Europe is our home! There is no place for Vučić in it.

The decision of Aleksandar Vučić that neither he nor anyone from the Serbian government will attend the EU–Western Balkans Summit represents a scandalous, irresponsible, and dangerous move by which a frightened man is pushing Serbia into political isolation simply to avoid sitting on the “naughty bench” for failing to meet conditions that other countries have fulfilled.

Serbia cannot afford to turn its back on the European Union. More than two thirds of Serbia’s total trade is tied to the EU, the largest share of foreign investments comes from EU member states, and tens of thousands of jobs directly depend on the European economic area. All of this is critically endangered by the actions of Aleksandar Vučić.

By deciding to “slap the European Union,” in an attempt to shift the blame and conceal the incompetence of a regime that has brought Serbia to the absolute bottom, he is now directly and consciously endangering the country’s economic stability, security, and international standing. By closing the path toward the EU, Serbia loses access to pre-accession funds, cooperation and knowledge exchange are halted, the economy collapses, and—what represents a long-term death sentence for the survival of the state—an even more massive emigration of young people in search of a secure future will follow. Without young people, Serbia will demographically disappear irreversibly.

Serbia is not the private property of Aleksandar Vučić for him to ruin it in moments of personal despair. Serbia is already paying the price of his arbitrary and bad decisions, but this course leads to a much deeper crisis.

Citizens of Serbia, Vučić is rushing toward disaster and intends to drag the entire country down with him. We belong to Europe, and Vučić belongs to an ugly historical episode. His resignation would be a moral act—but he is not capable of it.