Picula: Impermissible Violence against Demonstrators, Serbia Entering Higher Phase of Uncertainty

Tonino Picula (BETAPHOTO/European Parliament/Philippe BUISSIN)

The European Parliament’s rapporteur for Serbia, Tonino Picula, condemned on Jan. 30 the violence and threats against demonstrators in Serbia, and stated that a country that is a candidate for EU membership was expected to bring the perpetrators to justice.

“Violence, threats and insults are impermissible, which I have clearly and publicly condemned. I expect violent offenders, bullies and the like to be brought to justice, because that is expected of a member candidate for the EU,” Picula told the Belgrade-based portal European Western Balkans (EWB).

Picula, who is a member of the European Parliament from the Socialists and Democrats caucus, has assessed that, after this week’s resignations by Prime Minister Milos Vucevic and Novi Sad Mayor Milan Djuric, Serbia was “entering a higher phase of uncertainty and a situation in which it is hard to foresee what the future brings.”

The MEP from the Social Democratic Party of Croatia has stated that the students’ protests had grown into a massive civil movement and represented “probably the most important form of social and political activism nowadays, not just in Serbia, but in a broader space.” “There have been large protests in Serbia in the recent period, too, but these are bringing a particular dynamic. It is my impression that the authorities are not succeeding in suppressing them due to the non-standard profile of their action, to which the authorities respond by standard mechanisms, as though these were groups that are easily dispersed – either by force in various forms or by societal or material compensations,” Picula stated.