Politics

Mogherini Condemns Šešelj Incident, Vučić Downplays It

By 20 April 2018

ZAGREB, April 20 - EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Thursday evening during a visit to Belgrade that she condemns any act that does not support democratic institutions such as parliament.

She was commenting on an incident caused by Serbian MP and convicted war criminal Vojislav Šešelj during a visit by a Croatian parliamentary delegation to Belgrade on Wednesday. She recalled she had had a similar experience in the Serbian National Assembly last year.

These episodes do not serve any good to Serbia. I visited the Serbian parliament last year and had a similar experience. But I believe, as Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has said, that it is important to maintain dialogue. That is the essence of the EU project and we all are committed to that, Mogherini told a joint press conference with President Aleksandar Vučić.

Vučić said that all Serbian state officials had strongly condemned Šešelj's behaviour. He downplayed the incident by likening it to protests in Zagreb during his visit in February and said that the insults addressed to him on that occasion were more serious and that no one had reacted to them, either in Croatia or in the EU.

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