Serbia and EU

Developments in Serbia’s democratic consolidation over the past six years have been both ongoing and progressive. Yet the establishment of a widely shared and collectively accepted political culture that has departed from the ethnocentric and
euroskeptic narratives of the Milosevic era remains incomplete. Additionally, the failure by Serbian socio-political elites in appropriating alternative narratives of Serbian history and culture that demonstrate a tradition of shared values and identities with other European communities has stymied public acceptance of
Serbia’s European integration and public trust among its leaders. This paper argues that Serbian socio-political elites can appropriate narratives and symbols of Serbian collective identity that have been either sidelined or neglected by previously established ethnocentric narratives, and ascribe new systems of meaning and codes of behavior that qualify European liberal democratic values. I argue that a plentiful reservoir of democratic capital can be found in the histories of Serbian communities
in Vojvodina over the past three centuries, and the urban cosmopolitanism of Belgrade from the late 1860s up to the present period.

In 2010–2011, Europeanisation equated with modernisation of the state and society represented a key policy of the Serbian government. The sociopolitical forces known as ‘Other Serbia,’ ‘Civil Serbia’ or ‘civil society,’ which had always identified as ‘pro-European,’ criticised the process of Europeanisation as formal rather than substantial. Yet these ‘civil’ critics, of which particular attention is paid to the work of the historian Dubravka Stojanović, shared with the government the same basic understanding of Europeanisation which could be described as a Balkan variation on evolutionist modernisation theories. Furthermore, Stojanović and other ‘civil’ historians contextualised this ‘blocked’ Europeanisation as the most recent episode in a long history of perpetual Serbia’s failure to modernise. This narrative was based on the essentialist idea of Serbian ‘premodern political culture,’ a teleological and ideologically driven notion of modernisation, and a pre-theoretical concept of the state. Building on contemporary approaches to modernity and the state in anthropology and other disciplines, the paper suggests ways of reframing these issues and identifies possible avenues of an alternative research programme.

In March 2011, the governments of Kosovo and Serbia started a dialogue that was intended to lead to the normalisation of mutual relations. This process, launched under the pressure of the EU, was aimed at building up confidence between the parties and resolving the everyday problems of the Serbian and Albanian communities, and as a consequence, reducing tension in the Western Balkans. The start of talks between representatives of the antagonist countries was the breakthrough that led to the Kosovo government gaining control over the whole of its territory, the establishment of a border (or ‘administrative boundary line’, as Belgrade calls it), and the start of the process of subordinating the Kosovo Serbian institutions to the authorities in Prishtina. Serbia also lifted its trade blockade on Kosovo, and allowed Prishtina to join the regional organisations. As a result, progress has been made in the process of integration of  both states with the EU: Serbia has started accession negotiations, and Kosovo has signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA).

Since 2013, however, no significant progress has been made in the  normalisation process or in implementing the agreements. Politicians in Kosovo and Serbia see the dialogue through the prism of the benefits they can get from Brussels and the EU member states in exchange for compromises. Their aim is not so much normalisation and reconciliation in Serbian-Kosovar relations, but rather making progress with EU integration and obtaining support from the West for the ruling elites, while turning a blind eye to undemocratic practices. The talks being held at the level of the elites have not translated into rapprochement between the Serbian and Albanian communities. On the contrary, these non-transparent negotiations have actually resulted in a rise in tension and suspicion. The talks, which since 2013 have been dominated by a dispute over the status of the Association of Serbian Municipalities in Kosovo, have paradoxically led to its strong subordination to the government in Belgrade, and not to their integration into the state of Kosovo. At the same time, the talks have failed to bring any improvements to the conditions under which the Serbian minority operates; and in the Kosovo Albanians’ opinion, they have not brought Kosovo the benefits they expected, as the provisions which have been agreed have still not been implemented.

State-building is a topic of particular interest in international relations scholarship. The concept of state-building implies an inter-national mechanism applied either as a response to the potential failure of states or as a means of halting their further decline. Given that the matter of weak states contains a very strong security component, it is worth examination also within the framework of security studies. This paper builds upon the assumption that state-building is a mechanism which can significantly affect the removal of security threats stemming from the weakness of states. Despite the fact that the problem of weak states (as well as their failure, i.e. the decline of the state as the ultimate form) is global in scope, its security dimension mainly encompasses national and regional levels.For this reason, Regional Security Complex Theory (RSCT) and the corresponding concept of security put forward by the Copenhagen School have been chosen as a theoretical framework for analysing state-building and its impact on regional security dynamics. This paper argues that state-building is a factor that can affect regional security dynamics. In order to prove this, we use the analytical tools of RSCT and view state-building as a form of ’penetration’ (thrust)by external actors within a given RSC or within a regional sub-complex. By applying this approach, we also contribute to the theoretical debate on RSCT. The Western Balkans have been used as an example of state-building representing a form of ’penetration’. In other words, this paper describes the influence which the European Union has, due to its enlargement policy, in the area of the Western Balkans security sub-complex.

Keywords: state-building, Regional Security Complex Theory,
international security, security dynamics, thrust, Western Balkans,
weak states.

