Italian MEP Sandro Gozi, who represents France in the European Parliament, has described as scandalous the statements of Serbian Government Minister Snezhana Paunovic, who expressed regret that Kosovo was not ethnically cleansed of Albanians.
He said that the Serbian minister "refers to and legitimizes precisely the policy for which Slobodan Milosevic was indicted before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and for which senior Serbian and Yugoslav officials were convicted."
"In any democracy based on the rule of law, such statements would be incompatible with the exercise of a public function. The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, must unequivocally condemn these statements and ensure her immediate dismissal," Gozi's statement said.
Gozi is the secretary general of the European Democratic Party (EDP).
Paunovic declared on Saturday to Serbian television Kurir that, if he had been in Milosevic's place in 1998, he "would have ethnically cleansed Kosovo," a statement that prompted reactions and condemnations even in Kosovo.
