WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR: M.J. GDNUS
Tonino Picula, the European Parliament's rapporteur for Serbia, stated that the strongest political party in Montenegro is in coalition with a pro-Serb option that is openly against the country's membership in NATO and the EU. Picula made these remarks in Brussels at the conference of social democratic MPs responsible for enlargement.
"They are an open pro-Russian option and only pretend to want Montenegro's progress on the path to the EU," said Picula, adding that if Aleksandar Vučić remains in power, he will not allow Montenegro to stray too far from Serbia on its path towards EU membership.
Picula noted that Montenegro and Albania are currently the leaders in the accession process. Serbia has not opened any chapters in the last three years, North Macedonia is blocked due to bilateral issues, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are lagging behind.
"Serbia is the most influential among the candidate countries, but it is unrealistic for it to join the EU under its current leadership, which is sitting on four chairs," he said.
"My honest opinion is that President Aleksandar Vučić's ambition is not to join the European Union, because that would mean that he and his option would have to respect the very strict rules and standards of the Union regarding the democratic system, media freedom, minority and other issues. Instead, he plays his own games," Picula said, according to Hina.
The Croatian social democratic MP evaluated that Serbia is pursuing a so-called multivector foreign policy.
"There are four pillars of Serbian foreign policy — the European Union, the United States, Russia, and China, and I don't think it is possible to sit on four chairs at once. I think that we do not share values and geopolitical goals with China and Russia in most areas, and less and less with the United States," said Picula.
When asked whether Serbia, under its current leadership, can join the EU, Picula answered negatively, emphasizing that it is impossible to have the ambition to complete negotiations by the end of 2026, as Serbian leadership claims, without radical changes in attitudes and behaviors in many areas.
"But I want to be completely clear, it is up to the citizens of Serbia to choose what kind of government they want, and it is up to the EU institutions to assess whether Serbia meets the standards required for progress on the path to membership," Picula pointed out.
Speaking about Bosnia and Herzegovina, the MPs welcomed the decision by Germany and Austria to ban the entry of Republika Srpska's president Milorad Dodik, expressing hope that other EU member states will follow suit.
Picula said that Dodik is a product of the dysfunctional system in BiH, created by the Dayton Peace Agreement, and stated that "he must be arrested."
