EP Member: Vucic Has No Intention of Giving up Power

Kathleen Van Brempt (feps-europe.eu)

Kathleen Van Brempt, a member of the European Parliament, said on June 28, after a June 27 ruling Serbian Progressive Party rally, held under the tagline Serbia - One Family, that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has "no intention of giving up power" and that Europe "must not repeat the mistakes of the past."

Van Brempt was commenting on Vucic's statement during the rally that he was looking at his final days in office. "Vucic and his party have no intention of giving up power. He announced his departure on his own stage, on his own terms: no timeline, no dissolution of parliament, no guarantees for free and fair elections," said the MEP from the Socialists and Democrats Group.

Van Brempt went on to say that "for months, he has been preparing a familiar scenario: install a loyal proxy as president, continue to rule from behind the scenes, and eventually return as prime minister." "We've seen this playbook before with his friend Vladimir Putin," she said, warning that "Europe must not repeat the mistakes of the past."

"This is not the moment to ease pressure or return to business as usual. It is the moment to stand unequivocally with the people of Serbia and their democratic movement," she said. Van Brempt added that, while Serbia's future is in Europe, it "must be a democratic Serbia" and Europe must hold Serbia to that.