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Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic

Aleksandar Vucic - Serbian lawyer and politician. Aleksandar Vucic was born on March 5, 1970 in Belgrade. whose presidential term expires in 2027, said that he does not believe that Serbia will become a member of the European Union before the end of his presidency mandate, BTA reported.

"I do not believe that Serbia will be able to join the EU before the end of my presidential term," he said in an address to the nation today, commenting on the agreements reached between Belgrade and Pristina at yesterday's meeting in Ohrid.

"What has changed for us? Not much. Only that we know that our path to the EU depends on our actions on this issue. (...) I do not believe that Serbia will be able to join the EU in three or four years, before the end of my presidential term. Whoever wants can say after that that Serbia is not interested in the path to the EU. I am interested," he declared.

Vucic: We still don't have a draft of what the EU wants from us

Vucic also said that Pristina is trying to use the issue of missing persons to demand compensation from Belgrade. 

"Everyone wants the issue of the missing Serbs and Albanians to be resolved. (...) Unfortunately, Pristina has so far used it as an instrument of pressure on the Republic of Serbia, with the help of which to create material and formal legal grounds for war damages, for which Serbia will have to pay the so-called Republic of Kosovo," said Vucic.

He pointed out that this is exactly what Belgrade and Pristina could never agree on, because it is unacceptable to sign a document that makes Serbia responsible for the disappeared.

The Serbian president also said that the Ahtisaari plan is irrelevant for Serbia and irrelevant for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. 

Vucic said Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti made statements based on the Ahtisaari plan after talks in Ohrid, North Macedonia, yesterday.

"Serbia did not sign this plan. The Ahtisaari plan is not related to the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina," said the Serbian leader.

In 2007, UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari presented a US- and European-backed plan that would grant Kosovo "controlled independence", but Russian objections in support of Serbia's refusal to recognize Kosovo's sovereignty blocked its approval in the Security Council of UN.

In February 2009, the former Serbian province of Kosovo declared independence, which Belgrade continues to not recognize. 

Alexander Vucic

Serbia

EU membership