Serbian president Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 has confirmed that his country is ready to sell ammunition to the EU, even if it ultimately ends up with Ukrainian forces in their fight against Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to sell it to someone, and we’ll sell it to whomever we can in order to earn some money, but we’ll try to take care and not see that ammunition end up in a war zone. But it happens from time to time,\u201d Vu\u010di\u0107 said on Euronews\u2019 flagship interview show The Europe Conversation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the end [of the day], we’ll have to pay our workers,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cTell me, is there something that is not rational?\u201d Vu\u010di\u0107 asked.<\/p>\n
According to Vu\u010di\u0107, Serbia produces up to 160,000 shells of different kinds and calibre, \u201cequal or a bit more than France\u201d, work that is done by 30,000 workers who are \u201cdependent on our ability to sell this ammunition to someone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vu\u010di\u0107 seems to be showcasing a change of heart regarding Serbia\u2019s arms sales policy.<\/p>\n
Last June, he halted all ammunition exports after pressure from Moscow, which resented the fact that some shells were used in their war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Vu\u010di\u0107 repeated his often-voiced support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but stopped short of backing EU sanctions against Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not an EU member state. I cannot do anything on this. I cannot influence it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Yet, pointing to past international sanctions against Serbia, he expressed doubts about whether sanctions \u201cbring the best results\u201d, arguing that sanctions would only harm ordinary people.<\/p>\n
EU criticism of protests<\/p>\n
On EU enlargement, the Serbian president defended his leadership against criticisms presented in a new EU Commission report on aspiring members of the bloc.<\/p>\n
The Enlargement report, released on Tuesday, noted that \u201cpolarisation in Serbian society has deepened against the background of mass protests\u2026reflecting disappointment of citizens over inter alia corruption\u201d.<\/p>\n
Brussels also condemned the country\u2019s \u201cexcessive use of force against protestors\u201d and \u201cbacksliding on freedom of expression and the erosion of academic freedom\u201d.<\/p>\n
This past weekend, Serbia again saw mass demonstrations marking the first anniversary of a train station disaster in the northern city of Novi Sad.<\/p>\n
The collapse of the railway station, which killed 16 people, triggered a youth-led movement calling for political change.<\/p>\n
Vu\u010di\u0107 shrugged off the reprimands from Brussels \u2014 as well as the protests in Serbia \u2014 by underlining Serbia\u2019s economic credentials.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was facing protests since I became the prime minister in 2014,\u201d said Vu\u010di\u0107. \u201cBut even with that in mind, we have been progressing with good growth rates.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI also need to add that public debt dropped when I became prime minister because of how disciplined we were. The public debt-to-GDP is now 43%, half the EU average,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
Citing further signs of economic progress, Vu\u010di\u0107 also underlined Serbia\u2019s improved credit ratings.<\/p>\n
In 2024, the country received its first investment-grade rating when Standard & Poor\u2019s upgraded it from BB+ to BBB- with a stable outlook. This made S&P the first agency to lift Serbia\u2019s foreign-currency bonds out of junk status.<\/p>\n
Such a decision was partly linked to the Balkan nation\u2019s \u201cExpo 2027\u201d plan, an exposition intended to attract foreign investment. Tied to the event are a myriad of infrastructure and development projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have already received confirmation that 127 countries might participate in that expo,\u201d said Vu\u010di\u0107.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serbian president Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 has confirmed that his country is ready to sell ammunition to the EU, even…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[6502,2000,10247,299,5187,2816,1699,6567,6504],"class_list":{"0":"post-551177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-aleksandar-vucic","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-eu-enlargement","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-politics","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-serbia","16":"tag-serbia-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115498392431809847","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}