Von Cramon Hopes Position on Serbia Will Change after the Greens Take Over Berlin Foreign Ministry  

Viola Von Cramon (YouTube snapshot)

Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, a German politician of the Greens and a member of the European Parliament, has expressed hope that the position on Serbia will change after her party takes over the German Foreign Ministry as envisaged under the coalition agreement.  

Von Cramon, a member of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs and the EU Delegation to the EU-Serbia Stabilization and Association Parliamentary Committee, in the evening on Nov. 29 told TV N1 that she had been shocked with the Serbian authorities’ response to environmental protests held over the past few days.  

Von Cramon stressed that everyone had the right to protest as protests were envisaged under the rule of law. “Those groups (demonstrators) clearly advocate broader rule of law, transparency and also the application of the environmental standards in Serbia, so I was surprised and shocked with the government’s reaction,” she said.  

Von Cramon said she hoped that the Serbian authorities would find a more peaceful way to communicate with the people who disagreed with the ruling party and the government.  
Commenting on the observation that the western European leaders had maintained a tolerant approach to the regime of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and asked whether it had been changing, Von Cramon said she hoped that the approach to the Serbian authorities would change after the Greens assumed the German Foreign Ministry. 

“I hope that we will have an approach which will be based more on the rule of law and that we will be more critical of what is happening on the ground and the results of the reforms that have been implemented,” she said. Von Cramon added that the coalition agreement signed by the ruling majority in Germany had largely placed the Western Balkans in its focus.