President of Serbia: One day we will all become EU members, but it will not happen soon; We have to be rational, realistic, join forces

“One day we will all become members of the EU, but that is not going to happen very soon. We have to be very rational and realistic, and I think this is a new approach,” President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić told Georgian reporters during the ongoing conference in Belgrade.

According to Vučić, he has a very good relationship with the Prime Minister of Georgia, as well as with President Kavelashvili and the Speaker of Parliament.

Aleksandar Vučić believes that Serbia and Georgia should further deepen their ties.

“First of all, I’d like to say that I’m very happy to be meeting Shalva Papuashvili again after ten, fifteen days. I learned a lot from him. I also learned a lot from Prime Minister Kobakhidze and President Kavelashvili when I was visiting Georgia, and I learned a lot from Speaker Papuashvili as well. I think it’s important to strengthen these ties, these good bonds between our countries. It’s good on a bilateral level, but it’s also good to be interconnected with all the others from the Western Balkans region, the Caucasus region, and all the other regions that favor joining the EU.

My assessment is slightly different from everyone else’s. I believe there are some things even more important than dreams of finalizing our EU path, our EU accession process — because I know we are not going to be full-fledged member states in the next one, two, three, four, five years. Bearing that in mind, we need to do whatever is possible to create a better quality of life for our people, to gain something from the European Union, which could be a unique market, which could mean open borders. These are the real benefits we can achieve for the sake of, and for the benefit of, our nations.

Of course, one day we will all become members of the EU, but that is not going to happen very soon. We have to be very rational, very realistic, and I think this new approach initiated by Chancellor Merz and President Macron can be a good path, because ultimately our citizens don’t care about bureaucratic forms — they care about their lives, they care about the future of their children. That’s what people care about, and that’s why I think it’s of utmost importance for us to join forces and reach these targets, to achieve these aims,” he said.