MEPs Appeal on Vucic Regarding EuroPride Not Signed by Speaker or EPP Leader

European Parliament (Photo: European Union 2019/EP/Gabor Kovacs)

The letter in which 145 members of the European Parliament (EP) urged the Serbian authorities to enable the holding of the pride parade within the pan-European event EuroPride, was signed by the leaders of several political groups in the EP, but not by the president of the European People's Party (EPP), Manfred Weber.

The letter, which the MEPs sent on Aug. 31 to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, was signed by the leaders of four caucuses in the EP, the Socialists and Democrats, the Greens, the liberal caucuses Renew Europe and the Left, the Brussels-based portal Politico has reported.

Although German MEP Weber, who is the chief of the largest political group in the EP, of which the Serbian Progressive Party is an associate member, is not among the signatories, the letter was signed by the vice-president of the EPP, Frances Fitzgerald, of Ireland. It was neither signed by the speaker of the European Parliament, Roberta Matsola, while six deputy speakers of the EU's legislative body did sign it.

Among the signatories of the letter, which reads that a ban on EuroPride was not the solution despite threats to the participants, are members of parties from the far left to the center-right.