Serbia remains committed to its plan to join the European Union and wants to velocity up its efforts for membership, said president Alexandar Vucic on Tuesday after his fresh journey to Moscow met Western criticism.
Vucic went to Russia on 8 and 9 May for a parade to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the planet War II victory. He met Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Chinese president Xi Jinping there.
After a Tuesday gathering with Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, Vucic said that Belgrade wanted to accelerate its European integration and open more negotiating chapters with the bloc. “The atmosphere (in the EU), ... is not rather great, I am convinced that it is due to my journey to Moscow, but ... I believe that Europe will have an knowing for advancement based on merit”, said Serbian politicians.
Russia is the historical Orthodox ally of Serbia and the main supplier of natural gas at the same timeGazprom and Gazpromneft are owners of the Serbian oil company NIS. Moscow besides supports Belgrade in his opposition to Kosovo's independence.
Vucic promised that the government would work to implement the reforms needed to join the EU.
Serbia must eradicate corruption, improvement its judiciary, media and electoral law, fix relations with Kosovo and adapt its abroad policy to EU policy, including imposing sanctions on Russia in connection with its invasion of Ukraine.
"The key component of our common abroad and safety policy is to explicitly condemn Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine and to support Ukraine in achieving a fair and lasting peace," Costa said.
Source: Reuters
BIS improvement — survey Bulletin
