President Zoran Milanovic visited the town of Popovaca on Monday and attended a special City Assembly meeting on the occasion of the town's day, where he welcomed efforts by local authorities to absorb EU grants to the maximum in order to realise essential projects for economic and demographic revival, state agency Hina reported.

“We have to utilize the benefits of membership in the European Union,” Hina quoted Milanovic as saying.

“That is why for me the only criterion for any city, municipality and the state is to absorb the last euro possible. But for each one that we didn’t, I want to see who was responsible, and not just as the president of this country, but as a citizen,” said Milanovic.

“We owe that to ourselves, otherwise we will once again be in some large conglomeration where we have no influence,” he added.