STRASBOURG – The European Parliament tonight held a plenary session debate on the situation in Serbia after the December elections. Most of the speakers were critical of the elections, pointing out numerous recorded irregularities, and requested an independent investigation of the competent authorities.
The Parliament will adopt a resolution based on today’s discussion on 8 February.
European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders opened the discussion, quoting the preliminary statement of the OSCE/ODIHR, according to which the elections, thought technically well organized, were dominated by the decisive involvement president, which together with the ruling party’s systemic advantages created unjust conditions.
“We expect that all credible reports of irregularities are followed up transparently by the competent national authorities, including local elections in Belgrade and other municipalities”, Reynders said.
He reminded that Serbia remains an EU candidate country.
“We expect Serbia to demonstrate unequivocal readiness to advance the accession process by accelerating its reforms and delivering real and tangible results. This includes in particular the area of rule of law and the normalization of relations with Kosovo”, Reynders said.
In his speech, EP Rapporteur for Serbia Vladimír Bilčík (EPP) quoted the conclusions from the EP mission of observers, released on 18 December.
“Frequent snap elections cause people’s distrust in the governance and hinders EU related reforms. The low level of political debate, the pressure on the voters, the emphasis of personal discreditation of opponents, the harsh rhetoric – all remain very worrying”, Bilčík quoted.
He added that, on the day of the elections, key procedures of voting and counting were respected, but EP observers received many reports on the registration of voters from abroad and other municipalities inside Serbia, specifically to enlarge the electorate.
Bilčík called on the competent authorities to follow up on the issues.
“Serbia deserves better. People in Serbia deserve a political climate without a constant campaign. People in Serbia deserve true European reforms. People in Serbia deserve a clear choice between Russia and Europe and between confrontation and cooperation. I wish Serbia less focus on the tragic past and more energy towards a better future”, he said.
Andreas Schieder (S&D), who led the European Parliament observation mission, said that there is a whole long list of irregularities that took place during these elections, phantom voters, problems with the media, and things that need to be cleared up.
“The government has to act. But President Vučić and Prime Minister Brnabić have not acted in that way, they have criticized the election observers. That is very problematic and I think that criticism in the report is correct”, Schieder said.
Klemen Grošelj (Renew) assessed that Serbia has serious issues with making basic democratic standards and conducting free and fair elections.
“What is new is the brutal openness with which these irregularities took place. It looked like the Serbian authorities did not even care and did not worry that anything would happen. Unfortunately, they are right. The Council and Commission statements were, to put it mildly, soft. This is the problem of the enlargement process as a whole”, Grošelj said.
Viola von Cramon (Greens/EFA) stated that since she had become an election observer 20 years ago, she had never witnessed anything like the December elections in Serbia.
“Let us be clear, these elections were rigged, they were stolen. The united opposition could have won in Belgrade if thousands of people were not registered or pressured to vote for the ruling party”, von Cramon said.
She demanded an impartial international investigation and proposed using the Inter-Party Dialogue as a mediating tool between the ruling parties and the opposition.
Andor Deli, a member of the Hungarian Fidesz delegation, gave a different assessment of the situation.
“It is very unfortunate, that here in the EP, the same recipe is used against Serbia that it has been used in Hungary since 2010. Left-liberal opposition is trying to turn domestic political failures into successes but with external help. This tactic failed in the case of Hungary, it will not work in Serbia either”, Deli said.
He added that, in recent years, the image and credibility of the EU have decreased in all countries of the Western Balkans not just because of the hesitancy of the EU but also because of these critical and biased opinions.