From European integration to isolation: Is Serbia returning to the 90s?

Although the title of this text may suggest that it is a historical look at the mistakes of the Serbian political elite at the beginning of the 20th century, the reality is, unfortunately, much more frightening.

Dragan Shormaz

The topic that, due to the circumstances, I am dealing with is the complete collapse of the Serbian political scene at the current moment. And this moment is characterized by the competition between Vučić's radicals and Lompar's disappointed radicals in promoting the failed idea of ​​the "Serbian world", namely integralism.

While the surrounding countries direct all their energy towards the future and the region's increasingly secure membership in the EU, today's Serbia, unable to face the past and the problems of the present, easily rushes towards a distant past, risking that through the implementation of this short-sighted political agenda, it will disappear from the map of European states.

How wrong this policy is is best seen from the topics that the main political rivals propose for the upcoming elections. Thus, Vučić, in addition to promoting the “Serbian world” and the ever-open abandonment of the European path, is increasingly promoting Chinese narratives, not missing the opportunity to express admiration for every evil that appears in the world. And in the absence of real results, he offers citizens more and more fictions and empty promises in the form of flying cars, third-class Chinese android robots and other nonsense from the chronically uncreative radical opus.

Meanwhile, in relations with the West, especially with the EU, he has begun to apply the tried and tested recipes of Slobodan Milosevic, who solved small problems by creating much larger ones, then using them as bargaining chips for trade on the international stage. In the end, the bill for all these problems is paid by the citizens of Serbia and the Serbs in the region. Kosovo and Montenegro have followed their own path, while the Serbs in Krajina almost no longer exist. There is no doubt that the citizens of Serbia will pay the bill this time too, and this is what we call in politics the law of iron determinism. The paradox of the whole situation is that those Serbs who will be able to secure citizenship of Kosovo and Montenegro will have the opportunity to live within the Euro-Atlantic world, while the citizens of Serbia will continue to be prisoners of their illusions about the great state.

The image of Vučić's media is increasingly frightening! There are no longer Albanians and Croats, but only "Serbians" (in a derogatory form) and Ustashas. Despite the fact that his "Serbian List" participates in the elections in Kosovo and demands to be treated according to the Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo, his media continues to call all Kosovo institutions "so-called" and spread lies about terror against Serbs. In parallel, Serbia can only thank the state of Croatia for almost not feeling the consequences of the imposition of sanctions on NIS, because the lobbying of the government in Zagreb and the state-owned company JANAF kept Serbia away from the energy disaster. This case should be a good example for everyone of how important regional cooperation and connectivity is! Yes, we should all be part of the big European family, but as small countries, only united in the Western Balkans can we be better positioned within the EU.

On the other hand, Lompar and his followers of the litija deal with the Serbian national question and the concept of Serbian integralism. Issues that other nations resolved during the 19th century are offered to the citizens of Serbia as an agenda for the 21st century. Issues of the future, modernization, Serbia's place in the world of artificial intelligence and new international circumstances are not topics of importance and interest for the main political actors. It is already more than clear that he will be a key figure on the student list. Professor Lompar, in his public addresses, has only topics about the position of Serbs outside Serbia and about "correcting historical injustices". He openly speaks of Vučić as a traitor and about the annulment of the Brussels Agreement! So, he shows that he is an even more radical radical and secretly says that Serbia should stop European integration! About the economy, the rule of law, health, regional cooperation, security, defense... he has not said a word yet.

In such circumstances, it is not surprising that Serbia is entering into increasingly tense relations with all the countries of the region, with the inherent risk of creating a broad anti-Serbian coalition, to prevent events like the one in Banjska. Because mature nations learn from history, while others constantly return to it in search of new “lessons”. Serbia and its people in the 19th century were a completely modern space. Movements based on the ideas of liberalism and nationalism were growing throughout Europe. The old absolutist order was collapsing and new national states were being created such as Italy, Germany, Greece, but also Serbia! Today, only people who do not understand the future of Europe and the world are dealing with these issues! Vučić and Lompar are backward people in every respect! They only follow those who are not educated, regardless of the formal qualifications they may have, frivolous and unrealized people.

In Belgrade, the agreement on military cooperation between Croatia, Kosovo and Albania has been maniacally condemned these days. Presented as an aggressive agreement against Serbia, the fact that it is an alliance between NATO member states and a territory under the protection of KFOR (i.e. NATO), created to strengthen stability in the face of the increasingly aggressive positions and threats of Russia and Serbia as its exponent in this part of the world, is deliberately overlooked. Russia, precisely through Serbia, is waging hybrid war in the Balkans. It is she who created the idea of ​​the “Serbian world” for the radicals, and the countries of the region have a legitimate right to be protected from such activities.

On the other hand, the question arises as to whose fault it is that Serbia has no one to form alliances with, given that it has chosen to be neutral; as is well known, such countries have neither obligations to others, nor allies that could come to their aid in case of need. It is unnecessary to talk about the inability of the Serbian regime to be a constructive partner in maintaining the architecture of peace and stability in the region, considering that it is part of almost all the problems, but almost no meaningful solution.

However, Serbia is not only unable to find a common language with its neighbors, but has also entered into conflict with the Serbs of the region. Thus, official Belgrade has long severed relations with Milorad Pupovac, the leader of the Serbs of Croatia, simply because he, in order to improve the position of his compatriots, chose to cooperate with his government in Zagreb.

Andrija Mandić did not fare any better in Belgrade's political corridors either, after agreeing to be a constructive partner in fulfilling the European agenda in Montenegro. This clearly contradicts Vučić's plans, for which Belgrade is actively undermining Mandić's position by favoring the destructive actions of Milan Knezević and Vladislav Dajković, marginal actors from the so-called Serbian corpus in Montenegro.

The final nail in the coffin of the failed policy of the “Serbian world” was hammered in by Milorad Dodik with his unexpected agreement with the US, in which he promised to abandon the separatist and anti-NATO agenda, for which he was removed from the list of sanctioned persons in Washington. Dodik’s agreement in Washington was a clear signal to Vučić that he was out of the game and that the key actors no longer considered him to be an important or necessary factor in implementing the regional agenda. Vučić is currently facing a mild but growing isolation, the further dynamics of which will be determined exclusively by Brussels and Washington.

Vučić missed the opportunity to be part of the solution. He got that chance by signing the Brussels Agreement, and then by signing the Washington Agreement! His ego and infantilism convinced him that he could play with his obligations and that he could cunningly defeat the great powers of the world! By choosing to create problems and play dirty political games for personal interests, he pushed Serbia into a position identical to the one it was in in the second half of the 90s. And this is the position of an excluded state, which is not asked about anything and on which solutions are imposed unilaterally. Now it is the smallest and most insignificant even in the region!

What should we, the citizens of Serbia, over whom he still rules, do then?! It's simple! We must wake up in the 21st century, condemn and reject Russophiles like Vučić and Lompar, extend a hand to our neighbors and, without arguing about the past, begin coexistence and cooperation with them! In the end, we must choose the BEST path for all of us, and that is Serbia's membership in the EU and NATO! It is not difficult, because it is the right choice! This choice is nationally right and represents patriotism!

The Geopost