Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Neighborhood and Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelji addressed the public after the meeting.

"I would like to express my satisfaction with the visit of a true friend of Serbia," Vucic said on that occasion.

"I spoke openly about my shortcomings, about what I am guilty of, it is good to take it upon myself. We talked about the Report, it is always good to see political issues, they had nothing to tell us about economic ones. There are special criticisms that I used my position of the president of the republic and thus won the votes... It doesn't matter, I will answer when the time comes. I pointed out only to a single project that is directed against Serbia," he says.

Varhelyi stated that after the formation of the new government, they will cooperate in order to achieve all the goals that will lead to the opening of new chapters in the negotiations.

“We have a fresh start ahead of us,” he adds.

Vučić states that he did not always say the best words, but as he states, he apologizes to the people of Serbia because he thinks that the president should think for himself.

"My fault is that I proposed a stricter curfew, because of the use of force, because of the purchase of Pantzir, because of the election... There is a long list of my grave sins, I accept them completely," he says, adding that he stated that no one should touch the protesters "until they take over an institution."

But, as he states, his job is to protect the country.

Varhelyi on the EC Report on Serbia

European Commissioner Oliver Varheyi says that he discussed with the President of Serbia about the annual report of the European Commission on Serbia and that he noticed that some progress has been made, but that more has to be done.

"We encourage the new government to implement reforms that must go hand in hand with investments, so that they can be realized," said Varheyi at a joint press conference.

He pointed out that the EU attaches great importance to the rule of law.

"We will have to start working with the government to speed up the work, in order to achieve all the goals, in order to open new chapters in the pre-accession negotiations with the EU," Varhelyi said.

About COVID-19 pandemic

"As for the pandemic, I am proud of the work of state bodies, our staff," says Vucic.

He points out that he is proud of the fact that human lives were most valuable to him.

"People's lives were much more important than whether someone likes me or not. I was not guided by selfish personal political interests, but by the struggle for life, which I am obliged to lead as president," Vucic said.

The President of Serbia showed the report of the European Commission from 2008 in Serbian.

"I brought it to show, because there is a detailed report on all demonstrations when Kosovo's independence was declared, on attacks on the gay parade, but not a word on the killed Ranko Panic, nor on the ban on movement issued against what was the biggest opposition party at the time," Vucic said.

He said that it is much more important for him today that he agrees with most of the things mentioned in the EC Report, but as he says - "we evaluate them differently".

"We only evaluate them differently, what they wrote about foreign policy is commendable," Vucic added.

He says that Serbian new pro-European government "has a big assignment" ahead, to speed up European integrations, to do a lot in terms of the rule of law and various things that are still missing.

Vučić says that he fully accepts responsibility for the steps he took during the coronavirus pandemic.

Original news including photo coverage: https://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2020&mm=10&dd=08&nav_id=109411