European Central: Serbia Misaligned with EU’s Foreign Policy
Veronaa
In a blow to one of the five candidate countries of the European Union, the latest report by the European Commission published on the progress of candidate countries shows Serbia sometimes has a different foreign policy from the bloc. In 2020 Serbia's alignment with EU foreign policy was 56% but rose to 61% in August of 2021. Serbia is also ranked moderately prepared to become a member state.
Interestingly, Serbia is also aligned with Russia on some foreign policy issues such as the annexation of Crimea. Many countries in Eastern Europe were very anti-Russian due to being part of the Soviet Union but this is not the case for Serbia. In a way Serbia can be viewed more closely to Russia. Both were communist countries which meant Russia did not have to impose its values onto Serbia(then part of Yugoslavia) while Russia raced against the United States to spread its ideology around the world. While Russia led the Soviet Union, Serbia led Yugoslavia, which translates to southern Slavs and had five nations all of southern slavic speaking countries combined into one.
The European Union understands the importance of working with countries it disagrees with, but is disappointed that the Serbian government has had several Russian government officials on the bloc's sanction list in Serbia. This includes the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs and the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs.
Besides Russia, Serbia disagrees with statements by the European Union at the Hague regarding banning chemical weapons. This can particularly be a point of concern for the European Union allowing Serbia to join the bloc based on the history of the Yugoslav war. The European Union was born out of the desire for peace in Europe and originally was the Coal and Steel community which monitored the two major industries at the time of six member states (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) necessary to prepare for war. The last thing the bloc will do is accept a member state that does not appear fully committed to avoiding armed conflict in Europe, particularly with the objective of targeting a specific group of people.
Serbia also seems intent on maintaining control on other countries due to religion. There is anger in Montenegro over the church. Serbia also seems intent on insisting Kosovo is not independent due to the historical significance of the country for the Serbian Orthodox Church.
It is also important to point out that it is not unusual for countries in the European Union to disagree on various international issues. As member states continue to fulfill their own national interests it will remain difficult for the bloc to have a strong and unified foreign policy. An example of this is the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The pipeline helps satisfy the energy needs of Germany but was a missed opportunity to influence political change in Russia as pointed out by Lithuania. Even if construction would only have had to be delayed a little longer to help fight for free and fair elections in Russia, Germany seemed uninterested. another example would be Hungary accepting doses of the Sputnik vaccine from Russia in order to vaccinate the country instead of trying to work with the European Union to get the entire bloc vaccinated. This may backfire for Hungarians due to the fact that the WHO has not yet confirmed whether the Sputnik vaccine has been approved leading countries such as Italy to decide not to grant covid passports known as a green pass to those who recieved vaccines other than Astra-Zeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, or Pfizer. This threatens the ability of Hungarians to enjoy the freedom to love and work in other member states which is one of the most revered rights in the European Union but has been restricted due to the pandemic. For Hungarians these restrictions may last longer.
Turning back to Serbia, the problem is that many member states view Russia in a negative light which may make it difficult to have its membership voted for by these same member states. Serbia must win unanimous support which may be impossible particularly amongst eastern member states that view Russia as the enemy.
While Serbia can change its foreign policy to be synchronous with that of the European Union, this only adds to the lengthy list of things Serbia must accomplish before becoming a member state. So far 18 chapters of the succession process have been opened but only two were closed. Simultaneously this should not take away from the progress that Serbia has already made and continues to make. It is clear that Serbia remains on the right track and with support can reach the goal of membership.
Some examples of the progress Serbia has made includes constitutional reform of the judiciary. Serbia initiated this reform in 2020 and plans to complete it by the end of 2021. Another achievement worth highlighting is the construction of a free market. Serbia has made significant strides of creating a free market since the collapse of Yugoslavia. Success can be seen with Serbia's ability to avoid a significant drop in its economic performance during the pandemic. The same cannot be said for current EU member states. A strong economy is important in order to prove that Serbia is ready to compete in the single market.
Serbia’s current challenges towards achieving EU membership will not be solved in a day. At the same time the nation can achieve membership through dedication and hardwork.
