LOCAL PRESS

 

Dacic: UEFA decision result of political pressure (Tanjug/Beta)

Kosovo’s admission to European football’s governing body UEFA is evidently a political decision and a result of major political pressure, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said Tuesday, reiterating that Serbia will never recognize Kosovo. “Kosovo’s admission to UEFA is just another warning that we live in a world of interests and politics, rather than one of law and rules, that Serbia must treat this fact in a realistic and rational way, and that, in the case of Kosovo, even the UEFA Statute may be violated just to fulfill the promises of the sponsors of Kosovo’s independence,” Dacic said. It is up to us to fight to have the best possible position in that world, gain new and old friends and have interests that match the interests of others - of course, all this includes fighting for a consistency of our policy, in which there will certainly be no compromise on one matter, Dacic said. “We will not recognize Kosovo. Everything else - as we have seen today - is possible,” Dacic noted. What remains for the Football Association of Serbia to do is use legal means to dispute this decision in court, “but it is evident that the decision is of a political nature and a result of major political pressure, which, however, has not been completely successful,” Dacic said. “Only 16 out of the 54 (UEFA) member states have not recognized Kosovo, and we got 24 votes, while as many as 10 member states that have recognized Kosovo did not vote in Kosovo’s favor,” he said after Kosovo’s football association was admitted to UEFA by 28 votes to 24 in a secret vote at the organization’s congress in Budapest earlier in the day. Two member associations abstained in the vote.

 

Vulin: UNSC must say whether Resolution 1244 is still valid (Tanjug)

It has once again become evident that some precedents apply to Serbia, Serbian Labor Minister Aleksandar Vulin said after Kosovo was admitted to UEFA on Tuesday, adding that he expects the UN Security Council to say whether its Resolution 1244 on Kosovo is still valid. The consequences of Kosovo joining European football's governing body will be unforeseeable and it is only a matter of time before someone else invokes the precedent and UEFA’s violation of its own statute, he told Tanjug. “Serbia will continue to fight and it will not look on with its arms crossed. We will go to the Lausanne court (the Court of Arbitration for Sport), we will go everywhere where we can fight - above all, to protect law and the international law. The Security Council must say whether Resolution 1244 still exists. If it does exist, then this is not possible, and if it does not, it would be good if someone told us,” Vulin said, reiterating that Serbia will fight to protect its sovereignty and integrity.

 

Karadzic: UEFA decision political abuse of football (Tanjug/B92)

Kosovo’s admission to UEFA membership is a political decision and a defeat for football, which could face unforeseeable consequences as a result, Football Association of Serbia (FSS) President Tomislav Karadzic said Tuesday. “Football has found itself in the jaws of politics and this is a UEFA move that could have unforeseeable consequences. For four years, the FSS fought and repelled all attempts by the self-proclaimed state and then we suffered the biggest blow at the hands of the International Olympic Committee, whose admission of Kosovo was particularly highlighted by the Kosovo delegation. The FSS and our struggle became an obstacle to many, but we were unable to prevent a political abuse of football,” Karadzic told the FSS website after Kosovo was admitted to UEFA in a secret vote at the organization’s congress in Budapest earlier on Tuesday. The governments of 38 UEFA member states have recognized Kosovo’s independence and their football associations had to follow instructions from politicians, Karadzic said, adding that European football's governing body should not have yielded to political pressure.

 

Vucic, Li discuss steel mill, projects from various fields (Tanjug)

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic received Chinese Ambassador Li Manchang on Wednesday, placing special emphasis on the steel mill Zelezara Smederevo and the Chinese government’s support for implementing the project of high strategic importance for Serbia.

Ambassador Li congratulated Vucic on his party’s victory in the 24 April elections, and conveyed Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang’s regards. During the meeting, Vucic and Li discussed the ongoing infrastructure, energy projects such as the upgrade of thermal power plant Kostolac 2 and highway building, the government’s press office said in a release.

 

EC proposes lifting visa requirements for citizens of Kosovo (Tanjug/RTS)

The European Commission (EC) on Wednesday proposed that the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament lift visa requirements for citizens of Kosovo for short stays in the Schengen area. The Commission also presented a positive assessment “confirming that Kosovo has fulfilled the requirements of its visa liberalization roadmap”, an EC statement said.

