Serbian government pursues dangerous policy, EP calls for Serbia to be sanctioned if proven to be behind terror attack

The European Parliament, in a resolution adopted Thursday, called for Serbia to be sanctioned over the terrorist attack in Banjska on Sept. 24 if it is proven to be behind the attack. In the resolution, the European Parliament strongly condemns the Sept. 24 attack by “well-organized Serbian paramilitaries” in northern Kosovo, while criticizing Serbia’s dangerous policies toward Kosovo and its Western partners.

The resolution states that the aggressive military behavior, together with the radicalized political messages in Serbia and the strong signals of Serbian state involvement in the recent political violence in northern Kosovo, shows that the Serbian government is continuously pursuing a very dangerous goal in relation to Kosovo and its Western partners.

The MEPs also stress that they are concerned about the evidence linking the violent criminal groups in northern Kosovo and Serbia to the Serbian state.

The resolution, which was adopted by a show of hands, states, “European parliamentarians are closely following the ongoing investigation by Kosovar authorities and call on Serbia to cooperate fully and bring to justice those currently in Serbia responsible for the attack,” including facilitating their extradition to Kosovo.”

“If the investigation reveals direct involvement of the Serbian state in the September 24 attacks, the European Commission should freeze funds to Serbia from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance 3,” the resolution states, calling on the Council to take targeted restrictive measures , including but not limited to asset freezes and travel bans against destabilizing actors in northern Kosovo and leaders of key organized crime networks.

“The Council is requested to approve targeted restrictive measures, including but not limited to asset freezes and travel bans against destabilizing actors in northern Kosovo and leaders of key organized crime networks. In this context, we call on the Council to follow the example of the United States and take targeted measures against Millan Radoicic,” the resolution reads.

The resolution calls on the European Commission to act as an honest broker in the normalization process, to avoid weakening towards Serbia and to lift the punitive measures against Kosovo.

The European Parliament calls on Serbia and Kosovo to denounce all forms of violence and provocation and to cease all actions that could further exacerbate tensions, and to actively work towards a peaceful settlement of disputes through dialogue supported by the European Union.

In this resolution, the EP also condemns the increasing presence of the Serbian army near Kosovo’s border and calls on Serbia not to support terrorist groups in northern Kosovo in the future.

Also criticized is what Serbia calls harsh, inflammatory language toward Kosovo and Albanians, which MEPs say stokes tensions.

“The authorities in Serbia and the media are called upon to refrain from using language of hatred toward Kosovo and from spreading lies about ‘ethnic cleansing’ or ‘pogroms’ in Kosovo, for which there is no evidence,” the resolution says./The Geopost/