Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has said that he does not want European Parliament rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula and Slovenian MEP Vladimir Prebilič as interlocutors, rejecting Picula’s assessment that he is avoiding dialogue on Serbia’s future.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has said that he does not want European Parliament rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula and Slovenian MEP Vladimir Prebilič as interlocutors, rejecting Picula’s assessment that he is avoiding dialogue on Serbia’s future, reports N1 info.
Vučić’s message comes after Picula’s statement that the Serbian president rejects dialogue on his country’s European future. At the same time, there is ongoing controversy in Serbia about the visit of the MEPs, which state officials claim was not announced, nor were there any consultations on the date.
Picula told FoNet on Thursday that there was nothing extraordinary about the arrival of the EP delegation, because the Serbian diplomatic mission in Brussels was informed about it, and the European Union Delegation in Belgrade was also working on the program.
Vučić, the Speaker of the Parliament Ana Brnabić and representatives of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party have claimed in the past few days that the visit procedure did not respect the host country.
Commenting on Picula’s statement that he rejects dialogue on Serbia’s European future, Vučić reiterated today that Serbia is on the European path, but that his job is not to allow “the country to be humiliated”.
“They neither asked us if we were invited, nor did they agree on dates with us. They were scheduling it a month ago, and five months ago I had Davos scheduled. Why didn’t you ask us and show at least some basic respect? You don’t want that, but you want to say – they don’t want dialogue”, said Vučić, announcing that he would meet with European officials in Switzerland.
Vučić added that “everyone in Europe knows” that he is boycotting only Tonino Picula and Vladimir Prebilič, adding that he will not talk to “those people”.
He asserted that after the visit, the MEPs will make “another declaration on Serbia in February or March”, but he maintains that this cannot affect Serbia’s European integration.
Serbia started negotiations more than ten years ago, and it is currently at a standstill and no new negotiation chapters-clusters have been opened for almost four years.
In the last two reports, the European Commission pointed out that Serbia has not made progress in key areas – the rule of law and judicial reform, along with a setback in the area of freedom of expression and media freedom, and in the fight against corruption.
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