Day 12: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

5/18/22

Today we visited and attended a briefing at the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Nikola Selaković, Minister of Foreign Affairs gave us an in depth explanation of the foreign policy goals of Serbia and its place in the larger Western Balkans. This is same position our very own Professor Matic held before coming to Clemson, and you can tell he is something of a superstar here.

Serbia has been an EU candidate for 10 years now, and it is "one of the nation's most important priorities." This long span of admission is not because of shortcomings- Serbia is more advanced today than Romania and Bulgaria were when they were admitted in 2007. Selaković says that joining the EU makes sense because of Serbia's old European heritage (even one of the first proto-nations to form) and that 2/3 of its trade is with EU countries.

In the meantime however, in order to cut thousands of hours and millions of dollars in border crossings between the Balkan nations, Serbia formed the Open Balkans initiative. So far, Albania and North Macedonia are part of it, and Montenegro has stated its intentions to join. The goal of this cooperation is for freer movement of people, goods and services within the region, sort of a mini-Schengen area.

As for NATO, Serbia takes a position of military neutrality, and they partake in no military alliances. Selaković says that this creates the need to invest more heavily in Serbia's own defense. However, they perceive NATO as a partner: Serbia has 10x more cooperation with NATO nations than Non-NATO, and is the 3rd largest peacekeeper contributor in Europe.

The additional reality is that Serbia is suspended between Russia and the West, and joining NATO would be to sever all ties with and become an enemy of Russia.

Note the banner at the base of the fence: it reads "Serbia without Kosovo is like a man without a heart."

One more interesting thing to note- in case you aren't familiar with the region, there is currently a dispute of sovereignty over the (formerly/historically) southern part of Serbia: they do not recognize Kosovo, who proclaimed independence unilaterally in 2008. Much of the world recognizes them, including the US, but in Serbia they still refer to the region as "the province of Kosovo and Metohija." This was evident throughout the lecture, and

The history between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians is bloody and complicated, but what is important to know is the ethnic composition of these regions. Kosovo is mostly Albanian, with a Serb minority living in the north, and though Serbia is not homogeneous, but it is predominantly 83% Serbian. Kosovo has always been mistreated since the days of Yugoslavia, so a divorce seems only like the right thing to do. However, Serbia cannot acknowledge this since they would be losing land with the most important historical and religious monuments to their people, the equivalent of their Jerusalem. There is also the question of what protections will be offered to the Serb minority.

I hope that you enjoyed this insight into Serbia's position with its neighbors!

Ćao for now!