Vucic: We are facing many challenges, there is plan to weaken Serbia economically

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday Serbia was facing many political challenges not of its own making that it was not responsible for in any way, and added that there was a plan to weaken the country economically, above all, by slowing down its European integration process.

In a public address, Vucic said that, by all parameters, Serbia was now stronger economically than it had been in 2012.

To weaken Serbia economically, the country's European integration is being slowed down, he said.

"Countries in the region that are a part of the EU, as well as those that are not a part of the EU, are doing that to keep us in the mud politically so that we can make no faster progress towards European integration in any way," Vucic said.

He added that a cunning campaign against the mineral jadarite - a source of lithium - was underway to slow down Serbia's economic growth and prosperity.

"For all that, a political and media aggression is needed, as you can see from the work of European, global, regional and, of course, Serbian media," he noted.