The European Parliament adopted a report in which, among other things, it appeals for the initiation of an independent investigation against the Commissioner for Enlargement, Oliver Varhelji, in relation to his behavior with the countries that are candidates for EU membership.
How it transmits Nova.rs, certain members of the European parliament told that portal that Varhelji played down Serbia's failures to implement reforms, and that he asked the people in his directorates to embellish reports on the progress of the candidate countries.
At the previous session of the European Parliament, parliamentarians supported the adoption of an amendment demanding the initiation of an investigation against EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelji with an overwhelming majority of votes. The amendment, which has become an integral part of the resolution, expresses deep concern over reports that Varhelji is "deliberately seeking to circumvent and undermine the central importance of democratic and rule of law reforms in EU accession countries."
The MEPs have thus asked the European Commission to launch an independent and impartial investigation into whether the behavior and policies implemented by the commissioner constitute a violation of the Code of Conduct for Commission members and the commissioner's contractual obligations.
Since Serbia is also a candidate country, i.e. a country that is negotiating membership in the EU, Nova.rs asked the members of the EP whether the behavior of Varhelji, for which they accuse him, also applies to Serbia.
Tonino Picula, a member of the EP, tells Nova that the essence of the request to open an investigation against Varhelji is the suspicion that he "minimized Serbia's failures to implement adequate reforms regarding the rule of law and the independence of institutions, as well as media freedom, which makes it seem that he tried to put Serbia in a more favorable position."
According to Picula's assessment, it is about the fact that the authors of the amendment assessed that Varhelji more closely followed the agenda of Hungary, that is, Viktor Orban, who found a counterpart in Vučić in the enlargement policy.
"We should not forget that it is particularly problematic due to the fact that both Orban and Vučić are particularly inclined to Putin, who launched the aggression against Ukraine," he said.
Klemen Grošelj, MEP from Slovenia, states that it has to do with Serbia as well, but above all with Bosnia and Herzegovina. He says that a report was leaked in Brussels from which it can be read that Varhelji ignored EU policy and promoted Viktor Orbán, as well as populists and the extreme right in the EU.
"When it comes to annual progress reports, he asked the people in his directorates to make things better. He promoted an idea that is close to the political forces I was talking about (populists and the extreme right)", says Grošelj for "Nova".
He points out that investments were mentioned more and more, but "nothing about the rule of law, judicial reform, the role of the media in society, the freedom of citizens...".
"He more or less ignored that... That encouraged us to support the amendment," he added.
Asked where Serbia is, Grošelj states that Varhelji is increasingly seen there as a kind of liaison officer between regional and local politicians who are ideologically close to Orban. By the way, it is also known how close Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, from whom he constantly receives support.
"Varhelji is a kind of liaison officer between close political forces in the Western Balkans and in Hungary. Our Janez Janša is also close there", says the MEP from Slovenia.
When asked what the further procedure for the investigation is, Grošelj replies that it is undefined and that the European Commission has no obligation to carry it out.
"It is now a political challenge. If the Commission is silent, that is your political position. If they react, it is again a political stance. That is a very bad political recommendation for the commissioner. And that is actually a message that the majority in the European Parliament has no confidence in Commissioner Varhelji", he concludes.
After the adoption of the amendment in the EP, SSP leader Dragan Đilas spoke out, saying that his party strongly supports the initiative of the European Parliament to launch an investigation against European Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Varhelji.
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"The SSP has been warning about this for years, and was even criticized for publicly pointing out and admonishing the EU not to turn its head away from the collapse of the EU's basic principles, values and principles, especially the rule of law and the rule of law, freedom of the media and free and democratic elections," said the president of the SSP.
President Aleksandar Vučić reacted to Đilas's statement, expressing his regret that "someone from Serbia" could support that initiative of the European Parliament.
"It's extremely irresponsible, I wouldn't interfere in party politics, otherwise I would probably say much more difficult things," Vučić said, adding that Varhelji is "one of the few people you see who is not anti-Serb oriented."
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