• 2022-10-18

Vučković for N1: Serbia’s EU Membership Is an Important Objective but the Road to Membership Has Great Value in Itself

“Serbian accession to the EU is an important goal, but the actual path to membership is in itself of great value. We need to use this opportunity to become the state, society and economy we wish to be, a part of the modern, Western world”, said the Secretary General of the Center for Democracy Foundation, Nataša Vučković for N1.

“Enthusiasm toward to the EU has been on the constant decline for some time now, with the Ukraine situation having an impact here. But I think this is just a temporary decline. When we look at the control questions in the research conducted, you can see EU values, the EU way of life, the manner of ruling in the EU are all models for our people”, said Vučković for N1, “Let’s be clear here.”

To the question, how has the government contributed to this drop in enthusiasm, Vučković say plenty, primarily because they are contradictory.

“When we examine the speeches made by our president, the various statements issued by the ministers concerning the EC Report, how are the people supposed to understand where we’re headed? The way the government speaks about the EU carries with it a great deal of responsibility. Also, the European opposition isn’t strong enough and it isn’t united. Whereas the right-wing parties, the Eurosceptics, when you look at the declarations they’ve signed, it’s clear they are united in their actions. On the other side though, this doesn’t exist,” said Vučković.

Vučković also reminded us of the fact that since 2000, there have been many conditions imposed, the paradox of which was that after the bombing, there was enormous support for European integration.

“Most of the citizenry was for joining NATO. Because at the time, the idea that we would become a part of the west was realistic. The reasons for postponement were many, but we had a state of union, and collaborated with the Hague, until we reached the final stretch, when Kosovo’s independence was announced. But a source of great disappointment among European circles in Serbia ensues in 2012-2013, when the EU zooms in on Kosovo, placing rule of law and the fight against corruption on the backburner. Once this happened, the impression was that political decisions were more important than reforms.”

“When you read the EC Report, you see that institutional progress, procedures, capacities and quality state administration are all lacking. Yet, these are the very things that could lead to reform and the combatting of corruption. Instead, they are depleting the EU funds we have at our disposal. This means that we are progressing at a snail’s pace. When government representatives say that we aren’t progressing because of Kosovo and harmonisation with foreign policy, this is untrue and serves only to obscure the fact that the country isn’t doing what it’s supposed to be doing,” said Nataša Vučković.

She added that the Hague Tribunal was a realistic request Serbia should have fulfilled, as well as a realistic approach to the Kosovo issue.

“Early on in the process, the EU made it very clear that it would not accept members who have issues with their neighbouring countries, their borders. We’ve known this for a long time. The requirement of us to resolve relations with Priština via agreement was demanded in 2008. Although a crisis ensued at the same time this demand was made, we were most enthusiastic about joining the EU in 2009 when the visa-free regime was put into force. This was a big step in the right direction. Enthusiasm begins to dwindle mainly after Brexit. The attempt to create an image that we have a partnership with the EU failed, and this failure is on the EU, but we, too, have our share of the blame.”

“I don’t think we should stop running in the EU direction. We started along this path because of its transformational potential, the energy we need to fuel change. We know what we lived through in the 1990s and we started with the intention of building democracy. Serbia’s membership in the EU is an important goal, but the road toward membership is also quite valuable - that through this process, we become the state, society, and economy we wish to be, a part of the contemporary, Western world. Big changes are happening in the world today and we need to declare whose side we’re on,” says Nataša Vučković.

Source: N1