Orban: Europe must realise that Serbia does not need EU, but that EU needs Serbia

BUDAPEST - Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said on Thursday Europe must realise that Serbia did not need the EU but that the EU needed Serbia, as well as that Europe had problems with growth and dynamics and that only new EU member states, including Serbia as the best candidate, could lend it a new impetus.

Speaking after a session of a Serbia-Hungary Council on Strategic Cooperation in Budapest, Orban said that, during its Council of the EU presidency, Hungary had been able to help Serbia make greater strides and accelerate its EU integration process.

"If someone wants to see for themselves what Serbia can offer to the European economy, I suggest that they visit Belgrade again after three months to see with their own eyes what Serbia can offer to the EU," Orban said at a press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

He added that Hungary would keep the interests of Serbia and the EU in mind.

He also said the US presidential elections had created a new reality and that sovereignists and patriots had emerged, and that a new situation was emerging in which sovereign peoples wanted to achieve success.

"That is the new reality in Europe and everyone should adapt their policies to that new reality," Orban said, noting that Hungary and Serbia were responding to that new reality by deepening their relations, which he noted they also wanted to develop in areas that had been out of focus until now.

He said Serbia had become a country providing energy security guarantees to Hungary and that his meeting with Vucic had addressed opportunities for new investment in oil, natural gas and electricity supplies.

He said a Budapest-Belgrade high-speed rail line would be completed by early 2026 and that an agreement had been reached to transform a border crossing between Roszke, Hungary, and Horgos, Serbia, into the most modern border crossing in Europe.

Orban said Serbia-Hungary relations were at a historic high and that Vucic deserved the most credit for that.