The tragedies in Serbia did not happen because of Western values, and the protests of the opposition and various groups in society show that people think it is high time to work on the situation with weapons, domestic security and many other topics that are highly relevant for the Serbian society, Viola von Cramon MEP told N1.
“This rhetoric doesn’t really meet the facts or the reality on the ground. I don’t think you can draw conclusions like that, that these mass shootings came through European or Western values. I think they proved to be completely wrong….We stand for solidarity, for rule of law, democracy, for strengthening of local democracy, for decentralization…We would like to see more cooperation with the partners and neighbors in the Western Balkans,” said Von Cramon.
Asked if the European Union (EU) is aware of the fact that many people in Serbia think the EU supports the regime in Belgrade, which targets and belittles its citizens, and which was harshly criticized in the latest European Parliament report, Von Cramon said there was a lot of lobbying to tone down the Report, but that that did not happen.
She said she hopes that the report, which is now more critical, clearer and more outspoken, and also echoes more the demands of those people, will change this opinion.
“The European Parliament has realized that there is now a necessity for us and the European Union to understand where Serbia stands. Whether there is genuine interest to cooperate with the European Union, to adhere to the European principles, norms and standards, or whether Serbia has an interest to connect with Russia and China and the autocratic states and has no interest in a closer relationship with the states of the European Union,” she said, noting that Serbia benefits a great deal from European Union.
It receives funds, gets foreign direct investments from Germany, with over 80 thousand jobs created thanks to German companies over the past years, said Von Cramon, adding: ”That definitely helped support the Serbian Government, the Serbian President.”
Even though the choice has been made, because most of the trade is done between Serbia and the European Union, Serbia must not be a hidden place for Russian propaganda, a place from where Russia Today spreads lies against the European Union, said Von Cramon.
“It must be clear that this is also the responsibility of the decision makers in the Serbian Government,” she stressed.
“With the war returning to Europe it is very clear that we need a commitment by each and every candidate country. We have received that from many countries but it took a while until we saw that the Serbian President is also ready to align at least in the United Nations Resolution. Now we are still waiting for alignment with the sanctions against Russia,” said Von Cramon.
The European Union cannot afford to let Serbia align with the countries that are attacking their peaceful neighbors, with the Chinese autocrat where you don’t know whether he will invade Taiwan, she said.
We do not want to see the influence of the Chinese in the Western Balkans through close cooperation with Serbia, said the MEP, adding: “For us it is pretty clear that we would like to see Serbia turning towards the West, taking the path towards the European Union, but not just in words and not just with the financial and economic ties, but also on the political side.”
Regarding the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Von Cramon said Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic knows that it will have to end at some point.
“He needs to not just talk the talk but also to walk the walk. I do hope that he will show what he has said, that he means this implementation. He has not signed the agreement, which was very unfortunate, very regretful, but he promised that he would deliver even without signing. On the Serbian side we really would like to see a bit more seriousness when it comes to the final decisions. We also need to see more steps towards the finalization of the dialogue,” said Viola von Cramon.
