Brnabic: We do not need elections, I do not believe Serbia is boiling

BELGRADE - Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic said on Wednesday she believed Serbia did not need early parliamentary elections and that she did not think Serbia was "boiling", as the opposition was trying to portray the situation, but that it was a stable country.

"The scenario we now have following the Novi Sad railway station tragedy we were also able to see last year, after the tragedy in May (the deadly mass shootings in downtown Belgrade and in Mladenovac)," Brnabic said.

"I was PM at the time and I said no problem, that they can count on my resignation, which would have meant that the government has fallen and that we would have been going to elections. In May, June, July and August, they were saying the same thing: 'You will not trick us with elections, if you call them we will call the citizens to civil disobedience and to a blockade of all streets,' and then, on September 11, they all sent a demand for urgent elections to the president - both for the parliament and in Belgrade," Brnabic told a press conference.

At no point did the opposition attempt to provide an explanation for the about-turn, she said.

"I would not be surprised if they said today that they do not want elections and then requested them tomorrow. We have seen all this several times in the past ten years. I think we do not need elections, but I do not think Serbia is boiling. I do not know why those who think so are not requesting elections - I think Serbia is a stable country that knows where it is heading," Brnabic said.

She said she believed the political situation in Serbia was excellent thanks to President Aleksandar Vucic and that the country's foreign policy position was better than ever.