Disoriented
Serbia
Article "TIME IS UP FOR THE THIRD WAY"
penned by journalist Zoran Cirjakovic
1/25/08 HCHRS
Local passionate Europhiles and romantic Russophiles
are totally bound by the fact that both are totally ignorant of the
world lying outside their imagined "mothers". Serbia perhaps has a plan
A and plan B, the old Brussels and the new Moscow option. But the state
lacks the plan C, the one- if it turns out that both "mothers" are in
fact cruel or careless step-mothers- which would become both middle- and
long-term certainty (...) It would not be the quest for a new utopia,
similar to expensive and mindless Kardelj-style self-management
illusion, but rather a responsible effort to find, by dint of analysis
of a wealth of transition experiences from many parts of the world, the
best solutions for ensuring economic prosperity and stability of the
state, which otherwise, because of strong political and emotional,
internal and emotional reasons, might be thwarted.
Problem of Serbia lies in the fact that some of its
principal political actors cannot imagine democratic Serbia "outside
Europe", though our EU membership perhaps hinges more on whims and will
of Brussels, Paris and London, than on coo-operative stand of Belgrade.
(...) Finding of new "strategic partners", currently
mentioned by some politicians shall not be only difficult because of
minor global importance of Serbia. A much greater problem is the fact
that Serbia in the last 7 years irresponsibly pursued one-sided policy
which presupposed that Serbia's EU membership was a certainty, and only
a question of time. The mere mention of possible non-European prospects
of Serbia was stigmatized as renunciation of the "European pathway" and
return to the Milosevic era.
(...) Finding of genuine and reliable partners is a
difficult and slow process. If frequently exacts reliance on many
smaller countries worldwide, notably in Africa, for which are currently
vying both the EU and China. But any mention of co-operation with
Nigeria and Tanzania would here probably provoke a veritable eruption of
anger and insults of the liberal elite which is so blinded by the united
Europe and cultural racism that it fails to perceive achievements of Far
Eastern economic "tigers" and giants, let alone the potential of
sub-Saharan Africa.
(NIN, 17 January 2008)
Slobodan Samardžic, Minister for Kosovo and
Metohija:
If there were no political stake of Kosovo's
independence, the European Union would never with such a major award
back a "democratic" (the EU should be held accountable for the inverted
comas) presidential contender. The real reason behind that backing is
expectation of both the Union and the United States that imposition of
independence of Kosovo by dint of unilateral recognition would affect
less the success of their action, than if the "non-democratic" (the EU
should be held accountable for the inverted comas) presidential
contender emerged victorious.
It is quite clear that after a crucial decision on the
active support to unlawful secession of Kosovo from Serbia, the EU
decided to use all its available diplomatic means in order to translate
into reality independence of Kosovo. Hence the Stabilization and
Association Agreement, a strategic document of principled importance for
both Serbia and the EU, has morphed into a major stake in this genuine
political campaign.
And what are the consequences of such a Serbia-minded
policy of EU in Serbia proper.
(...) Some set their political priorities having in
mind such a policy. Within that context for them preservation of Kosovo
and Metohija within the framework of Serbia is more important than
signing of the SAA at this moment of time. The others accept and favor a
hasty signing of the SAA, though the 14th December 2007 marked a major
shift in the official EU stand on the issue of secession of Kosovo. The
problem with this stand is that in the meantime the SAA indeed became a
vehicle from separating Kosovo from Serbia. (...) In official Serbia
there is still much more concern for the political and legal facts than
for opportunistic stands of others, be they even the EU politicians. The
former is best attested to by all Kosovo and Metohija-related
resolutions adopted by the National Assembly in recent years, notably
the last one, passed on 26 December 2007. That resolution gives clear
political guidelines for the state actions regarding the issue discussed
in this article. Thus we may conclude that Serbia shall remain on its
pathway to Europe, only if it implements the said resolution, and
accordingly, on 28th January, thank the EU for its offer, until the SAA
acquires anew its original political meaning.
(NIN, 17 January 2008) |