{"id":334419,"date":"2024-02-08T14:47:58","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T13:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/02\/08\/parlamento-europeo-serbia-vucic-brogli\/"},"modified":"2024-02-13T14:30:53","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T13:30:53","slug":"european-parliament-against-vucics-serbia-stop-eu-funding-if-authorities-involved-in-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/02\/08\/european-parliament-against-vucics-serbia-stop-eu-funding-if-authorities-involved-in-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"European Parliament against Vu\u010di\u0107’s Serbia. Stop EU funding if authorities involved in fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The European Parliament’s denunciation of what took place in Serbia on Dec. 17 could not have been harsher considering\u00a0the\u00a0support in the Strasbourg Chamber. With 461 in favor, 53 against<\/strong> (all of the ID group apart from the Italians of the Lega, who abstained),\u00a0and 43 abstentions<\/strong> (including all MEPs from Fratelli d’Italia, unlike the majority of the ECR group in favor), the plenary session of the European Parliament gave the green light today (Feb. 8) to the joint resolution<\/a> on the situation in Serbia after the December elections, raising\u00a0not only concerns about the rule of law in the EU candidate country<\/strong> but also calling for heavy-handed action by the Commission should the involvement of the authorities and the outgoing government in electoral fraud be established.<\/p>\n

\"Serbia<\/a>
Serbian President, Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107, at the polls on December 17, 2023 (credits: Elvis Barukcic \/ Afp)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A resolution that all political groups in the European Parliament\u00a0(the six motions of resolutions signed by the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens\/Ale, ECR, and the Left merged into a single text) fully shared,\u00a0except for the far-right Identity and Democracy<\/strong>, which as in the January plenary debate, <\/a>was\u00a0against denouncing voting irregularities and\u00a0continued with distorted rhetoric of EU-Serbian (and Russian) relations. It is\u00a0the numbers in the European Parliament\u00a0that make it clear that it is time for\u00a0EU institutions to get serious about Belgrade urging “the Commission to launch an initiative to send an expert mission to Serbia to assess the situation as regards the recent elections and post-election developments,” to\u00a0facilitate social dialogue and to ” assess and address the systemic rule of law issues in Serbia, looking at the example of the \u2018Priebe Reports\u2019[recommendations of an expert group commissioned by the Commission in 2015 on North Macedonia, ed.].”\u00a0<\/em>In particular, the MEPs recall the fact that the December snap Parliamentary elections<\/a>\u00a0“deviated from international standards,” both due to the interference of the President of the Republic, Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107<\/strong>, in support of his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), and the “systematic fraud that compromised the integrity” of the election round. For this reason,\u00a0the EU mission should be accompanied by an “independent international investigation”<\/strong> into the “irregularities in the parliamentary, provincial, and municipal elections,” focusing on those for the Belgrade Assembly.<\/p>\n

Despite repeated appeals from the international community, no “institutional response to the serious allegations of the incumbents\u2019 involvement in electoral manipulation and abuse, <\/strong>which contributes to an atmosphere of impunity and ensures the continuation of these practices,” and – MEPs warn – “if allowed to persist without any repercussions, this practice will continue to undermine trust in Serbia\u2019s electoral process and institutions<\/strong>, irrevocably hindering democratic rule and further European integration.” In the face of an alarming picture in terms of deteriorating standards of respect for the rule of law for a country that has been a candidate for EU membership for 12 years, the EU Parliament also accuses the\u00a0EU executive of\u00a0the “lack of explicit criticism”, particularly from the most controversial member of the Board of Commissioners, Hungary’s Oliv\u00e9r V\u00e1rhelyi<\/strong> responsible\u00a0for Enlargement.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Aleksandar<\/a><\/figure>\n

Opposition posters\u00a0at the first session of the National Assembly of Serbia on February 6, 2024 against the president of the republic, Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107, who was called the ‘head mafia’ (credits: Andrej Isakovic \/ Afp)<\/p>\n

The Commission\u00a0is called upon to take the harshest action if Belgrade fails to implement the election recommendations “or if the findings of this investigation indicate that the Serbian authorities were directly involved in the voter fraud.” This means\u00a0a “suspension of EU funding on the basis of serious breaches\u00a0of the rule of law” and, as a result, a possible halt to accession negotiations, which<\/strong>\u00a0“should advance only if the country makes significant progress on its EU-related reforms,” the resolution reads. Not to mention the Serbian president’s accusations against EU member states and European media that “they were involved in organizing the post-election protests.” In this regard,\u00a0all EU institutions agree\u00a0in their denunciation of Vu\u010di\u0107’s allusions to\u00a0“a special war” being waged by the Western press<\/strong>: “If he looks at what is being done with the support of his administration about the quality of journalism,” in Belgrade he allows “the instrument of Russian propaganda and lies to set foot on Serbian soil,” European External Action Service (EEAS) spokesman Peter Stano<\/strong>\u00a0said in a press\u00a0point. The reference is to Russia Today Balkan (from July 2022 operational in Serbia), “a broadcaster banned by the European Union for its subversive activities in connection with the illegal war against Ukraine.”<\/p>\n

