Serbia won’t join European Union sanctions against Russia even as the Balkan nation sticks to its plan to continue membership talks with the world’s largest trading bloc, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said.
The Balkan nation is taking “very seriously” the message that EU aspiring members should refrain from exploring new trade opportunities after Russia banned EU sales of food products, Vucic said at a news conference in Belgrade today.
“Nobody asked us about the sanctions when they were introduced,” Vucic told reporters.
“The EU membership is our strategic goal and at the same time we haven’t and won’t impose sanctions on Russia.”
Russia earlier this month announced a one-year ban on a range of food products from the EU and the U.S. in retaliation for sanctions against the country over the conflict in Ukraine.
The EU exported 1.26 billion euros ($1.7 billion) of fruit and 769 million euros of vegetables to Russia in 2013, trade data from the 28-nation bloc show. The dinar, which has lost 2.6 percent against the euro this year, weakened 0.2 percent to 117.6719 per euro at 4 p.m. in Belgrade.
The yield on Serbia’s dollar-denominated bonds, maturing in 2021, rose 7 basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, to 4.895 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Food Sales
Serbia, which started EU membership talks in January, increased food sales to Russia by 68 percent to $117 million in the first half of 2014 and may boost the exports to $300 million this year, according to data from the Belgrade-based Chamber of Commerce.
“We expect these partner countries to refrain from measures that are exploring the new trade opportunities,” Peter Stano, European Commission spokesman, said in Brussels today.
“Serbia is expected to align to the foreign policy positions of the EU fully by the time of its entry.” Serbia won’t introduce state subsidies to boost trade with Russia, Vucic said today.
The country has had a free trade pact with Russia since 2000, with some tariffs remaining on poultry, cheese, sugar, cigarettes, motor vehicles and tires.
“Vucic doesn’t want to irritate Brussels while trying to avoid burning bridges with Moscow which is already displeased with his support for Ukraine,” Djordje Vukadinovic, analyst at Belgrade-based think-tank New Serbian Political Thought, said by phone.
“It’s an old approach to try to sit on two chairs at the same time, but there’s considerable risk that he eventually loses support both in the East and the West.”
bloomberg.com
The Balkan nation is taking “very seriously” the message that EU aspiring members should refrain from exploring new trade opportunities after Russia banned EU sales of food products, Vucic said at a news conference in Belgrade today.
“Nobody asked us about the sanctions when they were introduced,” Vucic told reporters.
“The EU membership is our strategic goal and at the same time we haven’t and won’t impose sanctions on Russia.”
Russia earlier this month announced a one-year ban on a range of food products from the EU and the U.S. in retaliation for sanctions against the country over the conflict in Ukraine.
The EU exported 1.26 billion euros ($1.7 billion) of fruit and 769 million euros of vegetables to Russia in 2013, trade data from the 28-nation bloc show. The dinar, which has lost 2.6 percent against the euro this year, weakened 0.2 percent to 117.6719 per euro at 4 p.m. in Belgrade.
The yield on Serbia’s dollar-denominated bonds, maturing in 2021, rose 7 basis points, or 0.07 percentage point, to 4.895 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Food Sales
Serbia, which started EU membership talks in January, increased food sales to Russia by 68 percent to $117 million in the first half of 2014 and may boost the exports to $300 million this year, according to data from the Belgrade-based Chamber of Commerce.
“We expect these partner countries to refrain from measures that are exploring the new trade opportunities,” Peter Stano, European Commission spokesman, said in Brussels today.
“Serbia is expected to align to the foreign policy positions of the EU fully by the time of its entry.” Serbia won’t introduce state subsidies to boost trade with Russia, Vucic said today.
The country has had a free trade pact with Russia since 2000, with some tariffs remaining on poultry, cheese, sugar, cigarettes, motor vehicles and tires.
“Vucic doesn’t want to irritate Brussels while trying to avoid burning bridges with Moscow which is already displeased with his support for Ukraine,” Djordje Vukadinovic, analyst at Belgrade-based think-tank New Serbian Political Thought, said by phone.
“It’s an old approach to try to sit on two chairs at the same time, but there’s considerable risk that he eventually loses support both in the East and the West.”
bloomberg.com
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