“This is the result of the hard work and successful efforts of the Kosovo authorities in achieving far-reaching and difficult reforms in the Justice and Home Affairs area and beyond, impacting areas such as the rule of law and justice reform,” said European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos. In a progress report, the Commission confirmed that that Kosovo “has met all the requirements of its visa liberalization roadmap, on the understanding that by the day of adoption of this proposal by the European Parliament and Council, Kosovo will have ratified the border/boundary agreement with Montenegro and strengthened its track record in the fight against organized crime and corruption”.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Republika Srpska’s opposition schedules protests for 14  May (Nezavisne/Srna)

The opposition, Alliance for Change, scheduled for May 14 large-scale popular protests in Banja Luka, in reaction to, as they put it, a catastrophic situation of the B&H entity, which the Republika Srpska (RS) authorities were to blame for. In an opposition announcement, the protests were described as peaceful, and scheduled in accordance with the law. The protests were scheduled to voice an enormous majority of RS, dissatisfied with their lives. It was also a protest against “the grand traitors who destroyed the economic substance of RS, and, consequently, its biological substance, too”, the Alliance says. The opposition also promises a protest against “criminals in high places, power price jumps, the sale of natural wealth, corrupted halfwits in politics, those whose pockets are full of money from agricultural incentives, veterans’ allowances, pensions for the handicapped and other state transfers that belong to the people”. The opposition protests against violations of workers’ and human rights, soaring unemployment rates and nepotism, banks’ robbing the people, and the debt bondage the authorities are pushing the people into, the abuse of public enterprises and the destruction of banks. “People protest” in Banja Luka park “Mladen Stojanovic”, which will be organized by the Alliance for Change (SZP) on 14 May, will begin at noon, said yesterday at a press conference in Banja Luka, Mladen Bosic, SDS president. The Original Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) announced that it is against the holding of protests and counter-protests, scheduled for Saturday, 14 May, in Banja Luka, shortly before the calling of local elections, stressing that this will lead to further divisions. Meanwhile RS Prime Minister Zeljka Cvijanovic said that the ruling coalition will not organize any counter-protests, but could organize a rally from where they would send clear messages.

 

Best example that B&H court and prosecutor’s office are political institutions (Srna)

Republika Srpska (RS) President Milorad Dodik told Srna that the fact that 24 years after the horrific crime against innocent Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) soldiers in Dobrovoljacka Street in Sarajevo, the B&H Court and Prosecutor’s Office did not prosecute anyone, speaks of the attitude of these institutions towards Serbian victims in the past war. “To violate the agreement and kill people who are withdrawing peacefully, not jeopardizing anyone, is the cruelest war crime in keeping with all international conventions. However, that which leaves the bitter taste and causes the feeling of complete injustice is the fact that regardless of the existence of recordings on which someone is giving orders to kill these innocent people, no one has yet been brought to justice for this crime,” Dodik said. He said that the example of the crime in Dobrovoljacka Street in Sarajevo most directly illustrates that the B&H Court and Prosecutor’s Office are “exclusively political institutions aimed at punishing only one, the Serb, people. The RS institutions will determine a place in the area of Istocno Sarajevo for marking all crimes committed against Serbs in Sarajevo, but we do not plan to give up the request to designate in a dignified manner the places of the killing of Serbs in the federal part of Sarajevo as well. We will not give this up, and let this be an opportunity for those who are constantly speaking of reconciliation to demonstrate that they really want it,” Dodik said. Forty-two JNA soldiers were killed, 71 were wounded and 207 were captured on May 3 and May 4, 1992, in Dobrovoljacka Street in Sarajevo. On May 3, members of the Green Berets, the Patriotic League, the B&H Ministry of Internal Affairs and Territorial Defense attacked a convoy of JNA soldiers in Dobrovoljcka Street who were peacefully withdrawing from Sarajevo in keeping with the agreement and under guarantees of the UN peace forces.

