The country’ pro-russian and anti-european political scene can be reconfigured, but not in one fell swoop and not solely by the ruling party or one man
A lesson not learned is repeated. Serbia is once again facing the “greatest” foreign policy ordeal. Ukraine, and actually Russia, is the new test for Serbia, but also a key internal question: (un)willingness to sanction Russia, as the “main element of the path to Europe”. Serbian foreign policy has hit a wall, after trying to sit on two chairs. Serbian society has long been offered illusions about Russia, as some alternative to a realistic, possible and sustainable European policy. And we thus find ourselves in the middle of a maelstrom, swirling in a whirlwind, powerless against either side.
But Ukraine is connected to the Kosovo issue, and the one connecting them is Russia, which has gained a status as the sole guardian of Kosovo, which is reason enough to reject the imposing of economic, personal and other sanctions against the Russian Federation for its invasion of Ukraine following Serbia’s triple political vote in the UN General Assembly.
The Government of Serbia is aware that any decision to impose sanctions against Russia would leave it among the minority in Serbian society, which undoubtedly has a pro-Russian orientation and has strongly supported Russia for years. Russia is seen as the mythical protector of Serbia and an irreplaceable grenadier of Kosovo, omnipotent, along with gas and oil that render Serbia completely dependent on Russia.
Systematically destroyed and satanized, today’s pro-european opposition is in no position to address the process of reconfiguring domestic policy and European values
The country’ pro-Russian and anti-European political scene can be reconfigured, but not in one fell swoop and not solely by the ruling party or one man. They generated that dominant internal scene that fits their own character and deeds. That’s why pro- European forces in the country are almost invisible. Their influence is imaginary and conscious, and not accidentally limited. An opposition scene in Serbia, in the true sense, barely exists. It has long been destroyed systematically and satanized, in parallel with the cultivating of the cult of a single party, single policy, single person.
Such a pro-European opposition is in no position to address the process of reconfiguring domestic policy and European values that are of critical importance to the future of the country. That is dependent exclusively on the government’s readiness to restore the deprived political and democratic rights and place of the opposition in Serbian society, in the domestic and foreign policies of the country. The government is verbally ready to share the burden of Ukraine, as the biggest and most pressing issue, with others in the country, in an attempt to fake some post-election reconfiguring of its own ranks and relations with the opposition.
The government is not ready to go it alone in confronting the majority opinion in our society, which supports Russia and anti-European policies. The trigger for changes to occur on the domestic front will probably come, once again, from the international environment, as is always the case when Serbia faces an either/or choice.
