Serbia's Accession Research Articles

Institutional structures impeding forest-based social innovation in Serbia and Slovenia

The potential of forest-based social innovations (SI) can be understood by looking at existing institutional structures, relevant policy programmes and instruments, as well as the roles of the various relevant actors in SI frameworks. The case examples from Serbia and Slovenia aim to understand how existing institutional structures have become embedded in SI over the years as well as where gaps and untapped potential still exist within SI institutional frameworks. The research team conducted a content analysis of policy documents and of in-depth interviews with actors involved in SI with the results indicating a growing interest in SI in both countries despite the still vague understanding of the concept which is often equated with social enterprise (SE). Major factors that drive this interest are external processes, such as Serbia's accession to the EU and gaining access to EU funds for SI in Slovenia. This growing interest is most often articulated by public actors and civil society organisations but is also made manifest by the growing number of SE in each country. In Serbia, one high-profile example is a newly adopted regulation for SE in collaboration with civil society organisations that also establishes national support structures. However, this process lasted more than ten years, during which different challenges arose that revealed various notable informal and formal voids in governance structures for SI. Similarly, in Slovenia, new bodies were established and regulatory documents were adopted through regulations focused solely on SE, a group of activities that is classified as falling within the social-economy sector. Despite the supporting instruments available, and partially due to the rigid understanding of SI and SE, the potential of forest-based SI is not reflected in Slovenia's forestry or social economy sector. Although improvements are being made in both countries, the current situation certainly demonstrates that forest-based SI will likely continue to manifest as hybrid organisations, partnerships and/or projects. They will need to chart a difficult path through existing institutional structures by utilising opportunities under the mantel of rural development or social economy until each State's forestry sector recognises the potential of forest-based SI and provides suitable instruments to support them. In terms of practice, some of the most urgent recommendations made here relate to the need for connecting actors into viable networks to facilitate dialogue and information exchange as well as reap the benefits that come with centralised coordination.

Izazovi spoljne politike Republike Srbije u svetlu rusko-ukrajinskog sukoba

Exposing the unresolved political issues in the Western Balkans, the war in Ukraine has actualized the key challenges that the current Serbian foreign policy orientation is facing with. Serbia's decision not to impose sanctions on Russia due to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has returned the focus to the issue of harmonization in the field of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, within negotiations on Serbia's membership in the EU. Considering that EU membership is a strategic priority of Serbia's current foreign policy, the author examines whether non-imposing of restrictive measures to Russia irreversibly blocks the negotiation process or represents a continuation of the same foreign policy course that highlights relations with Russia as one of the priorities. Starting from the thesis that the perspective of Serbia's membership in the EU is determined by numerous issues both within Serbia and EU, the conclusion is that Serbia's non-imposing of sanctions against Russia due to the ongoing war, does not fundamentally change the course of Serbia's accession negotiations with the EU. In terms of complex geopolitical circumstances on the one side and the absence of a defined Serbian foreign policy strategy on the other, in foreseeable future we can expect the continuation of the policy of "balancing" as a principled and pragmatic choice that advocates comparative development of relations with Brussels and Moscow.

Sustainable development in the new methodology of Serbia's accession to the EU

The aim of this article is to analyse all elements of sustainable development, especially in the context of the new enlargement policy for the Balkan countries. Basically, the analysis is based on the concept from Agenda 2030. The second concept consists of two methodologies for EU accession, where the criteria are grouped through chapters (old methodology) and clusters (new methodology). The research question in this paper is whether the new EU accession methodology is a guarantee for achieving better values of indicators of sustainable development or not. Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA), more precisely the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP method), is used to prioritize sustainable development criteria based on the sustainable development indicators through two different concepts. The results of the analysis showed that the achievement of the SDGs according to the Agenda 2030 was established methodologically by country, while respecting the specificities of countries and their policies. Also, the results showed that the acceptance of the new methodology, that is, organizing the chapters into clusters and accordingly regrouping the indicators, showed better results. The conclusions from this article can be applied in making decisions about choosing the best approach to sustainable development for individual countries.

Deconstructing the European Commission's Discource on Serbia's Accession Process

This article enquires into the evolution of the European Commission’s discourse with respect to rule of law, corruption and media development in Serbia during period 2010–2021. The study performs a critical discourse analysis with use of discourse historical approach on the annual progress reports published by the European Commission. The study uncovers that the progress reports shows patterns of both continuity and change. The topics and subtopics related to rule of law, corruption and media represents large patterns of continuity. Some new topics, mostly negative ones, have arisen during the period, but the criteria and form of evaluation seems stable. The intensification strategy in the discourse the last four years seems not to be enough to transform the EU accession process, and it seems that Serbia lacks motivation on their road to accession.

