Bieber: Serbian Authorities Sending Bad Message to EU, Permanent Negative Consequences Possible | Beta Briefing

Bieber: Serbian Authorities Sending Bad Message to EU, Permanent Negative Consequences Possible

Source: Beta/VOA
Archive / News | 24.04.20 | access_time 10:52

Florian Bieber (prinstcreen: YouTube

Professor of political sciences at the University of Graz Florian Bieber has said that the Serbian authorities' attitude toward the EU during the ongoing crisis is sending a message to the EU that it is not so important for Belgrade and that this could have permanent negative consequences for Serbia.

In an interview with Voice of America on April 24, Bieber said that the fact that the Serbian authorities had during the pandemic of the novel coronavirus paid more attention to the aid from China and Russia than to aid from the EU, U.S. and other countries was a bad message to Europe.

Especially since aid from the EU has been bigger than some others, but is much less noticeable. And that is very problematic because the Union should be, at least it has been until now, the main foreign policy orientation of Serbia. And the reforms are aimed at getting closer to the EU. That is being ignored now, and then a message is sent that the EU is not so important for Serbia, said Bieber.

He further said that "many officials in Europe heard that," adding that some Dutch politicians had told him they had taken the notion that the Serbian authorities were no longer interested in European integration very seriously.

Bieber is one of the authors of an analysis conducted by the Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group (BiEPAG), devoted to the impact of the pandemic on the Western Balkan states, which says that the current crisis is the "crucial point" after which things in the Western Balkans will not be the same, with two possible scenarios.

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