The Chair of the European Parliament Delegation to EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee, Tanja Fajon promised the head of the Military Union of Serbia (VSS), Novica Antic she would submit a report to the EU institutions and Parliament and do everything in her power to "help the Union protect its representatives and exercise the rights guaranteed by European regulations and conventions of the International Labour Organisation."

The talks, held late on Thursday via video link, was called upon the initiative of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) of which the VSS is a member.

According to the VSS statement, the two discussed „the position of the Union, pressures and the obstruction of its work by the Defence Ministry and its head Aleksandar Vulin in the last three years.“

Antic also informed Fajon about the dismissal of VSS Secretary-General Predrag Jevtic.

„The bad image of civil and workers’ rights and freedoms that some representatives of the executive power send to the world does not contribute to Serbia’s progress as an EU candidate country,“ the VSS statement said.

The Union added it regretted it had „to seek the protection of its basic freedoms and rights“ outside Serbia’s institutions and that it hoped that a new defence minister „will have understanding for the needs of members of the Army of Serbia (VS) and start a social dialogue with them.“