Vucic: Serbia looking to Europe for its children

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President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that Serbia has to look to Europe for the future of its children but has to preserve its right to opinions which not everyone will like.

“That is Europe, diversity and the right to a different opinion,” he told a St Vitus day ceremony. St Vitus day is a national holiday, marked on the anniversary of the 1389 battle of Kosovo which Serbian medieval ruler Lazar lost to the invading Ottoman empire. “Our ancestors defended civilization and culture, ancient, we would say European today, and certainly Serbian values,” he said, adding that it is “the star whose light we follow” …. The ideal and moral line”.

Vucic said that the public has to know that they get their salaries and pensions thanks to wisdom and attracted investments. “Serbia today is moving forward quickly, I dare say faster than ever in history. Serbia will be a successful country on the European path which does not renounce its traditional friendships and which will not allow anyone to jeopardize its independence,” he said.

The president also presented state decorations to prominent citizens and friends of Serbia, including former Japanese Prime Minister Shinze Abe, the Slovak Evangelical Church in Serbia, the national football and basketball team coaches Dragan Stojkovic and Svetislav Pesic, British actor Ralph Fiennes, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Portuguese Fado singer Mariza.

The ceremony was attended by Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and members of her cabinet, Parliament Speaker Ivica Dacic and Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency member Milorad Dodik and Republika Srpska President Zeljka Cvijanovic, former Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and Milan Milutinovic along with Serbian Orthodox Church dignitaries.