Fajon: Such conflicts send the wrong picture about Serbia

Fajon: Such conflicts send the wrong picture about Serbia

Tanja Fajon, Chair of the EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee (SAPC), announces arrival to Belgrade ahead of European Parliament resolution on Serbia in February plenary session.

"We held a meeting with Várhelyi in December and introduced him to the last round of dialogue in Belgrade. Together with the EP Rapporteur for Serbia, Mr. Bilcik, we will come only if there is mutual interest", Fajon said when asked about a new round of dialogue.

She added that the Committee did not say that there would be new rounds of dialogue, but that it remained on standby, ready to offer assistance in response to developments in Serbia in January or February 2020.

According to her, the fact that the EP was involved in three rounds of dialogue proves that in a deeply polarized atmosphere ahead of the 2020 parliamentary elections, with some of the opposition boycotting the parliamentary elections, there are serious concerns about the conditions for holding the elections.

Fajon is closely monitoring everything that is going on in Serbia, and as "Blic" reports, she regrets the clash of opposition MPs, leader of Dveri Bosko Obradovic and Ivan Kostic with the SNS leader in the Assembly. She underlined that such conflicts send the wrong picture about Serbia.

She added that the Parliament is a place to conduct dialogue, not the street.

"It could be easier for SzS to engage constructively and seize the opportunity to contribute to improving electoral conditions, especially in areas for which they sought change", Fajon says.

Asked if a boycott could undermine the legitimacy of elections in Serbia, Fajon reiterated that she regretted that the SzS remained in favor of a boycott.

"We will continue to monitor the implementation of all commitments and will maintain a positive level of pressure on all stakeholders, the Government, Parliament and relevant institutions to deliver concrete results, including improving the work of the strongly criticized REM, the creation of a Monitoring Committee for election campaign and election-related bodies, and implementing the changes based on amendments to the four laws (including financial political activities, Anti-Corruption Agencies and public companies)", Fajon said.

She also expressed her expectation that an EP Election Observation Delegation would be set up to monitor the upcoming parliamentary elections as part of the ODIHR International Observation Mission.

Asked about EU enlargement policy, Fajon said that "EU is the hostage of France" and strongly condemned the country's decision to stop enlargement, but also added that the enlargement process is still ongoing, as it has never ceased.