Tonino Picula, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for Serbia, criticized the Serbian authorities on Saturday following an incident in which several journalists, including some from Croatia, were stopped at the border because they posed a security risk ahead of a large protest against President Aleksandar Vučić.
MEP Picula (SDP/S&D) described the event as evidence of undemocratic practices by the Serbian authorities, emphasizing that such measures cannot prevent the dissemination of truth.
“Journalists may be stopped at the border, but truth is not easily constrained. A government that seeks to obstruct access to information cannot be considered democratic, and such actions indicate an intention to prevent certain realities about its administration from being exposed to the world,” Picula stated in Osijek.
In his view, this incident is part of a longstanding pattern within the Vučić administration, which he claims systematically restricts journalists in Serbia from “reporting the truth about the nature of that regime.”
Commenting on today’s protest in Belgrade, Picula noted that it remains unclear “whether this represents merely a stage in the ongoing demonstrations or their culmination.” He further stressed that “escalating the conflict serves neither the interests of the protesters nor those of the government.”
When asked about Croatia’s potential response to the restriction on journalists entering Serbia, Picula suggested that the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs should adopt “a more resolute stance.” “At the very least, they should summon the Serbian diplomatic representative in Zagreb to request an explanation for these measures and to clarify how long they will remain in place,” he concluded.