The president of Serbia, Alexander Vucic, announced that his country’s military must be much stronger. As we read in Bloomberg:

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic vowed to increase defense spending to upgrade the military, including through the possible purchase of French warplanes and providing “competitive” wages for elite units.

The Balkan nation may spend an additional €700 million ($748 million) this year on top of the defense budget set at nearly $1.5 billion, Vucic said at the IDEX 2023 arms fair in Abu Dhabi. The funds will be channeled toward upgrading tanks, adding 200 armored vehicles, combat drones and attracting recruits to elite units, he said.

A deal to secure Rafale aircraft from France’s Dassault Aviation SA may cost another €3 billion if talks with the maker are successful, he said. Last April, the president said Serbia, which has traditionally depended on Russian military aircraft and technology, may purchase at least 12 Rafales.

“Our military must be much, much stronger,” Vucic said Monday in a live televised broadcast. “It’s important for Serbia’s survival, we need strong deterrents.”

As other European countries are expanding their military budgets, “governments are spending like drunken millionaires” on defense, he said.

There is a war in Ukraine, there is a war going on between Armenia and Azerbaijan; Poland wants to become the biggest military power in Europe; Germany wants to lead Europe militarily; Serbia is increasing its military spending in the midst of tensions with Kosovo, and top of it all you have a very militarily strong Turkey having an islet dispute with Greece. All of these are signs that a European war is inevitable.