Serbia Update – Council of Europe & more – 2nd May 2023

nd of May: 2023

Last week on Monday the 24th, the EU accepted Kosovo’s application to join the Council of Europe with thirty-three out of forty-six votes. A few days later, some Serbian politicians accused the EU of breaching several agreements by accepting Kosovo into the Council. Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic argued that Kosovo cannot be a member of the Council of Europe since it is not a state. Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic accused the EU of breaching the Brussels agreement and the Franco-German proposal and implementation Annex from Ohrid, among several others. She also said that Pristina received what they wanted without doing any of the promised work, like forming the Association of the Serb-Majority Municipalities.

Peter Stano, the EU’s lead spokesperson for foreign affairs and security policy, said that the Council of Europe is a separate body from the EU, and that they are working along the lines of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.

On the other hand, following Serbia’s vote against Kosovo’s membership into the Council of Europe, Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani accused Serbia of violating key points of the Brussels agreement. The main point, which is article number four of the agreement, states that Serbia will not oppose Kosovo’s membership in international institutions. Kosovo's Foreign Ministry has urged the EU to condemn Serbia's supposed violation. However, Peter Stano did not specify whether the EU considers Serbia's vote a violation of the agreement.

Since neither of the parties formally signed the Franco-German proposal, Serbia and Kosovo are on undefined terms. So the Franco-German proposal binding on both sides is unclear, which makes these accusations hard to support.

On Tuesday the 25th, the Serbian government held a session and announced fundamental changes in relations with foreign countries. These changes imply a certain “policy of reciprocity” and friendly relations with the countries that voted against Kosovo joining the Council of Europe. The government’s plan is to create a draft of a document in the field of foreign policy which will precisely define Serbia's relations with other countries. President Vucic said that the goal of the document is to show respect for Serbia's partners who support Serbia’s territorial integrity. Some politicians warned Vucic that this document could isolate Serbia from the rest of the world, since a majority of the countries voted in favor of Kosovo joining the Council.

The day after the announcement, on Wednesday the 26th, the EU invited Serbia to harmonize with the foreign policy of Brussels. They reminded Serbia that adherence to EU principles and policies are a crucial part for any country that wants to become a member of the EU.

Speaking of Kosovo,

On Tuesday the 25th, Kosovo's Central Election Commission, or CIK, published the results of the extraordinary local elections that took place on the 23rd of April in the Serb-majority north. In North Mitrovica and Leposavic, the winners were the candidates from Albin Kurti’s Self-Determination party. However, in Zvecan and Zubin Potok, the Democratic Party of Kosovo, or DPK, took the win.

The elections in the north of Kosovo were due in November, but Serbs kept boycotting them, which ultimately led to their postponement. Because of all the protests, the turnout was only 3,4 percent.

are particularly at risk. In: 2022

In other news, the trade union Concord concluded that the costs of Serbian labor are the lowest in Europe. In Serbia, the average labor cost is around five dollars per person, which is almost five times lower than in most EU member countries. The union stated that Serbian workers are working long hours with low wages, making them stuck in poverty. They pointed out that Serbia needs to join the EU as soon as possible, since that might be the only way to improve the current alarming situation. The EU could help by investing in education, professional development of workers and social benefits, which would improve the economic stability of Serbia. Otherwise, the trade union noted that the Serbian population will continue to leave the country due to the increasing poverty.

Speaking of income,

d disability insurance. Since: 2014

Certain trade unions, however, want this law to be abolished, since they think it's unfair to separate people by paying them less for retiring before the age of sixty five. In the past, they have presented their requests to the Social-economic council, however the government has denied them every time.

ol of the work conditions. In: 2022

Now onto some news about economy,

As the Energy Agency Council, or AERS, announced, on Monday the 1st, the electricity price in Serbia went up by eight percent and the price of gas has increased by ten percent. The new price of energy is ten cents per unit of energy used in one hour, and the price of gas will be three cents per same unit. The Ministry of Energy said that these prices are still one of the lowest in Europe. The last rise in electricity and gas prices was in January of this year.

In some environmental news,

Michael Schmidt, Senior Analyst at the German Mineral Resources Agency, or DERA, said that the exploitation of lithium in Serbia, and in the rest of Europe, is important for Europe's independence from China when it comes to raw material. He noted that Europe has a potential to extract enough lithium to partially end the dependency on China, however, he added that there are many obstacles preventing it from doing so. The biggest one being the local population protesting against lithium mining in order to preserve the environment. Schmidt said that the Jadar project, which Rio Tinto developed, was among the biggest hard-rock sites in Europe.

The Jadar project caused the most environmental protests in Serbia, with many of the locals saying that the mine would cause the destruction of nature and ecocide.

In other news,

rists visited Serbia in March: 2023

In: 2020

Speaking of the pandemic,

About 2,300 COVID-19 cases were confirmed and seven people have died this week. Compared to last week, the number of confirmed cases has decreased by a thousand.

Aaaand that's it for this week! Remember We have a Mastodon account! Check out our instance rorshok.social. If you don't know what Mastodon is or want to know more about it, check out the link in the show notes to our Substack

Do daljnjeg, zbogom!