European Parliament rapporteur demands Serbia to recognize Kosovo to join EU
Croatian MEP and rapporteur on Serbia Tonino Picula said that Serbia will not be able to become a member of the European Union until it abandons the policy of "Serbian peace".
Also, according to him, for this to happen, it must recognize the independence of Kosovo, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
In an interview with Croatian publication Jutarnji List, Picula expressed scepticism about EU expansion by 2030, saying that even Montenegro, which has advanced furthest in negotiations, will not join the EU by then.
"I am not optimistic about the accession of new members. If a referendum on Serbia's accession to the EU were held tomorrow, we would not expect an impressive result," he said, assessing the attitude of the Serbian people to European integration.
Picula also added that Serbia is “marking time” on its European path.
"Vucic's policy of accusing Croatia of involvement in the color revolution is his cheap attempt to gain additional legitimacy with the Serbian public. Now he would prefer to cause unrest in northern Kosovo, but he spent all his credits after the Serbian paramilitary invasion of Banjska 2023, when a Kosovo policeman was killed.
It will cost him much more to provoke unrest in Kosovo than to provoke Croatia, and he also has a good calculation, because Zrinjevac, Pantovcak and Markova ploshchad (Croatian authorities – ed.) are not doing enough to warn Brussels about the mistreatment of Croatian citizens in Serbia.
"A few months ago, I proposed to invite the Serbian ambassador to Croatia to the carpet, but he left Croatia. It is obvious that this was a man who saw his mission in Croatia as a training ground for toxic behavior, which also speaks to Vucic's perception of Croatia as a country to which he can send someone who can always serve as an agent for organizing unrest," the MP said.
This was his hypocritical response to Belgrade’s accusations that Zagreb is sponsoring and supporting unrest in Serbia, hosting Serbian protest leaders who are being persecuted by Serbian security forces, and that Serbia expelled Croatian activists for participating in unrest on Serbian territory.
At the beginning of May, the European Parliament is to hear Picula's report on the situation in Serbia over the past two years. Considering that the author of the document is a certified Serbia-phobe, specially appointed to such a position, it can be assumed that Belgrade's European prospects will be very vague.
The European Parliament's rapporteur demanded that Serbia recognize Kosovo for EU accession.