Vucevic: Discussions with EPP due on October 22

BELGRADE - Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) leader Milos Vucevic said he and fellow SNS official Ana Brnabic would have discussions with the European People's Party (EPP) on October 22 and that he believed everything would be alright with the SNS's status in the EPP.

"Ana and I have received an invitation to go to the EPP on October 22, if I am not mistaken, for discussions about these complaints regarding the SNS. On October 22, we will hear who submitted the complaints," Vucevic said on K1 TV.

He said he believed everything would be alright with the SNS's status in the EPP and added that, contrary to reports by some media outlets, the SNS was not shaken.

Vucevic said he was confident EPP bodies would determine the SNS belonged in the group.

Asked whether some opposition parties were behind the complaints, Vucevic responded that that was certainly the case.

Recently, opposition media outlets in Serbia reported that the SNS's status in the EPP was in doubt due to alleged excessive use of force against protesters in the country.

The EPP Presidency said on September 25 it had tasked the group's Secretary General Dolors Montserrat and Vice President Kostis Hatzidakis with conducting an internal control process regarding the SNS's role in the EPP.

It noted that the move was not aimed at a suspension or exclusion, but at a thorough internal probe with open results.