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(Bloomberg) — Europe is sleepwalking into economic ruin because of complacency and poor productivity, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said as he turns his country into a key gateway for China.
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There are too many obstacles that complicate the flow of investment between Europe, China and the US, Vucic said in an interview after returning from Beijing with more than $1 billion of investment pledges for Serbia. Protectionism is “killing, in the end, Europe,” he added.
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How people work “is going to be the toughest and the biggest issue for the entire Europe: How we are going to handle this,” he told Bloomberg in Belgrade on Monday. “We all live nicely. We don’t see what’s happening around us.”
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During Vucic’s 12 years in power, Serbia has become one of China’s main entry points into Europe, plowing billions of dollars into its industries from mining to humanoid robots. President Xi Jinping has described ties between the two countries as an “ironclad friendship.”
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Chinese investment in the Balkan country has now all but caught up with the European Union, which Vucic is still intent on joining, though membership is now less popular among the Serbian people than ever before.
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Vucic, 56, is betting that his focus on job and wealth creation with the help of China and other allies like the United Arab Emirates will keep him in power despite mainly student-led protests against him well into their second year.
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“We’ll do our job” when it comes to meeting EU criteria, Vucic said at the presidential palace in the Serbian capital. “But in the meantime, we have to take care of ourselves. We cannot wait forever.”
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Vucic, a former minister under strongman Slobodan Milosevic, remains the dominant figure of Serbian politics. He’s positioned the country as an aspirant EU member, a conduit for China and an ally of both US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin despite a cooling since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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While he hasn’t severed ties with Moscow, Vucic lamented the “stalemate” in a war between Russia and Ukraine, “our Slavic brothers, very close friends” that he doesn’t expect to end anytime soon.
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Yet he’s faced unrest at home. Demonstrations against perceived cronyism and authoritarian rule erupted following a deadly accident in November 2024 when a canopy collapsed at a railway station on a route being upgraded by Chinese companies. Serbia ranks below every EU member in Transparency International’s annual corruption index.
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Among the key demands of the mainly student-led protesters are early elections. In the interview, Vucic said Serbia will hold parliamentary and presidential votes this year.
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