 

May 2nd, Day when the aggressor attacked Sarajevo (Radio Sarajevo)

Upon the return from peace negotiations in Lisbon, President of the B&H Presidency Alija Izetbegovic, his daughter, translator Sabina Berberovic and Deputy Prime Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija were arrested at the Sarajevo International Airport and taken to Lukavica, in the time of the fierce fights around the Presidency of B&H. From the surrounded Command, JNA General Milutin Kukanjac made an offer that he and his soldiers get away in exchange for Izetbegovic. In dramatic negotiations led between members of the B&H Presidency Ejup Ganic and Stjepan Kljujic and the generals of JNA led by Vojislav Djurdjevac, exchange principles agreed. Negotiations broadcasted live on RTV B&H. “When the President Izetbegovic was captured and when the exchange was negotiated, they would never let him go that easy is they had finished the job on May 2. We did this great job on May 2 and that day, for me, is the key day in the course of war in Sarajevo because Sarajevo was supposed to be cut off that day. They came to around thirty meters from the Presidency of B&H. If they managed to get in, the course of war would be entirely different,” said Dragan Vikic, commandant of Special Units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the biggest legend of the defense of Sarajevo.

 

Decision on calling local elections in B&H on 4 May (Klix)

The Central Election Commission (CEC) B&H, in accordance with the provisions of the Election Law of B&H, will make a decision on calling of local elections in B&H at their session on the 4th of May, which should be held on 2 October this year, as confirmed by the president of the CEC B&H, Ahmet Santic. “On the night from 3 to 4 May, the electoral roll will be concluded. It is important to note that because the potential candidates who want to stand in the name of political entities will have to be registered precisely in the primary electoral unit for which they want to run by that date,” explained Santic. Besides these decisions, the CEC B&H will make a decision on the total number of mandates that will be elected in each electoral unit, including a number of national minorities in municipalities or cities where they are being elected, in accordance with the statutes of local governments. The amount of about 8 million BAM is planned for elections. Of these, explains Santic, funds in the amount of about 4 million BAM are planned in the budget of institutions of B&H, and local governments are obliged to provide the rest of 4 million BAM from their budgets. After 4 May, a fifteen days long deadline for applications and certification of political parties and independent candidates will begin, after which will follow the statutory period for the application of coalitions and list of independent candidates. Santic announced that on 4 May it will be publish instructions on schedule and deadlines of election activities for all participants in the electoral process – from political entities and municipal election commissions to the Central Election Commission. “It will be possible to see all the obligations that are related to the political entities in the process of candidacy, registration, certification, the deadline for registration of voters who want to vote from abroad, for voters who are within B&H and the voters who will vote through mobile team, as well as those who have the status of displaced persons,” explained Santic.

 

Croatia, Bulgaria support EU enlargement to include Western Balkans (Hina)

Croatia and Bulgaria support EU enlargement to include all Western Balkan countries, but these countries must meet the necessary criteria, Croatian and Bulgarian Foreign Ministers Miro Kovac and Daniel Mitov said in Zagreb on Tuesday. “We agree on the enlargement policy, we support enlargement and we want the ‘black hole’ on European maps to disappear and we want our southeastern neighborhood to be integrated with the European Union one day, but of course, criteria must be respected and standards must be met,” Kovac said after his talks with Mitov who is on a two-day official visit to Croatia. Asked if Bulgaria supported Croatia’s blocking the opening of Chapter 23 in Serbia’s EU entry talks, Mitov said “EU enlargement is very important”, adding that his country “will continue to support it”. However, meeting the criteria is also very important and Chapter 23 requires meeting certain criteria. Our Croatian friends have the right to demand that these criteria be met and also to help in every possible way, Mitov said adding that Bulgaria had certain issues that need to be clarified regarding the rights of the Bulgarian minority in Serbia. We most definitely demand that these issues be resolved during the talks, Mitov said. Croatian Minister Kovac said there are no countries that are more interested in seeing Serbia make progress towards the EU than Croatia and Bulgaria, as Serbia’s neighbors. “It is in our interest to see Serbia make progress and Chapter 23 on the judiciary and fundamental rights finally open,” Kovac said. “This is the most important chapter, I would say, in the entire negotiating process and together we will help Serbia meet the criteria... clearly the set criteria must be met,” Kovac said. The two ministers also underscored good cooperation between Bulgaria and Croatia within the EU and NATO, notably during the refugee crisis. “Our cooperation is good within the European Union and NATO. We agreed to cooperate even closer in the European Union, to coordinate our positions regarding the European common foreign and security policy,” Kovac said adding that he also wanted to step up cooperation in Central and Southeast Europe. Kovac told the press he and his Bulgarian counterpart agreed that the protection of the EU external border was critical. Kovac congratulated Bulgaria for efficiently protecting its borders, which are also the EU external border. Mitov said it was important to determine the difference between economic migrants and refugees. We must try to return economic migrants to their countries of origin and provide assistance to refugees, he added.

