BRUSSELS – President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council António Costa posted identical messages on X after last night’s meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. As they stated, it was good that they met with Vučić in order to assess Serbia’s progress on its path toward EU membership.
“We discussed the importance of accelerating reforms, in particular in the areas of rule of law and media freedom. We stressed that enlargement is a geostrategic imperative and the need for Serbia to further align with the EU’s foreign and security policy”, wrote von der Leyen on X.
She added that she and Costa also welcomed Serbia’s steps to diversify its energy sources and routes and to reduce dependency on Russia, whose unreliability has been repeatedly demonstrated, as well as that Europe has consistently shown solidarity with Serbia through major investments in energy infrastructure and support to vulnerable households.
“As President of the European Council and I underlined during our visits earlier this year, we remain fully committed to seeing a democratic Serbia in the EU. You can count on our support”, von der Leyen concluded.
This was the second meeting this year in Brussels between Vučić on one side and von der Leyen and Costa on the other. The previous one was held in March. Costa visited Serbia in May, and von der Leyen in October, both as part of a regional tour.
As an EU official confirmed to our portal yesterday, the topic of the meeting was a review of the implementation of the reforms that the Government began after the recent visits of Costa and von der Leyen.
We were also told that the meeting was being held in the context of preparations for the annual EU–Western Balkans summit, scheduled for 17 December in Brussels.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, President Vučić stated that he had discussed with the highest EU officials “where, how much, and in what way Serbia can import oil derivatives from Romania, Bulgaria, and neighboring countries,” noting that he had nothing new to say about the opening of Cluster 3.
“I’m still not very afraid about gas, but I am about oil. Of course I’m afraid; as a responsible man I’m always afraid, but we have sought a solution, we’re working on it, and I believe we will have the EU’s support in these important matters,” Vučić said, as reported by FoNet.
He said he was satisfied with the course of the talks, especially regarding the energy situation.
“It’s not easy for us even today, and it will only get harder with each coming day. It’s already been more than 60 days since we last received a single drop of oil for our refinery. The only question is when the warning will arrive for the Central Bank and all the banks, and that’s when the real problems begin,” Vučić said.
Speaking about opening Cluster 3, he said he had nothing new to report.
“I can’t say we won’t open it, nor that we will; that depends on the member states,” Vučić said.
He also said that he discussed his proposal for the entire Western Balkans to be admitted to the EU together with European officials, “maybe not even for two minutes,” and that they “listened to him like polite people.”
“We didn’t talk about it, maybe not even for two minutes. I presented it as my idea, sketched it out, showed why I think so. Nothing more than that – they listened to me like polite people, they didn’t say anything on that matter,” Vučić said.
