Belgian Member of the European Parliament Kathleen Van Brempt has stated that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is no longer viewed by the European Union as the key guarantor of stability in the Western Balkans, arguing that Brussels’ trust in him has significantly diminished.
In an interview with the Montenegrin media outlet Vijesti, Van Brempt commented on a recent incident at Tivat Airport, where a charter plane carrying 87 men from Serbia reportedly arrived in Montenegro before immediately returning to Belgrade.
According to her, the incident reflects the increasingly difficult political position facing Vučić and his government.
“If those 87 men had not been on that plane, something else would have happened. This shows how difficult the situation is for Vučić and his authorities,” she said.
Van Brempt argued that Vučić has long exercised significant influence across Western Balkan countries, including Montenegro, and alleged that this influence has been used to encourage ethnic divisions, nationalism, and anti-European sentiment.
She noted that for years many within European institutions believed that, although Vučić was not the democratic model the EU desired, he was considered a factor of regional stability.
“For a long time there was a view that he was not the democrat we would like him to be, but that he guaranteed stability and that the alternative would be chaos. That is over now. He feels it and he knows it,” the MEP said.
Van Brempt further claimed that even the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, no longer believes in the narrative that the stability of the Western Balkans depends on Vučić.
She added that a future accession of Montenegro to the European Union would further undermine claims from Belgrade that the EU is not interested in enlargement in the Western Balkans, emphasizing that the region’s European perspective remains a priority for Brussels.