 

Rakcevic: SNP’s offer unacceptable (Vijesti)

Request of the Socialist People's Party (SNP) to enter the government of electoral trust only if it gets two ministerial posts is unacceptable for URA Civic Movement, said the president of the party Zarko Rakcevic. After the meeting of the SNP main board, its president Srdjan Milic said that the party would sign the agreement on free and fair elections and enter the government of electoral trust along with the Demos, Social Democratic Party (SDP) and URA, only if its candidates Radivoje Rasovic and Veselin Bakic are appointed as the ministers of agriculture and finance. However, such an ultimatum of SNP is unacceptable for URA. “It is strange that on the eve of the session of the Parliament, colleagues from SNP are announcing they will sign the agreement on free and fair, although they dismissed this possibility earlier. Now, the issue of posts has been raised”, Rakcevic told Vijesti TV. Rakcevic said that his party would have consultation with SDP and Demos tonight about the new situation. Earlier, these three parties proposed Milenko Popovic (independent figure) as a candidate for the deputy Prime Minister, Goran Danilovic (Demos) for interior minister, Rasko Konjevic (SDP) for finance minister and Boris Maric (NGO sector representative on behalf of URA) for minister of labor and social welfare in the government of electoral trust.

 

URA, Demos and SDP replied: The deal fails if our proposals are not accepted (Dnevne novine)

URA Civic Movement, Demos and Social Democratic Party (SDP) sent the list of candidates for ministerial posts in the government of electoral trust to PM Milo Djukanovic. When it comes to the candidate for the minister of agriculture, they plan to propose him/her on the eve of the Parliament’s session, Dnevne novine reports in its Wednesday’s edition. However, there is a chance that the agreement is not reached, because these three parties will not accept make new concessions to Socialist People's Party (SNP). Earlier on Tuesday, Demos, URA and SDP proposed Milenko Popovic (independent figure) as a candidate for the deputy Prime Minister, Goran Danilovic (Demos) for interior minister, Rasko Konjevic (SDP) for finance minister and Boris Maric (NGO sector representative on behalf of URA) for minister of labor and social welfare in the government of electoral trust. However, SNP posed a condition – the party will sign the agreement on free and fair elections and enter the government of electoral trust, but only if it gets two ministerial posts. Radivoje Rasovic is a candidate for the minister of agriculture. SNP also requires its representative Veselin Bakic to be the minister of finance, regardless the fact that SDP proposed its candidate Rasko Konjevic for that position. URA considers the SNP’s position unacceptable. The member of the URA Coordination Committee Nedjeljko Rudovic told CdM news portal that SNP’s ultimatum was causing a deep distrust. The Parliament’s sessions at which MPs will discuss the draft law on the implementation of the agreement on creation of conditions for free and fair elections (lex specialis), changes in the composition of the government and the dismissal of the Speaker of the Parliament Ranko Krivokapic has been scheduled for tomorrow. The session will last at least two days.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Kosovo accepted as member of Uefa after Congress vote (Reuters, 3 May 2016)

Kosovo was accepted as a member of Uefa on Tuesday, becoming the 55th member of European football’s governing body despite strong opposition from neighbouring Serbia, from which it declared independence in 2008. Uefa’s annual congress voted by 28 votes to 24 to accept Kosovo’s application. Two votes were declared invalid. Kosovo journalists outside the hall cheered the decision, which means teams from Kosovo can enter European club and national team competitions and paves the way for the republic to apply for Fifa membership. The Kosovo president Hashim Thaci wrote on his Facebook page: “Kosovo in Uefa! The best news for countless fans in our republic. Now we will play in international championships, some games will be won some will be lost but no one will ever keep us out from green fields.” Before the vote, the Serbian FA president Tomislav Karadzic had urged the Congress to reject the application, saying it was a case of politics interfering with sport. “This is a political, not a footballing proposal,” he said. “We are facing a stern test, we must say no to politics, no to divisions that are maybe detrimental. “It would create tumult in the region and open a Pandora’s box throughout Europe.” Kosovo will apply next week to join Fifa and could play in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers if accepted. Kosovo were granted permission two years ago to play friendly matches but with restrictions, which included a ban on displaying national symbols or playing national anthems at games. Kosovo was accepted as a member of Uefa on Tuesday, becoming the 55th member of European football’s governing body despite strong opposition from neighbouring Serbia, from which it declared independence in 2008. Uefa’s annual congress voted by 28 votes to 24 to accept Kosovo’s application. Two votes were declared invalid.

