Vučić presents awards on the occasion of the Serbian National Day

Serbian Patriarch Portfirije, Speaker of the Serbian Assembly Ana Brnabić, Prime Minister Miloš Vučević and members of the Government of Serbia, Vice President of the Government of North Macedonia Ivan Stoilković, representatives of the Serbian people from the region, representatives of religious communities and the diplomatic corps are attending the ceremony.

The ceremony began with the performance of the hymn "God's Justice".

After that, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, addressed the crowd.

"I'm glad that at Sretenje we can gather, collect, assemble and bring ideas about what to do. All great things are simple and can usually be expressed in one word," he began.

"Either it's freedom, or justice, or honor, or duty, or mercy, or hope," Vucic said, quoting Winston Churchill.

"Because of freedom and justice, there was an uprising in 1804. In simple, short words, there are all the reasons why today we present the highest state award to those people who confirmed them with their actions, who embodied them, lived their meaning and gave this society much more than they received or asked for," he added.

"Serbia has no price, and it will be even stronger and stronger and we will not allow anyone to threaten it. When you fight for the homeland and for the freedom of your country, then you have no alternative, then you have to be braver and stronger and more free-minded than ever," he added.

He claims that Serbia is under the heaviest possible pressure because it has not imposed sanctions on Russia for three years.

"Serbia on Sretenje, an economically strong Serbia, managed to withstand all the pressures and today you can see how responsible our policy was. Only its citizens can decide about Serbia, its future - that's the Sretenje vow, that's Karadjordje's vow," concluded President Vučić.

After the address, Aleksandar Vučić started handing out awards.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Jeyhun Bayramov, the head of the Freedom Party of Austria in the European Parliament, Harald Vilimsky, and the governor of the Ionian Islands, Janis Trepeklis, are the first among the awardees to whom the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, presented the awards today.