Picula: Serbia is in an undeclared state of emergency

(Patria) - European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula, in an interview with Nova TV, commented on the fall of the government in Serbia, student protests, and Serbia's accusations against Croatia that it started an arms race.

- The death of the 16th victim from Novi Sad will, in my opinion, once again raise all those questions that sparked mass protests in Serbia, namely the responsibility of those who caused the tragedy.

And all roads lead, of course, to the doors of the authorities, which have clearly failed in these past few months to respond positively to the demands of all those protesting on the streets and squares of Serbia.

We can say that Serbia is in an undeclared state of emergency - Picula assesses.

According to him, the top of the Serbian government, and in that context he particularly highlighted President Aleksandar Vučić, is trying to divert public focus to external enemies.

Picula adds that concrete culprits for the situation in that country need to be found.

He also states that Croatia must take into account that on its eastern and southeastern borders it has countries going through a turbulent period.

- What should be done is to somehow draw the EU's attention to the fact that these are countries that are negotiating or will negotiate for EU membership, and that criteria simply need to be taken into account, and accession negotiations are the mechanism that should most effectively influence changes in those countries - said Picula.

He added that Croatia must insist that Brussels speak more clearly about the crisis in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that in that speech Croatia should not be the only one exposed.

Picula submitted an annual report to the European Parliament, and now said that he received 327 amendments to it, and offered 322 compromise amendments.

- The negotiations were successful, I think the next step is to present the report to the Foreign Affairs Committee at the end of April, and I hope that the report on Serbia will be adopted - said Picula, who was in Belgrade last week with the draft of that report, but was not received by either the president or the prime minister.