 

Serb Economic Growth Speeds Up in 1st Quarter, Beating Forecasts (Bloomberg, by Gordana Filipovic, 4 May 2016)

The Serbian economy expanded an estimated 3.5 percent in the first three months of the year, beating analysts’ forecasts, as the biggest former Yugoslav republic benefits from an increase in diversified investments and widening exports. The figure, published by the Statistics Office in Belgrade on Wednesday, compares with a 1.8 percent contraction in the same three-month period of 2015. It also shows the fastest quarterly expansion since the last quarter of 2013. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg predicted the economy growing 1.4 percent. “The release of the GDP number suggests that snap elections did not weigh on the growth momentum in the first quarter of the year,” Deanie Jensen, an emerging-market economist at ING Groep NV in London, said in a note after the release. “Looking ahead, we expect investment activity to pick up further, while government spending should remain fairly subdued in line with fiscal consolidation plans.” Premier Aleksandar Vucic, whose Progressive Party won 131 of parliament’s 250 seats in April 24 snap elections, plans to form a new cabinet by early June. He has vowed to end state support of unprofitable companies and downsize the public administration with the support of the International Monetary Fund. Vucic expects growth to significantly pick up after the government sold the Zelezara steel mill to China’s Hebei Iron & Steel Co. last month. The European Commission, in its Spring Economic Forecast published Tuesday, raised its forecast for Serbia to 2 percent in 2016 from 1.6 percent. “GDP growth is forecast to accelerate, supported by robust investment and export performance” as well as marginal recovery in private consumption, the commission said, adding that the economy is “exposed to multiple external risks” including international capital flow reversals and moves in oil prices. “Fiscal risks remain elevated and government debt is still set on an upward trend trajectory.”

 

Tito did this – and Vucic did” – what? (TransConflict, by David B. Kanin, 4 May 2016)

Aleksander Vucic is the most formidable politician to emerge so far in the post-Yugoslav space. What good will that do Serbia?

This is not a rhetorical question. Vucic certainly enjoys the good luck of operating without any significant opposition—Boris Pajtic is basically a regional notable in Vojvodina (even after losing there in the recent election), Vucic and Tomislav Nikolic continue to observe the boundaries separating their roles, and the Jovanovic-Tadic combination simply celebrates narcissism. Vojislav Seselj’s shadow of a political second act involves nothing but thinly popular personal venom.

Still, Vucic deserves credit for his ability to shrink the legal and political space available to the media and his domestic opponents while escaping serious scrutiny from abroad. He has taken pages from Turkish President Erdogan’s and Hungarian Prime Minister Orban’s playbooks but has avoided the heavy-handed repression and bombast that serves in both those cases to expend political capital and energy. Vucic so far engages in serious decision-making and policy implementation (as well as the usual political patronage).

Vucic’s public statements often sound more like comments in conversation than pronouncements. Sometimes he acts like his job is making him sick, but never softens his hold on power. Vucic engineered a successful re-election that should permit him a couple of years to live up to his off-the-cuff public boast.

Whether he can measure up to the iconic status Tito currently enjoys depends only in part on whether Serbia can get into the European Union by 2020—media and pundit commentary has put too much emphasis on the public’s relative support for the EU over Russia in their electoral post-mortems. Obviously, he can maintain his popularity only if he can do better than Tito did with the economy—and Vucic’s Serbia is a smaller market and economic actor than was the Yugoslavia the Communists mismanaged once US aid began to dry up.

Whatever package of domestic and international policies he puts into practice also needs to include a strategic communication component thoughtful and credible enough to convince Serbs they share a common identity they can feel proud of. Success in this regard will be measured by Serbs’ willingness to share private positive thoughts about their community with friends and family, as opposed to public expressions of defensive assertiveness. Vucic has gone an impressive distance toward this already—no matter the grousing of public intellectuals hard-wired to complain about press freedoms and other issues. The EU’s willingness to open a couple chapters associated with the accession process demonstrates Brussels is less concerned than are the Belgrade scribbling classes about civic progress in Serbia—a phenomenon similar to the EU’s attitude toward Turkey. Of course, this does not mean either country actually will achieve membership in the association of the High and Mighty.

