Former German Minister for Europe Michael Roth has strongly condemned the statement made by Serbian Minister Snezhana Paunović, who said that if she had been in Slobodan Milošević’s position in 1998, she would have “ethnically cleansed Kosovo.”
Roth described the statement as deeply disturbing and questioned Serbia’s commitment to European values.
“A Serbian minister openly fantasizes about the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Kosovo. And there is hardly any opposition from politics or society. How is a country supposed to join the European Union like this? Hatred and nationalism do not build partnerships. This is simply sad and frustrating,” Roth wrote.
Roth’s remarks add to a growing wave of international criticism following Paunović’s comments, with many officials arguing that rhetoric glorifying or justifying ethnic cleansing is incompatible with the values on which the European Union is founded.
