Slow to Little Progress & more – 14th Nov 2023

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 14th of November twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Wednesday, the 8th, the European Commission published a report that analyzes Serbia’s efforts to align its framework with EU standards. They focused on the lack of progress Serbia has made so far, particularly in the rule of law and the fight against organized crime and corruption.

In their report, the Commission pointed out the slow process of normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo. They acknowledged Serbia’s engagement in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue but highlighted that the country needs to show more commitment to the normalization process, as in finding common ground with Kosovo. The Commission also focused on Serbia’s relations with Russia, noting that many media outlets in the country take part in the spreading of pro-Russian narratives, which the EU deemed concerning—taking into account Russia’s war against Ukraine. The European Commission advised Serbia to also fight against organized crime and detect and prevent migrant smuggling and human trafficking.

Regarding Serbia’s relations with Kosovo…

While attending the Paris Peace Forum in France, president Vucic said on Friday the 10th that there wouldn’t be any progress in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue with Kosovar Prime Minister Kurti at the helm of the Pristina interim authorities. Vucic said that he believes Kurti will not establish a Community of Serbian Municipalities, which is one of Kosovo's key obligations under the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, thus accusing Kurti of prolonging the normalization of relations. The reporters then asked Vucic if he would recognize Kosovo’s independence as soon as the elections in Serbia were over—which is what the opposition stated. Vucic replied that he had no intention of doing so, adding that the opposition’s comments were blatant lies.

On a related note, PM Kurti announced on Wednesday the 8th that they will be setting up an institute that will document Serbia’s war crimes against Kosovo’s population in the nineteen ninety-nine war. Kurti said that the institute’s mission would be to spread “the Kosovar Albanians’ tragic history suffered at the hands of criminal Serbia.” He said that, even after twenty-four years, the wounds after the war are still open, noting that there are more than 1,600 bodies still missing and accusing Serbia of burying the victims in unmarked graves and refusing to share their whereabouts.

In nineteen ninety-nine, in the war between Serbia and Kosovo, there were 10,000 casualties, mostly Kosovar Albanians. The war lasted for seventy-eight days and ended with NATO’s bombing of Serbia, which withdrew Serbian forces from Kosovo.

Ahead of the elections, scheduled for the 17th of December, political scientists have been analyzing parties’ campaigns and have predicted that the campaign of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, or SNS, will be its dirtiest yet. Boban Stojanovic, a political scientist, said that SNS’s campaign will most likely focus on the character and work of President Vucic, who will enjoy daily appearances on TV. Stojanovic said that SNS will participate in smear campaigns against the opposition, including confrontations on a personal level with opposition leaders. The dirty moves include the SNS pressuring public sector employees, threatening them with losing their jobs, particularly in small towns and villages where the ruling party has the most control. This is mostly due to SNS’s history of blackmailing public sector employees into attending pro-government rallies and gatherings.

Since we mentioned rallies…

Amid the war between Israel and Palestine, thousands of Serbians gathered in the capital city, Belgrade, on Sunday the 12th to rally in support of Palestine. At Republic Square, the citizens waved Serbian and Palestinian flags together and chanted “Free Palestine”, after which they walked down the capital's main streets. The demonstrators have called on state bodies to condemn Israel’s occupation of Palestine and its attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Many citizens sympathize with the Palestinians as they see there are similarities between both countries. For instance, one of the demonstrators said that Serbians “know how it feels to live under bombs,” referring to NATO’s bombing of Serbia in nineteen ninety-nine. Many buildings that Israeli companies financed have been painted with messages of condemnation, such as “Down with Zionism” and “Long live free Palestine.”

However, Serbia has not been as critical of other aggressors, such as Russia.

In fact, since the very start of the Russia-Ukraine war, several companies in Serbia have been transporting products to Russia worth at least seventy million dollars, most of which are labeled as high-risk and are covered by the sanctions that the West had imposed on Russia. One of the companies involved is the Belgrade-based company Kominvex— which sells electronic and telecommunication components— exported goods worth over 1.2 million dollars, of which a third were electronic components restricted by the West’s sanctions because they can be used in the defense industry. Other Serbian companies involved transported technology from US-based companies, such as INTEL and AMD, to Russia. Certain media outlets, like Radio Free Europe, have conducted research that revealed that these Serbian firms made millions from these transactions. So far, Serbia has refused to impose sanctions on Russia but has condemned its attack on Ukraine.

Despite the millions that have entered the state’s treasury, Serbia’s public debt increased by around 250 million dollars in a month, reaching 35.5 billion dollars at the end of October. The Public Debt Administration has stated that Serbia owes almost nine billion dollars to the buyers of Eurobonds. The debt to the buyers of long-term state securities follows with around six billion dollars. In third place are the loans the country got from foreign governments, with Serbia owing around three billion dollars.

In other economic news…

Playstudios Europe, a game development company, said that the gaming industry in Serbia is recording a constant year-on-year growth, highlighting that the Serbian Gaming Association has 140 member companies that, on average, have 2,500 employees each. They pointed out that this trend results from the rising popularity of mobile phones and the availability of games on them. Game developers focused on creating games for mobile phones, giving users who do not own expensive gaming setups a chance to join the gaming community, which greatly contributed to the gaming industry’s economy.

The Serbian Gaming Association noted that thirty percent of all the gaming industry employees in the country are women, which is ahead of the European average of twenty-two percent. Currently, Serbia has ten large, fifty medium-sized, and around sixty small game development studios. As for job vacancies, Playstudios Europe director pointed out that the strongest demand in the industry is for designers and programmers.

Now for all the jazz lovers…

The city of Valjevo will hold its 37th Jazz Festival from the 17th to the 19th of November at the Valjevo Cultural Center. Among the performers are some of the most famous faces in the Serbian jazz scene, such as Vlatko Stefanovski and Vladimir Samardzic. The festival will also feature foreign jazz artists and bands, like the Mokhtar Samba African Jazz Project and Stjepko Gut. The first day of the festival is free of charge, and the second two daily tickets cost 600 dinars, around six dollars, each. The festival will open at eight PM every night. For more info, follow the link in the show notes.

And to wrap up this edition, some health updates…

Last week, the Institute for Public Health confirmed around 3,700 COVID-19 cases, with zero deaths. Compared to the previous week, the number of confirmed cases has decreased by almost 200.

And that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us! Before we leave, we wanted to thank everyone who has been listening to us, and welcome all the new subscribers! We are happy the Rorshok Serbia community is growing!

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!