MEP Urges EU Officials Not to Stay Silent as Political Arrests Are Made in Serbia

Thijs Reuten (progressive-governance.eu)

Thijs Reuten, a member of the European Parliament and the Dutch Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats called on July 12 on European Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos and European Council president Antonio Costa to not stay silent as political arrests were being made in Serbia and to use their influence.

"And the EU is silent again while the Serbian government tightens its autocratic grip on society. Pavle Cicvaric is one of the young political prisoners. His parents are asking the EU to help secure his release and protect his fundamental rights," Reuten said in a post on the X social media platform.

He called on European Union representatives to use their influence and read the open letter sent by Pavle Cicvaric's parents to the EU. "And use your influence to secure the release of political prisoners like Pavle. We cannot let another candidate country slip further away," Reuters said in his post.

Civic activists and the parents of jailed School of Political Sciences student Pavle Cicvaric sent an open letter to EU officials. The letters reads that "repression by the regime in Serbia is escalating, and there are students, high schoolers, lawyers, distinguished professors, doctors among the political prisoners." The letter goes on to express bewilderment at the lack of an appropriate response from the EU.