Macron meets Vucic, urges more EU help on vaccines

French President Emmanuel Macron urged the EU to better help its European neighbors in the race to get COVID-19 vaccines, ahead of a meeting in Paris with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

Macron, speaking from the Elysee Palace, said France and Europe "could have been more present" by Serbia's side, in an apparent response to earlier criticism from Vucic, who said last week he had been counting on a lot more support from the EU.

Serbia, which sits at the heart of the Balkans region, received doses of China's Sinopharm vaccine that enabled the country to launch its inoculation campaign earlier this month.

Macron called on the EU to be "even more efficient" and "speed things up" in the coming months to provide vaccines to the bloc population and its neighbors.

(Image credit: AP)