Page 53 - bne monthly magazine June 2024 Russian Despair Index

bne June 2024 Southeast Europe I 53
in Europe. Chinese investments in Serbia have contributed significantly to infrastructure development, with projects spanning mines, factories, roads and bridges.
China is currently Serbia's second most important economic partner following the EU. China was also the top foreign investor in Serbia in 2023, accounting for €1.37bn of the total €4.5bn.
Chinese companies have played an
important role in Serbia's industrial sector, and are among the country’s top exporters. Specifically, Serbia’s top exporters were dominated by three Chinese-owned companies in 2023: Zijin Mining, Zijin Copper and the HBIS Group.
Other recent collaborations include the establishment of yuan clearing arrangements and the inauguration of a new freight route linking China's Hebei province with Belgrade.
Xi received a warm welcome within Serbia, with crowds gathering to greet him in Belgrade, which was decorated with Chinese flags and posters in honour of the visit.
The recent Western Balkans Regional Poll by the International Republican Institution (IRI) showed that Serbs see China as their second most important ally after Russia.
However, concerns have been voiced by Western think-tanks about Chinese influence in Serbia, as well as via Serbia to the EU if and when the Western Balkan country join the bloc.
A comment by Angelica Vascotto, pan-European fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), warned in January over Belgrade’s low foreign policy alignment with the EU and questions over its commitment to European values. Failure to mediate and incentivise democratic recovery could allow other countries, including China, to exert influence in Serbia, potentially diverting the country away from its Western neighbours, the analyst said.
North Macedonia’s opposition VMRO-DPMNE celebrates twin electoral victory
Valentina Dimitrievska in Skopje
The largest opposition party in North Macedonia, VMRO-DPMNE, started celebrating late on May 8 following its resounding victory in both the general election and second round of the presidential election.
In the second round of voting for
North Macedonia’s next president,
the candidate of conservative VMRO- DPMNE, law professor and MP Gordana Siljanovska Davkova (70), secured 65% of the votes, surpassing the incumbent president and the candidate of Social Democrats (SDSM), Stevo Pendarovski, who garnered just 29.3% of the vote, with 93% of ballots counted.
Siljanovska Davkova's win marks a historic moment as she becomes the country's first female president.
Discontent with the governance
led by the SDSM, in alliance with
the ethnic Albanian Democratic
Union for Integration (DUI), became apparent during the first round of the presidential elections on April 24. Voters overwhelmingly backed the opposition, rallying behind Siljanovska Davkova.
In parliamentary elections, the VMRO- DPMNE-led coalition captured 43.1% of the vote with 91.9% of votes counted, while the SDSM-led coalition trailed
with only 15.1%, data released by the state election commission (SEC) indicated.
"We have achieved victory. Macedonia has triumphed. This marks a historic moment for our nation," leader of VMRO-DPMNE Hristijan Mickoski, who is set to become the new prime minister, stated.
Attributing the government's downfall to issues of crime, corruption, nepotism and manipulated tenders, Mickoski stressed the need for accountability. Mickoski also reiterated his stance against using the prefix ‘North’ in the
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