Migration commissioner’s ‘photo op’ visit to Serbia angers MEPs – POLITICO

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.”