PM "aware reforms are unpopular among Serbians"

PM "aware reforms are unpopular among Serbians"

"Frankly, I see that people for the most part do not support the reforms that we have to implement, and I feel bad because of that, because it makes no sense to do it if citizens are not in favor," he said.

The prime minister added that he saw opinion polls that showed "more than 90 percent " were against the reforms that he initiated.

Equally difficult, he continued, has been to see that "most of those gathering to protest in front of the government" came from his Serb Progressive Party (SNS).

"All of this affects me and it's not all the same to me," he said, reiterating that the government "did not increase salaries and allow one-time assistance because of elections, as some have done before."

Asked about Pristina's suspension of the Brussels agreement in the part that refers to the future Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO), and "announcements from Pristina and even from the EU" that the deal would have to be renegotiated, he said:

"They say that what we have agreed on, and which suits them, should be implemented by Serbs."

He added, "We have implemented almost everything, and there's an attempt now to find something that we did not do, in order to find a balance and say, 'both sides have failed to fulfill something'."

"They would like to reopen the topic of the ZSO," added the prime minister, and reiterated at the same time that the agreement was "signed, and that's the end of it as far as we're concerned."

"If someone wants to open a topic about who and what is in line with what constitution, then a serious and very dangerous Pandora's Box is being opened," Vucic warned.

"I'm not sure Ulrike Lunacek would want that," he said, in reference to the EP official who this week suggested that the agreement "may have to be changed."

The prime minister also had a message for his "critics from the previous government, " asking "not to be lectured about patriotism - because the current government never gave up on Serbia's interests, or on the friendship with Russia and the EU."