Dutch Eurodeput: US, EU and Britain must set limit” Serbia

Thijs Reuten, European Parliament MP from the Socialist and Democrat group, has spoken about his perspective of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's visit to the Western Balkans and Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq's decision to hold new elections.

“Only last week even the most determined believers in failed strategy B E-US for easing Serbian President Vuciq must have had numerous wake-up calls,” he said.

Reuten says that Vuciq denies the existence of the Ohrid Agreement, he does not want the association of Serb municipalities to be founded by Pristina in northern Kosovo, as even when offered to sign an agreement, he refuses to avoid real commitment to normalisation.

“In Belgrade, he tells Commission President von der Leyen in front of her that she is proud to refuse the de facto recognition of Kosovo. And the most recent is that he joins the right ultra-nationalist (Vojislav) Seshel for Serbia's” local elections, Reuten said.

Serbia, Reuten insisted, “should make a choice”.

“You cannot continue to calm down with Russia, be the main cause of continued instability in some neighbouring countries, deliberately allowing and supporting destabilising actions and actors, and at the same time talking about your path to the EU and receiving billions of European support. The EU, the US and Great Britain must set a” limit, Reuten has said of Guardian.

And as Serbia now prepares for elections, Reuten also noted concerns about an uneven playing field and lack of press freedom in Serbia.

“As the head of the European Parliament's Election Observation Mission, I ended up with our colleagues that in the recent presidential elections in April 2022 “a number of shortcomings resulted in an uneven playing field, favouring rulers””, he says.

“The situation has probably deteriorated, especially in terms of media control. I wish nothing more than the Serbian people would be able to secede from over a decade of impasse, freely choose a new leadership and resume their European path”, he adds.

The Parliamentary stressed that the EU should not give Serbia's leadership respite.

“Unfortunately, President Vuciq called early presidential elections now only to maintain his position. The EU should not give him a break and make it clear that he will have to ensure stability for the region and the European future and prosperity for his people”, Reuten orders.