BELGRADE – A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is pushing to hold a meeting of 56 nations about European security in South Carolina rather than Serbia next year, it was reported by Reuters. A joint congressional resolution was introduced by Republican Representative Joe Wilson.
The document, signed by 41 congressmen, calls for the 2027 annual session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to take place next summer in Charleston, in Wilson’s home state of South Carolina, rather than in Belgrade.
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly is the parliamentary dimension of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, bringing together 323 members from 56 national parliaments to promote inter-parliamentary dialogue, security co-operation, and human rights.
In an interview with Radio Free Europe, Joe Wilson stated that Serbia should stop purchasing Russian energy and distance itself from Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran if it wants to fully integrate into Western institutions.
According to him, negotiations over reducing Serbia’s dependence on Russian oil were “not enough”, as “Belgrade could act unilaterally”.
Asked what is the strongest reason Belgrade should not host the 2027 OSCE Parliamentary Assembly meeting, he said that Serbia is strongly influenced by “war criminal Putin” and China.
“I’m not delighted, but, indeed, Serbia still buys oil and gas from war criminal Putin. The national oil company, sadly, there, NIS, has been bought by war criminal Putin. Additionally, there is undue influence by the Chinese Communist Party in terms of communications and other investments, and to make it even more obnoxious, an association with the dictatorship in Tehran”, he remarked.
On the other hand, a group of US congressmen proposed that February be declared “Serbian-American Heritage Month”. The Embassy of Serbia in the USA stated that a resolution with such a proposal had been submitted to the House of Representatives.
The resolution was proposed by five members of the Congress: Claudia Tenney, Emanuel Cleaver Scott Fitzgerald, Anna Paulina Luna, and Victoria Sparz, “reaffirming strong bipartisan support for the initiative to honor the history, culture and contribution of the Serbian community to the development of the United States”.
“In February, the Republic of Serbia marks Statehood Day, and the proposed Serbian-American Heritage Month would represent an opportunity to organize educational, cultural and public programs dedicated to the history, achievements and heritage of the Serbian-American community every year across the United States”, the Embassy of Serbia in USA stated.
