A social media post by Serbia Tonino Pikra’s European Parliament rapporteur created a stir in nearby Serbia, prompting a call for removal from his position.
Pikura, a member of Croatia’s Centre Left SDP Party, tweeted on Tuesday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Operation Storm.
In the photo, a visibly young photograph of a military uniform wielding a heavy machine gun.
“Let us thank everyone who contributed to the defense of sovereignty and freedom in the Croatian Republic,” the Post read.
Pikura fought on the side of the Croatian army, took part in Operation Storm, and previously published photos from the Frontline.
The response was quick. Following criticism in social networks and Serbian media, opposition SSP leader Dragan Chilas criticized Pikura, saying that the MEP “compromised his position… because you can’t become a reporter with an automatic gun in your hands.”
“We believed you were a man of the future, not the past, and that was what it was until today,” Chilas said in a statement Tuesday.
Austrian MEP Harald Willimsky of the far-right Liberal Party (FPö) and European spokesman Maximilian Krauss of the Vienna FPö parliamentary group, accused them of saying they were “intrusted and politically very dangerous.”
“For EU posters, who play an important role in sensitive dialogue between the EU and Serbia, it is completely inappropriate to anger many people.
“In this post, Picula impressively demonstrated that he is inappropriate for this role. Anyone who publicly celebrates military existence while simultaneously publishing constitutional recommendations to Serbia is wasting all credibility. This is a humiliation for all victims and displaced people of this tragedy.”
Two FPö politicians have requested an immediate investigation of Picula’s actions by related EU authorities, they said.
The four-day operation storm in early August 1995 remains a contested issue between two neighbouring countries.
Croatian Declaration of Independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 sparked a rebellion by ethnic Serbs who ruled about a fifth of the territory supported by Selgrad-backed Serb Kragina. Croatia recaptured all its territory in its military action in 1995.
The United Nations estimated that around 150,000 ethnic Serbs fled to Serbia and Montenegro today, with 10,000-15,000 people arriving in the general area of Banjarka, neighbouring Bosnia. Serbia claims that the number, along with numerous civilian casualties during the attack, is above 250,000.
According to the 2021 census, the minority accounts for around 3.2% of Croatia’s population, less than 12.2% in 1991, as most ethnic Serbs have not returned to Croatia after the storm.
This is not the first time Pikula has faced criticism in Serbia. In May, Serbian Parliament Speaker Anna Brunavic condemned a photo of the Western Balkan intervention in domestic issues after Pikula countered that President Alexander Vicic’s statement was becoming “increasingly strange.”
Brunavic accused Croatian MEP of being part of a witch hunt against sovereign nations, saying, “Pikula, leave Serbia.” Picula repeatedly rejected the accusations of having “anti-Serb” feelings.
EuroNews contacted MEP Picula for comment.
