French President Emmanuel Macron urged the European Union to better help its European neighbours in the race to get Covid-19 vaccines, ahead of a meeting in Paris with Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic.

Mr Macron, speaking from the Elysee presidential palace, acknowledged France and Europe “could have been more present” by Serbia’s side, in an apparent response to earlier criticism from Mr Vucic.

The Serbian leader 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 to enable the country to launch its vaccination campaign.

Mr Macron called on the EU to be “even more efficient” and “keep accelerating things” in the coming months to provide vaccines to the population in the bloc but also to better help its neighbours.