Serbia’s relations with EU and NATO

Serbia to Stay Out of NATO Despite Broader Cooperation

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said that Serbia is not going to join NATO, but Serbia wants partner relations with the alliance member states that surround the country.

BELGRADE (Sputnik) — Serbia has no plans to join NATO despite signing an Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) with the North Atlantic Alliance earlier this year, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said on Tuesday in an exclusive interview with Sputnik Serbia.

"We are not going to join NATO, but because we are surrounded by the Alliance member states, we want partner relations [with them]. And it is important that these relations should be sincere," Dacic said.

The foreign minister added that NATO was an "important factor of stability" in the Balkans but Serbian citizens were opposed to joining the Alliance in light of the heavy NATO bombing of now-defunct Yugoslavia in 1999.

Serbia, which pursues a policy of military neutrality, finalized their IPAP agreement with NATO in January.

Serbia and other former Yugoslavia republics are part of the NATO Partnership for Peace program to create trust between NATO and other European states, as well as with those of the former Soviet Union.

Serbia is also an observer state in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization and an associate member in the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20150407/1020563443.html#ixzz3Wel73pzI

Biden Calls Serbian PM to Washington to Counter Cooperation with Russia

The US Vice President issued a hasty invitation for the Serbian Premier to come to Washington, after the Serbian government's decision to attend the May 9 Victory Day parade in Moscow.

US Vice President Joe Biden sped up the process of issuing an invitation to Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic to come to Washington, after the decision by the Serbian government to take part in the May 9 Victory Day commemoration in Moscow, which this year will mark 70 years since the surrender of Nazi Germany at the end of World War Two.

Sources in western diplomatic circles told Blic.rs that the timescale of Vucic's visit to Washington, which was already slated for the coming year, was pushed forward due to US fears about Serbia's close ties and continued cooperation with Russia.

According to the paper, the call is a reflection of a recent statement from US Secretary of State John Kerry that Serbia is "in the line of fire" between the West and Russia.

"Visits by international leaders to Washington are usually planned around six months in advance," a diplomatic source told Blic, noting that the US ambassador to Serbia extended the invitation to Vucic on April 9. Biden's plan, however, "would see Vucic in Washington in May, or the beginning of June."

According to the source, the catalyst for Biden's hasty invitation to Washington is the decision by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic to accept Russia's invitation to attend the May 9 celebrations and the president's April 6 announcement that members of the Serbian armed forces would also take part in the parade on Red Square.

The formal invitation to Washington follows a verbal invitation Biden gave Vucic at last month's Munich Security Conference last month, when Biden also, according to local media, proposed the institution of a new gas deal with Serbia, via the construction of a terminal on the Croatian island of Krk, which the US administration says would be provided with gas by ships from the US, Algeria. or Qatar.

The proposal follows the obstruction late last year of the South Stream project, which aims to provide Serbia and other European countries with a secure supply of natural gas from Russia, using a pipeline running under the Black Sea to mainland Europe.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/politics/20150412/1020784661.html#ixzz3X61lZ8wz

Serbia to Take Part in NATO Drills With Russian Weapons

As Serbia has signed an agreement with Moscow to buy Russian weapons, Serbian soldiers are preparing to participate in US-led NATO drills. Serbia’s policy of balancing between Russia and the West is due the country’s doctrine of military neutrality adopted in 2007. However, experts say that sooner or later Belgrade will have to choose a side.

During his visit to Moscow, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic reached an agreement with Moscow on the purchase of Russian weapons. At the same time, Serbian troops are getting ready to participate in a NATO military exercise in Germany.

Experts say military ties with Russia will not endanger Serbia’s European perspective, but warn that balancing between Moscow and the West cannot be a long-term policy.

Serbia’s decision to buy Russian arms will not be a great concern for the EU as Serbian officials have repeatedly said that EU membership remains the strategic goal, Zoran Dragisic, a security studies professor in Belgrade, told Balkan Insight.

"Serbian officials have told the same thing to their Russian partners. However, Serbia is not a member of the EU at the moment and is trying to sit in two chairs. I do not think it is possible in the long run," he said.

Military analyst Aleksandar Radic also said that the purchase of Russian weapons by Serbia is unlikely to worsen relations with the West.

"There is no need to think it will worsen our relations with the EU because Serbia cooperates with NATO a lot more than it does with Russia when it comes to military drills and equipment," Radic was quoted as saying by Balkan Insight.

According to Vucic, Serbia intends to buy Russian weapons and military equipment to maintain "a security balance" in the region, after Croatia purchased new military hardware.

However, Vucic underscored that Serbia will not buy offensive weapons.

According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Russian and Serbian officials signed a memorandum of understanding that will allow Russia to intensify its arms supplies to Serbia.

At the same time, nearly 100 Serbian infantry troops are getting ready to take part in a US-led NATO drill in Germany. Soldiers from Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Montenegro and Slovenia will also join the exercise.

Not everyone believes that new military deals with Russia are good for Serbia, the article read.

The Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies, a Belgrade think tank, urged the Serbian government not to sign any economic agreement with Moscow which could violate Western anti-Russian sanctions imposed over the Ukrainian crisis. Such agreement would endanger the negotiation process on Serbia’s EU membership.

"One should not forget that even some NATO country members, which were the members of the Warsaw pact, still have Russian weapons as well. Replacing the weapons is an expensive and timely process. Bulgaria, Hungary and the Czech Republic have yet to do so, therefore no one can expect Serbia to do it," Dragisic told Balkan Insight.

In 2007, Serbia adopted a military neutrality doctrine, and the government has no plans to change it.

Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic said the Serbian army tries to run a balanced policy of military and international cooperation.

"We have had joint exercises with the Russians and with NATO, and our military personnel underwent training programs both in Russia and in the US," Gasic told the Serbian daily Blic in August.

However, Dragisic underscored that cannot be a long-term policy.

"We will soon find ourselves in a situation where we will have to clearly choose sides," he concluded.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20151102/1029465923/serbia-nato-drills-russian-weapons.html#ixzz3qKyCwVUC

Serbia has no plans to join NATO — ambassador

MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. Serbia does not plan to join NATO as the North Atlantic military alliance gives no guarantees of stability, ambassador to Russia Slavenko Terzic said on Tuesday.

"I don’t see any stability guarantees in NATO’s expansion in the Balkans and in the central region of Europe," he said. "Europe must be free of military alliances, live in peace and accord," the ambassador said.

"Serbia will insist on its political neutrality. We are not getting ready to join NATO," the envoy added.

Focusing on events in Montenegro, he said "all protests inside the country are caused only by internal differences". "I don’t see any foreign interference in the affairs of Montenegro," he said, pointing to protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.

"These are internal protests, social and political discontent of the Montenegrin population with the existing situation. Besides, most citizens are against NATO membership," the ambassador said.

MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. Ratification of a logistical support agreement between Serbia and NATO is an attempt of the alliance to incorporate a maximum number of countries into the orbit of its influence, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

More:
http://tass.ru/en/politics/857659

Tensions will come back. Russia will take Ukraine and Moldova.

Then they will use their soft power and the fact that EU isn't attractive anymore compared to China to bring Bulgaria on their side which will create a land route to Serbia.

Bad scenario is that extremists take control of the countries around there which could lead to wars.

Nah there is no neutrality with the snake-like neocons and neolibs. Your neutrality means licking their boots and you know it. You may be emotional at times but you are not dumb.