Serbia is unlikely to get into the creation myth that is “Europe” by 2020—this is quickly becoming a short-term goal; raising hopes of such a precise date is pointless and unnecessary. For one thing, Croatia will continue to hold things up as politicians in Zagreb and Slavonia pander to memories of the horrors in Vukovar and the short-lived Republic of the Serb Krajina. For another, the undefined “normalization” of relations with the crippled partial sovereignty that is Kosova will remain a tool Europeans can use to put things off.

Nevertheless, Vucic’s skillful management of German Chancellor Merkel and other Europeans gives Belgrade its best chance to move toward eventual membership. None of the politicians pretending to provide an alternative to him have nearly his level of skill and capability for strategic diplomacy. It will be interesting to see how he finesses the EU accession issue as he decides whether to contest another election and hold power past 2020. The status of his government’s popularity will factor into that calculus, of course, as will whether he has then the kind of leverage in Brussels the migrant issue and Europe-wide problems provide him now.

It also will be interesting to see if he can avoid the creeping sense of self-satisfied arrogance that enabled the tone-deafness that has come to affect Erdogan’s decision-making. This and events in the Middle East and in domestic Kurdish-Turkish relations spoiled what once looked like a favorable political and strategic situation in Ankara. Self-satisfaction is a major danger confronting every politician that experiences spectacular success against incompetent opposition. The day Vucic decides his personal judgment is so good he can brush off bad news and ignore solid critical advice is the day observers can begin to chart his downfall.

His attitude and behavior regarding the developing Belgrade Waterfront scandal will be a test of whether he still has his ear to the political ground. This project has all the earmarks of a massive theft—the odd oversight process involved would appear to protect contractors from public scrutiny for the next 20 or 30 years. A lot of money can be stolen in that time, but a lot of jobs also can be expected to be part of the package of public good and harm involved in this project.

The government has promised to scrutinize the recent destructive visit of masked thugs to the Waterfront, but Vucic has the option of attempting to remain aloof by sloughing off responsibility for this mess on local and lower level federal officials. He would do well to take a more active interest—if he takes the chance of turning over various rocks he might be able simultaneously to reduce the level of waste, fraud, and abuse and take credit for what actually could become a useful infrastructural revitalization. The people and businesses already affected by evictions and intimidation will remain casualties of this process, but Vucic already has demonstrated the ability to avoid taking the blame for the kind of collateral damage publics so easily forget.

More generally, Vucic might consider the model (positive and otherwise) set by Charles de Gaulle. Vucic does not have the patina of wartime activity that set de Gaulle on the path to power, but both men exhibited the skills necessary to partially repair the reputations of countries that had undergone seriously disabling communal experiences. Both also overcame less impressive rivals, although it is easy to forget de Gaulle’s initial failure to overawe a potent left-wing alternative and other politicians in the early years after World War II. In addition, de Gaulle badly misjudged his country’s mood and politics in 1968; something like that certainly could happen to Vucic.

De Gaulle nevertheless remained true to what in his case was an aristocratic bearing and instinctive distrust of allies as well as adversaries when it came to international affairs. Vucic has a different personality, but appears so far to understand his personal flaws and strengths and to use both to capture the political mood. As already noted, the common view of his electoral triumph as a victory of a pro-EU movement ignores his understanding of the reluctance of Europe’s paladins to follow through regarding Serbia’s membership desires. Like de Gaulle, Vucic is maintaining decent but measured relations with the EU, US, and Russia (and Turkey) while looking out for Serbia’s strategic and economic interests. One of his greatest personal assets appears to be his ability not to be surprised when he is disappointed by the behavior of the disparate powerful actors he has to deal with on the world stage.

Like it or not, Vucic—unlike his predecessors in government—has brought Serbia back to Europe-wide respectability. The political pathologies and instability affecting other shards of former Yugoslavia continue to set Belgrade’s performance in high relief, of course, but that is not Vucic’s fault. It is too soon to tell whether he takes the authoritarian path of Eastern Europe’s dysfunctional “democracies,” but it is clear Turkey, Hungary, Russia, and even China can plausibly make useful contributions to his toolbox.

David B. Kanin is an adjunct professor of international relations at Johns Hopkins University and a former senior intelligence analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The quote in the title is taken from Aleksander Vucic, quoted in B92 Online, April 29, 2016. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of TransConflict.

 

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Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ.  The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.