Selaković: We will not stand still while we wait for EU membership

02. Sep 2021.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nikola Selaković, said that Serbia does not want to "stand still" while waiting for full membership in the European Union and stated that President Aleksandar Vučić spoke openly and clearly at the Bled Strategic Forum about those issues that are usually kept quiet or simply avoided.

Selaković said on TV Happy that President Vučić stated yesterday that Serbia is committed to the European path, that it is strategically interested in becoming a full member of the EU, but that while we wait for the Union and implement our administrative obligations in the accession process, we must survive, we must keep our economy alive, improve ourselves and work more.

He stated that Serbia has managed to achieve serious results in the economy and that this year, as last year, it will have the best economic results in Europe despite the corona virus pandemic, and that we have the opportunity to progress because we have a serious state leadership, which pursues a policy that is not just "from today to tomorrow".

Asked about the support for the "Open Balkans" initiative, which was discussed in Bled yesterday, as well as some misunderstandings regarding that initiative, Selaković said that it was obvious that some did not like it, because "they can't hold the wheel in their hands", while the three Balkan countries agreed at the level of their leaders to do something good for the people who live in them.

Saying that Serbia is firmly on the European path, Selaković said that Vučić gave an excellent example of Northern Macedonia, a country that changed its constitutional name and to which many promises were made.

"They were promised the start of accession negotiations, but they did not get it, and Albania, together with Northern Macedonia, is also waiting for that. As President Vučić said, when you get to Serbia, progress and everything else you have achieved is not important, because another reason will always be found or something else that needs to be done", Selaković said.

On the occasion of marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement, Selaković said that he was convinced that the conference on 11 and 12 October would make Belgrade the center of the world, at least for those two days, and that he expected a significant number of delegations at the highest level.

"This week, we should finish and set up the portal of official delegations of non-aligned friends", said Selaković and emphasized that there is great interest in participating in the conference.

He stated that the UN General Assembly will most likely not be held in a physical format, and that because of that, the largest number of foreign representatives will meet in Belgrade, three weeks after the date when the General Assembly was supposed to be held.

He rejected the allegations in some media that we were the center of the world at the time of the Non-Aligned Movement, and that now we are the appendix, and said that he was not surprised that some people were engaged in "lies in the form of crafts".

"How can you say that the state is an appendix when our president met with Russian President Vladimir Putin 16 times and hosted him in Serbia, he met with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel 10 times and her visit to Serbia was announced", Selaković said.

He asked if the appendix is ​​when you have a situation where Chinese President Xi Jinping is coming to Serbia, who will probably come again, and he expressed confidence that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will also visit Serbia by the end of the year, for whom he says is currently the first leader of the Arab world and the backbone of stability in the Middle East.