On the May 11 national elections, pro-European parties took a comfortable lead in Serbia. Not long ago, Serbia was ready to give up its entrance to the EU in order to keep Kosovo. Not only has it lost Montenegro, and its access to the Mediterranean, but also Kosovo. Time for peace and Integration to the EU has come for Serbia.  

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told the AFP: "Serbia can become the engine of the Western Balkans and the EU is ready to accelerate its EU course -- including candidate status." If you remember, in June 2007, he claimed that he was ready to resume talks with Serbia very soon, once the Serbian government program is implemented concerning EU integration and cooperation.

In an unexpected turn of events, the pro-European coalition led by President Boris Tadic scored around 39% of the vote, earning 102 seats out of 250. Unfortunately, Tadic does not have a sufficient majority and will have to form a coalition government. And, if the Radicals, with 77 seats, Kostunica’s coalition, with around 30 seats, and the Socialists, with 20, form a coalition, they can reach a majority of 125 seats. Tadic’s coalition does not mean Serbia will have a pro-European government.

What it means is that and increasing number of Serbs are readily accepting the idea of joining the European Union. Though growth is booming in Serbia with an impressive 7.5% (excluding Kosovo) in 2007, Serbia is still struggling with unemployment, at 21%, and with a heavy foreign debt of more than $US 15 billion. The European Union is Serbia’s greatest trading partner, but countries like Russia and China are taking an increasingly larger share of the pie. And if we look at things closely, most of Serbian trade is done with Eastern Europe, Italy, Germany and the Middle East. The EU needs to increase its trade with the EU to increase Serbia’s competitiveness in the European market for prospective integration to the common market.

However, most importantly, these parliamentary elections have shown that Serbia is in conformity with the European ideals of fair and democratic elections. Europe can not but be pleased with the results, since not only has a pro-European party come out as the winner, but Serbia has also shown that it could vote peacefully in the presence of political parties and candidates that were part of the Milosevic administration.

Serbia had long opposed Montenegro and Kosovo’s independence, and suffered from ongoing civil war, as the European Union, due to its poor capabilities in terms of security, could not intervene without the help of the United States. The wars Serbia fought throughout the 1990s caused millions of victims and displaced, however, peace seems to have been installed in the region. Though war criminals are being trialed, the Radical Party, which long opposed Kosovo’s independence, and the Socialist Party, created by Milosevic himself, both ran for the parliamentary elections, doing fairly well.

This fact has a bright side and a dark side. On the one hand, peace and reconciliation seems to have been achieved in Serbia, and Serbs have no hard feelings for political parties that were formerly involved in war crimes. However, if those parties make a coalition and lead parliament, Serbia will be divided between pro-Europeans, who have the popular vote, and a coalition that wants to make sure it will be cleared from the crimes committed during the wars.

These elections may have brought satisfaction among European leaders, but in the economic world, skepticism is the tendency. Following Kosovo’s independence, there is still tension in the political arena. Forbes Magazine analyzed this by saying “risks include the heightened polarization of the political environment following Kosovo's independence, which may adversely affect the country's prospects for EU integration and foreign investor sentiment.”

Be this as it may, it might not be before years that Serbia will enter the European Union. The EU will patiently be waiting for Serbia to stabilize politically and economically before anything is done to welcome Serbia to the Union. However, successful democratic transitions in most Eastern European countries, including countries of former Yugoslavia, should help Serbia evolve in an environment where it can stabilize its politics and gain trust from the international community. 

Akli Hadid 
Seoul - South Korea

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