He's a dangerous position for Russia. Kea: Raise negotiations, cease aid to Serbia

Nine eurodeputs from the liberal group Renew Europe have sent a letter to European Commission President Ursula von Leyeen and EU High Representative Josep Borrell seeking a temporary freeze of negotiations with Serbia and a ban on EU financial assistance until the country is brought in with the EU position towards Russia.

The letter, which the medium “European Western Balkans” saw, was also signed by European Parliament President Nicola Beer, who is also a member of the Free Democratic Party in Germany. Among the others who signed the letter were Clemen Groselj from Slovenia, Bulgaria's Ilhan Kyuchyuk, Petras Austrevicius from Lithuania, Urmas Paet from Estonia and Bart Groothuis from the Netherlands.

On paper, Eurodeputs say Serbia is showing “a dangerous move towards authoritarianism” that is in sharp contrast with its aspirations for membership in the European Union and that this has been shown with Serbia's refusal to impose sanctions on Russia in response to its aggression against Ukraine.

This is why we call on the Commission to invite Serbian authorities once again to join the EU's common position on Russia. If Serbia decides once again to ignore this call, we demand a temporary freeze of EU membership talks with the Serbian government and deny EU financial support for it until it takes reliable, tangible and clear actions to harmonise its statements, policies and values with the European Union”, it says on paper.

Despite the call for a break-up of financial aid to Serbia, the Eurodeputs also voiced support for civil society and small enterprises in Serbia.

They stressed that Serbia has every right to follow Russian President Vladimir Putin's model if it wants to, but should be clear in its goals and not claim to have serious aspirations for EU membership.