Political scientist Alexander Rhotert has worked for about 20 years for various international organizations in the Balkans. For years, he has been one of the most critical analysts of the EU's approach to Serbia. This is also shown by his newest analysis on the Balkans, published in the "Tageszeitung" newspaper in Berlin.
Alexander Rhotert points out that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić is trying to distort history by feeding the old Serbian narrative, according to which "the West", "Genscheri", the CIA and the Vatican, were responsible for the destruction of Yugoslavia.
Support the TIME. Preserve the truth.
Professional journalism is in the public interest. Your support helps it remain independent and credible. Contribute too. 1 euro makes a difference.
Letter to the Reader — Why We're Asking for Your Support Contribute"None of this can be proven historically. Interesting are not only the historical classifications of Vučić, but also the obvious pain for the loss of the Soviet Union. He shares exactly this pain with his close friend, Vladimir Putin," writes Rhotert.
He recalls that with his statements before the UN, Vuçiqi made it clear to the international community how much he despises the EU and NATO and how close he is to Russia. He also proved this by giving the Russian ambassador to the UN the "Order of Merit of Serbia", as Russia, together with Belarus, China, North Korea and others, had voted against the resolution that declared July 11 as the Day of Remembrance for victims of the genocide in Srebrenica.
At the end of August, writes Rhotert, Vuçiqi and Emmanuel Macron signed an agreement for the supply of 12 French Rafale fighter jets. Afterwards, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin - an avowed Stalin admirer - traveled to Vladivostok, where he conveyed his boss's warmest greetings to Putin: "As you know, Serbia is not only a strategic partner of Russia, but also an ally of Russia. For this reason, Serbia is under great pressure. However, Serbia will never become a member of NATO and will never impose sanctions against the Russian Federation... Serbia has never been and will never be part of the anti-Russian hysteria."
According to Rhotert, the message conveyed by Vulin symbolizes a repeated failure of the EU's appeasement policy. Instead of accepting this, EU spokesman Peter Stano even defended Serbia: "It is not really clear who Mr. Vulin is talking about, especially in Moscow, when he says these things about Russia and Serbia."
Stano's statement shows that the EU has learned nothing from the failures of the 1990s during the Serbian aggressions. The necessary crisis prevention through containment of Belgrade is non-existent.
Brussels is repeating the same mistakes it made then, when it constantly emphasized that the aggressor, the president of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic, and the Serbs should also be taken into account.
Brussels, Berlin and Paris ignore the fact that Serbia constantly threatens its neighbors Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo with territorial claims and is strengthening its ties with Russia, writes Rhotert. According to him, no one in Brussels wants to admit how much the Moscow-Belgrade axis has developed. With its impotence, the EU tries to keep Serbia close, which is a "membership candidate", by distributing billions of euros unconditionally. This happens despite huge democratic deficits and the fact that 65 percent of the Serbian population opposes EU membership. Berlin brokered in July – exactly 33 years after Serbia's attack on Croatia – a billion-dollar deal to exploit Serbian lithium for the EU. According to the calculations of the German government, this would bring Serbia closer to the EU.
But this turned out to be a big mistake, as the requested sanctions against Russia were ignored by Serbia.
On the contrary, continues Rhotert, military cooperation with the Putin regime is strengthening. A potentially dangerous war scenario continues to be mentioned by Belgrade: Kosovo. The Serbs living there are allegedly being oppressed by the government in Pristina and that "ethnic cleansing" is being carried out. This rhetoric was used in the late 1980s by Vucic's mentor, Slobodan Milosevic, to prepare the population for aggression against other peoples, underlines Rhotert.
Although Washington is acting half-heartedly against plans for a "Greater Serbia", without the interventions of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Kosovo in October 2023 and CIA Director William Burns in Bosnia in August of this year, there would most likely already be three wars in Europe.
Rothert reaches this conclusion at the end of his analysis: "If the EU does not want to experience another failure in the Balkans, it should learn from the failed policy of tolerating Serbia in the 1990s. In February, the German Minister of Defense , Boris Pistorius, warned Vucic in Belgrade that "you can't dance at two weddings at the same time".
"Anyone who does not close their eyes to the facts of the last weeks clearly sees that Belgrade is dancing at Moscow's wedding. And it does this with the financial support and secret approval of Brussels".