Pro-Russian groups in Serbia hail Brexit
Serbian reactions on United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union are mixed: the Prime Minister, President and other high-ranking officials are cautious in their comments and they unanimously emphasise that Serbia would continue its path toward EU membership.
At the same time, pro-Russian parliamentary parties – and some of them are members of the ruling majority – hail the triumph of Brexit predicting the collapse of the EU and Serbian turning to “its own interests”.
Each nation behaves in accordance with its interests, PM Aleksandar Vucic told a special news conference on June 24. “They (the British) go in their way and they believe their decision was the best possible option. We will give our best to preserve and improve our relations with Great Britain and I think we will do so,” Vucic said.
Though he called Brexit “the biggest earthquake since the fall of the Berlin Wall,” Vucic also claimed it would not affect Serbian economic growth. The PM predicts this would reach 2.5 per cent of GDP in 2016.
President Tomislav Nikolic underlined that Serbia would not change its “Euro-integration policy”. “Serbia would certainly continue its path toward full EU membership because this is the method to reform our country following the highest legal standards”, Nikolic’s cabinet stated.