The Head of the Parliamentary Friendship Group with France, MA Jadranka Jovanovic, and the members of the Group met today with the French Senator Olivier Cadic, Vice President of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces Committee in the French Senate.
In a cordial and comprehensive conversation, the officials emphasised the two countries’ traditional friendship and dynamic development of bilateral relations. The Head of the PFG with France recalled France's assistance to Serbia during the Great War and emphasised that 2026 will mark 110 years since the allied assistance of the French people to the Serbian people, noting that Serbia cherishes a culture of remembrance of victims and friendly support.
She stressed that the two countries still maintain friendly and exceptional bilateral relations, and that France is one of Serbia's most important political and economic partners, especially in the areas of economic cooperation, energy, culture, as well as in the field of European integration.
She emphasised that the exceptional relationship between the presidents of Serbia and France, Aleksandar Vucic and Emmanuel Macron, is a guarantee of preserving and further strengthening friendly relations between the two countries. At the same time, she pointed out that there are also topics on which Serbia and France have different positions, primarily when it comes to the recognition of the so-called state of Kosovo, which is a painful issue for Serbia. She expressed concern about the difficult position of Serbs and non-Albanians in Kosovo-Metohija and in support of this claim stated that in the past year as many as 20% of Serbs left that territory.
Senator Cadic expressed his sympathy for the pain this issue causes among the Serbian people. He reaffirmed his commitment to developing friendship between France and Serbia, emphasising that he wanted to continue the tradition of close relations once fostered by President François Mitterrand.
The central topic of the conversation was European integration, and the Senator expressed the view that Serbia belongs in Europe as much as France, and that this is a process of integration, not just enlargement, because Serbia is already part of Europe. He expressed his belief that the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina would also be easier to resolve if Serbia became a member of the European Union.
Members of the PFG with France, Jovan Palalic, Milovan Drecun and Aleksandar Mirkovic, pointed out that Serbia is constantly being set new conditions in the accession process and stressed how important it is for the voice of the Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija to be heard. The MPs stressed the need for the European Union to support Serbia more strongly in respecting international law and revising the Franco-German plan for the normalisation of relations between Serbia and Kosovo.
Senator Cadic praised Serbia's efforts in preparing for the international exhibition EXPO 2027, emphasising that this is a European project that will represent a success not only for Serbia, but for the whole of Europe. He announced that he would motivate French companies to support Serbia in this important endeavour.
