Predrag Balašević ( ro, Predrag Balașevici, sr-Cyrl, Предраг Балашевић; born 5 January 1974 in Podgorac) is a Serbian politician of Timok Vlach ethnicity who is currently the leader of the

Vlach National Party The Vlach National Party ( ro, Partia Neamului Rumânesc or , PNR; sr-cyrl, Влашка народна странка, Vlaška narodna stranka, VNS), formerly known as the Vlach Democratic Party of Serbia or , PDRS; sr, Влашке демо� ...

Biography

Balašević created the

on 25 April 2004 in Bor to defend the rights of Timok Vlachs of

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

. In 2008, he led the

political coalition This is a list of political groups by country. A political group also known as a political alliance, coalition or bloc, is cooperation by members of different political parties on a common agenda of some kind. This usually involves formal agree ...

United Vlachs of Serbia formed between the Vlach National Party and two other Vlach parties. This was done with the intention of participating in the

2008 Serbian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Serbia on 11 May 2008 to elect members of the National Assembly of Serbia, National Assembly. The election was held barely a year after the 2007 Serbian parliamentary election, previous parliamentary election. ...

. For doing this, 10,516 signatures showing support to the coalition were submitted. The coalition presented 171 candidates in the elections. Balašević has reported that the lack of education in the

Romanian language Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește'', ) is the official and main language of Romania and the Republic of Moldova. As a minority language it is spoken by stable communities in ...

in the

Timok Valley The Timok Valley ( sr, Тимочка Крајина, Timočka Krajina; bg, Тимошко, Timoshko; ro, Valea Timocului) is a geographical region in east-central Serbia around the Timok River. The Timok Valley corresponds to parts of two Serbia ...

is "dramatic" and endangers the survival of the community, demanding help from

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

and comparing the situation with the support that

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

brings to its diaspora. On 2020, he participated in the 2020 Serbian parliamentary election, saying that this election was an important opportunity for a representative of the estimated around 330,000-strong Romanian minority in Serbia to enter the

Parliament of Serbia The National Assembly ( sr-cyr, Народна скупштина, Narodna skupština, ) is the unicameral legislature of Serbia. The assembly is composed of 250 deputies who are proportionally elected to four-year terms by secret ballot. The as ...

for the first time. Balašević also thanked George Simion and his Romanian party

Alliance for the Union of Romanians The Alliance for the Union of Romanians ( ro, Alianța pentru Unirea Românilor, AUR) is a right-wing populist and nationalist political party currently active in Romania and Moldova. It was founded on 19 September 2019. This was done with the ...

(AUR) for supporting him during the elections, with AUR being the only party from Romania that did this.

References

1974 births Living people Vlachs of Serbia Serbian people of Romanian descent Ethnic Romanian politicians in Serbia Serbian human rights activists {{Serbia-politician-stub