EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT DELEGATION IN BELGRADE: MEPs visited the Jasenovac exhibition, here is what is planned!

A delegation of Members of the European Parliament will today hold talks in Belgrade with various social actors about activities in the process of accession to the European Union (EU), focusing on areas and topics highlighted in two European Parliament (EP) resolutions on Serbia adopted last year.

As previously announced by the EP, nine members of its Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) will today talk in Belgrade with representatives of the Government of Serbia and parliamentary parties about additional reforms needed to advance Serbia’s EU accession process.

Members of the delegation, led by Portuguese MEP Marta Temido, will also hold separate talks with representatives of the media, civil society organizations, research centers, the academic community, and students.

At the meetings, as stated, issues highlighted in the EP Resolution of May 7, 2025, on the European Commission reports on Serbia for 2023 and 2024, and in the EP Resolution of October 22, 2025, on polarization and increased repression in Serbia, one year after the tragedy in Novi Sad – the death of 16 people due to the collapse of a canopy – will be raised.

In the earlier EP Resolution of May 7, it is stated that Serbia, despite certain progress, still needs to overcome significant obstacles on its path toward the EU – above all to improve internal political dialogue, implement reforms in the area of the rule of law and the fight against corruption, reach a comprehensive agreement on the normalization of relations with Kosovo, and fully align with the Union’s foreign policy.

In that document, MEPs expressed deep concern over systemic problems pointed out by student and other protests in Serbia, including issues of civil liberties, separation of powers, corruption, environmental protection, institutional and financial transparency, particularly in connection with infrastructure projects, and accountability.

MEPs are staying in Belgrade from January 22 to 24, and at the end of the visit they will hold a press conference. It is expected that after the visit they will draw up a report, the scope of which is difficult to assess at this time.

NADA JE BIVŠA ŠAMPIONKA KOJA SE BORI ZA OPSTANAK SVOG LEGENDARNOG KLUBA: U Čikagu su joj pomogli i srpski sveštenici, koji su s njom igrali stoni tenis! (VIDEO)

Composition of the delegation

In the AFET delegation, three members come from the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), the largest group in the EP, two from the Socialists and Democrats, and one each from the Greens, the liberal group Renew Europe, the right-wing group European Conservatives and Reformists, and the far-right group Europe of Sovereign Nations.

The EPP members of the delegation are Reinhold Lopatka from Austria, Davor Ivo Stier from Croatia, and Rasa Juknevičienė from Lithuania. The Socialists and Democrats are represented by the head of the delegation Marta Temido and the EP rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula from Croatia.

On behalf of the Greens, the delegation includes Vladimir Prebilič from Slovenia; Renew Europe is represented by Helmut Brandstätter from Austria; the European Conservatives and Reformists by Șerban-Dimitrie Sturdza from Romania; and Europe of Sovereign Nations by Petr Bystron from Germany.

“Fact-finding mission”

The mandate of the AFET delegation stems from the EP Resolution of October 22, 2025, which states that MEPs support sending a fact-finding mission to Serbia.

With that Resolution, which states that there should be a broader examination of the extent to which corruption led to a lowering of safety standards and contributed to the Novi Sad tragedy, MEPs supported the right of students and citizens of Serbia to peaceful protests and most strongly condemned the wave of state-sponsored violence, intimidation, and indiscriminate arrests.

They assessed that Serbia’s leadership is politically responsible for the escalation of repression, the normalization of violence, and the weakening of democratic institutions in the country.

The Resolution, among other things, calls on the European Commission to initiate an initiative to introduce targeted individual sanctions against those responsible for serious violations of the law and human rights, condemns the arbitrary and politically motivated use of presidential pardons of persons prosecuted for violence against students, as well as the establishment of an illegal pro-government tent camp in front of the Presidency of Serbia, the so-called “Ćacilend.”

The authorities of Serbia are called upon to ensure media freedom, and high officials to stop inflammatory rhetoric that incites hostility or violence.

The text notes with concern that the government is apparently negotiating with the owners of United Media in order to weaken the independent media within its portfolio and warns that this represents a serious attack on the already endangered media pluralism in Serbia.

MEPs viewed the Jasenovac exhibition

Although representatives of the authorities yesterday said that the European Parliament delegation, which arrived in Serbia on an observation mission, had “requested not to pass through the central hall of the National Assembly of Serbia where the exhibition Jasenovac – a permanent warning is located,” the MEPs nevertheless passed through and viewed the exhibition.

After a meeting with Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Elvira Kovač, the MEPs headed to the central hall of parliament to view the Jasenovac exhibition.

Representatives of the European Parliament, led by the rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula, familiarized themselves with the exhibition.

We recall that the Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, stated in Tallinn that the Jasenovac exhibition in the Serbian parliament was not a provocation to MEPs, and that they, by requesting not to pass by the exhibition during their visit to the Assembly, showed disrespect to the victims, the Serbian people, and the Holocaust.

“For me it is unbelievable, eerie, and horrific that you have MEPs who want to avoid such an exhibition, because Jasenovac is part of the Holocaust,” she told Serbian journalists yesterday in Estonia.