Extraordinary parliamentary elections will be held this year, claimed Aleksandar Vučić in an interview with Reuters. He did not rule out the possibility of returning to party politics or office premiere, but added that he is not yet sure what he will do when his mandate as president of Serbia expires.
Reuters points out that the Serbian populist suffered a strong political blow after fall of the canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad in 2024, when 16 people died.
Vučić admitted that corruption in state institutions and among politicians, a problem in Serbia and that he himself is dissatisfied with the efforts to eradicate it.
On the European road
He pointed out that he is committed to the idea Serbia's membership in the EU, explaining that the economic situation has improved.
"There is no doubt that while I am the president, Serbia will be on the European path," Vučić claims.
Reuters states that the EU is asking Serbia for the rule of law, freedom of the media and to strengthen the fight against organized crime and corruption if it wants to become part of it.
Critics claim that the recent changes to judicial laws will reduce the independence of the judiciary and thus make Serbia's accession to the Union more difficult. Vučić emphasized that the government, together with European bodies, is ready to carefully examine the set of judicial laws that were adopted on the proposal of SNS MP Uglješa Mrdić.
We will take gas from others as well.
Serbia is working on diversification energy supply and by Russia and is already in negotiations on the purchase of natural gas through the joint mechanism of the European Union, Vučić told Reuters. He added that he understands the EU's policy towards Russian energy producers, adding that Serbia "must adapt its energy policy to certain requirements".
"We still have large reserves of Russian gas, but we are taking more and more from the Europeans," said Vučić, who added that Serbia's goal is to secure 500 million cubic meters of gas per year, about a fifth of its needs, through a joint EU initiative, which it joined last year.
Serbia, which wants to join the EU, is one of the remaining European buyers of Russian natural gas and meets almost 80 percent of its needs in this way, according to the British agency. They add that Serbia is under pressure from the EU to find alternatives in order to reduce the flow of cash to Russia for the war in Ukraine.
Serbia already buys gas from Azerbaijan, via Bulgaria, and the construction of a gas pipeline to North Macedonia, which will begin this year, would enable liquid petroleum gas from Greece, explains Vučić.
