Stiplija: Von der Leyen's visit traditional, different narrative face to face 

"It’s interesting what the President's narrative was about the European Commission’s (EC) report, and what the Prime Minister's was like yesterday. The European Commission also noticed this at the summit in Zagreb in 2020, which was one of the topics of discussion. The EC monitors this, there is a part of the report that speaks about the fact that certain officials of the Serbian government spoke negatively about the EU, and that this must change," Stiplija said, commenting on Prime Minister Ana Brnabic's statement about the aforementioned report on Friday during Von der Leyen’s visit. Brnabic said that the latest EC report is "objective and balanced".

 "In October last year she visited the region and sent very nice messages in all countries about the future of the Western Balkans in the EU. I think she used these visits to announce budget aid for all the countries of the Western Balkans in order to help them overcome the energy crisis, which is already very critical," Stiplija said.

What is interesting, he says, is that von der Leyen had a specific message that she conveyed in each country.

"But, of course, in the light of everything, this budgetary aid and its amount are the main topic", he stated.

The EWB journalist added that Serbia, as the largest country, received the most money from the European Commission (some €160 million).

"It was noticed that Serbia has a problem because it is tied only to energy sources that come from Russia so that aid to Serbia is greater," he said.

The Prime Minister of Serbia, Ana Brnabic, also spoke with the President of the European Commission on Friday.

"The Prime Minister singled out the importance of continuing reforms in the area of the rule of law,  reforms in the area of the judiciary and the adoption of a new package of judicial laws, as well as issues of media freedom and the adoption of a new set of media laws," the announcement states.

However, in recent months the local audience heard different tones about the reports coming from Europe.

"I noticed that yesterday too. It was interesting what the President's narrative was about the EC report, and what the Prime Minister's was like," Stiplija noted.