The Party of Freedom and Justice (, abbr. SSP) is a social democratic political party in Serbia. It is led by Dragan Đilas.
Founded in 2019 as the merger of the Green Ecological Party – The Greens and Serbian Left, SSP was a member of the Alliance for Serbia (SZS), a coalition of opposition political parties that was initiated by Đilas in 2018. Together with SZS, SSP boycotted the 2020 parliamentary election, claiming that the election would not be free and fair. After the election, SSP became part of the United Opposition of Serbia (UOPS), the successor of SZS. UOPS would be eventually dissolved in January 2021, due to disputes between SSP and the People's Party (Narodna). In late 2021, SSP and Narodna returned together with the Movement of Free Citizens and Democratic Party to form the United for the Victory of Serbia (UZPS) alliance, which was officially formalised in February 2022, to take part in the 2022 general election. The elections resulted in the SSP gaining 10 seats in the National Assembly and 6 seats in the City Assembly of Belgrade. UZPS was also dissolved after the elections. Since then, SSP has led the Forward to Europe parliamentary group in the National Assembly.
SSP is a centre-left political party and it serves in opposition to SNS. An anti-corruption party, the party is also opposed to party employment, while regarding economy, SSP has called for tax reforms that would bring in progressive taxation. SSP supports financing free textbooks and school meals for school children, and has called for the introduction of a new labour law. The party supports the accession of Serbia to the European Union, wants Serbia to harmonise its foreign policy with the European Union, and initiate sanctions on Russia regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. SSP has criticised Chinese investments into infrastructure and it had adopted a platform in which they pledged "reconciliation, cooperation, and the acceptance of diversity" between countries in the Balkans. Supporters of SSP are pro-European while they also see themselves as socially progressive. SSP has cooperated with parties inside the Party of European Socialists, namely the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia and Social Democratic Party of Austria.
History
Background and formation
The Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP) was formed out of the Green Ecological Party – The Greens (ZEP–Zeleni), a political party that was established in 2008. Dejan Bulatović was the leader of ZEP–Zeleni after 2015. He led the party into a coalition with the Greens of Serbia (ZS), which fell apart before the 2017 presidential election, and was a part of the Civic Bloc 381 coalition which was formed in 2018 and headed by the Movement of Free Citizens (PSG). ZEP–Zeleni left the bloc in November 2018. A month later, ZEP–Zeleni joined the Alliance for Serbia (SZS), an opposition political alliance initiated by Dragan Đilas in 2018. A series of anti-government protests began in December 2018 after a physical attack on Borko Stefanović; SZS supported the protests.
In March 2019, it was announced that Đilas agreed with Bulatović to reconstruct the party as SSP with Đilas as the party's president; Đilas previously stated that he had no plans of buying ZEP–Zeleni. Alongside ZEP–Zeleni, the Serbian Left (LS), a political party led by Stefanović, and ten movements and individuals merged to create SSP. The founding convention was held on 19 April 2019, at which Đilas was chosen president, Stefanović as deputy president, and Bulatović and Marinika Tepić as vice-presidents. Following its formation, SSP gained two seats in the National Assembly of Serbia and 13 seats in the City Assembly of Belgrade.
2019–2021
SSP announced that it would boycott the 2020 parliamentary election in September 2019, claiming that the election would not be free and fair. This position was adopted by SZS later that month. Mass protests that began in 2018 formally ended in March 2020 due to the proclamation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Serbia. After the June 2020 parliamentary election, SZS was dissolved and subsequently transformed into the United Opposition of Serbia (UOPS), in which SSP also took part. However, UOPS remained unstable; SSP announced in December 2020 that it would form a joint platform with the PSG regarding the inter-party dialogues on electoral conditions. This was opposed by the People's Party (Narodna), which ultimately led to the dissolution of UOPS in January 2021.