Fascist songs and frozen conflict: Vucic explains his stance

Ustashas were in power in the Nazi-allied Independent State of Croatia (1941-1945) that had death camps for Serbs, Jews, and Roma, including in Jasenovac.

The Croatian football team on Sunday lost the final game to France (4-2). Marko Perkovic aka Thompson, a Croatian performer who glorifies Ustashas in his song, was present in the team bus traveling from the airport in Zagreb to the central parts of the town where the celebration was organized, and he was at the celebration itself.

Speaking to Serbian reporters in Paris on Tuesday, after his meeting with the French president, Vucic said it was "his job to have good, and ever better relations with Zagreb."

Vucic added that he "has the right not to support (the football team of) Croatia" and added that he would "not say a single ugly word because Serbia needs good and better relations in the future."

"I reacted after the first game (when Croatian players celebrated with an Ustasha song). At all times I showed respect toward the Croats, I said they played excellent football. I said, as everyone has the right to support them, my right is not to. Have I offended anyone? No," he said.

The president remarked hat (Croats) in 1992 (presumably in Bosnia-Herzegovina) burned down the homes of his uncles, aunts, and his father, as well as a house he built together with is brother and father.

Marko Perkovic aka Thompson is seen celebrating in Zagreb with the Croatian football team (screen capture, YouTube)

The president said that 1941 was "difficult" for Serbia - namely, the country was occupied by Nazi Germans and their allies - and observed that Marko Perkovic sings about 1945 - the year they were defeated - as the bad for the Croatian people.

"Next time...