No democratic country can allow violence, Serbia's Vucic tells Europeans (N1, FoNet)
Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic told the European Council on Foreign Relations on Monday his country was a democratic state and that he was satisfied when people could protest peacefully, but that country could not allow violence, the FoNet news agency reported.
A statement from Vucic’s office said he was happy that people were free to demonstrate without police intervention, what, as he said, was not the case in many European countries, adding he was especially satisfied “with the respect the state showed to 1,000 demonstrators.”
“The only problem is violence,” he added, "which no democratic state could allow, so Serbia won’t either.”
The other topics in the meeting included the Belgrade – Pristina relations and the situation in the region.
“We must reach a compromise solution. If someone thinks Pristina can get everything and Belgrade nothing, that’s not a compromise, and we won’t allow that. We must try to find a solution. It won’t be easy, nor will it be soon, but we have to do that,” Vucic said.
The statement quoted his guests as saying the regional stability depended on the continuation of the Belgrade – Pristina dialogue on normalisation of relations and that it would be necessary to find a long-lasting solution as soon as possible.
The statement added that the European Council on Foreign Relations members are in Belgrade to better understand all the challenges Serbia is facing, the regional dynamics and what the European Union should do to speed up and help the reforms in the Western Balkans.