German Health Care Minister Jens Spahn denied a claim by President Aleksandar Vucic who told him not to come to Serbia to hire nurses, Radio Deutsche Welle reported on Friday.

Vucic said in November last year that he openly and sharply told Spahn not to come to Serbia. “He said I’m coming to Serbia to get your nurses. Oh no, you’re not coming here! I told him to his face: Don’t come here,” Vucic said at the time.  

“I was reading about some talks with him that I never had. Not with him and not in that form,” Minister Spahn said. The Ministry issued a statement saying that Spahn never actively worked on bringing qualified nurses from Serbia.  

Radio Deutsche Welle said that Serbia is the first country to decide not to send caregivers to work in Germany, adding that Vucic’s statement by has become topical again. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that the Serbian authorities said they would terminate the inter-state agreement which allowed nurses from Serbia to come to Germany.