Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik said that US President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend aid to NGOs is “a signal to Republika Srpska to pass its own law on these organizations,” which, as he said, “have been using foreign funds to smear Serbs and Republika Srpska for years.”
Dodik said that NGOs “will no longer be able to do that because a rigorous law will be passed.”
“There are all kinds of scum here who use foreign funds and do everything to smear the Serbian people and Republika Srpska… We will not take revenge, but we will only say one thing – you will not be able to do that anymore,” Dodik said.
He said that at the first session of the Republika Srpska National Assembly, a law on NGOs will be passed that will be more rigorous than the one previously offered.
“It will be more rigorous than the one we offered when we wanted to make a compromise, and since you did not want a compromise but thought that you could govern, now you will get a law that will be rigorous,” Dodik added.
He stressed that this will be done even at the cost of the European path.
“We are not interested in the EU’s opinion on this. If it is an interruption of the European path, OK. You will not tell us what we should do here,” Dodik said.
He pointed out that “it is obvious that there is a lot of turmoil in Europe and a whole movement of rebellion against this kind of EU”.
“And we should continue to close our eyes and plug our ears to all these complaints. It is clear that this was not good. If Trump said that he would no longer pay for NGOs, then this is a signal for us to pass this law,” Dodik added.
Trump signed a decree suspending financial assistance to NGOs, Srna writes.
