CDU MP: Vučić's system is two-faced, a classic Janus face

Vučić's system is two-faced, says Michael Galler, a German CDU member of the European Parliament, to DW. On the one hand, he says, the Serbian president is forming a body tasked with accelerating negotiations with the European Union, while on the other, he is simultaneously putting pressure on peaceful protesters, the judiciary and free media:

"It's a classic Janus face. We are shown a pretty face and told that Serbia is on the path to the EU, that reforms are being implemented and preconditions are being met - while repression is being used at home. The media that is sympathetic to him (Vučić, ed.) is fueling anti-European sentiment. So, he's not doing it alone, there is a division of labor."

"People have the feeling that something is amiss here"

CDU member Galler, one of the most vocal critics of the current government in Serbia within the European People's Party (EPP), emphasized to DW during the recent congress of German conservatives in Stuttgart that Belgrade must decide where it wants to belong:

"Either you will visit Mr. Maduro, like Ms. Brnabić, or you will lay a wreath at Stalin's grave like Mr. Vulin - that's simply not it. In addition, what happened in Novi Sad must be fully clarified. And people have the feeling that something is being muddied there."

Due to this suspicion, but also the government's repression of the rebellious (peaceful) part of Serbian society, in the fall of last year, the EPP initiated an internal review of the work of Vučić's Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) - a party that is an associate member of the European People's Party.

As confirmed to us by several sources at the CDU congress, this process should be completed soon. The EPP plans to hold at least one more session at which relevant stakeholders will be heard and the assessments of certain organizations will be heard. Michael Galler has participated in all meetings so far.

He cannot speak publicly about the details of the ongoing proceedings, but he tells DW that the EPP "will have to reach a conclusion on this in the first half of this year." He adds: "A delegation from the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee was recently in Belgrade, and colleagues who were there say that their perception is relatively negative. That will certainly affect the outcome of the proceedings."

Galler is a long-time CDU member of the European Parliament and stresses that the EPP "cannot delay any longer with the decision." He also reminds: "A few years ago, we also had a party from Serbia in the European People's Party - that was Mr. Koštunica's party, which we then expelled, and that was due to minor violations (from the SNS, ed.)."

Students are "a pretty diverse group"

Tilman Kuban, a CDU member of the Bundestag, sent a clear message to the SNS leadership and President Vučić in an interview with DW: "Whoever wants to be part of our club in the EPP must meet certain prerequisites. We have clearly stated this to our friends in Serbia. In any case, I hope for the country, but also for the people of Serbia, that they will succeed in this."

Mihael Galer, however, is skeptical: "Words and actions must match. As for the current government in Serbia, that is, the current legal situation and democratic standards, in my opinion, that is unfortunately not the case."

As for the student movement in Serbia, the CDU member assesses that it is a "fairly diverse group" in terms of their political views:

"Among them are those who want more Europe and who want to move towards Europe. But there are also those who criticize Vučić for not being tough enough on the issue of Kosovo and believe that he should be even more friendly towards Moscow. We must clearly make a distinction here."

Elmar Brok, former chairman of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, has spoken out about the idea of ​​new members joining the EU, but without veto power. He told DW that it could really be a serious idea that would enable the enlargement of the Union. And, he says, a functional EU:

"Accepting ten new members and then being in a situation with 37 countries where you are unable to act – that is not a solution, no one wants that. The best solution, in my opinion, would be to abolish the veto right for all members – so that there is no distinction between old and new members."

It's an old debate, says Michael Galler, who also remembers the time when some Balkan statesmen told Brussels: "I don't need a commissioner, I don't even need the right of veto, I just need EU membership."

"The debate we are having within the EU is related to majority decision-making in the areas of foreign or security policy. It is possible that our interests and those of the Balkan countries coincide here. That the new members say they want to be at the table, that they want to vote, but that they do not want the right of veto. It is also possible that the old members join that idea. But given that a unanimous decision is needed within the EU on this issue as well, I think that unfortunately will not happen," Galer told DW.

"Lite membership" in the European Union

Tilman Kuban notes that there is a very different situation in the countries of the Western Balkans, Ukraine or Moldova in terms of the pace of fulfilling the criteria for EU entry, and that alternative models of accession to the Union should be considered:

"If we want to tie these countries more closely to the EU, especially for geostrategic reasons, we may have to consider some kind of 'lite membership' for those countries that are not close to the EU. So membership with fewer rights, but also with fewer obligations. I am a supporter of this idea, because I think that the countries of the Western Balkans must finally be offered an EU perspective."

CDU member of the Bundestag, Kuban, says that even this "lite membership" does not come for free and that there are things that must be fulfilled: "These are things that are the very core of the European Union - from the rule of law and freedom of opinion, freedom of the media to anti-corruption and a functional state administration, which investors and companies can rely on. This applies to Serbia, as well as to all other countries."

And that's what, as Kuban tells DW, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, also from the CDU, talked to Aleksandar Vučić about: "The Chancellor clearly told him that the door is open for all the countries of the Western Balkans, and especially for Serbia as the largest and economically strongest country in the region. But we need to go through that door. Our task is to keep that door open. And whether the people of Serbia or the Serbian government want to go through that door - that's their decision."

The CDU's position on the Western Balkans is clear, Kuban reiterates: "We have common interests, we want to cooperate geostrategically and it is not in our interest that there are states in the Western Balkans that are perhaps governed from China or Russia. We want to show them the way towards the European Union. But then that is the decision of the people on the spot – they should decide which path they want to take."

Vučić could "go into history"

Has President Vučić understood that message and is he ready to step through the door that CDU member Kuban is talking about? Elmar Brok, who said in an earlier interview with DW that Vučić is harming his own country with his policies, believes that joining the EU is not a priority for the Serbian president:

"He wants to hold on to power, and the opposition has no chance. The opposition is partly to blame for that, because it is not uniting. The problem is the attempt to permanently secure power. Such countries are neither democratic nor do they have the rule of law."

"I am in contact with Vučić. He would have to be ready to serve the interests of his country, that is, to enable progress in Serbia itself, in order to take his country into the EU. That would make history. His ambition should be to change Serbia for the better, not his mandate," Brok said in an interview with DW.