Referendum on accession to BRICS possible in Serbia — Vucic

The BRICS’ popularity rating in Serbia has reached 42%, it will become one of the key topics in the republic within the next two years and may require a referendum, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told RTS, Report informs via TASS.

"Several days ago, I looked at what people in Serbia think about. Today, if you tell them about BRICS, many will not even fully understand what that means. They have heard that this is some other countries, which blackmail us less, but they do not know that there are no real mechanisms, and it does not work on the same principle as the EU," Vucic claimed, adding that "the popularity of BRICS in Serbia is currently on the same level [as the EU] - at about 42%."

"I believe that many will not like the discussion of this issue, but it will be very serious in a year and a half to two years in this country. If BRICS manages to fill its mechanisms with content, and would even achieve certain success in the establishment of a common or a single payment means through cryptocurrencies, because it would be impossible to establish a single currency, then there will still be much lower level of unity than in the EU. Someone will tell you in a political sense that this is exactly what we need, but it is not so simply, it is extremely complicated. I do not rule out a possibility that, at some election, when people will vote for a new president in two and a half years, this will become one of key topics. Who knows, maybe it will even become a point for a referendum," the Serbian leader said.

Previously, the head of state said that Serbia will be represented at the BRICS Summit in Kazan at the level of Deputy Prime Minister because the Serbian President has already been negotiating Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s visit to Serbia during the same dates, when an invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived. He noted that the event will be attended by Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, Defense Minister Bratislv Gasic, Minister of the Economy Adriana Mesarovic and Minister Nenad Popovic, who oversees international economic cooperation.