A president who wants to join the EU harshly criticized Europe: It's like the Western Roman Empire, which didn't understand what was happening and collapsed
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic harshly criticized on Saturday, from Paris, the attitude of a Europe “left behind” on the world stage, which still believes in the possession of a “kind of moral superiority”, while comparing it to the Western Roman Empire before its fall, reports AFP.
“We mistakenly believe that we have some kind of moral and democratic superiority over others, which is totally false. I think it's like the Western Roman Empire, which didn't understand what was happening on its borders, didn't want to admit it and ended up collapsing,” he said during an intervention at the World Policy Conference, organized by the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) in Chantilly, near Paris.
Vucic: “We don't understand that we are behind”
“I don't think Europe will collapse. That will never happen,” he added, however, before continuing: “As Europeans, we all lose many important battles and always think we are the smartest (…) We tend to always denigrate and underestimate others.”
“We don't understand that we are behind other regions of the world, not just the United States in terms of artificial intelligence and robotics, but also China,” he continued, stressing 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 at all optimistic about the future we are building here,” he said.
Serbia is close to Russia, but still wants to join the EU
However, he reaffirmed Serbia's will to join the EU. This country of 6.6 million inhabitants has been an official candidate for the European Union since 2012, and accession negotiations have been ongoing since 2014.
But its integration is being slowed by a lack of major reforms, problems with normalizing relations with Kosovo, its perceived too close ties with Russia, and challenges related to good governance and human rights.
Serbia also shares with Moscow an aversion to NATO, following the 1999 bombings during the Kosovo war.
“We cannot be part of NATO, but we are ready to integrate (in the EU, no),” he said.
“Open our borders. We don't need veto power, we don't need commissioners, we don't even need your funds,” added Vucic.
