A high-ranking official of the European Commission, Gert Jan Koopman, said today in Belgrade that the European Union is aware of the seriousness of the situation in Serbia and pointed out that respect for the rule of law, the independence of institutions, and the fight against corruption are necessary, the Assembly of Serbia announced.
“These are the key values on which the European Union is based. These are also the demands of the students and citizens who are protesting,” said Koopman, the Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, at a meeting with representatives of opposition parliamentary groups.
Koopman, as stated, expressed his belief that the process of European integration also enables progress in organizing and holding fair elections and pointed out that all social actors—the government, the opposition, and civil society—should participate in this process, and that the EU itself should become more engaged.
The meeting was attended by members of parliament Borko Stefanović (Freedom and Justice Party), Ana Jakovljević (People’s Movement of Serbia), Stefan Janjić (Serbia Center), Vladimir Pajić (Movement of Free Citizens), Aleksandar Pavić (We – The Power of the People), and Željko Veselinović (Movement of Workers Sloga – Profession), and the head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Andreas Von Bekerath.
The members of parliament informed Koopman and Von Bekerath in more detail about the situation in the country, especially about the problems in the election of members of the REM Council and the revision of the voter list, stating that the government is manipulating these processes. The reasons for the decline in support among Serbian citizens for EU membership were also discussed, the statement said.
Stefanović, the deputy president of the Freedom and Justice Party, said that Serbia is in a constant political, social, and economic crisis since the tragic collapse of the canopy at the reconstructed railway station in Novi Sad.
“In the circumstances of increasingly violent crackdowns on demonstrators and the absence of justice, citizens are demanding elections as the only way out of the crisis. Mediation by the European Union to hold free and fair elections would be of great benefit,” said Stefanović.
Pajić, a member of the Presidency of the Movement of Free Citizens, said that Serbia has serious problems with basic human rights and fundamental freedoms and that it is also worrying that there are well-founded suspicions and testimonies that European Union funds are being misused and spent “on corruption, repression, and maintaining the power of the anti-European regime,” the PSG announced.
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Source: N1 Photo: Peđa Vučković, Narodna skupština Srbije