Opposition leader to EU top diplomat in Serbia: You support anti-EU regime

In an open letter to Fabrizi late on Saturday, Stefanovic charged that Fabrizi justified the regime's "lies, persecution of dissidents, endemic corruption, inability to fight the coronavirus, abolishment of the rule of law and promotion of violence."

By doing that, Stefanovic said, Fabrizi became "a political accomplice of the state's kidnappers."

"You are helping those who do not want Serbia in the EU and who have stopped our European path. That makes you directly responsible for stopping Serbia's European integration," Stefanovic said in an open letter, referring to Fabrizi's participation at the National Convention for EU Accession and Serbia's Parliament.

"You claim that Serbia has done 'many things' and that Serbia's progress towards the EU is 'evident', that 'reforms have not stopped', that they 'must continue regardless of what has not been done'; that this year, 'the most has been done in the economy," that Serbia's government tried to get 'better marks', "Stefanovic charged.

He asked Fabrizi in which parliament in any EU member state could he see "directed, long-term persecution of dissidents and insults on actors, professors, journalists", and "where there is public competition in lying and slander against opposition leaders or a one-party parliament without opposition which the regime declared enemy of the state."

"In which EU country is it possible to have a president who labels opponents mice and calls them to kill him, attacks independent media and journalists, comments on court rulings and the work of the prosecutor's office? Where do you have an EU integration minister shouting and arguing with representatives of the NGOs, saying everything is fine and integration is progressing, regardless of a single chapter not being opened" in 2020, Stefanovic asked the EU diplomat.

He said that "successful and continued reforms include public calls (for privatisation) with the price inflated at least three times; jobs only for people close to the government; costly crazy projects; party bots and corruption," which according to Stefanovic, led to almost two million impoverished people in Serbia.

"Obviously, it is okay with you to describe as 'reforms and progress' the fact that almost all media in Serbia are captured and forced to promote the will of the leader exclusively," he added.

He accused Fabrizi of supporting "the fact that the government is not able to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, that they twice declared victory over it, and organised fake elections in which no one in Europe believes anymore."

"It is normal for you to have a man in power who first promises 1.8 million vaccines by the New Year, then lowers the number to a million, and now promises the fantastic 5,000 vaccines! At the same time, because of their lies and frivolity, we have thousands of people waiting for check-ups and treatments at abnormal conditions," Stefanovic said.

He added that according to Fabrizi, the progress was that the health system nearly collapsed because of the authorities' inability, despite the heroism of medical staff.

Stefanovic claimed that "every important infrastructure project in Serbia has been agreed secretly, often with Chinese, Russian and Turkish companies", and led to "an unprecedented increase in Serbia's public debt to almost 50 billion Euro."

"Furthermore, you said that 'reforms have not stopped.' What reforms have not stopped? The ones that brought us to the infamous number of coronavirus deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe, or the ones that put us first?"

"Or those reported in the Freedom House findings? Or those reforms that are described as extremely negative in two reports of the European Commission and numerous reactions from the European Parliament," Stefanovic asked.

He said the government, which "Fabrizi wholeheartedly supports and abolishes, will not fulfil criteria from Chapters 23 and 24" in hundreds of years.

"You well know that, but keep silent. Why? That should not be the purpose of your mission in Serbia. Ambassador Fabrizi, you represent the EU in Serbia. EU membership is our strategic goal. It may be too late for your reputation, and that is something you have to live with but we will not allow it to be too late for the EU's reputation in Serbia," Stefanovic said.