France's President Emmanuel Macron travels to Belgrade on Thursday to bolster ties with Serbia and bring it closer to the West, as the Balkan country juggles its European Union membership bid and close ties with Russia and China.

During his two-day visit, Macron and his counterpart, Serbia's populist Aleksandar Vucic, plan to discuss issues including the purchase of France's Rafale fighters, made by Dassault (AM.PA), opens new tab, as well as energy and artificial intelligence.

It will be Macron's second meeting with Vucic this year and follows the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Belgrade in May, highlighting Serbia’s strategic position on the edge of the EU, with ties to the east and west.

In an op-ed piece in Serbia's pro-government Politika daily on Thursday, Macron wrote that Belgrade could maintain its independent posture "only under the auspices of the EU.

"When war once again broke out on our continent, initiated by Russia, ... the idea that Serbia could seek its own way in the eternal game of balancing between powers ... is just an illusion."

The EU remains Serbia's single biggest investor and hundreds of thousands of Serbs work in Western-owned companies.

Late on Wednesday, Vucic said there were unresolved issues with the purchase of Rafale aircraft, estimated at around 3 billion euros ($3.34 billion).

"It is not a question of the price, it is a question of certain guarantees ... we have been struggling with this for four days," he told state RTS TV.