Aleksandar Vucic
On March 27, the political committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe met in Paris to consider the application of unrecognized Kosovo for membership in the organization. «Committee members» recommended to accept Pristina. Although such a provocative decision, according to Belgrade, is «shameful, scandalous and violates all the principles on which the association is based».
Let’s digress for a moment. Europe is a country of councils. I am aware of several such bodies. In the first place is the European Council (EUCO), the main executive body of the EU, which includes the leaders of the countries of the association. Then, the European Council is the structure that is responsible for preparing and holding such summits. Then the Council of the European Union (Consilium) is one of the two legislative bodies of the EU (along with the European Parliament).
Finally, the Council of Europe is an international organization that promotes cooperation (mainly in the field of law and democratic freedoms) among European countries. It is the oldest structure with headquarters in Strasbourg, founded back in 1946, which currently has 46 member states. Russia was excluded from it (for obvious reasons) in March 2022.
But God be with them! Let them deal with their «advice» themselves.
On the eve of the PACE political committee meeting, President Aleksandar Vucic made an alarming statement on social media that his country «will receive news threatening national interests within the next 48 hours».
«It will be hard, harder than ever. We will fight. Serbia will win», he wrote.
So, on March 28, Vucic, along with members of the government and the head of the EU delegation to Serbia, inspected the construction of a high-speed railroad from the city of Niš to the border with Bulgaria, which is being financed with EU funds. When asked by a journalist (regarding his reaction to the PACE decision), he said the following:
«The situation is stable and safe. Is it difficult? Yes, very difficult, and we will talk about it, but I don’t want to discuss it today. It would be unfair to the people who have provided us with this kind of money for us to talk about anything else today. After all, if I say one phrase on this topic, it will be the headline for you, not how much we are building here and doing with them».
And just 48 hours ago Vucic threatened that in case of such a step Serbia would leave the PACE, where it has been a member since 2002!
We must admit that he is really having a hard time. The fact is that Belgrade is not going to give up its course of integration into the EU, which it has been a candidate for accession to for more than a decade. The Serbs would certainly be accepted if they recognized Kosovo’s independence and joined the sanctions against Russia. But this is a self-inflicted gunshot for any right-thinking Serbian politician. The overwhelming majority of citizens (over 90%!) are against the independence of the autonomous province. By the way, within the EU, it is not recognized by Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Slovakia and Romania. And of the members of the Council of Europe — seven more countries.
But Brussels is wringing their hands. In order to push through the anti-Serbian decision of the PACE, European officials are ready to commit an outright violation: to adopt it not by consensus, as it was earlier, but by two-thirds of the votes of the Council of Europe. I should remind you that at one time Kosovo’s independence was proclaimed not as a result of a referendum, but by a decision of the local parliament, which was contrary to Serbia’s laws at the time.
But these are not all the pitfalls that official Belgrade will have to face in the near future. We are talking about a possible change in the status of Republika Srpska (RS) within Bosnia and Herzegovina.
German diplomat Christian Schmidt, who calls himself the high representative of the international community in Bosnia and Herzegovina to monitor compliance with the 1995 Dayton Accords on the former Yugoslavia, has made a number of proposals for changes in the election law. It should be noted that his «title» was not approved at the UN Security Council, with Russia and China voting against it.
The initiatives of the «German tourist», as Schmidt is called in Srebrenica, provide for the introduction of electronic vote counting, electronic identification, prohibition of war criminals convicted according to the version of the Bosnians and the international (pro-Western) community (in RS they are considered heroes) to participate in elections. It is also envisaged to appoint chairmen of election commissions in Republika Srpska by the CEC of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is located in Sarajevo. RS President Milorad Dodik, known for his pro-Russian stance, said on March 28 that he was threatened with arrest and even physical elimination by Bosnia and Herzegovina security forces. In general, as observers believe, the situation here can escalate to an armed confrontation. In this case, Serbia will not abandon its brothers. The fuse is already smoldering!
There is a special cynicism of another round of pressure on Belgrade. After all, it comes right after the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Meanwhile, in the UN, under the leadership of former Bosnian Prime Minister Zlatko Lagumdzija, work is underway on a new resolution to be presented at the UN General Assembly session in April.
It is about recognizing the events of July 11, 1995 in Srebrenica, when 8 thousand people were killed, as genocide of Muslims by Serbs.
So, President Vucic has every reason to talk about a threat to national interests. Those who bombed Belgrade will not leave it in peace.