Serbia Update – EU Ohrid Deal & more – 25 April 2023

th of April: 2023

On Tuesday the 18th, Kosovo and Serbia attended a meeting in Ohrid, North Macedonia. There, they established a Joint Monitoring Committee which will oversee the process of implementation of the Franco-German proposal. As the EU announced, the committee will meet in Brussels on a regular basis. The chair of the committee will be Miroslav Lajcak, the EU Special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. Kosovo and Serbia are due to meet again on the 2nd of May in order to arrange the Terms of Reference for the committee.

During the meeting in Ohrid, Kosovo PM Albin Kurti and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also agreed to have a declaration on missing persons. Earlier this month, Besnik Bislimi, Kosovo deputy PM and Petar Petkovic, the head of Serbia’s office for Kosovo, had prepared the declaration. However, Vucic expressed that he was not ready to sign it.

Despite the joint efforts, the tensions between Kosovo and Serbia are still very present.

On Wednesday the 19th, president Vucic attended a discussion with Tobias Blistrem, the Swedish Foreign Minister in order to talk about the relations between Belgrade and Pristina. Vucic emphasized that the EU expects that Serbia implements all provisions of the agreement reached in Ohrid. He expressed his readiness to fulfill that expectation, however, he added that Serbia will not support Kosovo’s membership in the UN. Vucic also said that this should not surprise Kosovo, since Serbia informed all the participants in the negotiations process about this months ago.

Serbia received many suggestions from Sweden, mostly about the process of the normalization of relations with Kosovo, as well as Serbia’s relations with Russia and the lack of sanctions. Vucic acknowledged their opinions, stating that Serbia intends to be militarily neutral.

Vucic is not the only one speaking about Kosovo and the relations with Serbia and Russia.

Ivica Dacic, Serbian foreign minister, visited Strasbourg because of the twentieth anniversary of Serbia’s membership in the Council of Europe. Earlier last week, Dacic was very against attending, since there was a word that the Council will start a procedure to accept Kosovo as its newest member. However, the Serbian ministry of Foreign Affairs advised Dacic to go, instructing him to try to prevent the Council's plan of accepting Kosovo as a new member..

In an interview with Serbian Radio-television, or RTS, Dacic said that he finds it insolent that the Council of Europe is trying to welcome Kosovo around the tenth anniversary of the Brussels agreement.

Speaking of Kosovo,

Its extraordinary local elections in four municipalities in the north with ethnic Serb majorities took place on Sunday the 23rd, after many postponements. The central election commission set up mobile huts as voting stations with NATO troops patrolling the roads, since they feared violence on the election day.

Despite all this, on Friday the 21st, the main political party of the Serb-dominated north of Kosovo Serbian List called on Serbs in Kosovo not to vote. Following this statement, Serbs in northern Kosovo went out and boycotted the elections on Sunday the 23rd. In their protest, they said that their demands for autonomy have not been met, since Kosovo never formed the Association of Serb Municipalities.

A day earlier, on Saturday the 22nd, president Vucic attended a Serbian military exercise at a military airport on the outskirts of Belgrade. The event included low passes of the Russian-made fighter jets and Mil helicopters, as well as a display of Chinese anti-aircraft missile system and drones. Amid the Russia-Ukraine war and the tense situation between Kosovo and Serbia, some neighboring countries were concerned that such exercises could threaten the already fragile peace in the region. Despite these concerns, Vucic stated he was observing the state of Ukraine, and that he planned on purchasing military hardware according to the situation. He also added that Serbia has never had a stronger army.

Since we mentioned the Russia-Ukraine war,

Earlier this month, Borko Stefanovic, minister of the opposition parliamentary group United, submitted a proposal to the Government for a Resolution which proposes that Serbia imposes sanctions on Russia. The resolution also foresees that Serbia harmonizes its foreign policy with the EU.

However, on Monday the 24th, at the session of the Parliamentary Committee, the majority of ministers refused to vote in its favor. One member of the ruling party, the Serbian Progressive Party, or SNS, explained that he was against sanctioning Russia because of its traditional bonds with Serbia. Another member said that sanctioning Russia would lead to no real improvement, and would cause only damage.

On Thursday the 20th, Vucic announced that he will be stepping down as the president of the SNS on the 27th of May. He said that he will remain a member of SNS, but that he will also work on forming the People’s Movement for Serbia, a new movement which he will lead.

When Vucic first announced that he was forming the People’s Movement for Serbia, many assumed that his intentions were to rebrand in order to hide from all the controversies he is tied to. Some of them included the corruption within the government and the lack of free media. Many opposition members also challenged his legitimacy.

Vucic stated that he will be president as long as the people want him to, adding that if people think of him as a traitor or a thief, he will resign.

The Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church recently condemned gender equality and feminism, saying that gender-sensitive language goes against family values. This statement sparked a lot of criticism, mainly from women.

Brankica Jankovic, Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, stated that the issue of gender-sensitive language is not one that the church should resolve. She said that Serbia is a secular country and that whether gender-sensitive language is in use is a matter within the jurisdiction of the state.

In Serbia, the Law on Gender Equality mandates the use of language that promotes the equality of women and men. Since the start of the year, nine women have been killed as a result of domestic violence, two of which were young girls.

ience economic growth between: 2023

In some ecological news,

ing Europe climate neutral by: 2050

Speaking of environment,

One of the largest national cleaning campaigns took place on Saturday the 22nd, which gathered many organizations and citizens in an attempt to clean as many public areas as possible. The aim of the campaign was to draw the attention of the public and to raise awareness about the problems of waste disposal in Serbia.

According to the data of the Environmental Protection Agency, or SEPA, one of Serbia’s most important environmental issues is the lack of an adequate waste management system. They also said that out of around 3,000 landfills, at least 200 are unsanitary, and many landfills are located in protected natural areas, which is why campaigns like these are important.

Now onto some health updates.

About 3,300 COVID-19 cases were confirmed and nine people have died this week. Compared to last week, the number of confirmed cases has increased by 300.

Aaaand that’s it for this week. Remember you can buy our 100% unbleached organic cotton, grown and ginned in Texas, spun and knit in the Carolinas, sewn and printed in Missouri t-shirts. The most environmentally friendly t-shirt you’ll own. To get one, check the link in the show notes!

Do daljnjeg, zbogom!