EU Commissioner Serbia Trip Draws Lawmaker Criticism Over Timing

BRUSSELS — European lawmakers have slammed a commissioner’s planned trip to Serbia, warning it’s bad timing and could gift a propaganda win to the government in Belgrade. Magnus Brunner, the European commissioner for migration, is set to visit Belgrade on Wednesday and meet with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. His trip comes just weeks after POLITICO reported that the Commission was weighing freezing €1.5 billion in funds and grants for Serbia over controversial judicial reforms and general democratic backsliding. Tonino Picula, a Croatian MEP from the center-left Socialists and Democrats and the European Parliament’s lead negotiator on Serbia, told POLITICO there’s “a risk that the visit may be used by the regime to project an image of business as usual, which does not reflect the current situation.” Brunner is expected to discuss collaboration between Brussels and Belgrade on migration and border management. Serbia, which signed an agreement with the EU in 2024 to deepen cooperation on combatting irregular migration, is a hub for people-smugglers and migrants attempting to enter the EU via the Western Balkans route. Irena Joveva, a Slovenian MEP and vice president of the liberal Renew group in the European Parliament, said Brunner’s trip would likely be “instrumentalized by the Serbian authorities as a PR tool.” “While Magnus Brunner might see this as diplomacy and normal relations with a candidate country, Vučić uses these photo-ops to sell a domestic narrative of a master statesman juggling global powers for Serbia’s benefit,” she told POLITICO. Serbia, a candidate for EU membership since 2012, is required to complete reforms to strengthen the rule of law and democracy to join the bloc. Since 2024 the country has been rocked by anti-government protests following the deaths of 16 people when a railway station roof collapsed in Novi Sad, with frequent violent clashes between police and protesters. In January the government pushed through a package of laws restructuring the courts and changing how judges are appointed, alarming NGOs and the EU. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos called the law changes a “serious step back” and said Brussels could scrap funding for Belgrade unless the legislation is repealed. Vula Tsetsi, co-chair of the European Green Party, told POLITICO that “Serbia has seen a clear and alarming deterioration of the rule of law, media freedom and freedom of protest.” “I have been in Belgrade twice in recent months and witnessed firsthand the climate of intimidation and the police repression of student protests,” she added. “At such a moment, visits by European Commissioners risks [sending] the wrong message.” Max Griera contributed to this report from Strasbourg.