After the Catalan referendum and the European Commission's position that this referendum is illegal, it is probably clear how difficult it is to safeguard the independence of Serbia, says President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, daily Večernje Novosti writes.

President Vučić called on Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, all members of the government, as well as representatives of intelligence and security agencies for consultations after statement of the European Commission that the cases of Catalonia and Kosovo cannot be compared, reports Blic portal. The meeting, scheduled to start at 16:15 CET on Monday.

Vučić said today that it is clear how difficult it is to safeguard Serbia's independence on the occasion of the Catalan referendum and the European Commission's position that the referendum is illegal.

President Aleksandar Vučić said this today in Belgrade, responding to reporters' questions during a news conference, B92 portal writes.

"The question every citizen of Serbia has for the European Union today is: how come that in the case of Catalonia the referendum on independence is not valid, while in the case of Kosovo secession is allowed even without a referendum," Vučić continued.

"How did you proclaim the secession of Kosovo to be legal, even without a referendum, and how did 22 European Union countries legalize this secession, while destroying European law and the foundations of European law, on which the European policy and EU policy are based?," Vučić asked.

Tanjug reports that Vučić went on to "publicly ask" how he was supposed to explain European integration of Serbia to Serbian citizens now - "although, without a doubt, Serbia sees its future in the EU, because of the type of society we striving towards, as well as for the sake of a better economy, and for other reasons."

"So, how come Catalonia cannot, and Kosovo can - there will never be an answer on this given to the Serbs," Vučić noted.

Global centers of power played games they thought they could redraw borders in the Balkans because the region does not belong to the European Union - but now, when the chickens have come home to roost, the situation is "very serious," he observed.

"This is the best example of the double standards and hypocrisy of the world politics," said Vučić.

He also remarked that during his visit (to Moscow), his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was "interesting to all Western media journalists" - while the meeting of Putin and Germany's Sigmar Gabriel, the same day, "was not registered by anyone."

"It must be clear now how difficult it is to safeguard the independence of Serbia," said Vučić, and added his message "to everyone putting pressure on our country" was to now take a vacation - "because at least as far as our country is concerned, I will not listen to them anyway - let them deal with the chickens that are back home to roost."