In an open letter to President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, published on Friday 5 September, MEP Sandro Gozi (Renew Europe, Italian) criticises the government’s handling of recent demonstrations: “Repression, false narratives and attacks on fundamental freedoms (...) are undermining the credibility and the European future of the country”.
This initiative follows the letter sent by Mr Vučić to Brussels on 21 August, in which he accused Serbian students and demonstrators of violence.
The MEP believes that the letter is “a masterpiece of hypocrisy (...); facts, numbers and images tell a different story”. He claims that the Serbian government’s repressive action is destabilising the country and jeopardising Belgrade’s EU integration (see EUROPE 13695/3).
“It is not the youth, it is not the citizens, it is not the demonstrators who are jeopardising the European path of Serbia: Serbia belongs to Europe. But it is you — with your policies, your denial, your statements — which are undermining the credibility and the European path of your country”, denounced Sandro Gozi.
Serbia, which, according to its leader, still wants to join the EU by the end of the decade, is in the grip of strong internal protests, with demonstrators denouncing corruption and the regime’s downward slide into authoritarianism.
As for Aleksandar Vučić, his attitude towards Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, doesn’t sit well in the EU (see EUROPE 13639/28).
See the open letter: https://aeur.eu/f/iar (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)