Sokol: Serbia is the main source of instability, create a cordon sanitaire around it

Croatian MEP Tomislav Sokol said today that Serbia is the main source of instability in the region and that a "sanitary cordon" should be created around it to limit its dangerous, pro-Serbian policies. "European funds should be suspended for Serbia until some things change there. I would say that a sanitary cordon should be created around Serbia, not only around Vučić, but also around all Greater Serbia options that come from there, they should be isolated and everything should be done to limit their dangerous policies," Sokol told Croatian N1 television. Sokol comes from the Croatian ruling party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which is part of the European People's Party, and for N1 he commented on the statement of the European Parliament rapporteur for Serbia, Croatian MEP Tonino Picula from the Social Democratic Party, that the regime of Aleksandar Vučić is the main source of instability in Serbia and the region.

"The Greater Serbian ideology in Serbia has not been defeated, it is now stronger than ever. I would say that this current Serbian government is more Greater Serbian-oriented than Milosevic's, but the circumstances are such that they are not able to immediately implement it by force, so they are using other methods," the MEP emphasized.

Sokol assessed that "the current Serbian government, as well as the entire mood in Serbian society, which has been brainwashed by Vučić's media since 2012, is such that the entire Serbian society is much closer to the line of Chetnik ideology than it was in the late 1980s."

"When we see what they say, even the majority of the opposition is no better than Vučić," the MEP added.

He stressed that he agreed with Picula's assessment and added that he has been saying for years that "the policy of appeasement towards Serbia is a failure, that Serbia is the main source of instability in all of Southeast Europe and that it should be sanctioned much more severely."

"You cannot integrate someone who doesn't want to, who sees the EU only as a piggy bank from which to extract money, and who will lead a policy that has nothing to do with the EU," Sokol concluded.

Regarding the possibility of a change of government in Serbia in the next elections, Sokol said that he does not see an alternative that would be much better than Vučić and assessed that the true civic, democratic and pro-European forces are currently very weak and will not have a chance in the elections.