First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Ivica Dacic congratulated today all the citizens of Serbia on Victory Day and Europe Day.

"Victory Day, the 9th of May, will remain a symbol of heroism and unity of the peoples who succeeded in defending their countries and the world against the worst evil of the previous century – fascism. The citizens of Serbia should proudly remember their glorious antifascist past.

It is our duty to respect, treasure and save from oblivion the heritage passed on to us from those who laid their lives fighting for freedom and against fascism. Those were the generations of our ancestors who literally saved the world, by ending the war and laying the foundations for peace, thus enabling us to have a present and a future.

After the tragedy of the Second World War, the ideas of anti-fascism, freedom, justice and peace were the foundations that inspired the creation of today's European Union, as a community of European states and peoples, where Serbia belongs as well, and to whose full membership it aspires.

Today, we are unfortunately witnessing attempts at relativizing the crimes of fascism and equating victims and culprits, as well as at reviving ideas of exclusiveness, hatred and intolerance. It is our duty to prevent history from being revised through such attempts and to face all the current challenges that could put in jeopardy the blessings of peace.

We have to remain committed to the preservation of freedom and peace for which they gave their lives. United with all of our friends worldwide, we need to defend our common values – freedom, democracy, security, human rights and fight intolerance and hatred. Because each and every one of us has a great burden of responsibility to bear for the generations to come", reads the congratulatory message by the Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.