Vladimir Bilcik MEP is a problem because he inflicts serious harm on advocates of European integration and values, columnist Vukasin Obradovic wrote for Podgorica daily Vijesti.
“Vladimir Bilcik is not a problem only for Montenegro and Serbia. Much more important than his verbal fantasies is the fact that people like him inflict serious damage on people who truly do advocate European integration and the implementation of European values while wondering rightly whether Bilcik’s Europe is what we should be looking to,” Obradovic wrote and added that the European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia finds himself in a situation which is rare in the sophisticated world of international diplomacy.
“Stefan Schennach, head of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) observer delegation at Sunday’s elections in Serbia, commented Bilcik’s view of the elections “going smoothly” saying that partnership and democracy are not based on nice words but on the truth. Schennach is actually telling Bilcik that he is not telling the truth,” Obradovic wrote.
He recalled that Bilcik told the Insajder portal that the elections were well organized with some irregularities in terms of reports of additional voters being brought in to some places but not many as well as possible vote-buying at polling stations. Bilcik said those were not any great incidents.
Schennach is not unknown in the European diplomatic world. He has been a member of Austria’s delegation in PACE since 2011 and an MP for his Social Democrat Party of Austria. He has also served as Council of Europe (CoE) rapporteur on dirty money, youth in prison, the illegal trade in cultural heritage and he has been a member of CoE and OSCE election observer missions in Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Turkey, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Moldova and Kyrgyzstan.
“The Austrian politician also said that the truth in Serbia is slightly shocking, that the elections were not fair, that votes were maniuplated and that it’s all a problem for a country that wants to go down the democracy road. He added that he saw photocopied ballots with official stamps during the vote count,” Obradovic wrote.
“This Austrian politician was not the only one who was very critical in his assessment of the elections in Serbia.
“I observed a lot of elections but the ones in Serbia were far below any European standards, he told N1 adding that an international investigation or at least a rerun of the elections in Belgrade under new conditions are necessary. We saw phantom voter rolls, heard that 50,000 people were bussed into Belgrade, saw pictures of ballots on social networks, heard testimony about vote-buying,” Obradovic quoted Schennach as saying.
“German Free Democratic Party official Thomas Hacker said the elections in Serbia got a worrying evaluation and added that it’s no surprise that the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and Vucic received congratulations only from Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Chinese diplomats.
“In light of those opposing views, the question is whether Bilcik, Schennach and Hacker observed the same elections because this is not about nuances but about huge differences in their assessments.
“This is also about Bilcik’s motives to keep quiet about what his fellow observers saw at the elections.
“Recall that Bilcik submitted a draft resolution to his fellow MEPs in 2022 in which he omitted any mention of the Jovanjica marijuana farm, the Krusik munitions plant, Savamala, Belivuk crime clan and Telekom Serbia scandals. Bilcik said in the draft resolution that the European Parliament reiterates its concern over the limited progress in combatting corruption and organized crime and called Serbia to intensify efforts to deal with those problems efficiently without specifying which problems he meant.
“Thanks to other MEPs, those scandals were not omitted from the final text of the resolution but Bilcik obviously went on just as he once tried with all his might to tell Montenegro what kind of government it needs.
“He said he could not imagine a pro-European government with anyone who cast doubts on Montenegro’s pro-Europe orientation or who cooperated with Putin’s Russia,” Obradovic recalled. “Just to be clear, Bilcik’s view would be understandable and legitimate if it was not opposed to the fact that he had nothing against politicians in his native Slovakia who based their election campaigns on anti-Ukraine stands or named Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as a very dear friend.