Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said his country was no longer “enthusiastic” about EU membership and hit out at critics of Vladimir Putin.
Speaking at a Politico panel event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Vucic said: “We are not as enthusiastic as we used to be, in a way the EU is not as enthusiastic about us as we thought.”
He added that he was “pessimistic” about Serbia entering the European Union any time soon.
Serbia was originally identified as a potential EU candidate country in 2003 and Belgrade was placed in Formal application for membership in 2009, But accession talks have been delayed, with Serbia’s proximity to Russia an increasingly important sticking point. The European Union has made it clear that future members must toe its line on foreign policy and sanctions. While Belgrade has said it supports Ukraine, it has refused to impose sanctions on its longtime ally Moscow.
Challenging his country’s closeness with Putin, Vucic hit out at articles calling him “Putin’s puppet”, accusing the media of “brutal lies”.
vucic He said he agreed that the Russian-occupied regions of Crimea and Donbass are part of Ukraine, adding that Serbia is “more loyal to the territorial integrity of UN member states than many other countries.”
However, the president sidestepped a question about whether he thought Putin was a war criminal and instead slammed the Davos attendees for calling the Russian leader “crazy”. He isn’t, Vucic said.
Despite his coolness on EU membership, Vucic said the European Political Community (EPC) – an intergovernmental forum set up in 2022 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine – is “important”, calling it “a good idea”. . [French President Emmanuel] Macron.