Predmet analize jeste uticaj propisa i standarda EU na resurse, kapacitete i mogućnosti lokalne samouprave za sprovođenje već usklađenih i u domaće zakonodavstvo ugrađenih propisa EU, kao i onih pravnih tekovina EU koje bi tek trebalo da postanu deo domaćeg zakonodavnog sistema u okviru procesa pristupanja EU, u oblasti pravosuđa i osnovnih prava (pregovaračko poglavlje 23).
Prvi deo analize posvećen je pregledu propisa EU i dokumenata kojima se uspostavljaju prava i obaveze, utvrđuju principi i standardi u oblasti pravosuđa i osnovnih prava. Dalje, analiza obuhvata prikaz usklađenosti propisa Srbije i Evropske unije i naznačava oblasti gde se očekuje dalje usklađivanje. Pažnja je usmerena samo na one propise koji proizvode obaveze za lokalnu samoupravu. Obuhvaćeni su domaći važeći propisi, međutim, u nekoliko slučajeva, gde se radilo o važnim zakonima i strategijama za pojedine oblasti, uzeti su u obzir i propisi u fazi pripreme kako bi se ilustrovali pravci moguće reforme.
Središnji deo analize posvećen je ispitivanju uticaja već usklađenih i budućih propisa, principa i standarda na lokalnu samoupravu. Ovaj deo obuhvata najpre pregled obaveza za lokalnu samoupravu, zatim analizu kapaciteta lokalne samouprave da poštuje ove obaveze i, konačno, pregled potreba uvođenja mogućih novih nadležnosti/poslova i unapređenja kapaciteta za sprovođenje pomenutih obaveza.
U poslednjem delu dati su pregled osnovnih zaključaka analize i najvažnije preporuke za jedinice lokalne samouprave (ali i druge aktere kakvi su SKGO i resorna ministarstva) u procesu integracije Srbije u EU.

Under the 2008-2012 government with its slogan of 'European Serbia,' Europeanisation became synonymous with a reform of the Serbian state and society as such. In this presentation, I examine Serbia's EU integration through the ethnographic case study of the NGO-implemented ‘Slovak-Serbian EU Enlargement Fund.' My data show liberal civil society in the role familiar from the late 1990s and early 2000s – the one of the advocate of Serbia's integration into the EU and global capitalist economy. However, the state has since positioned itself as the leading actor of these processes (with rather disappointing results) while a selective rapprochement and personnel circulation has occurred between it and NGOs. The relationship of liberal civil society to Europeanisation and EU in this new context is shown to be more complex and contradictory than is routinely assumed, and continuities are suggested between EU integration and past state-led modernisation projects in Serbia, conditioned by its peripheral position in European politics and global economy.

The paper gives a comparative analysis of the territorial development in the Belgrade metropolitan area and in the region of the Danube river basin in Serbia. An identification of main results is undertaken by application of a regional comparative analysis, shift-share analysis and Spider method. The paper shows that the consideration of the national share, industrial mix and regional share in total shift share of both regions indicate very strong process of deindustrialization. It is evaluated that allocative component of economic growth of Belgrade and Danube basin regions has positive value, reflecting the above-average sectoral productivity in these regions compared to the national average. The empirical results show that interregional differences in economic growth are almost entirely explained by the differences in regional specificities in terms of employment. Results are important for the increase of regional competitiveness and territorial distribution in this area. Key-Wor...

„Vodič kroz poglavlje 31“ je prva publikacija ISAC fonda izrađena kao doprinos boljem razumevanju sadržine i konkretnih elemenata koji čine ovo poglavlje pretpristupnih pregovora sa Evropskom unijom, uglavnom u vezi sa Zajedničkom spoljnom i bezbednosnom politikom Evropske unije. Vodič sadrži osnovne podatke i o razvoju, strukturi i značaju Zajedničke spoljne i bezbednosne politike Evropske unije, kao mehanizma za koordinaciju nacionalnih politika. Takođe su razmotrene pojedinačne teme na kojima je zasnovan zajednički spoljnopolitički pristup Unije, kao što su ljudska prava, demokratizacija i vladavina prava, podrška radu Međunarodnog krivičnog suda, sprečavanje širenja oružja za masovno uništenje i druge. Posebno je predstavljena i operativna dimenzija ovog aspekta EU oličena u Zajedničkoj bezbednosnoj i odbrambenoj politici, odnosno civilnim misijama i vojnim operacijama EU. Ova publikacija sadrži i izveštaj o usaglašavanju Srbije sa spoljnopolitičkim deklaracijama EU tokom 2014. godine./The “Guide to Chapter 31” is the first publication of the ISAC Fund intended to provide better understanding of the specific elements that make up this Chapter of Serbia’s accession negotiations with the European Union, mainly in connection with the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union. The Guide contains basic information on the development, structure and importance of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union as a mechanism for the coordination of national policies. This publication also discusses individual topics, such as human rights, democratization and the rule of law, support for the work of the International Criminal Court, preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, etc., on which the common foreign policy approach of the Union is based. Additionally, a topic that was discussed in particular is the operational dimension of this aspect of the EU, embodied in the Common Security and Defense Policy, i.e. civilian missions and military operations of the EU. This publication also contains the report on harmonizing Serbia with the EU’s foreign policy declarations during 2014.