Vučić: "I believe in French-Serbian friendship"; Macron: "Serbia has a place in the EU"

Vučić's address

"I owe a special thanks because you expressed your willingness and desire to visit some other cities besides Belgrade. It is with particular pleasure that I emphasize our joint visit to Novi Sad. Thank you very much for coming to Serbia and thus showing respect for this people, we surely appreciate it. We had long talks, we will continue them tonight until late at night, we will also have them tomorrow about all important strategic issues," said Vučić.

President of Serbia pointed out that he thanked France for the support it provides on our country's European path.

"I am also grateful for the investments and closer cooperation," added Vučić.

"We talked about all important issues, we talked about peace in Europe. Macron wants to hear the opinion of his interlocutors. It is important for us to reach peace as soon as possible. I expressed my desire for the situation in the region to be completely stable and completely safe, I believe that we will in that matter, have great support of France," said President of Serbia.

Vučić pointed out that the visit of the President of France is of great importance.

"I believe in French-Serbian friendship. Our cooperation is incomparably more successful than 10, 15 years ago".

Macron's address

"In recent years, a lot has progressed, but also changed on the international scene. Our cooperation has experienced a new upswing, as shown by the talks in Belgrade and Paris. Your country has a place in the European Union," said French President Emmanuel Macron.

"In recent years, a lot of progress has been made, but there were changes on the international scene. Our cooperation has experienced a new upswing, as shown by the talks in Belgrade and Paris," Macron said.

French President pointed out that he will continue to support efforts to achieve the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina.

"In this way, your relations with all partners will improve. Dear Aleksandar, thank you once again for the strategic decisions you made today, for the engagements you undertook, we talked a lot in various places, shared analyses, I learned a lot when I listened to you, you have always done what you said you would do. That is the friendship between our peoples. In important moments, our peoples have always been by each other's side, we have courage, history is important to them. The decisions made today continue the glorious past," Macron said.

"The agreement that was signed today is historic. We believe in the important place of Serbia for the security of the region. I respect Serbia's partnership with Russia and China, but this is Serbia's opening to France as well," Macron said in response to a French journalist's question about the acquisition of the aircraft.

Answering a journalist's question about whether Serbia is moving away from Moscow and closer to the EU by buying French fighting aircraft "Raffale", Vučić pointed out that he is proud of Serbia's policy, which always respects the UN Charter, which could not be said for many countries in the West.

"I know that Emmanuel would like us to impose sanctions on Russia, but I am not ashamed of my decision. I explain my moves to my people. Serbia supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine and we perceive them as a friendly nation," said President of Serbia.

French President also spoke about the geopolitical situation in Serbia.

"A good geopolitical position of Serbia is one that is at the service of the Serbian people. There is one person who has the legitimacy to deal with this issue, and that is the Serbian president. The same applies to France. Serbia sovereignly decides with whom it wants to cooperate and have a dialogue, it is not up to me to tell you about Serbia, I can only tell you what France wants, because when I see the map of Europe, I see that we are close and that we depend on each other more than those who are further away from us," Macron said.

Vučić also touched on the procurement of "Rafale" and pointed out that Serbia took logistics, spare parts, equipment...

"We have started negotiations on armaments with the French government and the Ministry of Defense. I am happy that Serbia will have such good and technologically modern machines in its possession," said President of Serbia.