Western Balkans: The future of integration

Written by Urednik1 on 29 October 2016.

" Western Balkans: The futures of integration"

NATO Defense College Foundation

2014

Statement of the Day

We must ask that question to those who invite him, such as French President Emanuel Macron, with whom Vucic is visiting today. In the coming days, Angela Merkel and the EU will talk to Vucic, and certain questions should be raised there. Such a confrontation with the Serbian president cannot be left only to us, individual MPs. I expect the Commissioner for Enlargement Várhelyi and Josep BorelL to be clear on this issue. I also expect Chancellor Merkel to use the German presidency of the EU Council and her personal contacts with Vučić to teach him a lesson and tell him "That's enough!". And then we have to continue to have intensive enlargement talks with our neighbors, but Serbia will definitely be left out of that format.
Viola von Cramon-Taubadel, Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance

It is this resounding victory that makes the outcome a defeat for Vučić. A parliament without an opposition cannot serve as a fig leaf to legitimize the supposedly democratic rule of the president. Had more of the 21 running parties and groups entered parliament, such as the different far right and fascist groups or a few scattered democratic and reformists, the Progressive Party could claim that Serbia had a pluralist parliament. Now, it does not and thus reveals the authoritarian nature of the regime.
Florian Bieber, Professor of Southeast European History and Politics, Jean Monnet Chair for the Europeanization of Southeastern Europe at the University of Graz and Coordinator of the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG)