Vučić said he would not resign if Montenegro joins the EU before Serbia: The EU is not crucial for my quality of life

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said today that he "wouldn't even consider" resigning if Montenegro joined the European Union (EU) before Serbia, if he were to hold a state position at that time, saying that it was not crucial for his standard of living whether his country would be in the European Union or not.

He previously claimed that during his rule since 2014, Serbia had allegedly surpassed and surpassed Montenegro in economic terms many times over.

"What should I resign for? Should I resign because we are better and more successful? For me, it is not crucial for the quality of life whether we are part of the EU or not, but for me it depends on whether we want to have more money, whether we want a better standard of living... Will the Chinese prime minister resign, or the Chinese president resign because China is not a member of the European Union?" he pointed out, addressing reporters in Tivat, adding that he would congratulate Montenegro when it joins the EU.

Vučić's critics claim that Montenegro's eventual entry into the EU before Serbia would be disastrous for the maintenance of his regime in Serbia and accuse him of working to prevent this.

The goal of the Montenegrin authorities is for the country to become a member of the EU in 2028, which European officials consider an ambitious but achievable goal, if Podgorica implements all the necessary reforms by then.

"I see that this is the most important thing for you. The realization of all dreams. For me, the realization of all dreams is for Serbia to move forward, to seize the opportunity, to be successful, to be a strong country, to be able to protect itself, to defend its own sky and its own country, to be able to have high salaries, to have high pensions. Those are good things for me, and low public debt. Those are important things for me. Those are the parameters that I hold dear," said Vučić, adding that "other things are what you will be members of" and that "he would be, you know, what kind of democrat if I were to impose sanctions on Russia or recognize an independent Kosovo."

"I would go to heaven. It would be a miracle for a leader to be loved as much as I am in the West. I want my people to appreciate me, and to tell you the truth, I don't suffer much from whether there will be love or hate and whether such and such banners will await me here or not. We have different views," he said, adding that he "wishes all the best to the brotherly people of Montenegro."

Vučić addressed journalists, mostly from Serbian media, at an impromptu press conference on the shores of the Porto Montenegro marina, while the perimeter around him was secured, among others, by masked members of the special units of the Army of Montenegro (AVCG) armed with long barrels, an armed patrol boat of the Navy of the VCG was in the sea behind him, and military and police helicopters and seagulls circled overhead.

Vučić admitted that "one of his associates" sent a group of 87 Serbian citizens - supporters of his policies - to Tivat airport on a charter plane ahead of the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tivat, with the aim of making him "more comfortable in Tivat".

He said that someone from his closest circle, whom he did not want to name, made a big political mistake "which I will now pay for", but he stressed that the organized bringing of his supporters by charter plane to Tivat was done because "someone wanted to fight against the negative messages that they knew I would be exposed to during my visit to Montenegro", which, as he said, was confirmed by the presence of some offensive graffiti and messages against him that appeared in several Montenegrin cities.

He said that yesterday's return of his supporters from Tivat airport, because they were assessed by Montenegrin services as a security threat ahead of the summit, "was necessary for someone."

"Someone to present us as a little Russian, a little Greater Serb, and them always as victims. Here, we are small, everyone else help us. So when you run such a campaign, then it is completely logical. I am sure that a large part of the citizens of Montenegro are much more hospitable," said Vučić.

"They greeted me with 'God help you, Mr. Vučić, Mr. President', they took pictures with me. Everything was completely nice and completely normal. So, that's politics. You have to get used to it, endure insults and criticism. I'm happy that when they come to Serbia, they don't face that. And no one faces that," Vučić said.

He emphasized that the sending of 87 of his supporters from Belgrade was aimed at creating "a better environment in Tivat that he would be happy with," and that of all those returned from the Montenegrin border, "five of them had criminal records... which is a lower average than on a regular flight or bus."

He pointed out that the Montenegrin state leadership could have avoided a diplomatic incident if it had contacted him and communicated the problem with him.

"They didn't have weapons, they didn't have anything ugly, nothing offensive against anyone. They didn't find a bat, a boxing glove, or anything. Those stories about destabilization were completely pointless. You could have solved it that way, anyone could have called me, anyone could have told me anything, let's solve it, Aleksandar, take those guys away. They came here to provide a better environment in which I would probably be happy, without anyone even asking me, since I don't need such an environment. I cope best in a difficult environment and when everyone attacks me, I don't like when everyone coddles me and I don't need to see nice banners, and for me 'Serbia Wins' is a nice banner, it doesn't bother anyone, it doesn't offend anyone, like these banners that offend me and which speak of bad hospitality," said Vučić, emphasizing that among his deported supporters "there was not a single criminal."

He "asked" Serbian state authorities to stop "reciprocally" returning and detaining Montenegrin citizens at Serbian borders.

"Don't be angry, it wasn't the citizens of Serbia who killed on the streets of Podgorica and Nikšić, but vice versa. With all this, I call on them, having now seen the reaction of our state authorities who are behaving in accordance with the law, in accordance with the rules of reciprocity, I ask them not to do that. I ask them to let the citizens of Montenegro, who are our brothers, our sisters, come to Serbia in the most normal way, that we solve the problems with crime the way we have solved them so far, that we be tough, strong, uncompromising, but that this does not give us the opportunity to use that rubber norm regarding hybrid warfare. Rubber norms - these are those elastic, broadly interpreted, very suitable norms. Because when you say hybrid warfare, we can stop anyone else from Montenegro because of that and not let them go to Serbia. That doesn't occur to us and I ask the state authorities not to do that," said Vučić.

He added that he would invite Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović to pay an official visit to Serbia by the end of the year.

Vučić pointed out that despite warnings issued by the Serbian BIA prior to his arrival that the head of the Kavac criminal clan, Radoje Zvicer, was allegedly in Montenegro and that the Serbian president was allegedly in danger if he came to the summit in Tivat, he said that he "always feels safe and secure."

"I have professional security. They are members of the Cobra," he said, but did not directly answer "Vijesti's" question about whether the BIA had shared its knowledge about Zvicer's alleged location in Montenegro with colleagues from the Montenegrin security apparatus.

"I have been informed by our service that he is on the territory of Montenegro. I did not go into further details, but please do not pull my tongue on this issue," said Vučić.

When "Vijesti" stated that members of the Serbian underground are also carrying out liquidations in Montenegro, Vučić said that "there is no doubt, criminals are killing, you will agree, the disparity is huge, and the Škaljar and Kavač clans do not originate from Kragujevac, Kraljevo and Čačak, but ten kilometers from here."

"Their soldiers are also from Serbia. But it seems their brains are here," he said, adding that the appearance of his and his brother Andrej Vučić's names in Sky communications between members of criminal clans is the result of the fact that the Serbian authorities "oppose murderers and criminals."

Andrej Vučić's lawsuit against "Vijesti" for publishing an article about a conversation between criminals about how he and Zvonko Veselinović "celebrated the first billion" was rejected by the first-instance verdict of the Basic Court in Podgorica.