European Commission: Vučić–Von der Leyen meeting in New York was spontaneous, not planned

The European Commission confirmed today that the meeting of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in New York was spontaneous and had not been planned in advance.

European Commission spokeswoman Ariana Podesta told a press conference that von der Leyen and Vučić met by chance and briefly on the margins of the UN General Assembly. “It was a spontaneous meeting, one of the very rare such cases, so I think we have nothing to add beyond what I already said. The meeting was very short, spontaneous and nothing more than that,” Podesta said, according to Radio Free Europe’s broadcast.

Vučić posted on his Instagram account a photo shaking hands with von der Leyen and wrote that during the brief conversation he expressed to her “sincere gratitude for everything she had done for Serbia in past years.”

Von der Leyen posted on social media a series of meetings she had held on the margins of the UN General Assembly, which is taking place this week in New York, but published no post referring to the conversation with the Serbian president.

Next week von der Leyen will travel to the region as part of her traditional annual Western Balkans tour, but this time she will not visit Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The European Commission’s official explanation is that pre-election campaigns are underway in both countries, while unofficially it is confirmed that the authorities’ reaction to the death of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić, as well as his burial with state honors in Belgrade, had significant influence on von der Leyen’s decision not to visit Serbia.

Source: Danas