Zelenskyy Visit Won't Shift Serbia's EU Path, Analyst Says

A Serbian journalist asserts that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's visit to Serbia will not significantly impact the country's trajectory toward European Union membership. Radmilo Markovic, a journalist for N1 BIRN, stated that the core issue hindering Serbia's EU prospects remains its unresolved relationship with Russia.

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We are not moving towards the EU, whether Zelenskyy comes or not.

Markovic expressed skepticism regarding the official agenda for talks between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Zelenskyy, which reportedly included economic cooperation, EU membership paths, and energy cooperation. He pointed out that, according to Serbia's Constitution, the president lacks the authority to discuss many of these topics. "The fact is that, for the most part, he does not have the authority to discuss the topics that have been announced," Markovic said, adding that the unspoken "elephant in the room" is Serbia's stance towards Russia.

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The fact is that, for the most part, he does not have the authority to discuss the topics that have been announced. He cannot discuss economic cooperation because he does not have that authority under the Constitution, but we have all forgotten that and pretend it is normal.

Regarding economic ties, Markovic noted that annual trade between Serbia and Ukraine is in the hundreds of millions of euros, comparable to Serbia's trade with Albania or North Macedonia, indicating potential for growth but not a game-changer for EU accession. He emphasized that Serbia's progress toward the EU is fundamentally stalled by its refusal to align with the bloc's foreign policy, specifically its reluctance to impose sanctions on Russia.

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If these are the only three topics, it would mean that there will be one big elephant in the room that nobody will mention – Serbia's relationship with Russia.

"There is an EU foreign policy that you have to align with, and that means imposing sanctions on Russia. Here, the authorities say, 'We won't do that,' and that is where everything stops," Markovic explained. He concluded that Serbia must first decide internally whether it genuinely desires EU membership, as cooperation with Ukraine, while possible, is secondary to meeting the bloc's core requirements.

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There is an EU foreign policy that you have to align with, and that means imposing sanctions on Russia. Here, the authorities say, ‘We won't do that,’ and that is where everything stops. That is the end of the story.