Huge protests in Serbia, Vucic honoured in Budapest

The largest protests in Serbia’s history have been taking place in recent months, with many calling for President Aleksandar Vucic’s resignation while he is in Budapest for talks. Viktor Orbán has been full of praise.

Orbán: Vucic ‘champion of Balkans stability’

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has called Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic “the champion of the Balkans stability”. Orbán told a joint press conference after meeting Vucic in Budapest on Monday that Serbia’s stability was key to that of the region, “and Serbia is stable if it has a strong, determined leadership”.

Orbán noted that earlier in the day Vucic received “the greatest Hungarian honour” from the country’s president. Hungary and Serbia have faced similar challenges several times in the course of their history, Orbán said. “Some leaders recognised that; others didn’t. Today, we’re celebrating the fact that Serbia has a president who did recognise this, and acted on that recognition to shape Serbian-Hungarian relations,” he said.

Regarding energy security, Orbán declared that Hungarian energy security did not exist without Serbia and vice versa. “Intensive preparations” for construction of a 300 km oil pipeline between Serbia and Hungary is under way, he said, adding that the energy security of both countries would be enhanced as a result. Last year a record 7.5 billion cubic meters of gas came to Hungary via Serbia, 2 billion more than the previous year, and this was indispensable to the Hungarian economy and households, he said. Work is under way to double the volume of cross-border electricity links, he added.

Orbán referred to efforts to destabilise Serbia-Hungary relations, and said both countries were under pressure by those who “are closing off money taps” and supporting the activities of NGOs. “But, face to face, we have achieved great outcomes,” he added. “We’ll break new records” this year in trade, investment and border developments, Orbán insisted. Serbia “is an extremely successful country” which has recently raised real wages by 9 percent. “Hungary has managed to keep the pace in that friendly competition.” At the same time, Serbia achieved a 4 percent growth this year “which Hungary only aspired to”, he said, adding that Hungary wanted to catch up this year.

“We Hungarians see Serbia as one of the most successful, if not the most successful, country in Europe,”

Orbán said, adding that Serbia had successfully resisted the pressure “and did not get dragged into a war that we hope will end soon”.

Orbán praised as an “enormous achievement” the fact that 40 percent of Serbia’s foreign trade is conducted outside the European Union. Serbia had a successful connectivity strategy and had managed to build important economic ties in all directions, he said, adding that that had resulted in a “much more balanced system than ours”. Hungary took this as an example, he added.

Asked about the pipeline, Orbán said the investment was of strategic importance. “Energy is a circulatory system: if it stops, the economy dies,” he said. The pipeline is the most important among Hungarian strategic investments. “A moment could come when our lives depend on it.” Read details: Hungary and Serbia to build joint oil pipeline.

Meanwhile, Orbán said that he was taking a stand against efforts to destabilise the region. “We’re not blind,” Orbán said. “What’s taking place in Slovakia and Serbia doesn’t happen by itself…” He said he would combat any attempts at destabilisation “without interfering in the domestic affairs of any other country”. Destabilisation, he said, was “bad for everyone”. Trouble arises if people “living here do not decide what happens and the governments they elect do not decide what happens”, the prime minister said. “That’s why we must stand up for our sovereignty.”

On the subject of the war in Ukraine, Orbán said

“there are bigger challenges in the world than the Russia-Ukraine war”.

Before those negotiations start, “world powers will hold talks among themselves on the future, energy prices, technological issues and trade. The Russia-Ukraine war will also be considered in this bigger context.” He said the leaders of large European countries had missed the moment when they could have become “initiators” in connection with the war. “It is painful that Europeans will have to be informed of [the developments] from the newspapers.” He said European institutions were incapable of proactive action, “they can only deal with the daily grind”. European countries should have taken steps towards peace several times in the past three years, but “got stuck on the side of war”. “Now we can look on from the sidelines as others arrange without us … the most important issues for us,” he said.

• read also: Tragedy at Novi Sad railway station linked to Hungarian-owned firm – details HERE

President Sulyok awards state honour to Serbian President Vucic

President Tamás Sulyok awarded Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic the Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in Budapest on Monday.

At the ceremony held in the Sándor Palace, Sulyok said: “Often we fail to notice we’re living in historic times and that we’re capable of historic deeds, as the head of the Serbian state is.”

In past centuries, neighbouring countries often made the mistake of using up their energy, knowledge and opportunities against each other rather than “building on each other and becoming stronger and more resilient to crises”, he said.

“Today, the wise ones with foresight and a trust in cooperation have the upper hand… We’re living in historic times that favour us: not Hungarians or Serbians but rather Hungarians and Serbians,” he said.

Sulyok said Vucic had played a crucial role in the era that came after a “historic peace”. “As a sensible leader, he started on the road towards today’s exemplary Serbian-Hungarian cooperation … recognised our shared fate, and turned ties between Hungary and Serbia into a strong alliance with years of hard and persistent work.”

He praised Vucic for “supporting a policy for ethnic minorities that is outstanding even in European comparison, as a result of which the situation of Hungarian minorities in Serbia today is exemplary and well-regulated.”

In his speech, Vucic emphasised his friendship with the Hungarian nation and said he accepted the honour on behalf of his people.

While he had done much to promote Hungarian-Serbian friendship and a historic peace between the countries, that work was not complete, he added.

He hailed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán as a “friend”. “Whenever my country or myself came up against challenges, we met for a friendly handshake, and we could always show this respect, loyalty and allegiance”.

Speaker of Parliament László Kövér and Milorad Dodik, the President of the Republika Sprska of Bosnia and Herzegovina, also attended the event.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met Milorad Dodik, the president of the Republika Srpska of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for talks in his office on Monday.

Orbán and Dodik reviewed the work plan for political and economic cooperation between Hungary and the Republika Srpska for this year.