BRUSSELS – The European Green Party has called on the European Union, and in particular the European People’s Party (EPP), of which the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) is an associate member, to urgently exert pressure on Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to end police violence against peaceful demonstrators, the opposition and the media, and to ensure free and fair elections without delay.
Speaker of the Serbian Parliament Ana Brnabić dismissed the statement, saying it was hypocritical for the European Greens to comment on the state of democracy and the rule of law in Serbia.
Co-chair of the European Green Party, Ciarán Cuffe, said that Vučić’s regime has fully shifted into an autocratic model, marked by “brutal police violence, hundreds of arrests of peaceful protesters and opposition members, and an evident attempt to avoid elections.”
He stressed that the EU holds real political and economic leverage over Serbia and must act immediately.
“The brave people of Serbia deserve support in order to secure free elections and a true path towards integration into the European family,” Cuffe stated.
The party’s co-chair Vula Tsetsi said that Vučić clings to power through repression against protesters, the opposition and journalists.
She added that the number of political prisoners in Serbia is growing by the day, as people are being jailed simply for speaking out against corruption and oppression.
“Autocrats have a dangerous habit of trivializing and justifying authoritarian practices in the name of so-called ‘stability’. This must be condemned,” Tsetsi said.
Responding to the Greens’ statement, Speaker of the Serbian National Assembly, Ana Brnabić reiterated that it was hypocritical for the party to comment on democracy and the rule of law in Serbia.
“The European Green Party is not in the least interested in the rule of law in Serbia. Instead, they openly interfere in the internal affairs of the Republic of Serbia and attack the president of this country, Aleksandar Vučić, who received the votes of around 2.3 million citizens in the last presidential election,” Brnabić stated.
She expressed confidence that the Greens’ “sister party” in Serbia, the Green-Left Front, is far more concerned with the opinion of the European Greens than with that of the Serbian people.
“What matters to us in the SNS is solely the voice of our people. Serbia will be governed by those elected by our citizens in democratic elections, and no European Greens or any other party will be able to change that. Ultimately, their indifference to the rule of law and democracy is best illustrated by the fact that the Green-Left Front openly called for the killing of police officers (ACAB – All Cops Are Bastards), while the European Greens remained silent. What hypocrisy,” Brnabić concluded.
