site.btaSerbian President Discusses Possibility of Serbia Importing Petroleum Products from Bulgaria, Romania with EU Top Officials

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic discussed the possibility of Serbia importing petroleum products from Bulgaria, Romania, and other neighbouring countries, Serbian media report. The topic was raised during a working dinner on Wednesday night in Brussels with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa.

“We discussed where new gas pipelines need to be built, but also new oil pipelines, and not only that, but what we call [refined] product pipelines so that, for example, from Constanta you could import diesel, not just crude oil,” Vucic told Serbia’s state broadcaster RTS in Brussels.

He added that his talks with von der Leyen and Costa also covered construction of a gas interconnector between Serbia and the Republic of North Macedonia.

Vucic said the meeting also touched on “key issues in the bilateral relations between Serbia and the EU and our European path.”

“I have nothing new to tell you. I see that some people in Serbia are certainly pleased that we will not be opening Cluster 3 of the accession negotiations. I cannot say for sure whether we will or not, because that depends on member states,” Vucic told RTS.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that at her meeting with Vucic she reviewed Serbia’s progress on its path toward the European Union and assured him that Serbia can count on the EU’s support. In a post on the platform X, she said she discussed with the Serbian president “the importance of accelerating reforms, especially in the areas of rule of law and media freedom.”

"We emphasized that enlargement is a geostrategic imperative and the need for Serbia to bring itself more into line with the EU's foreign and security policy. We welcomed Serbia's steps to diversify its energy sources and routes and reduce its dependence on Russia, whose unreliability has been demonstrated many times," von der Leyen wrote on X.

She added that “Europe has consistently shown solidarity with Serbia through major investments in energy infrastructure and support to vulnerable households.”

“As President Antonio Costa of the European Council and I underlined during our visits earlier this year, we remain fully committed to seeing a democratic Serbia in the EU. You can count on our support,” von der Leyen concluded.

Antonio Costa also stressed that the EU remains fully committed to seeing a democratic Serbia as a member. “I am glad that we met with Vucic to analyze Serbia’s progress on the path to the EU,” Costa wrote in his post on X.