Omens for Post-Pandemic Balkans Don’t Look Promising

It's hard to see how the only remaining party that crossed the electoral threshold, Aleksandar Sapic's "Victory for Serbia," with 11 seats, will have any effect on the proceedings as the only supposed opposition.

The post-elections protests in Belgrade and other cities in Serbia over an attempt to bring back the lockdown have fizzled out; what citizens are left with is a 1.2-party system that will rule the land, hardly guaranteeing any change of course from the usual hardline nationalist rhetoric and the ever increasing presence of China and, to a lesser extent, Russia.

Beijing, often seen as Vucic's main counter to EU's attempts to exert even the smallest influence on slowing down or halting Serbia's democratic backsliding, now has an even clearer path towards positioning itself as significant partner in the country, which, if it uses Serbia as a springboard, could extend to the rest of the region.

Serbian President and the leader of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) Aleksandar Vucic declares an election win in Belgrade, Serbia, 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC

This was noticeable in the fact that Serbia was the only country of the Western Balkan 6 that rejected the EU Commission's two-year loan package, aimed at alleviating the consequences of Covid-19.

While the country is still supposed to be well on the EU accession path, the fact that the loan came with conditions related to democratisation and the rule of law seem to have been the main reason why the Serbian government said "No."

China's response to the pandemic was meanwhile presented as firm and positive, especially compared to Western Europe, which struggled over a unified strategy and saw borders reintroduced for the first time in decades, and with the US...