セルビア、仏ラファール戦闘機購入へ マクロン氏公式訪問中

【ベオグラード（セルビア）ＡＦＰ＝時事】セルビアは２９日、仏防衛大手ダッソー・アビアシオン製のラファール戦闘機１２機を購入する契約を締結した。（写真は、エマニュエル・マクロン仏大統領〈左〉とアレクサンダル・ブチッチ大統領〈右〉）
　同社のエリック・トラピエ最高経営責任者（ＣＥＯ）によるとこの契約により、セルビアは２０２９年までに単座型９機と複座型３機を受領する。セルビア空軍は老朽化した旧ソ連時代の戦闘機の刷新と、戦力の近代化を進めており、１２機のマルチロールファイター（多用途戦闘機）の購入はその一環となる。
　セルビアのアレクサンダル・ブチッチ大統領は調印式で、同国を公式訪問中のエマニュエル・マクロン仏大統領に対し、「ラファールクラブの一員になれて嬉しい。フランス大統領がこの決定を下し、新しいラファールの購入を可能にしてくれたことに感謝する」と述べた。
　契約についてマクロン氏は「より強力かつ主権の確立した欧州における両国間の長期的な同盟」を示すもので、潜在的な戦略的機会を提供すると述べた。
　セルビアは長年、ロシアおよび中国と近い関係にあり、両国から武器を購入してきた。コソボとの対立では、外交的に中ロの支持に依存してきた。
　今回のラファール戦闘機の購入契約は、欧州連合（ＥＵ）との関係深化を模索するセルビアの最近の動きの一環との見方が強い。
　セルビアは２０１２年からＥＵの加盟候補国となっている。だが、セルビアの報道によると、マクロン氏は２９日朝に公開された書簡の中で、セルビアは「完全にＥＵの一員だ」と評している。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/30-19:24）

Serbia signed a contract to purchase 12 Rafale warplanes from France's Dassault Aviation on Thursday during a state visit by President Emmanuel Macron to Belgrade.
The widely anticipated deal will see Serbia receive nine single-seat and three two-seat jets by 2029, according to Dassault chief executive Eric Trappier.
The dozen multi-role fighter aircraft will help Serbia modernise its air force and replace ageing Soviet-era combat jets.
We are happy to become part of the Rafale club. We thank the president of France for making this decision and for enabling us to purchase the new Rafales, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told reporters during the signing ceremony.
The total value of the contract is 2.7 billion, Vucic said, without specifying the currency.
The Serbian president said the deal included logistics support and provisions for spare parts, while saying talks were ongoing about the type of armaments that would be provided with the planes.
Macron said the deal pointed to a long-term alliance between our two countries within a stronger and more sovereign Europe and provided a potential strategic opening.
It is an opening towards a strategic change despite a lot of pressure, which must be underlined. It is real strategic courage and an opportunity for Europe, said Macron during a press conference in Belgrade.
Serbia has long been close to Russia and China and purchased arms from both countries over the years, while relying on the Kremlin and Beijing for diplomatic backing over its dispute with Kosovo.
- 'Political protection' -
The Rafale is a multi-role fighter that can be used to hunt enemy planes, strike ground and sea targets and carry out reconnaissance.
The deal was just one of several agreements inked during Macron's visit.
Macron arrived in Belgrade late Thursday afternoon, where he was greeted with a hug by Vucic and a traditional honour guard.
France has been strengthening its economic ties with Belgrade with trade tripling in the past 12 years, according to Serbia's finance ministry.
French company Vinci has been overseeing a years-long renovation of Belgrade's Nikola Tesla airport, and French groups are set to build the capital's first metro system and a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant.
Belgrade-based analyst Vuk Vuksanovic said Vucic likely saw the Rafale deal as crucial for ensuring France's support in the future.
The president believes that by purchasing these Rafales, which are an extremely expensive product of the French military and industry, he will buy President Macron's favour and political protection, Vuksanovic, a senior researcher at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, told AFP.
- EU lithium deal -
The fighter jet agreement marks the latest in a string of moves that has seen Serbia seek closer ties with Europe.
In July, the European Union and Serbia signed a deal to develop the country's supply of lithium -- seen as a crucial building block to achieve Europe's transition to a green economy.
Belgrade reinstated the licences for a controversial lithium mine this summer after revoking permits granted to mining giant Rio Tinto following demonstrations over environmental concerns.
Vucic has also acknowledged that Serbia had sold hundreds of millions of euros' worth of ammunition to Western countries that has likely been shipped to Ukraine as Kyiv fights off invading Russia troops.
The sales come even as Serbia remains an outlier in Europe after refusing to join sanctions against Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Balkan country has been reliant for years on support from the Kremlin and Beijing to prevent the United Nations from recognising Kosovo as an independent state.
Serbia has been a candidate to join the European Union since 2012, but its prospects are seen as bleak without a normalisation of relations with Kosovo, where it fought a war against ethnic Albanian insurgents in the late 1990s.
In a letter published by the Serbian press on Thursday morning, Macron said Serbia fully belongs in the EU.