Macut: Energy crisis to remain Europe's focus

YEREVAN - Serbian PM Djuro Macut said on Monday in Yerevan the energy crisis, European security, cyber crime, illegal drugs and organised crime had been the main topics of the 8th European Political Community (EPC) summit, held in the Armenian capital.

Macut noted that the summit had been attended by more than 40 countries, including Canada as a special guest, and added that Serbia's participation in panels and his meetings with European officials about cooperation in multiple areas had been important.

Speaking to reporters, Macut said that, at a panel on energy held before the summit, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, UK PM Keir Starmer and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides had presented their views on the topic.

He said the panel might have been the most important part of the summit and that Europe would continue to focus predominantly on the current energy crisis.

"Overcoming that is what requires the most effort and strength - access to energy must be diversified and the highest possible availability of energy must be ensured to achieve sustainable development in Europe," Macut said.

He said the presidents of Romania and Bulgaria, Nicusor Dan and Iliana Iotova, had expressed great readiness for better regional connectivity in terms of energy.

"We discussed a vertical energy corridor that needs to go from Alexandroupoli in Greece via Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia to parts of central and eastern Europe. Those are large-scale plans where Serbia has its place and it can join them easily, since the trunk route runs very close to our border," Macut said, noting that Serbia would have several energy supply routes.

He said security had been another major topic.

"The Italian PM mentioned cyber security as a novelty that is definitely important and I think a lot of work is underway on that. We also discussed the fact that, at European level, there are no regulations on this field, which includes security in electronic media outlets, above all, social media networks," Macut added.

He said a need to punish hate speech on social media networks had been discussed as well.

"I think that is one of the topics that will certainly be the focus in the next several years," Macut noted.