Politico: MEPs Condemn European Commissioner’s Visit to Serbia

Magnus Bruner, Photo: European Council/FREDERIC SIERAKOWSKI

Member of the European Parliament have condemned the visit of the European commissioner for internal affairs and migration, Magnus Brunner, to Serbia on April 29, warning that the “timing is bad” and that it could be presented as a propaganda victory for the government in Belgrade, reported the Brussels-based portal Politico.

Magnus Brunner has visited Serbia. His visit followed just a few weeks after the European Commission assessed the possibility of freezing EUR1.5 billion in aid to Serbia due to controversial judicial reforms and the overall democratic regression, Politico reported.

Tonino Picula, a Croatian MEP from the group of Socialists and Democrats and the European Parliament’s rapporteur for Serbia, told Politico that there was “risk that the regime could use that visit to project an image of things proceeding normally, which does not reflect the current situation.”

A co-president of the European Green Party, Vula Tsetsi, told Politico that “obvious and alarming deterioration of the rule of law, media freedom and freedom to protest” had been registered in Serbia. “I was in Belgrade twice in the past few months and I have witnessed first-hand the climate of intimidation and police repression of students’ protests. At such a time, the visit of a European commissioner risk sending the wrong message,” she stated.