Into the EU through the back door, out of democracy through the main gate

By: Saša Janković

Dear Ilir,

From the Serbian perspective, I do not share your optimism regarding the Franco-German idea of allowing the countries of the region to enter the European Union “through the back door.”

Not because I doubt the good intentions of its proponents, but because I believe it rests on a flawed assumption. In short – the authorities in Belgrade do not want Serbia in the European Union. If they did, they would have long ago fulfilled the conditions that apply to all members of that community, and Serbia would today be a full member.

The problem is not that Europe does not know how to admit us, but that our authorities reject what the European Union fundamentally is. From EU, they seek only certain political and economic benefits for themselves.

What the EU entails – the rule of law, free elections, alternation of power, independent institutions, media freedom, protection of human rights and the fight against crime and corruption – they perceive as a threat to their rule. For seeking these values, people in Serbia today are labeled by the highest state officials as foreign mercenaries, Ustaša, terrorists, or enemies of the state, along with everything that follows from such labeling.

While we are talking about a country entering EU through the back door, the authorities are throwing out European values from the country through the front gate.

I understand that the new generation of European officials believes that such a “back door” entry would gradually pull such regimes into a framework that would limit their arbitrariness and steer them toward genuine reforms, whether they like it or not.

However, their predecessors thought the same more than a decade ago. Chapters were opened, clusters counted, reports written, and summits held while substantive progress was nowhere to be seen. Even, the opposite process took place. Today, many of them belatedly realize that they tolerated, for years, a simulation of reform, believing that form would eventually produce substance.

The result is not only that European officials were misled. More importantly, for many people in Serbia, both the EU integration process and the very idea of the European Union have been discredited. That is why I have more reasons for skepticism than optimism regarding a new plan based on a very similar logic to the previous one.

I also admit something personal. The very idea of entering “through the back door,” without full membership, feels somewhat humiliating to me. Either my country wants to be part of the European Union and will therefore meet the standards and become a full member, or it does not and will choose another path. In both cases, the decision should be honest, clear and complete, not temporary and partial.

After all, admitting through any door, anywhere, a regime that is currently prosecuting citizens for telling the truth about the sonic weapon that was deployed against them in such a monstrous manner would be perverse. The same can be said of another regime that rose to popularity by throwing tear gas in parliament to prevent the establishment of the Association of Serb Municipalities, and that is a leader in the region but only in anti-Serb rhetoric and conduct. How could appeasing such actors possibly produce anything good in the future?

So what is the solution?

If a country truly wants to join the European Union, it must elect and bring to power leadership that is genuinely European oriented. It must establish the rule of law, free elections, legal certainty, institutions with integrity, and all other standards accepted by all member states. Only then does membership become a natural consequence, rather than a political trick.

Of course, this is a view from Belgrade and my personal view. I do not claim that things look the same from Pristina, and therefore I do not dispute your assessment. As for Montenegro, it seems to me already close enough to full membership that I can hardly imagine why it would be interested in any form of “quasi-membership.” The authorities in Tirana, in my view, have more similarities with those in Belgrade than either side would readily admit, so I assume they would show significantly more enthusiasm for such arrangements.

The problem of Serbia is not that its path to Europe is blocked. The problem is that our authorities have blocked European values. Until we remove that block, I fear we will keep debating doors instead of building the life we actually want to live.

Yours sincerely,
Saša

Europe – From Waiting to Belonging