Minister of European Integration Nemanja Starović stated that the military parade, held on Saturday in Belgrade, had been spectacular, dignified, and worthy of the occasion when, once in a decade, the new capacities of the Serbian Armed Forces were displayed. As he emphasised, it was important that both Serbian citizens and the international public had been shown the capabilities that our army had mastered.
“It represents a very powerful army, modern when it comes to the level of training and equipment, an army that poses no threat to anyone in our region or neighbourhood, but only instils a sense of security in our citizens. Serbia today is neither weak nor powerless, and that, I believe, is the main message. We can all feel both satisfied and proud, and have some sense of security, which I think is very important,” said Starović, speaking on Euronews Serbia.
When asked how the world perceived Serbia’s strategy of being a neutral country, Starović explained that there were two main cornerstones of Serbia’s foreign policy – military neutrality and political independence.
“Both principles are something that might be considered self-evident, especially when speaking about political independence, but today they are very rare, particularly on the European continent. There are a few militarily neutral countries, and it seems to me that there are even fewer that fully uphold the principles of political independence. Even much larger countries, in terms of their capacities, do not implement their foreign policy completely independently. But this makes our position significantly different from many others in Europe. Is everyone overjoyed about this? Certainly not. But I think that, in the end, even those who disagree with our foreign policy still hold a certain respect for Serbia because of this approach we have,” stressed Starović.
Speaking about reactions from official Brussels, the Minister noted that there was a certain cacophony and lack of understanding.
“For ordinary people, it does not need to be clear who has what competencies and who actually represents whom. On the one hand, we have the European Commission, which speaks on behalf of the European administration, but that does not necessarily represent each of the 27 Member States individually. Then, on the other hand, we have the European Parliament, which calls itself a parliament, yet within it, there are more than 700 individual MPs, each of whom may hold their own positions. It often happens that one MP makes a statement, and people in Serbia are presented with it as if it were the position of the entire EU, which is far from the truth,” he said.
He added that what was problematic was the European Parliament’s decision to introduce, within that mandate, the practice of appointing MEPs from neighbouring countries as rapporteurs for candidate states, which actually contributed to “a very bad and unhelpful bilateralisation of relations between the EP and candidate states.”
“In our specific case, we got Tonino Picula from Croatia as rapporteur – a man who decided, on the 30th anniversary of a major crime, to poke a finger in the eye and further insult the entire Serbian people, by publishing his photo and boasting with a picture of himself holding an automatic weapon, as someone who took part in the crime of expelling the Serbian population. Picula is not just a Croatian politician; he is also a face of the EP, and that is why I decided a few days later to have an exhibition set up in the building of the Ministry of European Integration with the most harrowing photos taken during Operation Storm. That exhibition will remain on display for as long as Mr Picula holds the position of EP rapporteur for Serbia,” said Starović.
Starović stressed that European officials were well aware of that and that Serbia had been warning from day one, from a principled standpoint, about the problem of bilateralisation, especially when discussing specific cases of Tonino Picula’s actions.
“This has been the subject of several formal communications, and Brnabić, who has good relations with Metsola, recently reiterated it orally as well. We are not in a position to choose or influence the structures of the EP, its committees and subcommittees, but nothing prevents us from being loud and clear and saying that we do not accept such insults and behaviour. We believe in Serbia’s European future, we work hard on it, but none of us can allow the humiliation of our own country or the endangerment of our vital national interests, and I think that is right and fair,” he said.
“EU Accession is the only right path that leads us to a better life”
Regarding European integration, Starović said he understood a certain disappointment, as well as a loss of faith among some of our citizens who had initially supported – or continued to support – Serbia’s European path, but felt a kind of fatigue due to the fact that the process had literally lasted a quarter of a century.
