Croatia rejects Serbia's election interference claim

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Thursday rejected a protest note from Belgrade that accused Croatia of interfering in Serbia’s parliamentary election campaign, calling the claim “complete nonsense.”

Plenković said it was “absolute nonsense” to suggest that Croatia was acting as both an external and internal enemy in Serbia’s political process. He added that Croatia does not interfere in such matters and said the dispute had no basis in reality.

The reaction came after Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia’s outgoing president and the lead candidate on the “United Serbia” list, said Croatia had interfered more extensively than any other country in Serbia’s upcoming parliamentary elections, according to the Serbian news agency Tanjug. Vučić welcomed the Foreign Ministry’s decision to send a formal protest note and said it should have been issued long ago.

According to Serbian public broadcaster Radio-Television Serbia, the note said that any attempts to influence Serbia’s electoral process were unacceptable. It also objected to what Belgrade described as Croatian media coverage of Serbia’s political situation.

Plenković responded that free media in Croatia are allowed to report as they see fit. He said Serbia should focus on fundamental values and make progress instead of sending what he called ridiculous notes. The Croatian prime minister also rejected the idea that Croatian media coverage amounted to state interference.

Several Croatian politicians also criticised Belgrade’s move. Tomo Medved, Croatia’s Minister for Veterans and a member of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, said the dispute showed that Serbia had not moved beyond the rhetoric of the 1990s war period. He linked the issue to what he described as a lack of progress in normalising relations in Serbia.

Josko Klisovic, an opposition member of the Social Democratic Party, said the protest note was groundless and diplomatically misguided. He argued that Vučić was trying to draw Croatia into the election campaign in order to mobilise his supporters ahead of the vote.

Marijana Puljak, an MP from the Center Party, said the dispute reflected Vučić’s nervousness and pressure from the student protest movement in Serbia. She said he was looking for culprits everywhere as the campaign intensified.

Serbia’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 25, and the Student List is widely seen as the main challenger to Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party. The exchange adds another layer of tension to already strained relations between Belgrade and Zagreb ahead of the vote.

More coverage of Serbia’s political and electoral developments is available in our latest news section.