THE IMPACT OF THE NEW GLOBAL REALITY ON THE EUROPEAN INTEGRATION PROCESS: THE CASE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

The acquisition of full membership for the Republic of Serbia in the European Union depends on a large number of factors. The combined and synergistic effect of these factors has made the process of Serbia's accession to the European Union extremely uncertain in terms of date and final outcome. The new reality, including the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. isolationist policies during President Trump's tenure, the strengthening of China and Russia, and Britain's exit from the EU, has made this process even more uncertain. In this context, it is crucial to identify and prioritize key factors that affect or could affect the process of Serbia's accession to the European Union, in order to evaluate the possible outcomes of this process. To solve problems of this level of complexity and uncertainty, it is necessary to apply an interdisciplinary approach of the appropriate level of complexity. Therefore, this paper is an extension of previous research (Krstic et al, 2018; Mimovic et al, 2019) based on the defined research goal, but incorporates a complex, network model called theAnalytical Network Process, which included new circumstances that determine what is colloquially called the new reality. All calculations in the paper were performed using the software package SuperDecisions as computer support for the Analytical Network Process.

Srbija u pregovorima sa EU i STO

This paper deals with the Republic of Serbia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the European Union (EU). Research is based on a literature review, understanding of current settings in accession, and synthesis of findings. Within the scope of the paper, there was presented genesis of both accession processes and current challenges. Results show that the Republic of Serbia has both interconnected and interdependent negotiations with the EU and WTO, which should be considered for further accession steps as we present within this paper.

Budžet EU i budžet Srbije - uticaj na proces pridruživanja Srbije Evropskoj uniji

Our research is focused on identifying the European Union's budgetary policy and the fiscal rules that must be obeyed by the European Union (EU) member states in order to compare them with Serbia's fiscal policy. We want to see how the budget balance in the EU is being achieved, and to what extent Serbia follows the EU budget principles and how much support it receives from the Union on this path. The structure of revenues and expenditures of the EU budget and the budget of Serbia is also given. The first part of this paper discusses the changes in the budgetary policy of the EU, given that the global financial crisis has revealed significant weaknesses in the design and implementation of the existing economic governance in the EU, leading to the signature of the Fiscal Compact and creation of the European Stability Mechanism. The second part deals with elements and functions of the budget of Serbia and with fiscal responsibility. The Serbian budget is burdened with fiscal deficit and the accumulation of public debt. Serbia has introduced fiscal rules that are applied in the EU, but the same unfortunately have not been fully applied in Serbia. In the third part we examine the impact of the EU budget on Serbia's accession process through the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), which European Union has allocated to the EU candidate countries, to help them reform and achieve European standards.

The world trade organization accession as one of the Serbian foreign policy goals

Accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), among other things, can be viewed as one of Serbia's foreign policy goals. Observed in this way, the successful completion of the accession process will bring easier market access to the all WTO member countries, but also fulfills one of the key conditions in the negotiations for Serbia's accession to the European Union (Chapter 30). Serbia is an import-dependent country and therefore has a high foreign trade deficit. Our country trades mostly with those countries with which has been signed some kind of trade agreement (EU, CEFTA, Russia, Turkey). That indicates that its entry into the WTO would be beneficial and would facilitate the establishment of trade flows with new partners. Accession would also be useful for an export-oriented model of economic growth. The World Trade Organization is the only global international organization dealing with trade rules between countries. The WTO is the result of multiannual international negotiations aimed at liberalizing international trade. Multilateral negotiations under the WTO umbrella offer the potential to maintain long-term growth, stimulate trade and investment and sustainable economic development. Serbia with its capacities, as a small country, is not in a position to independently create, develop and maintain economic relations with many countries in the world. Therefore, the WTO membership will enable domestic companies and businessmen to export under much more favorable conditions to countries with which Serbia has not yet concluded trade agreements. Serbia started accession to the WTO in 2005 but has not yet completed this process. Taking into account the results of Serbia so far in this process, as well as defining the remaining open issues and problems, we point to the many obstacles our country has encountered, but also on the ways in which the goal can be successfully achieved.

Foreign trade in agri-food between Serbia and European Union

International trade in agri-food products is of special significance for Serbia, since it has high participation both in GDP and in trade. The European Union, as the most important trade partner of Serbia, liberalized the import of agri-food products from Serbia after the political changes of 2000. Further processes of Serbia's accession to the European Union, led to the formalization of trade relations in the form of Stabilisation and Association Agreement, which was implemented in the period 2009-2014. The paper analyzes international trade in agri-food products between Serbia and the European Union in the period 2004-2014, thus covering the period before and during the implementation of the Agreement. The data used in this paper is the official data of the Serbian Statistical Office and EUROSTAT, and research results have shown that the Agreement has enabled the improvement of mutual trade, and also that mutual trade relations have still not been utilized to their maximum potentials.

