Tonino Picula: The student movement caused great interest in the EU

"Student the movement, which brought a new dynamic to the political scene in Serbia, is now at a crossroads", said the rapporteur of the European Parliament in Brussels, after meeting with students Tonino Picula.

Student-marathon runners from Serbia reached Brussels after 2.000 kilometers. They intend to inform the representatives of the European Union institutions about the situation in their country and the reasons for their protest.

One of those who spoke with them was Tonino Picula, the rapporteur of the European Parliament for Serbia.

"Marathon is perhaps a good comparison with the European Union", assesses Picula for DW. "It's not about running short distances, but about a long road that requires sacrifices."

The MEP says that he and his colleagues congratulated the students on what they have been doing for five months: "The student movement, which has caused a lot of interest in the EU, but also generated a lot of interest in Serbia, is at a crossroads. Now we need to hear some clearer answers to very specific questions about what will happen next in Serbia," says Picula.

He emphasizes that the European Parliament believes that "Serbia - not as it is today, but a Serbia that is changing, thanks to the students - should be part of the family of democracies. And for that, it is necessary to fulfill very specific conditions, as every country on the way to membership has fulfilled."

What next?

At the moment, the biggest obstacle for Serbia is the nature of its government, says the rapporteur of the European Parliament. That nature, "embodied in Aleksandar Vučić, is really ambivalent towards its own declared goal, that is, membership in the EU, because we cannot accept as credible that wish list that comes from official Belgrade and completely different, discrepant behavior, such as the recent departure of the Serbian president to Putin's parade in Moscow."

That's why, says Picula, in Brussels, "they suggested to the students that they should still make a very clear decision in daily political action for those values ​​represented by the EU, and also organize a concrete action, which should radically change the situation in Serbia."

The student movement, he says, "brought a new dynamic to the political scene in Serbia, but to what extent that dynamic will represent a concrete solution to Serbia's accumulated problems remains to be seen. In other words, power in democracies changes in elections, and what is not clear at the moment is whether the students want to be supported or whether they want to support someone."