Last week, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić again demonstrated the skill of adapting rhetoric to different circumstances and interlocutors – he managed to go verbally from a “loyal” partner of the EU to a “defiant” leader of a sovereign state in just a few days.
Playing the first “role”, he publicly acknowledged the need to implement reforms in problematic areas, such as legislation, while playing the second one he called on the Union to change the enlargement strategy, so that Serbia would be admitted as soon as possible, bearing in mind its “economic strength”. In fact, he suggested to Brussels that the country should take shortcuts to become a member of the Union.
After the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Emanuele Giofre, officially handed him the Annual Report of the European Commission, Vučić said that “a difficult and big job awaits us in the continuation of the European path”, noting that “we have to talk in a more objective way about the EU, because when we get angry about something, it is always the fault of the EU”.
At the same time, he pointed out that “Serbia has the largest capacity in the Balkans, as well as a greater capacity than certain states of the Union”, and he also referred to the need to improve the rule of law and the judiciary.
Just three days later, at the summit of the European Political Community in Budapest, hosted by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Aleksandar Vučić said that Serbia expected the EU to “make a strategic decision” to receive Serbia. According to him, the economy of Serbia today is significantly larger compared to 40 or 50 percent of the EU member states before they joined the EU.
“The entry of Romania, Bulgaria, and some other countries into the EU was a political decision made by the EU at a time when there were strategic decisions and people who thought strategically. That’s how we see it. Say – all right, some country is getting better. And the economy of Serbia is the strongest economy by all criteria in the Western Balkans. We do not need Serbia. Because they did not impose sanctions on Russia, or for any other reason, they did not solve their problems”, Vučić said.
This change in rhetoric is not surprising if we take into account the fact that the President of Serbia “feels at home” in Budapest, given the close political ties he has maintained for years with Orbán, whom the official Brussels often criticizes for not respecting the rule of law and benevolent attitude towards Russia.
Given that in the recent Annual Report of the EC Serbia received more favorable assessments in the domains related to the economy compared to segments regarding the “state of democracy” and fundamental rights, including freedom of expression and media, it is no surprise that Vučić uses the economy as an argument that it is necessary to speed up the path towards EU accession.
However, what the President and other senior officials are silent about are the shortcomings detected in the Report, such as the EC’s statement that “the private sector suffers from weaknesses in the rule of law, especially in the fight against corruption and increasing the efficiency of the court system”.
Also, if Serbia is “doing so well” in the domain of economy, why has Vučić repeatedly insisted that large trade stores should lower prices, not to mention the mantra “two eggs and pudding” used by Minister Tomislav Momirović.
Vučić also stressed in Budapest that he had “no idea” how many chapters Serbia had opened in negotiations with the EU, and that “no one is interested in it”. He added that he did not know what was written in Chapter 19.
Vučić is right when he claims that citizens are not interested in procedural matters and bureaucratic terms, but it is strange that he, who admits that he is trying to be informed about everything, missed the fact that this chapter refers to social policy and employment. Let us remind that Vučić attends the opening of factories very often and points out that ”our job is to show concern for people”. Speaking of the employment, economic experts also claim that payroll taxes in Serbia are significantly higher compared to EU countries, but the President does not mention it at all.
If Serbia really wants to ” jump on the train” to the EU, which, hopefully, will arrive in the next five years – by 2030, it is necessary to implement all important reforms, and the President is well aware of this fact. Appeals which imply seeking shortcuts to EU membership, such as the one in Budapest, are unlikely to help in the accession process. After all, future Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos also made it clear that the enlargement is “a marathon, not a sprint”.