Tensions in Serbia after early elections<\/span><\/h3>\n

Despite high expectations on the eve of the elections from the ‘Serbia Against Violence’ coalition,\u00a0the Serbian Progressive Party won again in snap\u00a0elections with 46.67 percent of the vote<\/strong>, trailing by 23 percentage points the very united opposition that came in second place. In the face of fraud and numerous illegal actions at the ballot box, thousands of people took to the streets responding to the call of the parties and movements that translated into political (pro-European) demands the street protests against the climate that led to the May Shootout. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)-led election observation mission – in which members of the European Parliament also participated – also noted “the misuse of public resources, the lack of separation between official functions and campaign activities<\/strong>, and\u00a0intimidation and pressure on voters, including cases of vote-buying.” Nearly a month after the early elections, protests against fraud by the ruling party continue, particularly in Belgrade.<\/p>\n

\"Poteste<\/a>
Serbian opposition street protests in Belgrade (credits: Miodrag Sovilj \/ Afp)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the capital, the situation remains tense. The possibility of a repeat of local elections,<\/strong>\u00a0in which the Serbian Progressive Party claimed victory, cannot be ruled out: the party led in Belgrade by the pro-Russian Aleksandar \u0160api\u0107<\/strong> won 49 seats (out of 110), which, however, would not be enough to control the City Assembly with the support of the far-right Russophile nationalist party ‘We, the Voice of the People’ of Branimir Nestorovi\u0107<\/strong> alone. The coalition ‘Serbia Against Violence’ denounced that over 40 thousand people who arrived from Republika Srpska<\/strong> (the Serb-majority entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina) voted in Belgrade without being formally registered as residents<\/strong> and demanded the annulment of the ballot result, explicitly speaking of “electoral theft.” The same complaint came from MEP and member of the parliamentary delegation Viola von Cramon-Taubadel <\/strong>(Greens\/Ale): “We have seen cases of organized transportation of voters from Republika Srpska and voter intimidation.”<\/p>\n

Added to this is the case that Brussels “is following closely” (words of the EU Commission’s spokeswoman for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement, Ana Pisonero<\/strong>) the violence suffered by the leader of the opposition Republican Party, Nikola Sandulovi\u0107<\/strong>, who was picked up by Serbian intelligence services on Jan. 3 and severely beaten in detention for\u00a0paying homage at the grave of Adem Jashari, one of the founders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK)<\/strong>. Members of the Serbian Security Information Agency (BIA) allegedly abducted and tortured Sandulovi\u0107,\u00a0then detained him in Belgrade’s central prison without access to independent medical care. Among those responsible for the violence are allegedly Milan Radoi\u010di\u0107<\/strong>, deputy head of Lista Srpska (the main party representing the Serb minority in Kosovo and closely controlled by President Vu\u010di\u0107), who, among other things, already admitted to organizing the armed attack in northern Kosovo in late September last year. The former head of Serbian intelligence (who resigned two months ago), Aleksandar Vulin<\/strong>, reportedly personally ordered Sandulovi\u0107’s arrest, but the defense lawyer pointed the finger at President Vu\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n

\n

Find more insights on the Balkan region in the newsletter BarBalcani<\/b><\/a> hosted by Eunews<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Resolution overwhelmingly approved calling on the Commission to send an expert mission to Belgrade to assess possible “serious violations of the rule of law” in the December elections. Accession negotiations “should advance only if the country makes significant progress on reforms”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5647,"featured_media":334332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"0","show_view_counter":"0","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[25871,26072,26013,26065,26108,25755,26301,26302,26070,26071,26772],"class_list":["post-334419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-alexandar-vucic-en","tag-elezioni-serbia-2023-en","tag-news-parliament-en","tag-respect-status-right-en","tag-state-of-right-en","tag-sanctions-serbia-en","tag-inserbia","tag-serbia-russia-and"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5647"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=334419"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":335572,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/334419\/revisions\/335572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/334332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=334419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=334419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=334419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}