Analyst: Region is overreacting to Šešelj

Analyst: Region is overreacting to Šešelj

"No doubt he is a destabilizing factor in the region with his inflammatory statements and the unchanged toxic hate speech, but I think that reactions in the neighborhood and the transfer to the European parliament level is overestimating Šešelj's political power," said Jakšić.

Criticism coming from Croatia is more meant to serve the country's internal politics, he believes, and adds that Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović's party has in recent years become increasingly close in its positions to the right-wing HDZ.

"That leads to strong reactions from Belgrade, and everything comes down to the fact that Šešelj can gloat because of his ability to poison relations in the region, as Bakir Izetbegović would say. Šešelj, such as he is, deserves neither the EP resolution nor the Croatian parliament declaration, and I think it should be explained more convincingly to the neighbors that Šešelj is on the margins of Serbia's politics and has no chance of regaining the dangerous power he once had. That is a way to calm passions," concluded Jakšić.

Meanwhile, the EP is about to vote on a resolution which, according to the media in Croatia, will be strongly critical both of Šešelj and the Serbian authorities.