Three billion contracts: Danger of buying French aircraft from Serbia

According to the French presidency's announcement, Makron's visit targets “the deepening of bilateral relations and co-operation in the fields of economy, health, energy and culture”.

But what is drawing attention to Serbia, according to local media, is the contract with Dassalult Aviation, worth 3 billion euros.

During his visit, the French president is expected to announce completion of the contract for the sale of twelve Rafal fighter aircraft in Serbia.

“We have been working on this contract several days ago, the Serbian president said on television several days ago.

In early April, Emmanuel Macron hosted his Serbian counterpart Aleksandar Vucic at the Elysée Palace. The two leaders discussed particularly Serbia's future in the European Union. Belgrade applied for EU membership in December 2009 and was granted candidate status in March 2012.

In Moscow the visit back then did not go unnoticed. According to the state agency Tass, during his visit to Paris on April 8th and 9th, Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq stressed that co-operation with France was “deployative to Serbia's defence capacity, while insisting on his country's neutrality at the military level.

For his part, the French president said Serbia's future is “within the European Union and nowhere else”, and that, “whatever wounds of the recent past”. Official Paris has since added the dose of criticism of Pristina's approach to dialogue with Serbia, condemning “the uniform actions of Kosovo authorities” that “put the agreement on normalisation” at risk.

In an article in this Wednesday the French daily “Le Monde” concerned this official Paris movement

“Export of the Rafalee in this country known for its proximity to Russia and combat goals towards Balkan neighbours, raises many questions... How does France aim to ensure that the Rafare will not be transported to Russia, or that they will not be used to pressure on Kosovo, whose independence Belgrade still does not recognise?”, the article authored by the Jean-Basist Chatand and Faustine Vincent correspondent for “Le Monde”

These questions become even sharper when it is known that although it has condemned the invasion of Ukraine, Serbia has refused to sever its ties with Russia and join Western sanctions against Moscow. /Lapsy.al