the number of vaccinated citizens, which is a chief prerequisite for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the other hand, the "dark" sides of this process are visible at every step, and above all in the sphere of public communication. We, like all other societies, are not immune to hate speech, spreading fake news, conspiracy theories, all the by-products of the shift of public dialogue to the digital sphere. This trend has to worry the public and its political representatives, because its negative side is already breaching some of the democratic and civilisational foundations of our societies.
I do not have to go far, I will only warn you that resistance to vaccination among millions of people in Europe is mostly caused by reliance on conspiracy theories and charlatan content, so widespread in the online sphere and on social networks. Together, we are in a very sensitive zone, where we need to find such solutions, that will make our public space a place free of violence and fake news, without violating the principles of freedom of expression and openness of public space for everyone.
It is our responsibility to seek solutions that will be common and generally accepted, be they a certain degree of regulation or the adoption of standards of tolerance for dialogue that we will apply together and widely. In that sense, the Republic of Serbia still wants to work together with all of you individually, as well as with the European Union as a whole, because we can see good solutions for the future only by working together in this field which belongs to us all and knows no borders. "
