European Parliament
Photo: European Union
STRASBOURG – With 461 votes in favor and 52 against, members of the European Parliament yesterday adopted a resolution on Serbia calling for an investigation of international experts into the elections held in December. It urged the Commission to organize such a mission, looking at the example of the ‘Priebe Reports’ which were carried out in North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The resolution assessed that the elections held on 17 December 2023 cannot be deemed to have been held in fair conditions. It mentioned a series of irregularities noted by election observers, including the allegations of the so-called phantom voters in Belgrade local election.
The document condemned “the lack of institutional response to the serious allegations of the incumbents’ involvement in electoral manipulation and abuse”.
“European Parliament underlines that if the Serbian authorities are unwilling to implement key election recommendations or if the findings of this investigation indicate that the Serbian authorities were directly involved in the voter fraud, (it) calls for the suspension of EU funding on the basis of severe breaches of the rule of law in connection with Serbia’s elections”, the document reads.
The Serbian authorities, including Prime Minister Ana Brnabić and Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić, emphasised that the resolution is not legally binding and stated that no investigation would take place.
“Resolutions come and go – this is not the first one, it will not be the last one, but what will be remembered forever that, in Serbia, there were political parties and people who themselves asked for suspension of sovereignty of their own country”, Brnabić wrote on X on Thursday.
A day later, she said during a television appearance that she would resign if somebody asked her for an international investigation.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić described a resolution as a “political pamphlet” and a “an instrument for Serbia to move away from its independent policy” on Friday.
The resolution was initiated in January, in the context of the post-electoral crisis in Serbia. It was supported by the majority of six out of seven political groups in the European Parliament.
The vote on Thursday was preceded by a panel discussion “Serbia: Democracy at a crossroads”, hosted by the three groups in the EP: Socialists and Democrats, Greens/EFA and Renew Europe. Representatives of the opposition coalition “Serbia Against Violence” spoke at the panel, supporting the resolution.
“If something doesn’t change now, we will completely slide into a dictatorship,” Marinika Tepić, vice president of the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) told POLITICO.
In an X post from the panel, Tepić wrote that she and her colleagues asked “our European friends to help Serbia and freedom”. “International mission and investigation are crucial for us”, she wrote.
She also commented on the organized voter migrations, which became the main issue of the December elections.
“No one should be surprised when voter migration takes place in Republika Srpska, North Macedonia and in other places where ethnic Serbs live — don’ t think that Aleksandar Vučić will stop here,” Tepić said, POLITICO reported.
On the day of the adoption of the resolution, several political groups in the European Parliament released their statements.
“In today’s resolution, we are sending an important message to Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić and his ruling SNS Party who have been systematically ignoring international calls for tackling reported electoral irregularities and respecting international democratic standards”, said MEP Andreas Schieder, who led the European Parliament mission which observed the elections in Decembr.
Renew Europe group also released its statement.
“The elections did not meet all the requirements to be considered free and fair. An independent investigation led by international legal experts must be initiated. If the Serbian authorities do not cooperate or there is evidence of their direct involvement in voter fraud, EU funding must be suspended”, said MEP Klemen Grošelj, shadow rapporteur on Serbia.
