Vučić: "Countries will disappear. The problem exists in the whole of Europe"

Vučić: "Countries will disappear. The problem exists in the whole of Europe"

"I am afraid that we have made numerous mistakes in choosing personnel for certain positions in the military industry," he said. He also emphasized that the state is much stronger today and can invest 200 million euros in the military industry.

"The state made necessary military acquistions and strengthened our army. We have 12.000 workers in the military industry, which allows us to always have important products manufactured in our country, and that is extremely important," he added and reiterated that "he is not satisfied with everything".

"Today I see the problems we have and in that respect I am stricter than the Chief of General Staff and the Minister of Defense. I know how much better and stronger we are, but I still see significant shortcomings and we are working to improve that quickly," President said.

As he said, as the end of his mandate approaches, he does not want to hide anything from people. "The army then and the army are now like heaven and earth. We didn't have armor, we didn't have the cornets we get now, we had between zero and one serious hunter, today we have 14. We had four eagles, today we have 10 and we are working on 4+. The air defense is the strongest, we have two batteries of armor and more are coming", said Vucic.

"We have 5-6 times more helicopters in good condition today. I will not even talk about quality, in addition, we have armed all our helicopters," he said. According to him, we have 30 new Russian tanks, we will have 36-54 of domestic howitzers.

"We started making good vehicles in Zastava-TERVO and Fap. We also arranged many barracks, increased salaries by 70% in the last nine years," he said, adding that it was important.

Three key things - energy, the military and food and water

"In the modern world, three things are important, along with the economy and the growth of GDP that are taken for granted - energy - electricity, gas, oil, food and water, and the army," President said, adding that health is also there today.

"I use the logic of iron determinants and see that we are facing a very difficult time. The problem all over the world is that everyone is lying and no one will talk. In Germany, inflation is the highest, in the United States, the highest in the last four decades," he said, adding that in Germany, energy prices jumped 21% compared to last November.

"Yesterday, we sold electricity for 499 euros per megawatt hour, which is almost 10 times more than the cost price," he emphasized. As he emphasized, it is important for us that Kostolac starts as soon as possible, because with that we could earn millions of euros on a daily basis and thus be convincingly the strongest in the region.

President Vučić also said that today we produce enough electricity for our needs. "Countries will disappear because of all this. You have a problem at the level of the whole of Europe," he said.

Also, as he pointed out, politics does not allow them to open Nord Stream 2. "Putin is behaving logically and someone will not destroy his investment of several billion. China is buying everything it can get, America is using all its resources," he stressed.

He also said that we are ready to expand the gas storage, to buy larger quantities of gas.

"People need to know that these are essential issues for Serbia. We have agreed quantities of gas with the Russian Federation annually. We need to procure an additional 300 million cubic meters of gas." He added that we are expected to consume much more gas for Saint Nicholas or Catholic Christmas due to the weather conditions.

"It remains for us to procure it on the market, and there is no gas, and even when there is gas on the stock exchange, you have to pay $ 1.205 for it."

He added that the world is closing politically.

"That is why we are fighting and looking for a solution and that is why we are raising money to buy whatever we need to offer a solution to the citizens. Kostolac will be ready in the first quarter of 2023, and then we will have a big advantage. Until then, the state must do a good job," he said and stressed that the price of electricity and gas will not increase.

"We will have the same price. It is not a problem for us, our problem is our capacities."

About credit rating

President Vučić said about the credit rating that the first next level we'll reach will be the level of Slovenia, Croatia and many other European countries.

"This means that you have security for everyone who invests in our country, that the state behaves responsibly and seriously," said Vucic, adding that "experts" were the ones who told us not to build a new block in Kostolac because we need to invest into renewables.

"You have to follow that trend of the Green Agenda, but you also have to have electricity. The Germans didn't throw out the coal either, they still keep it in strategic reserves. And the British too - as soon as winter started, they burned everything," he said, as the war is being fought around Nord Stream 2".

"Economy is the basis of everything. Nobody fought for one hill, there was war for resources - how many wars were started because of oil...", Vučić emphasized and pointed out that the level of public debt in Serbia is 57 percent of GDP.

"When I became prime minister, our debt was 78%. Some in the region had about 20 percent, and now over 70 percent. Some had 50, and now they are over one hundred percent of public debt," Vucic concluded in an interview with TV Pink.