Nine members of the European Parliament will arrive in Serbia this Thursday. He will have a series of meetings, both with representatives of the opposition, the media, civil society, and with some representatives of the government, even though President Aleksandar Vučić did not welcome them, on the contrary.
Their arrival was announced after the resolution that was adopted in the European Parliament, in which they condemned state repression, and they requested an open investigation into the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, which led to the death of 16 people.
The European Parliament’s rapporteur for Serbia, Tonino Picula, denied Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s claim that the European Parliament delegation is coming to Belgrade uninvited, where it will stay from January 22 to 24.
Picula said that the Serbian embassy in Brussels was informed about the arrival of the European Parliament delegation, and that the EU delegation in Belgrade was working on the visit program.
“This is the usual practice of the European Parliament, there is nothing extraordinary about it, except for this reaction of the authorities and the situation in the country. As for why the authorities decided on this type of boycott, I would say that it is about avoiding confrontation in a conversation with those who are key to deciding on Serbia’s entry into the European Union,” said Picula.
According to him, the main intention of the delegation, composed of different representatives from different parties in the EP, is to gain a more complete picture of the country, in which all sorts of things have been happening in the past year, in direct conversation with those who reflect the mood of Serbian citizens.
Picula pointed out that the accession document between the European Union and Serbia, like every other candidate country, must undergo verification by the European Parliament, which is why this meeting was significant.
“I think this is a missed opportunity for the most responsible people in Serbia at an important stage of the process, in which they should hear what we think about the candidate state,” Picula said in a statement to Nova RS.
“This is a new situation for most of my colleagues who will be with me in this delegation. I have been faced with this type of boycott before, but this time this message has additional weight because it is about refusing to talk with representatives of the European People’s Party, which in some way is part of the ruling party in Serbia,” Picula pointed out.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on Tuesday that the delegation of the European Parliament is coming to Serbia uninvited and that he does not want to meet “with the haters of Serbia” because of previously agreed commitments.
Vucic made this statement during a visit to Abu Dhabi, after Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnbać said on Monday that she did not intend to meet with MEPs.
