MEP Viola von Cramon: Vucic discredits the EU but is willing to take its money

European Parliament member Viola von Cramon said that the geopolitical situation is at this point so favorable for EU enlargement that even critics have come to the conclusion that enlargement is necessary, but noted that even in these conditions, Serbia.

“In theory, the preconditions for expansion could not be better. And now we also have the money in our hands“, she said. She noted that the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, recently visited the Western Balkans and that „she is trying to get rid of that money“, reports „Deutsche Welle“.

„But should I do? Of course, I would have to condition it strongly, which means that I can’t just give money, especially not to a country like, for example, Serbia, where I see that the basic values of the European Union are clearly being violated,“ she said, adding that in Serbia „the opposition does not have access to the media, activists are attacked, and there is no free and independent press“.

„I don’t think it helps if you go out there and say: We have money for you, we want to help you, we want to support the infrastructure – and basically the money will definitely come, no matter what your policies are. I think it’s a mistake,“ Von Cramon said.

She reminds that Germany is one of the biggest investors in Serbia, and because of that, more than eighty thousand jobs have been created there in the last ten years.

„It created economic prosperity, but it also enabled Vucic to cement his political power. We would have to take advantage of that. We would have to get into it much more politically and say: We expect this and that from you. And that must be said in front of the cameras“, she said.

„People have to understand that Vucic is the one who controls the press, and that for years he has been allowing the European Union, for us in the West, to be constantly discredited. And he took the money“, she said.