Barrot in Belgrade: France, Serbia Share Belief in Strong, Sovereign Europe

BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV

French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot said on Jan. 16 after meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that France and Serbia shared a belief in a strong and sovereign Europe.

France and Serbia are marking 15 years of strategic partnership: dialogue based on trust, concrete forms of cooperation, contracts that bind and direct the future, and a shared belief in a strong and sovereign Europe, Barrot said in an Instagram post with a photo of his meeting with Vucic. Vucic said the largest portion of his talk with Barrot had been about bilateral cooperation, military technical cooperation and the geopolitical landscape. He pointed out that French companies were engaged in some of the most important projects in Serbia.

After meeting with his Serbian counterpart Marko Djuric, Barrot said he wanted the Western Balkans to be part of Europe. "France still supports Serbia's aspirations to become a part of the EU. There are criteria, but France is on your side. Conditions need to be met regarding the [Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media]; the recommendations of the European Commission need to be considered when it comes to the judiciary. The bar is high, the road still long, but effort is being invested and France supports the opening of Cluster 3," Barrot said.

Barrot and Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali signed a joint statement on the Belgrade subway project and a memorandum of understanding on building a sewage collection reservoir for Belgrade wastewater.