PM "thanks English and others" for their "great friendship"

PM "thanks English and others" for their "great friendship"

Although he did not specify who he had in mind, Vucic eventually ironically offered his "thanks" to "the English and all the others" for what he said was their "great friendship."

"You will not trample on Serbia and that is my message to you from the center of Serbia, Sumadija, because we will know how to protect Serbia," Vucic said.

According to him, "lately, some have decided to use various resolutions to once again place the brand of those who should be ashamed of the past."

"We Serbs show our greatness also by being able to bow before the victims of others as we do before our own, before the hundreds of thousands of who died in all the fatherland wars. But don't make us feel humiliated because we are Serbs and because we fought valiantly for our freedom," Vucic told those gathered in Blaznava, and added that Serbia will be defending itself "with knowledge and smarts, with diligence."

"And those who think it's enough to threaten us and say that we Serbs are, I guess, the only ones to blame for what was happening in the former Yugoslavia, and that we should forget Jasenovac, and Jadovno, and all other places of Serb suffering - essentially they are only saying and showing who caused many things (that happened) in that region," Vucic said.

According to him, "we must work even more, work and make an even greater effort to create a more successful, economically more rich Serbia, so we have even greater political strength to stand up to them and say that 99.99 percent of honorable and honest Serbs will carry their red-blue-and-white banner with pride, everywhere."

"And you, the English, and all the others - thanks for the great friendship that you showed us, thank you very much for that, while we Serbs will protect ourselves and our face because we are the only ones who can mar it," said the prime minister, and reiterated that "we respect all other victims and show in this way the difference between us and others who never honored a single Serb victim."

Speaking about the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Belgrade later this week, Vucic said he was "convinced" she would praise Serbia's economic reforms, and added he believed "this visit will be different than the one in 2011."

The prime minister said he expects "further incentives for dialogue with Pristina in Brussels," where he will on July 9 meet with EC President Jean Claude Juncker.

The British resolution on Srebrenica would have an impact on Serbia and the region regardless of the outcome of the vote in the UN Security Council, said Vucic, and added that "any attempt to undermine the Serb Republic (RS) will be met with opposition from Serbia."

Vucic said that the Serbian people "will remain proud, strengthen the country in economic terms, and win completely."

“If the resolution is not passed, that will be good news for Serbia and the region. If it wins a majority of votes, this will be tough news, but we will invest efforts, build more bridges and factories, strengthen the country in economic terms and we will completely win, I am sure,” Vucic said in reply to journalists' questions regarding his expectations from the forthcoming meeting of the UNSC, and added:

"Serbia is a small country that has not right to expect something from great powers but only from itself, its government and its people."

"Serbs will hold their head up high, and proudly go everywhere, because we are not guilty. Particularly not the 99 percent of Serbs, on whom some are trying to attach the label of collective guilt," said he.

Asked about "the political background" behind the British draft, he said that "since they insist only on that and have no interest in anything else, it is unequivocal that they have the political intention of abusing it."

It remains to be seen whether the resolution would lead to additional pressure on he RS, and later on Serbia, he added.

"In any case, we will know how to respond to that - with work and diligence. We have not been afraid until now to say to such a powerful power that we do not agree with it and they cannot make us accept to humiliate ourselves if they want to humiliate us" the prime minister has been quoted as saying.

Vucic then added that "Serbia's opposition to the British resolution on Srebrenica will be politically peaceful, as well as to any attempt at undermining and destroying the RS."

"Serbia is under obligation according to the Dayton agreement to protect the Serb Republic and that job we will do protecting peace and stability in the region," said Vucic.