European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reviews the guard of honor with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during a welcoming ceremony at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade, Serbia, Friday, Oct. 25, 2024. (Darko Vojinovic/AP)

BELGRADE, Serbia — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday praised the Serbian president for meeting with her and other EU leaders instead of attending a Russia-organized summit of developing economies held earlier this week.

Serbia has close ties to Russia and has refused to join international sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. In a phone call Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said EU candidate Serbia would maintain its stance on sanctions, despite pressure from the EU and other Western countries.

But despite Putin’s invitation, Vucic did not attend a three-day summit of the BRICS group of nations, led by Russia and China, which took place in the Russian city of Kazan earlier this week. Leaders or representatives of 36 countries attended the summit, highlighting the failure of US-led efforts to isolate Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

Vucic sent a high-level delegation to the meeting, but said he could not attend himself because he had scheduled meetings with von der Leyen and Polish and Greek leaders. There are concerns in the West that Putin is plotting trouble in the volatile Balkans, in part to shift some of the attention away from his invasion of Ukraine.

“What I see is that the President of the Republic of Serbia is hosting me here today and has just hosted the Prime Minister of Greece and the Prime Minister of Poland. That goes without saying, I think,” von der Leyen said at a joint press conference with Vucic.

“And for my part, I want to say that my presence here today, in connection with my now fourth trip to the Balkan region since I took office, is a very clear sign that I believe that Serbia’s future is in the European Union,” she said.

Vucic said he knows what the EU requires for possible membership — including compliance with foreign policy goals — but did not promise further coordination.

“Obviously Ursula asked for much greater compliance with the EU’s foreign policy declaration,” he said. “We clearly know what the requirements are, what the expectations are.”

Von der Leyen was in Serbia as part of a trip this week to prospective EU member states in the Western Balkans to reassure them that EU enlargement remains a priority for the 27-nation bloc. From Serbia, von der Leyen will travel to the neighboring countries of Kosovo and Montenegro.

Serbian media reported that von der Leyen refused to meet with Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic because of his talks on Friday with a high-level Russian economic delegation, which was in Belgrade to discuss deepening ties with Serbia. Vucic will meet the Russian officials on Saturday.

In Bosnia on Friday, von der Leyen pledged support for the deeply divided Balkan country struggling with the reforms needed to move towards EU membership.

The countries of the Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia – are at different stages in their applications for EU membership. The countries have been frustrated by the slow pace of the process, but Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has prompted European leaders to push the six to join the bloc.

Bosnia was granted candidate status in 2022. EU leaders in March agreed in principle to start membership negotiations, although Bosnia still has a lot of work to do.

“We share the same vision for the future, a future where Bosnia and Herzegovina is a full member of the European Union,” von der Leyen said at a joint press conference with Bosnian Prime Minister Bojana Kristo. “So, I’d say let’s keep working on it. We’ve already come a long way, we still have a ways to go, but I’m confident you’ll make it.”

Last year, EU officials offered a $6.5 billion growth plan to the countries of the Western Balkans in a bid to double the region’s economy over the next decade and speed up their efforts to join the bloc. That support is dependent on reforms that would bring their economies into line with EU rules.

On Wednesday, the Commission approved the reform agenda for Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia after the green light from EU member states. It was a key step in allowing payments under the growth plan after the agreed reform steps were completed.

However, Bosnia’s reform agenda has still not been signed by the Commission.

“The accession process is, as you know, merit-based … we are not looking at a rigid data, but we are looking at the merits, the progress that a country is making,” von der Leyen said. “The important thing is that we have an ambitious reform agenda, which the other five countries in the Western Balkans also have. We stand ready to help you move forward.”

Long after a 1992-95 ethnic war that killed more than 100,000 people and left millions homeless, Bosnia remains ethnically divided and politically deadlocked. An ethnic Serb entity – one of Bosnia’s two equal parts united by a joint government – has sought to gain as much independence as possible.

Arriving in Bosnia, von der Leyen on Thursday first went to Donja Jablanica, a village in central Bosnia that was devastated in the recent floods and landslides. The disaster in early October claimed 27 lives and the small village was practically buried in rocks from a quarry located on a hill above.

Von der Leyen said the EU is sending an immediate aid package of $21 million and will also provide support for reconstruction later.

AP writer Jovana Gec contributed from Belgrade.