Commenting on the European Council meeting that will start tomorrow, Reinhard Bütikofer, foreign affairs spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament declares:
“In his invitation to the EUCO, Council President Charles Michel only mentioned the dangerous conflict between Serbia and Kosovo in passing. However, the summit must give focused attention to this issue. In the recent past, the EU has unfortunately contributed to the escalation of this conflict by rewarding Belgrade’s aggressive policies with carrots, while for Pristina it only had the stick. It cannot be the case that the summit only makes demands vis-à-vis Kosovo and that Serbia is not decisively called to order after several escalating provocations. The European Parliament adopted a clear position on this last week. It would be time for the Council to learn from Parliament, because “business as usual” will only lead to a dead end. Mr. Borrell, Mr. Várhelyi and Mr. Lajčák, who are entrusted with the issue from Brussels, have lost all credibility on this topic through their misguided actions.”