Prez Vucic says Croatia denied him a visit twice but Serbia did not make big deal of it

In his latest remarks, Serbia President Aleksandar Vucic claimed that his request to visit Croatia was denied twice by the authorities but his country did not make a big deal out of it. He addressed the media on Monday, July 18, following a diplomatic spat between Serbia and Croatia over his ban on visiting the camp and the Pokrac area. Vucic declared that the only reason he planned to visit Croatia was to pay tribute to victims of Jasenovac, the biggest concentration camp in the nation during World War II.

"I wanted to enter a European Union (EU) country and lay flowers in a place where tens of thousands were killed in Jasenovac. It seems to me somehow illogical that you try to prevent something like that from happening and that you justify it all with stories about provocations, and I don't know why,'" said Vucic, Anadolu Agency reported. He further claimed that he initially asked Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic for permission for the private visit on September 2, 2021, but it was denied. According to Vucic, the Croatian government responded to his request for a postponement of the visit on September 4 in a letter.

EU gives highest value to freedom of movement: Serbian President

The Serbian President claimed that another request was made this year on March 1 but it was denied once again. "After two days, we received the message that ‘the visit is not welcome at this time,’ and then I made a decision that I would not go to Jasenovac, and not a single media outlet in Serbia found out about it. We did not whine. We were fair partners," Vucic remarked. He argued that freedom of movement is the European Union's highest value.

Croatia denies being officially informed about Serbian President's visit

Meanwhile, the Croatian authorities claimed that they learned about the planned visit by the Serbian President through “unofficial channels”. Later, Gordan Grlic Radman, the nation's foreign minister, told reporters that it was "unacceptable" that the Croatian government had not been officially informed of the visit. He also criticised the Serbian authorities for downplaying the security risks of the visit. Further, Croatian Prime Minister Plenkovic stated that the visit by the Serbian President would have had its own "political repercussions and impact." 

Image: AP