Serbia once again fails to align its foreign policy with the EU

From January 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024, Serbia aligned itself with only 47% of the EU’s foreign policy declarations, while the other candidate countries in the region – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and North Macedonia – aligned themselves with 100% of them.

These are the findings of the analysis by the Center for International Affairs and Security (ISAC Fund).

“Serbia continued its alignment patterns with the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) in 2024, similar to 2022 and 2023, when [it] had alignment rates of 48 percent and 54 percent, respectively,” the ISAC analysis published the European Western Balkans.

From January 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024, the EU has issued 57 declarations calling on candidate and partner countries to join. The analysis shows that Serbia has joined 27 declarations and follow-up measures, but has not joined 30 others.

Serbia has continued to avoid joining declarations and measures directed against the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, their citizens, subjects or interests.

This shows that Serbia is continuing its course of maintaining relations with Russia and China, which do not share common values with the EU. Meanwhile, Serbia is adjusting its policy only in the parts where this adjustment has no impact on the breakdown of historical relations with Russia and now also with China.

Serbia agreed with the EU on restrictive measures related to ISIS/Al-Qaeda, terrorism, Syria and Burma/Myanmar.

The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, was in Brussels on September 19 together with other leaders of the Western Balkans and announced from there that Serbia would receive millions of funds from the EU. Vucic said that 1.58 billion euros from the EU will benefit Serbia, some of which are donations and other loans.

Nevertheless, Serbia continues to use this money, but does not join the EU on important issues such as Russia’s war in Ukraine and continues not to impose sanctions on its ally.

Likewise, as a member of the EU, Serbia, along with Hungary, has become a window for China in its aims to influence Europe.

/TheGeopost