2024-08-29 20:54:38
Serbia signed a contract to buy 12 Rafale jets from Dassault Aviation on Thursday during a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron to Belgrade.
The French fighters must replace the aging Russian MiG fleet of the Serbian air force. Belgrade should receive nine single-seat and two-seat Rafales by 2029, for an undisclosed amount.
In February, referring to a possible purchase, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced that he was ready to put 3 billion euros on the table, a large order confirmed to the press by the President and CEO of Dassault Aviation, Éric Trapper.
Close ties with Moscow
The issue is sensitive: Belgrade, a candidate for membership in the European Union, maintains relations with Moscow despite the attack on Ukraine, and has not sanctioned Russia since the start of the war in 2022.
“It is a real change,” Emmanuel Macron greeted, when asked about Serbia’s friendly relations with Russia. “It is open to strategic change despite a lot of pressure, which must remain in the background. This is real strategic courage and opportunity for Europe,” he continued.
France is already raising this argument, triggering a logic of “Serbia’s suspension to the European Union”. If Paris does not take the place “for example with the Rafales” of the Russian planes used in Serbia, “this area in the middle of the European Union will become an entry point for instability on our planet and for all governments authority from Russia. to China,” said Jean-Noël Barrot, the outgoing minister for Europe, on Thursday morning on French Radio.
“We must change, change our attitudes and everything else in order to prepare our army,” said President Vucic, requesting that almost all Serbian “interceptor planes” and “all” of “fighter planes “is from Russia.”
Serbia is the third European country, a traditional customer of Russia, to have opted for multiple twin-jet aircraft, after Greece which has 24 of which 12 have been used, and Croatia which has bought 12.
The latest success for France is India’s agreement in July 2023 to receive 26 “Marine” units of this flagship of French defense aeronautics.
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