Vučić sends a clear message: I'm not attacking EU, but protecting Serbia; We won't be humiliated

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić also called on the Speaker of the Serbian Parliament, Ana Brnabić, to reopen dialogue with the non-governmental sector on the selection of members of the REM Council and, as he said, to try to make that process more inclusive.

As he emphasized, he is confident that Serbia, as a sovereign and independent country, will make its decisions accordingly, but he urged the parliamentary speaker—who has previously led talks on the issue—to try once again to make the process more inclusive.

“To reopen dialogue with the civil sector, with non-governmental organizations, to discuss everything that is possible, realistic, rational, and good for the country, to have all stakeholders involved. Of course, without doing anything that would be directly contrary to Serbia’s interests and that would be applied only to Serbia,” Vučić said in response to a question about where Serbia stands on its European path and remarks that Serbia is constantly being faced with additional conditions in that process.

Vučić said that his call to Brnabić was to once again open talks on REM, while the EU is mostly calling for everything demanded by non-governmental organizations to be accepted.

“But my call to Ms. Brnabić is to open that dialogue once again. Not all REM members have to be elected, it doesn’t have to be 9:0 in our favor. Try once more to include everyone else in the process itself, and I believe that in the months ahead we will manage to find a solution,” President Vučić said.

Asked about Members of the European Parliament who said they were coming to Serbia even though meetings with Serbian officials had not been properly announced, Vučić said that he is boycotting only Tonino Picula.

“They didn’t ask whether they were welcome, nor did they communicate dates with us. It would have been nice if they had asked, ‘Mr. President, are you there?’—and they were scheduling this a month ago. None of that was done; they just said, ‘We’re coming then,’ while I had everything arranged in Davos five months ago,” Vučić said.

He also asked why the MEPs had not shown respect toward Serbia, adding that they, together with the blockaders, do not actually want dialogue.

“We are on the European path, but we will not allow ourselves to be humiliated by some Members of the European Parliament, and it is my job to prevent that,” Vučić said.

“The only one in Davos who attends every session”

Vučić pointed to the importance of the World Economic Forum in Davos as a place where it is not just about who is present, but about what is discussed and how key decisions are made.

He added that he has attended the forum 12 times, including the summer Davos during the pandemic, and that he uses these opportunities to talk with global leaders and gain strategic insights for Serbia.

“The most important meetings are held in small rooms and corridors, where you can have up to 15 meetings a day without having to travel around the world,” Vučić said.

According to him, the Davos forum represents a unique opportunity for Serbia and other countries to exchange views, build dialogue, and resolve key political and energy issues without lengthy international travel.

Vučić added that this year’s forum will also be attended by numerous African leaders, China’s vice premier, as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which, as he noted, enables direct dialogue with key global actors.

He particularly emphasized that he attends all lectures in order to gain insight into others’ views and actively participate in the exchange of information.

“Usually there is only one president attending everything, and that is me, because I start in the morning at 7:30 and stay until 8 or 8:30 in the evening, until we return to the other village, Klosters,” the Serbian president added.

“You can never deny all the lies”

Asked to comment on numerous headlines in opposition media and on social networks concerning him as president and Serbia’s progress, Vučić said that “you can never deny all those lies.”

According to him, there were more than three million such posts. He added that even when he tries to refute some of those falsehoods, “it’s not done for your sake, but for the sake of the people and Serbia.”

“Because all those who lie will never be able to take credit for everything that has been done from 2012 until today. You work for history, for people and their well-being, not because you will be able to convince everyone that you are right,” Vučić said.

He also pointed to false claims about him in regional media, which, as he said, even portray him as a child killer. However, he explained that it is clear to him that he is being portrayed as inhuman because he protects Serbia’s interests and fights for them.

“And I do everything to ensure that Serbia moves forward,” he added.

The Serbian president also said that the president of the Freedom and Justice Party, Dragan Djilas, will be one of the main organizers of future electoral lists, adding that the blockaders have enormous foreign support, including backing from Tonino Picula, Albin Kurti, and others in the region.

“They have support from Picula and Kurti—don’t forget that—and openly so. Kurti openly supported the blockaders, as did Plenković, Picula, official Sarajevo, and Milo Djukanović’s DPS. All of them officially supported them,” Vučić said.

He added that this is very broad and substantial support, including from certain European circles.

“It is by no means naive—huge money, huge support, a huge share of the media sphere across the entire region. I congratulate them on that; they managed to put it all together,” Vučić said.

He was responding to a question about his political opponents’ claims, including Djilas’ recent statement in the Serbian parliament, that “the clock is ticking” on Vučić’s rule.

“He said the same thing in 2017, when he organized protests after Saša Janković, nine years ago, and every year since then he has said it dozens of times. I have nothing against it—the clock is certainly ticking for me as well, biologically, like for every human being in the world, and politically from the very second you sit down in or enter an office. From that second, the clock is ticking. It just takes more hours and more days in some places, and it passes quickly in others. It depends on the citizens of Serbia,” Vučić said.

He emphasized that it depends least of all on what he or Djilas want, whom he said he “respects greatly.”

“I believe he will be one of the main organizers of those future lists and that he will strongly enter the campaign, and I accept that they are the favorites. I have no problem with that—they are the favorites. I will support another list, a list that I see as representing a decent and normal Serbia. A Serbia where women will not be attacked because they think differently, beaten, or hit with icicles. A Serbia that will not settle scores with political opponents,” Vučić said.

He added that, as everyone can see, Djilas lives a comfortable and pleasant life.

“I believe people will know how to choose. If they don’t, unlike them, I will know how to congratulate them. And I repeat, they are the favorites, they have enormous foreign support,” Vučić stressed.

He added that while they may be the favorites, it is the right of those in power to fight using legal, legitimate, and democratic means.

“Because those are the only means we use—not knives and guns, as they do in front of the National Assembly, silencing political opponents; not icicles used to beat women—but words, ideas, plans, programs, and results of work. That is how we will try to oppose them. It will certainly be difficult,” President Vučić concluded.