First Deputy Prime Minister o fSerbia and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic congratulated all the citizens ofSerbiaon Victory Day and Europe Day.

"This day, 9 May, is significant in many ways, as we are celebrating Victory Day and Europe Day. It is an important holiday for our country that evokes, in the first place, powerful memories of the common fight against fascism, the biggest evil of the 20th century.

It is our duty to respect, cherish and save from oblivion the heritage passed on to us from those who gave their lives in the fight for freedom and against fascism.

After the tragedy of the Second World War, the ideas of antifascism, freedom, justice and peace were the foundations that initiated the creation of the present European Union, as a community of European states and peoples, to whichSerbiabelongs as well, and to whose full membership it strives.

Europe Day is the day when we celebrate the victory over fascism, but it is also an opportunity to face all the current challenges that can bring into question the blessings of peace that have been achieved.

At the same time, we are unfortunately faced with attempts at relativizing the crimes of fascism and putting victims and culprits on an equal footing, as well as reviving ideas of exclusion, hate and intolerance, whose tragic consequences were felt by the generations of our fathers and grandfathers. It is our duty to prevent such attempts at changing history," reads the message of congratulation by Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic.