PM on Ukraine, meeting with Putin, OSCE apology

PM on Ukraine, meeting with Putin, OSCE apology

"Serbia's political position is clear - we support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. There is only one difference between us and other European countries - we do not impose sanctions on Russia,'' said the president of the Serbian government, who last week visited Germany and met with Chancellor Angela Merkel and political and economic leaders of that country.

Elaborating on the decision not to join EU's sanctions against Russia, he said it was "in the political and economic interests of Serbia,"and added that the Russian energy giant Gazprom owns the NIS oil monopoly in Serbia. He explained that the price of EUR 400 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian natural gas is "not easy to pay."

"A higher price would kill our country,'' Vučić was quoted as saying by the German newsapaper.

He added that Serbia, despite the damage from the floods that reached "billions" does not want to deviate from its course of reforms, and noted that the country must reduce wages in the public sector.

''We now do not want to delay a single reform step. It is an existential issue for Serbia.There we must be very strict with ourselves.These reforms no one can take away from us," the Serbian prime minister was quoted as saying and adding that "the public sector wages must be lower and the number of civil servants clearly reduced."

''We are going have a new labor law in parliament in 20 days' time, within 30 days a new law on insolvency and privatization, and within 40 days new construction legislation, as well as the promised financial consolidation of the budget," said Vučić.

"Putin and Medvedev"

Speaking in Serbia for the Prva TV media outlet, Vučić said on Sunday he " expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev this summer," adding that Serbia "proven itself a true friend to Russia by not imposing sanctions on it."

He added he would like to discuss with Putin and Medvedev "the Serbian companies Petrohemija and Azotara, which are undergoing restructuring."

Petrohemija owes RSD 4 billion to its minority shareholder Naftna industrija Srbije (NIS) for primary petrol.

NIS, which is majority-owned by Gazprom Neft, has said it is not interested in taking over Petrohemija, but that, as a minority shareholder, it will help the company find a strategic partner.

The Serbian government, which owns the majority of Petrohemija shares, formed a team on Tuesday to find a potential strategic partner for the company so its privatisation could be completed.

Azotara from Pančevo, which is the biggest producer of synthetic fertiliser in Serbia, is majority-owned by the government's Privatization Agency and has large a large debt for natural gas, which Serbia gets from Russia through the government company Srbijagas.

Vučić said he would "like to discuss the price of Russian gas delivered to Serbia with the Russian president and prime minister."

Waiting for apology

Vučić also told the TV station that he had read Serbian Interior Minister Nebojša Stefanović's PhD paper and found it to be an expert document, noting that a commission would establish whether there had been any plagiarism.

Stefanović is a high ranking member of Vučić's Serb Progressive Party (SNS) who has been accused of plagiarizing his doctoral dissertation.

Vučić said that when he realized that the subject "had become the most talked about subject in the country" - he realized that "something else was cooking."

The prime minister added that he had "read the document which was an expert work and that, although he personally might object to parts, although, in general, the paper was not at all bad."

According to Beta, he went on to say that the education system was Serbia's "number one problem" and voiced his hope that the issue would be solved over the next ten years, however, that that would not be easy to achieve.

Vučić also added that police needed to solve the Peščanik case and find out who stood behind the attacks that brought down the website, which first published plagiarism allegations.

The prime minister reiterated that he was "still waiting for the OSCE to apologize for its untruthful statements" regarding media freedoms in Serbia, noting that he would "never give up on an apology."