Von der Leyen praises Serbian president for not attending Putin's summit

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen praised Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić for not attending the BRICS summit in Russia and instead meeting with her and other European leaders.

Source: The European Commission President's statement as quoted by AP; European Pravda reports

Details: Vučić sent a high-level delegation to the summit in Russia, but said he would not be able to attend, as he had meetings with von der Leyen, as well as with the leaders of Poland and Greece.

"What I see is that the president of the Republic of Serbia is hosting me here today and just has hosted the prime minister of Greece and the prime minister of Poland. That speaks for itself, I think," von der Leyen said.

She added that her visit to Serbia "is a very clear sign that I believe that Serbia’s future is in the European Union."

This week, von der Leyen was in Serbia as part of a trip to the Western Balkan countries that aspire to become EU members to reassure them that EU enlargement remains a priority.

Meanwhile, Serbian media reported that von der Leyen refused to meet with Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević because of his talks on Friday with a high-level Russian economic delegation that arrived in Belgrade to discuss deepening ties with Serbia.

Vučić will meet with Russian officials on Saturday.

Last Sunday, Vučić had his first telephone conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in almost two and a half years.

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