MEPs: Mocking of democracy in Serbia, stop opening negotiating chapters

Kati Piri, S&D deputy leader, in charge of foreign affairs, said Serbia's elections were not representative and that she was afraid they would not prevent further deterioration of the rule of law in the country.

"This should not be possible in an EU candidate country. We call on the European Commission (EC) to analyse what went wrong and draw conclusions," Piri said.

She added that no new chapter in negotiating with Belgrade should be opened as long as the state of democracy did not improve.

"We need free media and a diverse parliament at least, in which the opposition will be presented. I'm shocked with Commissioner (Oliver) Varhelystatement in which he hadn't say a word about it in his last night's statement," Piri said.

Tonino Picula, a member and the spokesperson for the S&D in the EP Foreign Affairs Committee, added the group would resume its close relations with the parties that boycotted the Sunday's elections in Serbia.

"We never support a boycott and think that political debate should be held in a parliament. However, the boycott of these elections by the main opposition parties and the failure of any opposition to enter the parliament despite the reduction in the threshold to three percent ahead of the vote, Serbia's National Assembly lost its role as a legislative body which represented the entire society," Picula said.

He added the European People's Party (EPP), which the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) was an associate member of, was much responsible for the situation (in Serbia) because it "supported (President Aleksandar) Vucic for years, while he was transforming the state into autocracy."

"We call on the EPP to finally consider the membership of Vucic's party," Picuala said.

Tanja Fajon, an MEP and the chairwoman of the EP Delegation for Serbia, said the level of democracy in Serbia had substantially deteriorated after these elections, "not to mention the media freedom."

 "We don't have a parliamentary opposition any more, and that challenges the legitimacy of a new parliament," Fajon said.

She added that due to the coronavirus epidemic, the monitoring of the Sunday's elections was limited, but that based on the local observers' reports, there were more irregularities than during previous votes. At the same time, the turnout was lower despite the regime's pressure on people to take part.

"As an EP mediator in the interparty dialogue in Serbia's Parliament on the election conditions, I'm sorry to say that despite our efforts, they were not enough for the main opposition to take part in the ballot. We have to find new methods to include them in the next round of our inter-party dialogue," Fajon said.