EU rapporteur accused of compromising neutrality over Operation Storm post

Serbia’s opposition leader Dragan Djilas criticised Tonino Picula, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for Serbia, accusing him of compromising his role after publishing a wartime photo holding a rifle while commemorating Croatia’s Operation Storm, EUalive’s partner agency BETA reports.

Picula, a Croatian social-democrat MEP and former foreign minister, posted on X a message marking the 30th anniversary of Operation Storm – the military-police campaign that re-established Croatian control over territories held by Serb forces. In his post, Picula stressed that advocating for peace, strengthening democracy and achieving balanced economic development should remain Croatia’s long-term goals. Alongside this statement, Picula shared a photograph of himself from the war, in military uniform with a rifle.

Djilas, leader of Serbia’s Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) and the best-known Serbian politician from the opposition, responded by saying that Picula’s actions compromised his role as an EU envoy.

“One cannot be a rapporteur for Serbia with an automatic rifle in hand,” Djilas said in a statement, recalling that his party had accepted Picula’s appointment, hoping for a future-oriented approach despite the burden of Serbian-Croatian relations. “We believed you were a man of the future, not of the past. That belief lasted until today,” Djilas added.

He criticised Picula for praising his wartime comrades while, in Djilas’ words, “attaching a photo of himself armed.” Djilas acknowledged Picula’s right, as a Croatian citizen and politician, to have a personal stance on Operation Storm, but stressed that, as an EU official and rapporteur for Serbia, Picula holds a responsibility beyond national narratives.

Djilas also pointed to reports from Croatian human rights organisations which documented over 1,100 Serbian civilian deaths and the expulsion of more than 200,000 people during Operation Storm. He shared a personal account of his relative, conscripted during the war, who was executed despite never having fired a shot. Thousands of homes were looted and burned during the operation, including the house of Djilas’ grandparents, he noted.

“The most tragic part is that during Operation Storm, while civilians fled in convoys – children, women, elderly, one of your comrades shot at them from a plane,” Djilas stated.

He also warned that Picula’s post would be used by Serbia’s ruling authorities to reinforce narratives of European bias against Serbia. “With this statement, you have directly assisted Aleksandar Vučić’s anti-European regime, which for days has been claiming that all of Europe is against Serbia,” Djilas said.

Djilas emphasised that neither he nor his party would give up on European values. “Our ancestors died for a free Europe that Serbia belongs to. It is our duty to leave a free European Serbia to future generations, and we will do that,” he concluded.

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Picula has often been highly critical of Vučić’s regime and has come under fire from Belgrade in return. To a large extent, his criticism has favored the opposition. It is rather surprising that this time an opposition leader took aim at the rapporteur.

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Caption: A man passes by a campaign billboard of Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Tonino Picula in the European Parliament elections, in Zagreb, Croatia, 6 June 2024. The European Parliament elections take place across EU member states from 6 to 9 June 2024, with the European elections in Croatia held on 9 June. EPA/ANTONIO BAT