Vucic: All obligations on EU path to be met by end of 2018

Vucic: All obligations on EU path to be met by end of 2018

’’Without a doubt, the path of European integrations is the best possible path for Serbia’’, Vucic said.

"We heard Johannes Hahn's statement yesterday that Serbia has no chance of becoming an EU member in the next five years. That is no great surprise, we expected that decision, but we will certainly continue the reforms, continue on our path towards the EU and do our best about all our obligations before the end of 2018 and at the beginning of 2019, and then everything will be in the hands of others," Vucic said at the 4th Belgrade Security Forum, whose media partner is Tanjug.

’’Serbia will fulfil its obligations not for the sake of the EU, but for its own sake, therefore it must address the difficult negotiation chapters 23 and 24, which it hopes to open early next year’’, he said.

"This is not about miracles that need to be performed, because other countries have done it," he said.

’’Serbia is committed to regional stability’’, Vucic said, adding that it is not just a matter of regional peace, but also economic stability and stable political ties, adding that the Albanian Prime Minister will pay a visit to Belgrade on October 22 - the firstvisit by an Albanian Prime Minister in many years.

’’Difficult reforms are ahead for Serbia - it will face numerous challenges and will have to work much faster and harder to avoid wasting a single day in its bid to ensure better living standards for the citizens’’, he said.

’’The present government has inherited major economic problems and, to put aside the socialist legacy, Serbia will also have to change the mentality that is stifling the country's progress’’, Vucic said.

At the same time, he voiced concern over Bosnia and Herzegovina and added that Serbia will do all it can to promote stability in the region, reiterating that Belgrade supports the country's territorial integrity.

’’Serbia advocates a higher level of cooperation among CEFTA countries, which could become a reality in 5 to 7 years, regardless of which countries become EU members by that time’’, Vucic said.

There is an initiative to establish a Western Balkan Youth Association whose objective will be to react to hate speech, he said.

Over the past few days, as well as the past few months, Serbia has done the best it could to start or implement many reforms that are not easy at all, Vucic said.

The new labour law has been passed after 15 years of no amendments and the Pride Parade has been held, even though many of us do not agree with "them" - nevertheless, freedoms, differences and choices must be respected, Vucic said.

"We will do all that not because of EU pressure - neither the International Monetary Fund nor the World Bank has requested that - we will do that for our own sake," Vucic said.

"People are impatient, they do not expect or easily accept that their salaries and pensions be cut by someone who has come to power, but that, combined with new laws, will create a better environment for business and a better investment climate, and create new jobs in Serbia," the Prime Minister noted.

’’The economy is the most significant issue for everyone in the region, and many infrastructure projects have been proposed as a result’’, Vucic said.

Speaking about the Ukrainian crisis, Vucic noted that Serbia supports the territorial integrity of all UN member states, including Ukraine, but said that the Western Balkan region is the top priority for Serbia.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic also said that Serbia was not changing its policy, that it was oriented towards the EU and that it wanted good relations with Russia and would foster and nurture such a policy.

Answering reporters' questions about possible pressures on Serbia to change its relationship with Russia in order to be able to come closer to the EU, Vucic said that he had been listening to people speaking that Serbia would have to do something that someone had ordered for seven or eight months now.

“Serbia has a policy it is pursuing and it will not change it,” the Prime Minister said, adding that Serbia had benefited and would continue to benefit from it in the future.

“My job as Prime Minister is to take care of my country and not about other countries, and this is not going to change,” said Vucic.

’’You cannot talk to Serbia like that, telling us what we must do, just as nobody can or should talk that way to you’’, the Prime Minister said at the fourth Belgrade Security Forum.

Asked about his expectations from Serbia’s forthcoming OSCE chairmanship, Vucic said that our country would play a serious and responsible role that would be respected by both the East and the West.

“Serbia is a country that both the East and the West believe in and have confidence in,” the Prime Minister said, adding that it did not hold two stories for two sides up its sleeve.

We do not have one story for one party and another story for others and that is why we are at peace and have a clear conscience, the Prime Minister said.