Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic behaved unpleasantly towards a Slovenian reporter at a press conference, after the reporter had inquired about the anti-violence protests and events in the Serbian Parliament. Vucic’s replies prompted a comment from Slovenian President Natasa Pirc-Musar, along with an explanation of democracy and freedom of speech.

On Thursday morning, Vucic met with his Slovenian counterpart. After the meeting, the two held a joint press conference. A reporter from the Slovenian public broadcaster RTS asked Vucic a question regarding the protests against violence in Serbia, linking them to the lack of a quorum in the Serbian parliament. Vucic lashed out at  the reporter.

“Thank you very much for your questions because some of these questions show how and why the European Union is not as popular in our country as we would all like it to be. Sometimes, due to your excessive good will people feel humiliated, because you would like to interfere in things you’d never allow anyone to interfere in in your countries,” said Vucic ironically.

Commenting on the anti-violence protest in Serbia, the Serbian president said he has had protests for ten years, playing down their importance: “A protest like any other.”

Addressing the reporter, he repeated a number of times that, “unlike the European Union”, Serbia does not have a habit of “beating the hell out of demonstrators.”

“They used to be held every day, now they are weekend protests. Except for the call for me to be hanged, they are peaceful. And unlike your established practice in the EU to beat the hell out of demonstrators – here it’s peaceful. They arrive, gather, disperse, and everything is fine,” said Vucic.

“We are trying to adopt your democratic achievements. The one thing we still haven’t adopted is beating the hell out of demonstrators. We don’t know how to do that and we will not do that, we will avoid that until the very last moment,” Vucic said, addressing the reporter.

He added that the police allowed the demonstrators to break into the parliament and state TV buildings.

“We will have to work on those European reforms some more, obviously, when it comes to beating demonstrators, we are far from your standards in the EU and I hope that, in this regard, we will not progress at the pace at which we are expected to,” said Vucic.

This speech prompted the Slovenian President to react and respond. She said that demonstrations are a legitimate and democratic act in every country, and that the reporter’s interest in the protests and events in Serbia, as well as reporting on them, constitute freedom of expression.

“Media reporting on demonstrations is freedom of expression and I hope you did not hold it against the reporter too much for asking that question. Democracy also means freedom of media and that is also something to work on,” said Pirc-Musar, adding that protests are also held in Slovenia and Brussels.

Vucic wouldn’t let her have the last say, and he said he was grateful “to your reporter for asking that question.”

“Here, the freedom of media is such that I should answer every day whether I am Hitler or Mussolini. I do not wish you that level of freedoms,” said Vucic.