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bne June 2018 Southeast Europe I 39
Serbian president Vucic is walking a tightrope between EU accession and Russia
Serbian President Vucic walking the tightrope to EU accession
James Wilson of the International Foundation for Better Governance
issues for progress announced by the Commission in their 2018 report on Serbia are fundamental rights, the rule of law, judicial reform, the fight against organised crime and corruption, freedom of speech, gender equality and the normalisation of relations with Kosovo.
Vucic knows full well that the reform process will bring with it irreversible changes to institutions and to society in Serbia and his commitment to bring his country closer to the EU is sincere.
The international media however still regularly generates news stories that Vucic is a Kremlin puppet completely subservient to the interests of Russia. But this ignores the reality that Vucic
is the President of a country where the majority supports Russia, due to a long history of cultural and security ties. As a shrewd politician he needs to be care- ful about his reputation with his core voters and walk a fine line that puts Serbia first and the national interest above all else. The simple fact is that in doing precisely this, he has practically no other choice than to maintain good relations with Russia, considering the historic closeness between both coun- tries and the fact that a majority of the population of Serbia holds warm and friendly feelings towards Russia.
Serbia is a "battleground state" between East and West, characterised by a front line struggle to control soft power
and influence. In the midst of all
this, Serbia’s national strategy is still nevertheless directed by its own regional and geopolitical interests rather than subservience to Russia.
So Vucic has every right to feel frustrated that there is a generally perceived notion that he is under the total influence of Putin, although to the contrary he is resisting Russian pressure on a number of issues, such as for example his quiet but persistent refusal to grant diplomatic immunity to workers in the Niš humani- tarian centre (which some analysts view as a power-projection vehicle for Russia).
Vucic is walking a tightrope trying to balance the interests of the West and Russia. So far he has not fallen.
COMMENT:
Aleksandar Vucic, the current President of Serbia, came to power in the April 2017 elections. He came with a reputation of having curbed media freedom and Serbia’s ranking in the Freedom of the Press Index, compiled by Freedom House, has fallen sharply in recent years.
The media in Serbia is dominated by pro-Russian outlets and uncritical pro-government tabloid publications, although the tide is now turning with new investment from agencies such as the BBC to introduce greater indepen- dence, credibility and objectivity into news coverage. Vucic met with Russia's Vladimir Putin on May 7 for key talks on the two countries' relationship.
Vucic consistently courts the media and is not shy to place opinion editorials in West- ern publications to get across his point of view. He has frequently gone on the record saying that Serbia’s future is with the EU, and he wants to secure Serbia’s member- ship of the bloc. His primary motive is one of national strategic interest; he wants
to create the conditions that will bring growth and prosperity to Serbia.
Youth unemployment in the Western Balkans is double the rate in EU coun- tries and he understands the importance of bringing investment to create new jobs to Serbia to make the economy more competitive, and help the econo- mies of the Western Balkan countries
to converge, making the region more politically stable and thereby improving the lives of his citizens. He also wants to promote regional unity in the Western Balkans, believing that collectively as a market of 20mn persons Serbia and its neighbours will benefit from economies of scale to attract more investment.
EU Accession negotiations with Serbia began in January 2014, and in the new enlargement strategy published by the European Commission for the Western Balkans, Serbia and Montenegro
have been given the perspective of membership by 2025. This is a short timescale, and potentially a historic opportunity for change. Among the key
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