Serbian opposition warns of ‘dictatorship’ as European Parliament urges election probe

The European Parliament adopted a strong resolution on Serbia on Thursday calling for an investigation into the election held in December and threatening to stop EU funding if Serbia doesn’t implement key conditions.

The Parliament called for an ad hoc independent international investigation into the “irregularities of the parliamentary, provincial and municipal elections,” the resolution states. The measure was adopted with 461 votes in favor and 52 votes against.

“I think we have finally managed to explain that this is a decisive battle,“ said Marinika Tepić from the party Serbia Against Violence, who traveled to Strasbourg to address the MEPs prior to the voting together with other members of the Serbian opposition.

“If something doesn’t change now, we will completely slide into a dictatorship,” Tepić told POLITICO.

The resolution calls on the European Commission to send experts to assess the situation and expresses concerns over vote buying, media bias and voter migration. It calls out  Serbian President Aleksandar Vučićs, who “despite not being a candidate for these elections, assumed a central role” by campaigning for the ruling party.

“They moved the population to the cities where the elections were held, they even brought people from Bosnia and Herzegovina to vote for the Serbian Progressive Party,” said Tepić.

“The EU should not overlook what kind of political monster, hooligan, they are dealing with,” Tepić urged. “No one should be surprised when voter migration takes place in Republika Srpska, Northern Macedonia and in other places where ethnic Serbs live — don’ t think that Aleksandar Vučić will stop here,” Tepić said.

The parliament seems to recognize a serious threat and has adopted a firm resolution on Serbia, which has been a candidate for EU membership since 2012. If Serbia shows unwillingness to adopt key election recommendations — or if the findings of an investigation indicate that Serbian authorities themselves were directly involved in voter fraud, the EU threatens to suspend further funding, according to the measure.

The Serbian opposition welcomed the resolution. “The EU has not been strict towards Serbia so far, but it is necessary that it now puts pressure on the government,” Tepić said.

“We are not a member of the EU, but we are a European country,” she said. “I understand that it is probably difficult to admit to yourself that you were financing and supporting a criminal regime, but this is the last chance to stand in the way of this autocracy.”

Radomir Lazović, co-president of the Serbian Green–Left Front party, doubts that the ruling party will accept any of the EU’s demands. “We had tens of thousands of people on the streets, there was a huge demand to repeat the election,” he told POLITICO.

“If they wanted to accept it, they would have done so after the first indications that the elections were stolen,” he said.

Ever since the election on December 17, tens of thousands opposition supporters frequently gather in the Serbian capital Belgrade to protest against the goverment. Local and international observers have condemned election fraud, including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), whic is set to publish a report on the parliamentary election by the end of February, OSCE spokesperson Katya Andrusz said.

“People know very well what is happening and this resolution is a significant victory for Serbia’s democracy and people“ Lazović insisted. “The only way out is to cancel the elections and repeat them — but under fair conditions.”

Both Tepić and Lazović expect the ruling party to diminish the importance of the resolution. “I think that they will start a campaign, we are already being called traitors,” Lazović said.

Serbia’s Prime Minister Ana Brnabić took to X to express her opinion on the resolution: “Resolutions come and go — this is not the first, nor will it be the last, but it will forever be recorded that there were political parties and people in Serbia who sought the abolition of the sovereignty of their own country.”