The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, stopped today at the Second International Wine Fair, "Wine Vision of the Open Balkans", in a ceremony where he was also accompanied by the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, and the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, but where, unlike a year ago, the Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama was absent.
However, Rama addressed those present at the fair through a video message in which he said: " I wish I could have been with you. I would like to greet the President of Montenegro in this initiative of ours ".
As for Vucic, he had no way to leave aside the political discourse and stopped at "Open Balkans" by evaluating the joint initiative, despite the fact that the Western Balkans has once again returned to the Berlin Summit process.
According to him, the "Open Balkan" was the way that the countries of the region chose to express their freedom-loving spirit and the desire to make important decisions themselves.
" Leaders can always say what they want. The pressures from outside are countless, from those who want to rule the Balkans. I am proud that Serbia always wants the Balkan peoples to manage their own destiny, that they have their hands on the wheel and not someone else. Whatever others decide, it is a historical idea that no one will be able to break and defeat. In the end, this idea will win. Will it be next year, in two, five, 30... it doesn't matter. What we did will go down in history. When they explain to you that you should not do this, they do not understand how much they are insulting the freedom-loving spirit of all the peoples of the Balkans, who only want to be theirs and nothing more. Someone else should not decide for them what is good and what is not good that you should not do ," said the Serbian president.
Vucic further mocked the internationals, saying that " they are the ones who bring us plans that we have to accept, because we are not good, and then they pull our hair out when we don't accept them ".
" They think they are gods, that we should listen to what they say with the agreements ", added Vucic.
Therefore, the President of Montenegro said that " the Balkans are more beautiful when they are open ".
" I think this way of cooperation is the best thing. And tonight we're sending the world a picture. Summer is here to unite us, so on behalf of the history of wine and our shared future in summer, I wish you all the best ," said Milatovic.
Even the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, defended the "Open Balkans", saying that it was a great stimulus for the economies of the region.
Listing some of the joint projects, he declared: " Together we are moving towards the European path and we did this alone, without anyone helping us ". (A2 Televizion)