Austria’s Green Party is demanding clarification over a recent meeting between Johannes Hahn, President of the General Council of the Austrian National Bank (OeNB) and former European Commissioner for Enlargement, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. The meeting took place just one day before the funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić.
“While the EU is drawing clear red lines against the glorification of Mladić, its former enlargement commissioner is sitting down with Vučić. Hahn is currently President of the General Council of the OeNB. How private can a meeting with a head of state be when you yourself are President of the OeNB’s General Council?” Green Party MP Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic asked.
Vučić published photographs from the meeting, which was attended not only by Hahn but also by former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and several businesspeople. He described the participants as “friends from Austria and Germany” and said they discussed new ideas, business agreements and investments.
However, the Austrian National Bank told Profil magazine that Hahn’s participation was “exclusively private.”
“This Vučić himself presents Hahn as a ‘friend from Austria’ and publicly links the meeting to business agreements and investments. That does not correspond with the narrative of an exclusively private visit and needs to be clarified,” Disoski said.
She also pointed out that current EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos had cancelled a planned visit to Belgrade over the glorification of Mladić, while Vučić mocked her reasoning as “nonsense.”
The Austrian Greens are calling on Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger to clarify whether the Foreign Ministry or Austrian Embassy was aware of Hahn’s meeting with Vučić and whether there had been any contact or coordination regarding it.
They are also seeking information from Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer about what his ministry knew about the trip undertaken by the OeNB’s General Council President and whether any central-bank resources were used.
Disoski stressed that Serbia “can and should have its place in the European Union,” but emphasized that the path to membership must go through the rule of law, democracy and respect for fundamental European values.
“The glorification of a person convicted of genocide and other war crimes is not a minor issue that can simply be ignored at the next friendly meeting,” she said.
