Aleksandar Vučić will take part at the Dubrovnik Forum.
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić will visit Croatia on Thursday, in the midst of tensions and verbal clashes between Croatian and Serbian government officials. According to diplomatic sources, Vučić has accepted an invitation to participate in the traditional Dubrovnik Forum which will be held on Thursday and Friday, reports Večernji List on August 22, 2016.
Vučić will come at the invitation of outgoing Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković. In addition to Vučić, an invitation to participate in the Forum has also been sent to Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić, but there is no confirmation that he will arrive in Croatia.
The relations between Croatia and Serbia have been on a downward path lately. The almost daily accusations coming from Belgrade about the “rehabilitation of the Ustasha movement” in Croatia and complaints sent to the European Commission are partly a reaction to the demands which Croatia imposed on Serbia as a condition for joining the European Union. The main issue is the fact that Serbia has adopted a law on regional jurisdiction for prosecuting war crimes committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, which has resulted in arrests of several Croatian veterans. The situation has not calmed down even after Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Serbian Prime Minister Vučić signed a declaration on improving the relations and resolving open issues in June.
Just a day after the Dubrovnik Forum, Prime Minister Orešković will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, together with his Slovenian, Bulgarian and Austrian colleagues. They will discuss the future of the European Union after Brexit.
This year’s Dubrovnik Forum “Linking North and South” will be hosted by President Grabar-Kitarović. The Forum will be attended by Polish President Andrzej Duda, Hungarian President Janos Ader, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, Slovenian President Borut Pahor, Bulgarian President Rosen Plevneliev and a number of foreign and other ministers from the region.
