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European countries cannot cope with today’s gas prices, says Serbian leader

Serbia will be in a state of an unannounced emergency for the next eight months and this is the toughest situation the country has faced in over a decade, the head of state said earlier

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic

© EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC

BELGRADE, August 26. /TASS/. Not a single European country can cope with the current energy crisis, or today’s gas prices in particular, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic said on Friday at the opening ceremony of a fair in Osecina.

"We will face problems this winter, more precisely, this fall, due to the conflict in Ukraine, due to what is impossible to describe anymore. Right now, when buying gas, you cannot buy anything cheaper than $4,000 [per 1,000 cubic meters - TASS]. If the market price is [$]3,300, that means [$]4,000-4,100 after factoring in all the traders, middle men and transportation costs. There is not a single country in Europe that can bear this, Vucic said, in a livestream hosted by the Tanjug news agency.

Serbia will be in a state of an unannounced emergency for the next eight months and this is the toughest situation the country has faced in over a decade, the head of state said earlier. Hydropower generation halted due to the hot weather and energy prices are soaring, President Vucic noted. Belgrade is finding it increasingly more difficult to cope with this situation, considering that inexpensive Russian gas covers just 62% of the country's needs, he added.

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