EU's top diplomat Mogherini and Serbian Prime Minister Vucic voice concern over Balkan stability

Record ID: 348000

  • Title: EU's top diplomat Mogherini and Serbian Prime Minister Vucic voice concern over Balkan stability
  • Date: 3rd March 2017
  • Summary: BELGRADE, SERBIA (MARCH 3, 2017) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** EU HIGH REPRESENTATIVE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND SECURITY POLICY, FEDERICA MOGHERINI, ENTERING PARLIAMENT, SHAKING HANDS WITH SERBIAN PRIME MINISTER ALEKSANDAR VUCIC MEMBERS OF FAR-RIGHT, PRO-RUSSIA POLITICAL PARTY "DVERI" HOLDING BANNERS READING (IN SERBIAN AND ENGLISH) "Serbia doesn't tr
  • Embargoed: 17th March 2017 15:55
  • Keywords: Serbia EU Federica Mogherini
  • Location: BELGRADE, SERBIA
  • City: BELGRADE, SERBIA
  • Country: Serbia
  • Reuters ID: LVA00166ENMM1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:European Union's foreign policy and security representative, Federica Mogherini, and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic on Friday (March 3) voiced concern over turmoil in the Balkans, warning that it may jeopardize the stability even beyond the region.
    "We are living (in) times of uncertainty and potential tensions that could destabilize the region, beyond the region," Mogherini said in a joint news conference with Vucic.
    Mogherini is on a four-day tour of Western Balkan countries aspiring to join the EU: Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Albania. Virtually all are embroiled in internal or neighbourly tensions which bring back memories of conflicts in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s and 2001.
    Before talks with Vucic, Mogherini endured a barrage of abuse from far-right, anti-EU lawmakers as she addressed the Serbian parliament, who chanted and jeered throughout her 20-minute speech. Later she said that she heard her message of EU support for Serbia on its European path was nevertheless heard over the noise.
    Vucic expressed concern saying that "the key question is whether we will manage to maintain regional stability or not."
    Serbia is the largest country in the Western Balkans. It opened EU membership talks three years ago after years of delay due to problems stemming from the violent 1990s, most of all Belgrade's reluctance to cooperate with the UN war crimes tribunal and relations with its former province Kosovo.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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