Serbian Diplomat Denies Statement by EP Member Picula

EU Lawmakers Visited Jasenovac Exhibition in Parliament, Belgrade, Jan. 23 2026 (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Nevena Jovanovic, state secretary at the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denied on Jan. 30 statements by European Parliament member Tonino Picula that an EP mission that visited Belgrade on Jan. 22 and 23 had encountered "hostile treatment."

"The hostile treatment of the ad-hoc European Parliament mission by those in power in Belgrade sends a clear message about the need for and justification of our coming," Picula said in a post on the X social media platform.

Responding to Picula on X, Jovanovic wrote that Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric had received mission members "in a fair manner and in full accordance with diplomatic practice," adding that the conversation was "open and constructive." She went on to say that, according to established international practice and diplomatic protocol, heads of state or government receiving EP members was an exception rather than an obligation, and that meetings at higher and the topmost levels were arranged well in advance, in line with established procedures, not via public messages and later reinterpretations.

Изјаве господина Тонина Пицуле не одговарају чињеницама.

Чланови ад-хок мисије Европског парламента били су коректно и у потпуности у складу са дипломатском праксом примљени од стране министра спољних послова Републике Србије Марка Ђурића са којим су водили отворен и… pic.twitter.com/YwIiPXOHOJ

— Nevena Jovanovic (@stsecjovanovic) January 30, 2026

For days ahead of the mission's arrival, pro-government media outlets in Serbia aired insults against Picula, the EP's rapporteur for Serbia, over a social media post this summer in which congratulates his country on the anniversary of the 1995 military and police Operation Storm targeting the then-Republic of Serb Krajina, which resulted in the mass expulsion of Serbs from Croatia. Picula included an image of himself with a rifle in the post. Croatia considers Operation Storm a turning point in its war of liberation and the reinstatement of the state's territorial integrity, while Serbia sees it as ethnic cleansing.