site.btaSlovene MEP Irena Joveva Interviewed about Her Support for Protesting Serbian Students

Slovene MEP Irena Joveva told N1 television that when she addressed the protesting Serbian students in their language from the European Parliament earlier this week, she spoke from the heart and with a clear conscience, although Serbian is not among the official languages in the EU.

On February 11, members of the European Parliament discussed the situation in Serbia following the November collapse of a concrete canopy at the recently renovated main train station in Novi Sad, which claimed 15 lives and sparked months of student and civic protests against corruption. Joveva called the Serbian students the driving force in the country.

In the subsequent interview for N1 (a regional cable news channel with offices in Belgrade and other Western Balkan capitals), Joveva said: "My message to the students in Serbia is: Don't give up!" She said she strongly believes that the students can make Serbia a better place.

She went on to urge the students: "When you see and hear people who don't even have a modicum of selflessness and a concept of normal living, it should remind you every day that what you are doing is very important and you should never become like those who are in power, or like people I have seen in the corridors of Europe."

Joveva further commented: "We may idealize better living, but where would we get if better living didn't exist, if there was no belief that better living was possible? I wish you all the happiness in the world, and I believe you will manage to write a textbook about victory."