Commissioner Kos condemned insults: We have a problem in Belgrade, Vučić's statements will not improve Serbia's reputation in Europe

(Patria) - European Commissioner Marta Kos reacted sharply to the insults that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić directed at Members of the European Parliament who appeared at a protest in Novi Sad on Friday. She stated that such attacks reveal a “questionable understanding of democracy” and made it clear that Serbia is further damaging its international reputation with such moves.

“We have a problem in Belgrade,” Kos said after a meeting with the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Beate Majnl-Reisinger, in Vienna.

“When members of the European Parliament are called scum, it reveals a questionable understanding of democracy. The statements of President Vučić and Speaker of Parliament Brnabić against the EU will also not improve Serbia's reputation in Europe.”

The Commissioner reminded the authorities in Belgrade of the obligations they undertook before the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and before her personally.

“The advice for the Serbian government is clear – focus on the promised reforms. This means an independent judiciary capable of fighting corruption, free and independent media, and electoral law that guarantees that only the will of the citizens decides the majority in parliament,” Kos stated.

She added that citizens have the right to protest, but that violence in the streets and acts of vandalism must stop, expecting the police to act appropriately and with full respect for fundamental rights.

Vučić called the Members of the European Parliament who attended the protest in Novi Sad “scum,” claiming they were “the worst scum gathered there.”

He accused them of “brutal interference in Serbia's internal affairs” and threatened that all those who, as he said, “try to destroy Serbia from the outside” will be prosecuted in accordance with the law.