Vucic: We want to guarantee full freedom of media

BERLIN - Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has said on Wednesday after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Serbia is a democratic country that wants to guarantee the absolute freedom of the media.

My intention was, and that is a part of the election program, that the media should be privatized, but that is met with disapproval from minority communities because of regional channels. Our wish is to guarantee the full and absolute freedom of the media, Vucic said at a joint news conference with the German chancellor.

Replying to the remark by a journalist with German news agency DPA who said that the majority of the media in Serbia is state-owned, Vucic said that the majority of the media in Serbia is in private hands.

Asked about the current discussion on the media freedom in Serbia, Vucic said that key reform laws will be passed in the next few weeks, including the media laws that will leave less room for problems in the field.

Serbian Prime Minister said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the future of the South Stream pipeline project did not depend on Serbia, but rather on a deal between Russia and the EU.

Asked at a joint news conference with the German chancellor if Serbia wanted to continue the construction of the pipeline, Vucic said that future would show if the project would be realized or not.

“It does not depend on us, but rather on an agreement between Russia and the EU. We have an agreement and a pre-contract signed. Gazprom is the majority owner of NIS, and Serbia is in a specific position. We will look to protect Serbian interests, but it also depends on the interests of Europe. You cannot skip EU countries to reach Serbia,” Vucic said.