VOX POPULI, WHAT IS THE PERCEPTION ABOUT THE EUROPEAN UNION IN SERBIA? TORN BETWEEN THE EAST AND THE WEST, AN OSCILLATING STANCE FROM ACTIVE NON-ALIGNMENT TO PASSIVE ALIGNMENT TO COMMUNITY VALUES
VOX POPULI, WHAT IS THE PERCEPTION ABOUT THE EUROPEAN UNION IN SERBIA? TORN BETWEEN THE EAST AND THE WEST, AN OSCILLATING STANCE FROM ACTIVE NON-ALIGNMENT TO PASSIVE ALIGNMENT TO COMMUNITY VALUES

Summary/Abstract: As regards its position during the Cold War, the Yugoslav Federation under Tito refused to be part of either of the two rival power blocks, adopting a policy of non-alignment. Following the Yugoslav wars and the disintegration of the federation, the Serbian leadership and the citizens apparently have chosen a pro-European path, becoming a member of the Council of Europe and also applying for EU membership. However, within this paper we argue that despite Serbia applying for EU membership and gaining official candidate country status, in the past two decades its foreign policy towards the EU has been rather oscillating, an oscillation that is visible in the official public opinion polls as well. Applying the rational actor/choice model to its foreign policy, we arrive to the conclusion that especially from an economic perspective is more advantageous for Serbian decision-makers and its citizens to collaborate with the EU than with the alternative proposed by the Russian Federation, and in the long run to gain full membership. On the other hand, with regard to language, history, culture, tradition and religion the affinity towards Russia is unquestionable. Furthermore, we have identified various clashes in the EU-Serbia nexus, where the position of the latter was rather critical if not contradictory to that of the Community, such as the constant policy of conditioning, the problem of Christianity and of traditional family values, the Kosovo question, the 2015 migration/refugee crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and the current war in Ukraine. Accordingly, this study has set as its main objective to examine and to understand the oscillations in Serbia’s relationship with the EU, mainly through the lens of the citizens, by undertaking an in-depth quantitative assessment of public opinion polls from the past two decades. It is being argued that despite its official candidate country status and geographic proximity, Serbian citizens see their relationship with the EU mainly in transactional terms, their stance being characterised by a passive alignment to the values and direction set by the European Community, rather than an active engagement. The same attitude could be detected at the level of the vast majority of the Serbian political elite as well, who despite implementing sound reforms for honouring the conditionality set by the Union in the 35 negotiation chapters, refused to vote the sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia.

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