Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic sharply criticized Europe on Saturday from Paris for its attitude of being “at the forefront” globally, believing it still holds a “sort of moral superiority”, while comparing it to the Western Roman Empire before its fall.
“We mistakenly believe we have a sort of moral and democratic superiority over others, which is completely false. I think it’s like the Western Roman Empire that did not understand what was happening at its borders, did not want to recognize it, and eventually collapsed,” he said during an intervention at the World Policy Conference organized by the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) in Chantilly (Oise), near Paris.
“We tend to underestimate others”
“I don’t think Europe will collapse. That will never happen,” he added, before continuing: “As Europeans, we lose many important battles and always think we are the smartest (…) We tend to denigrate and underestimate others.”
“We do not understand that we are lagging behind other regions of the world, not only compared to the United States in terms of artificial intelligence and robotics, but also compared to China,” he continued, emphasizing the demographic, new technology, and defense challenges facing the Old Continent. “What can we achieve in the next 20 years? I think not much. (…) I am not very optimistic about the future we are building here,” he said.
Serbia, candidate for EU integration
He did, however, reaffirm Serbia’s desire to integrate into the EU. This country of 6.6 million inhabitants has been an official candidate for the European Union (EU) since 2012, and accession negotiations have been ongoing since 2014.
But its integration is hindered by the lack of major reforms, normalization issues with Kosovo, perceived close ties with Russia, governance challenges, and human rights issues. Serbia also shares with Moscow a disdain for NATO after the bombings of 1999 during the Kosovo war.
“We cannot be part of NATO, but we are ready to integrate (the EU, ed.)”, he stated. “Open your borders to us. We don’t need a veto right, we don’t need commissioners, we don’t even need your funds.”
