EU lawmakers have called for an independent investigation into allegations of vote fraud in Serbia and demanded EU funds be cut off if Belgrade authorities fail to cooperate or are implicated in election irregularities.
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00:00 A landslide majority of EU lawmakers have called for an independent investigation into
00:07 allegations of vote rigging in Serbian elections.
00:11 Serbian opposition and international observers allege the country's legislative and local
00:16 elections have been manipulated by the government of Aleksandar Vučić.
00:20 If an investigation does take place, it could further isolate Serbia from the world stage.
00:26 If the Serbian government is not ready to implement the recommendations that are made
00:33 in the elections, or if the investigation shows that the Serbian government is directly involved
00:40 in voter fraud, it is called for suspension of EU funding.
00:45 The parliament wants Serbia to align with EU values and reconsider how fair its elections
00:52 were, which would help Serbia's accession to the bloc.
00:55 Serbia must not stop. It will have an absolute majority.
00:59 There has to be a sense, a public sense that justice is done, justice is delivered in a
01:06 proper way, without delay, and I think that would help calm things down in Serbia, but
01:11 also in our relations between the European institutions and Serbia.
01:18 The Serbian opposition wants December's elections, both legislative and local, to be scrapped.
01:26 We don't want anything more than to respect the laws, to not abuse the laws and institutions,
01:33 and for the citizens to have equal conditions, to form their own election for whom they will
01:40 vote, and then to be free to vote for whoever they want.
01:52 If the election is found to be fraudulent, Serbia's ambitions to join the EU could be
01:59 dead in the water.
02:01 (clattering)
02:03 (whooshing)