Zagreb-Belgrade spat continues

Less than two weeks after Belgrade and Zagreb entered a spat over the burning of the effigy of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić at the carnival in Kaštela, Croatia, the diplomatic row continued over the weekend.

Relations flared up as the head of Croatian diplomacy, Gordan Grlić Radman, said in an interview for N1 television on Saturday that Vučić was “a Trabant and a satellite of Russia”.

“As far as Serbia is concerned, one thing is the citizens, and the other is Vučić and his politics, who must decide which chair he will sit on. It is uncomfortable to sit on two chairs. He should not have a big dilemma”, said Grlić Radman in relation to the Serbian president’s leanings towards Russia and refusal to align with EU foreign policy regarding Moscow.

He warned that “the influence of Russia or other malignant influences that undermined the stability of the Western Balkans will not be allowed”.

Belgrade reacted almost immediately. On Saturday evening, Vučić spoke out and asked Grlić Radman to “stop meddling in Serbia’s internal affairs”.

“The Croatian minister not only brutally interferes in the internal affairs of Serbia, but as usual, he lies and insults the Serbian people and threatens the citizens of Serbia,” said Vučić.

Serbia’s Foreign Ministry also reacted by sending a diplomatic note calling Grlić Radman’s words “unacceptable”.

Belgrade accuses Zagreb of “continuing to build an atmosphere of hatred towards the Republic of Serbia and the Serbian people” and of undermining the “joint policy of promoting peace and stability in the region”. Croatian officials are also asked to “refrain from statements representing interference in the internal affairs of Serbia”.

In turn, Croatia also reacted promptly to the Serbian diplomatic note, which, as stated in the press release, rejected the “allegations of interference in the internal affairs” of Serbia.

Zagreb explained that Grlić Radman only “stated the fact about Serbia’s non-alignment with the EU’s foreign and security policy regarding Russian aggression against Ukraine”.

“As we have already pointed out, one cannot be an EU candidate and enjoy all the benefits of this while unprincipledly and calculatingly avoiding the condemnation of Russian aggression and related EU policy. Such statements from the Republic of Serbia once again show a conscious and systematic denial of the facts about the nature of the events in Ukraine, that is, the actual attitude of Serbia towards it”, the Croatian Foreign Ministry’s press release said on Sunday.

Miro Kovač, former head of Croatian diplomacy, told Euractiv that it is unclear why in Belgrade, “they react so suddenly when we find that Serbia has not harmonised its foreign policy with that of the Union”.

Kovač stresses that Serbia is a sovereign state with the right to make decisions about its foreign policy but adds that Zagreb has the right to warn of the consequences of such decisions.

“If Serbia no longer wants to join the EU, that is its right. You can complain about that, but Croatia cannot dictate to Serbia which way to go. However, Zagreb has the right to warn of the possible consequences of such decisions, especially regarding the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which can and does influence through the Republika Srpska,” Kovač added.

Political scientist and sociologist Anđelko Milardović agrees that it is time for Belgrade to decide which way to go. In this way, he says, Vučić will continue to sit on several chairs, “like former Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito did during the Cold War”.

“However, the geopolitical circumstances are significantly different today, and such a policy no longer holds water. Vučić should finally say whether he is on side A or side B. If he were to impose sanctions against Russia, that would be Serbia’s geopolitical turn towards Brussels. But I don’t think that will happen,” Milardović concluded for Euractiv.

(Adriano Milovan | Euractiv.hr)