MEP: Continuation of negotiations with Serbia only if it imposes sanctions on Russia

Croatian MEP Tonino Picula assessed in Zagreb that further negotiations with Serbia should not continue unless the country joins the European foreign policy and imposes sanctions on Russia.

“Vucic will have to solve the problem of where Serbia actually belongs. It should not turn its back on the West but join it,” said Picula, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for recommendations on the European Union’s new enlargement strategy.

He said this at a panel organised by the EU Office on the impact of the geopolitical situation on enlargement policy, the new strategy and the changes proposed by the EP in the accession process, Hina news agency reported.

“We would like further negotiations with Serbia to continue only if that country aligns with European foreign policy and imposes sanctions on the Russian Federation”, underlined Picula, who presented a new strategy to be adopted in the European Parliament in November.

Croatia’s former foreign minister Vesna Pusic said she believed Serbia would end up among the EU countries. However, she added that the question is how long it will last and how many problems and potential security threats will be created in the meantime by such a current policy.

As for BiH, Pusic said that the current political leaders in the country have a “mortal fear” of the EU, because given the corruption, they would end up in prison if they joined the EU.

“That is why they are against the EU. With the political leaders Covic, Izetbegovic and Dodik, Bosnia and Herzegovina will never progress towards the EU”, the former Croatia’s foreign minister said.

Croatian MEP Tomislav Sokol (HDZ) assessed that Serbia is a source of instability in this part of Europe, intertwined with the Russian secret services.

He said that Serbia has an expansionist policy that is most visible in Montenegro, and that the president of Serbia “sits on two chairs” and with “fingers crossed in his pocket” looks at the EU.

Speaking about BiH, Sokol assessed that the Croats in this country are the only ones who really want to join the EU./Beta