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French President Emmanuel Macron met his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 in Paris on Wednesday for a discreet working lunch, at a time when Vu\u010di\u0107 is facing mounting political pressure at home.<\/p>\n
The \u00c9lys\u00e9e initially offered no official communication about the meeting, including which topics were discussed. <\/p>\n
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But hours later, Macron took to social media platform X to share key takeaways from their “long exchange”.<\/p>\n
\u201cI first reiterated the importance that France attaches to the democratic and European destiny of Serbia,\u201d Macron posted. <\/p>\n
He expressed confidence in Serbia\u2019s ability to \u201creturn to the path of dialogue,\u201d and called on the future government to pursue \u201cthe expected reforms\u201d and build on the country’s recent economic progress.<\/p>\n
The visit comes amid massive student protests in Serbia, sparked by the train station awning collapse in the city of Novi Sad in November, in which 16 people died. Demonstrators have accused the authorities and companies involved of corruption during the station’s recent renovation.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a group of around 100 Serbian students is cycling to the European Parliament in Strasbourg. They are expected to arrive next week, aiming to raise awareness with the EU authorities about the ongoing demonstrations in their country. <\/p>\n
Many Serbian students feel they haven\u2019t received enough support from the European Union, despite garnering significant backing at home.<\/p>\n
Big economic interests for France<\/p>\n
Despite the political turbulence, France has big economic interests in Serbia. <\/p>\n
Last summer, Belgrade purchased 12 French Rafale fighter jets for the modest sum of \u20ac3 billion.<\/p>\n
Vu\u010di\u0107 confirmed to reporters on Wednesday that Serbia will pay its second instalment of more than \u20ac400 million on Thursday. <\/p>\n
Macron\u2019s statement on social media also confirmed France’s participation in the 2027 Expo in Belgrade, a clear show of support for Vu\u010di\u0107. <\/p>\n
France is also involved in broader infrastructure and energy projects in Serbia. The French company Vinci operates Belgrade\u2019s airport, and Michelin manufactures tyres in the country. <\/p>\n
Another key issue that was on the table on Wednesday was US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.<\/p>\n
Serbia has been hit the hardest in the region with 34% tariffs \u2014 higher than the 20% imposed on the EU \u2014 creating pressure on French stakeholders. <\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENTRegional stability on the table<\/p>\n
Macron stated that the two leaders discussed the ongoing political crisis in Serbia’s neighbour Bosnia, stressing France\u2019s \u201cunwavering support for the unity of this country\u201d and condemning any action that would threaten its constitutional order. <\/p>\n
Tensions there have soared following last month\u2019s conviction of Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, a close political ally of Vu\u010di\u0107. <\/p>\n
Dodik was sentenced to one year in prison and banned from holding public office for six years by the State Court for refusing to accept the decisions of the High Representative, the international community’s envoy overseeing the peace agreement in the Western Balkan country. Dodik can appeal the ruling.<\/p>\n
The French leader also reiterated France\u2019s commitment to the normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo \u2014 calling it \u201can essential condition\u201d for both countries\u2019 EU aspirations.<\/p>\n
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Belgrade doesn\u2019t recognise the sovereignty of Pristina, which declared independence in 2008. Numerous Brussels-led attempts at dialogue between the two sides have failed in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ADVERTISEMENT French President Emmanuel Macron met his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 in Paris on Wednesday for a discreet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[6502,34,2000,299,36,6503,6501,6504],"class_list":{"0":"post-9554","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-aleksandar-vucic","9":"tag-emmanuel-macron","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-france","13":"tag-lithium","14":"tag-nuclear-plant","15":"tag-serbia-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114316782002412130","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9554","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=9554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}