German Green MEP hopes Serbia will improve in reforms and rule of law

Green German MEP Viola von Cramon-Taubadel has expressed hope that the German government’s position on Serbia will change due to implementing reforms and applying the rule of law.

Von Cramon, a member of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and the EU Delegation to the EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee, on Monday told N1 TV that she had been shocked with the Serbian authorities’ response to environmental protests held over the past few days.

She stressed that everyone had the right to protest as protests were envisaged under the rule of law. “Those groups (demonstrators) clearly advocate broader rule of law, transparency and also the application of the environmental standards in Serbia, so I was surprised and shocked by the government’s reaction,” she said.

Von Cramon said she hoped that the Serbian authorities would find a more peaceful way to respond to people who disagreed with the ruling party and the government.

Commenting on the observation that western European leaders had maintained a tolerant approach to the regime of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and asked whether it had been changing, Von Cramon said she hoped that the approach to the Serbian authorities would change after the Greens assumed the foreign ministry.

“I hope that we will have an approach which will be based more on the rule of law and that we will be more critical of what is happening on the ground and the results of the reforms that have been implemented,” she said.

(EURACTIV.rs | betabriefing.com)