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Ruza Tomasic. Photo: Facebook.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic expressed anger on Wednesday about Tomasic’s statement, saying it was bad for Croatia and that his country wants to “preserve peace and good relations with [its] neighbours”.

Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said meanwhile that he “expected that Croatian state officials would distance themselves from these statements”.

European parliamentarian Tomasic, who is also head of the far-right Croatian Conservative Party, said on Sunday that some Serbs should be expelled.

“Let them pray to God that we do not clean up our yard, because if we start to clean up our yard, there will be a lot of Croatian Serbs who will have to go to Serbia,” Tomasic said in a speech in the wartime flashpoint city of Vukovar.

Her statement came in reaction to a dispute between Serbian minister for social welfare Aleksandar Vulin and Croatian officials who accused Belgrade of not prosecuting people who wanted to create a ‘Greater Serbia’ during wartime.

Vulin responded by saying that “before they mention Serbia, some Croatian officials should look into their [own] yard and they will see they have lots to deal with themselves”.

Tomasic refused to apologise for her statement but released a letter on Tuesday explaining that she was referring to Serbs who participated in war crimes in Croatia but were charged with armed rebellion instead so they could be released by the authorities under amnesty legislation “in the name of peaceful reintegration”.

But Croatian ombudsman Lora Vidovic accused Tomasic of spreading intolerance.

“This statement about how Croatia could be cleansed of Serbs certainly does not contribute to creating a tolerant atmosphere and opportunities for coexistence, and in that sense I would say that this statement is certainly discriminatory,” Vidovic stated.

“Whether it is a hate speech crime is actually up to the assessment of the state attorney’s office and, in the end, of the court which would pass the final decision on the case,” she added.

Tomasic’s speech was labelled as “pro-fascist” by Serbia’s Coalition of Refugees Associations, which called on the European and Croatian parliaments to adopt a resolution condemning it.

“With this and her previous statements, Ruza Tomasic is openly calling for violence, lynching and hate speech towards the remaining Serbs in Croatia,” it said in a statement.

In March 2013, Tomasic also stated that “Croatia is for Croats”, adding that “everyone else is a guest”.

Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak said the Croatian MEP’s statement could hinder reconciliation in the region.

“Today, when Europe is building a common front to fight all forms of radicalism and when we are all striving for cooperation and tolerance, Tomasic’s statements are not only chauvinist and offensive, but they also cause enormous damage to the European idea and the reconciliation process in the region,” Crnadak said in a statement.