President Aleksandar Vučić in an interview for “Süddeutsche Zeitung” spoke about energy supply, tensions between Belgrade and Moscow, turmoil in Serbia, as well as the idea that Serbia could enter the EU, but without voting rights.
“Everything is getting harder for us,” says Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, describing the situation with energy supplies. “Oil prices on Mediterranean markets have increased by 15 percent in just the last two days, that is madness. The situation with gas is similar,” Vučić said, as reported by DW.
But the crisis for Serbia, Tobias Zick, a journalist of the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung who conducted the interview, reminds him, began long before the Iranian war – with American sanctions against the Oil Industry of Serbia, majority-owned by the Russian Gazprom.
Vučić confirms that this significantly slowed Serbia’s economic growth. At the same time, he says he is grateful to the EU and the team of the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen: “We talked with them about which new pipelines to various neighboring countries we should build by 2035. We will invest significant funds in our energy infrastructure and in that we have the full support of the European Union,” says the president of Serbia.
Russian pressures
In that context, he also admits that relations with Moscow have cooled. During negotiations on the ownership structure in NIS, as he states, threats of cutting off gas supplies came from Russia, while Russian media “attacked him more harshly than many Western leaders.”
“Traditionally we had good and friendly relations, but now I simply had to protect the national interests of Serbia. We are not anyone’s puppets,” Vučić says for the German newspaper.
Belgrade, he explains, ultimately agreed to a model according to which part of the company would be taken over by the Hungarian Mol and the Emirati company Adnoc, while Serbia would increase its ownership share from 29.87 to 34.87 percent. “That gives us better control mechanisms and greater oversight over financial decisions,” says Vučić.
FIND OUT MORE:
“Here is the list, what is the problem?”
The president of Serbia in the interview confirms that part of the ammunition produced in Serbia, through intermediaries, ended up in Ukraine – but also states that he openly presented this to Russia.
“I spoke with Putin at the meeting in Beijing and showed him the list of export countries and said: ‘Here is the list, what is the problem?’ He then pointed to Poland, but only hunting rifle ammunition went there. But yes, there were exports to the Czech Republic, to Great Britain and several other countries. And it eventually ended up in Ukraine,” Vučić says.
He also says that he reminded Putin that Serbia had not imposed sanctions on Russia and that because of that it had “suffered a lot.” In Serbia, as he emphasized, 28,000 people work directly in the military-industrial sector.
“All our warehouses are bursting at the seams with shells, rockets and ammunition of various calibers,” says the president. “We then let it go, so that those people could receive salaries, so that they could survive.”
“Major changes in Europe and the US”
When asked whether this means that now is the time for Serbia to join the sanctions of the European Union against Russia, Vučić responds:
“If you ask me, that is a thing of the past. We as Europeans are facing much bigger problems in the future. I think that the crisis in Iran will have major political consequences and there will be significant changes within European societies. (…) And we also expect major political changes in the United States.”
Vučić also expresses criticism toward the current American administration – which, as he says, did not react more decisively to the policy of the Government in Priština.
“The Americans have been of great help to all of us here in the region by ensuring peace and stability in Bosnia. I hoped they would take a sharper stance against Kurti’s regime in Kosovo,” says the president of Serbia.
“They provoke all the Serbs who live in Kosovo. And there is also that so-called Peace Committee, where the president of Kosovo Vjosa Osmani appears as a star. We did not expect that from the Trump administration.”
The General Staff case
Regarding the withdrawal of Jared Kushner from the project to build a hotel at the site of the former General Staff building in Belgrade, the president of Serbia says that the reason for it was an “enormous campaign by the media, the opposition and the blockaders” and claims that the project would have brought a major investment boost. “It would have employed thousands of people and provided contracts for hundreds of companies,” Vučić says.
He rejects accusations that there was excessive use of force in the handling of student demonstrations and claims that violence was primarily directed against the police.
And when asked about the dismissal of the long-time commander of special units and the appointment of a new one, who is linked with controversies, he responds that it is a professional without criminal connections.
EU entry without voting rights?
The German journalist was particularly interested in the idea that Vučić and the prime minister of Albania Edi Rama recently jointly presented through German media:
“I do not believe that we will soon be able to become a full member of the European Union. That is why, together with (the prime minister of Albania) Edi Rama, I advocate a Europe of multiple speeds. I believe in the single market, in a Europe without borders. If we could politically and economically become part of the EU in that way – without voting rights, without veto rights and without our own commissioner – that would make us very happy,” says the president of Serbia.
The journalist then immediately asks whether that means Vučić “wants to enjoy the advantages of the single market and the Schengen area without pressure for greater rule of law and democratization?”
The president of Serbia responds: “No, the pressure should remain and we must face it. They should always be able to say: You are not good enough, you have to leave.”
MORE TOPICS:
Source: N1; Foto: ATA Images