European parliament members call for slowdown of Serbia’s EU entry over spyware use
Brief
A group of European Parliament representatives are seeking to delay Serbia’s entry into the European Union and send other messages to Belgrade over the government’s usage of spyware.
The 29 members of the European Parliament (MEPs) cited a report this week from the SHARE Foundation about spyware found on the phones of Serbian student activists and that targeted others as well. The foundation, along with Amnesty International and The Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, discovered both Pegasus and NoviSpy spyware infections.
The groups didn’t assign responsibility for the Pegasus infection, but said evidence from the NoviSpy infections pointed to Serbian government authorities.
“This is not a technical glitch; it is a direct state attack on democracy,” the 29 MEPs wrote Friday.