Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić said yesterday at his presidential inauguration in the Serbian Parliament that Serbia will always stand with Republika Srpska and that he is not ashamed of it.

 Vučić has said that Serbia will continue to support the territorial integrity of BiH, but will always insist that no changes to Dayton Peace Accords can be made without the consent of all the three peoples.

“Understandably, Serbia will always stand with Republika Srpska. Whenever an opportunity presents itself, we will always help it and stand with it. We are not ashamed of it,” he said.

Recalling that his father originates from the other side of the Drina, Vučić has said that it used to be said that people in Serbia can never understand how much Republika Srpska loves Serbia.

“But, people in Srpska and our dear guests Željka /Cvijanović/ and Mile /Dodik/, who are here, should not doubt how much people in Serbia love Republika Srpska. It is not less than Republika Srpska’s love for Serbia,” Vučić said.

He announced that his priorities would be peace, stability, independence in decision-making, freedom, security, health, Europe, and “work, work, and work”.

In his address to MPs and guests, Vučić spoke about the difficult challenges facing Serbia due to the Ukrainian crisis, the economy, Serbia’s military neutrality, the struggle to preserve Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia, but also about relations in the region.

He pointed out that Serbia has exceptional relations with Hungary and very good relations with Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Northern Macedonia and Albania, which, according to him, could not be said for relations with Zagreb and political Sarajevo.

“We will have to look to Zagreb now, to say that we cannot agree on the past, but also try to find the same binoculars for the future. The door will always be open for a good dialogue with Zagreb. I expect the same with political Sarajevo while respecting international law, the Constitution of BiH, and the Dayton Agreement,” said Vučić.