The European Parliament’s permanent rapporteur for Serbia, Tonino Picula, following his visit to Belgrade, where he did not meet with the highest state officials, stated that the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, had planned it that way.
“The decision to reduce direct contacts with me, on behalf of the government, exclusively to discussions in the National Assembly and the Ministry for European Integration, was naturally made by President Vučić, as only he decides on such moves,” Picula confirmed to Radio Free Europe.
Picula visited Belgrade after the draft report on Serbia was presented on February 20 in the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, which faced criticism from Serbian authorities.
Vučić refused to meet with the rapporteur, calling Picula a “liar.” In addition to Vučić, the head of the parliamentary group “Aleksandar Vučić – Serbia Must Not Stop” in the Serbian Parliament, Milenko Jovanov, also refused the meeting.
Picula claims that the government’s negative stance on the draft report regarding the situation in the country was promoted even before his arrival.
“On the other hand, it would not be fair to reduce the meaning and results of my stay in Serbia solely to the meetings I did not have with the president, the acting prime minister, and the foreign minister,” Tonino Picula stated.
During his stay in Serbia, a police operation also took place at several non-governmental organizations in Belgrade.
Picula confirmed that this element, along with all the impressions from the visit, would be included in the continuation of the work on the report about the situation in Serbia.
He assessed that his four-day mission in his capacity as the permanent rapporteur of the European Parliament for Serbia showed that it will not be easy to overcome the differences in assessments of the situation in the country between him and the government representatives with whom he did not have the opportunity to discuss.
“The most significant events in Serbia in recent months are the massive protests led by students, who are blocking educational institutions. The protests have spread almost throughout the country. In my opinion, this represents a general social pressure on the political system, aimed at liberating state institutions from everything that has blocked them for years,” Picula emphasized.
According to him, future developments will depend on the relationships between the four factors he considers to be the most influential: the government, which is failing to disperse the protests; the institutional opposition, which is not leading the developments; the international community, which is largely keeping its distance; and the students, who have broad legitimacy but have not yet expanded their list of demands beyond the initial ones.
The students, who have been blocking more than 60 faculties across the country since the end of November, are demanding criminal and political accountability for the tragedy in Novi Sad, where on November 1, 2024, the roof of the Railway Station collapsed, resulting in the deaths of 15 people.
The students also demand criminal prosecution of those responsible for the attacks against them and other citizens during the protests.
The government, led by President Vučić, claims that a “color revolution” is being attempted in Serbia and insists that the students’ demands have been met. The students and the academic community reject these claims.