“What still gives me energy and motivation is that I very clearly recognise that EU accession is part of Serbia’s national interest, that it is the only right path leading us to a better life and regardless of the excess emotions we all sometimes feel, dissatisfaction with various injustices, and even with the double standards, I think it would be absolutely wrong for us to give up ourselves and not put in the necessary efforts to progress on this path. For almost four full years, we have not formally made the step of opening Cluster 3. Since December 2021, we have received the green light several times from the European Commission, but Cluster 3 has not been opened because the necessary consensus of all 27 Member States is missing – I am talking about political consensus,” he said.
He added that Serbia was making additional efforts through the work of the National Assembly, with President of the National Assembly Ana Brnabić working hard to finally have the members of the REM Council appointed, as well as to bring about the adoption of amendments to the Law on the Unified Electoral Roll.
“These are processes we have been dealing with for months, precisely so that they can be completed transparently with the participation of both the opposition and civil society. Unfortunately, some have seen this as giving them a veto position, which is why these processes were not completed in July, when we believed it could be done. It does not depend on us; it does not depend on the ruling majority. Due to our desire for everything to be transparent and inclusive, some position themselves as veto players and use up that time, which is nevertheless precious, but my faith is strong that in the coming weeks, these processes in the Assembly will be completed. What I can confirm is that we will work very diligently on all the necessary reforms. It is not only Cluster 3; we are working on reforms that would also enable the opening of Cluster 2 and Cluster 5. We are implementing our reform agenda. We are carrying out reforms in the area of justice and home affairs in order to achieve the interim benchmarks for Chapters 23 and 24, after which we can start closing already opened chapters,” he said.
He added that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić often gave additional impetus to reform processes.
“He dismissed all speculations against the European path, making it very clear that we remain strongly and firmly committed to our path toward EU membership. I cannot and do not want to confirm any specific year, such as 2030 – technically, it is feasible, but whether it will happen, I do not know, because it does not depend on us. What we can do is everything in our power to implement reforms that are truly important for our citizens. An important step is joining the European single market through concrete measures that citizens will be able to feel – primarily, I am talking about the abolition of roaming charges for mobile phone use within the EU,” he said.
Speaking about the opposition, Starović stressed that it would be logical to establish at least a minimal political consensus – above all among political actors who had declaratively supported Serbia’s EU membership – around reforms that “unlocked” processes.
“Am I hoping for that? I do hope we will succeed in establishing such a consensus, at least with that part of the political opposition that declares support for EU membership, as well as with civil society, which by definition should be part of these processes. Do I believe it will happen? I cannot be certain, based on previous experience. In January 2022, we held the referendum on amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, in order to ensure a higher degree of independence of the judiciary. At that time, we were told – since in December 2021 we opened Cluster 1 and Cluster 4 – that Cluster 3 would follow, just finish the referendum next month. And what happened? Somehow, with great effort – speaking about the ruling coalition – we managed to push through that referendum. Was anyone there to support us? Did anyone from the pro-European opposition support a referendum that was absolutely in the interest of accelerating our EU integration? Well, no one. In the end, we were left alone. That is why I cannot say with certainty that what would be logical will happen, namely, that this consensus is established. But we remain open to building such a consensus,” he said.
The Minister added that it was no secret that the situation in Serbia was being discussed in different circles and forums within the EU.
“Somehow, the loudest voices come from leaders or representatives belonging to liberal, left, and green political organisations, who receive their information from their sister organisations here in Serbia. These are the communication channels that are maintained and materialised in this way. What I can say, having participated in two sessions of the EU General Affairs Council within 20 days, is that I can responsibly confirm that we absolutely do not accept such definitions and formulations. We do not accept Serbia being labelled as a country where police brutality exists, when in the full 10 months of illegal and unregistered protests, fewer people were detained than in a single day in France during the riots. And we simply do not accept being accused of lacking respect for the right to freedom of assembly, when Serbia has actually set the gold standard in respecting that right – with 24,000 unregistered, illegal gatherings, not one of which was prevented or dispersed by the police, and where security was ensured for everyone, I am even talking about road blockades which are by definition unsafe situations,” said Starović.
Source: Euronews Serbia