Alternative pridruživanju Srbije Evropskoj uniji - pogled ka dva moguća puta

The main strategic goal and foreign policy priority of Republic of Serbia, from 2000 onwards, is membership of the European Union. Striving to achieve the set objective was strongly supported by majority of Serbian citizens. However, Serbia has never encouraged broad internal discussion about potential advantages and/or disadvantages of thus established state policy. Even a attempt to check costs and benefits of membership of EU is sharply proclaimed as a regress of Serbia to nineties, chaos and hopelessness. 'Non-alternatives' policy of European path is as a rule accompanied by the lack of expert analysis on validity of EU alternatives. We find, in above written facts, scientific and social justification also of undertaking research on, primarily, the existence of alternative for 'Europe', and then their feasibility in Serbian context. The authors of this paper presents the results of the economic analysis of strategic shift of Serbia towards two mutually overlapping directions of external economic relations: a) Increased economic cooperation and foreign direct investment from BRICS countries; b) Serbia's accession to the European Economic Area. The paper examines two focal questions: Is it shifting to BRICS countries a valid alternative to European path of Serbia? Second, whether Serbian prospective membership of European Economic Area provides economic benefits, similar to those in political and economic membership in EU. Intellectual ignorance of the BRICS and the need of explanation of this multilateral diplomatic process, imposes answers on two corrective questions: what is BRICS actually and what are the areas of their cooperation. The genesis and the current state of the European Economic Area will also be explained in order to obtain better understanding of the Serbian position towards that institutional arrangement. Finally, the main goal of the research is to check is it justified for Serbia to give up its European path, bearing in mind offered and analyzed alternatives.

Prerequisites and necessary measures for efficient and effective contribution of the Serbian Armed Forces to missions and operations of the EU common security and defense policy

The Republic of Serbia's accession to the European Union is its strategic interest and a process that has been inevitably in progress, particularly as off receiving the date and opening the talks. A special aspect of this accession is the domain of security and defense, namely the EU common security and defense policy. What specially stands out in this domain is the contribution of the Serbian Armed Forces to EU-led peacekeeping missions and operations. This contribution has so far been symbolic, with indications of an increase in terms of resources of the Serbian Armed Forces.

Strategy of EU expansion and socio-economic effects of integration of Republic of Serbia

This paper is based on a research into familiarity with the history and structure of the European Union, as well as the attitudes of citizens of Serbia toward the European Union accession, toward the reforms which are a requirement for the integration, as well as toward the benefits that can be expected from the accession. Results obtained from the research will be interpreted in the light of the socio-economic effects of The Republic of Serbia's accession to the European Union. As citizens of Serbia have not had a chance to express their opinion at the referendum, it is necessary to explore the attitude toward the accession to the European Union, the level of resistance and ways to overcome it. The aim of this paper is to show, through the attitude of the citizens of The Republic of Serbia about the Serbian accession to the European Union, whether there is a positive outlook on the EU values and whether we are as a society willing to live by the standards of the 21st century or are we still, except in geographic terms, remote from the heritage of the Western civilization.

Duties and tasks of local government and NGOS in protection of the environment in the process of the accession of Serbia to the EU

Local self-government (LSG), and the municipal police (MP) and civil society organizations (CSOs), which operate on the territory of the local self-government, play an important role in the definition and implementation of programs for environmental protection within the territory of LSG. LSG, MP and CSOs need to improve their knowledge for the implementation of Serbian legislation in the field of environmental protection, which must be, at the end of the process of Serbia's accession to the European Union (EU), fully compliant with relevant legislation of the EU. The paper presents the theses of tasks for the LSG, MP and CSOs related to environmental protection, with special emphasis on the protection of drinking water sources, which are located in the territory of the local self-government.

Education in the field of energy efficiency in Serbia: Survey results and analysis

In the Balkan region and in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, the energy consumption in relation to gross domestic product is huge. The Republic of Serbia consumes two to three times more energy than the gross domestic product, compared with the average in the European Union. At the beginning of 2013, on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, will be announced the Law on rational use of energy, which is currently in draft form. Adoption of the Law is a step in Serbia's accession to the EU, because the Law will basically have taken a European directive on energy efficiency. In order to determine the extent to which the concept of energy efficiency is presented in the formal and informal education, as well as knowledge of this area in general, the survey was done. This paper describes a results of survey that was done with the aim of gaining information about education in the field of energy efficiency in formal and informal education systems in Serbia, as well as how much are the citizens familiar with the term. This paper shows the questionnaire which was distributed to the respondents. For easily and quickly collecting the necessary data, it was used the on-line questionnaire. The questionnaire was designed as a web application. The survey was conducted on a sample of 200 respondents, from September to December 2012. After the structure of the respondents, the results of research and analysis are presented in this paper, with one proposed research in future.

Soft power and stigma: Serbia's changing image in the eyes of the European Union

As Serbia works towards European Union (EU) membership, the country's public diplomacy efforts are increasingly relevant. Through a content analysis of European news articles on the topic of Serbia's accession into the EU, this article finds a mixed degree of success to Serbia's public diplomacy efforts. Overall, Serbia's public diplomacy proved more effective as a tool to influence foreign opinion on its political changes than as a way to promote Serbia as a natural fit with the EU's identity. This article concludes that while Serbia's public diplomacy has been a useful tool in some respects, it has not proven capable of moving the nation towards a more ‘European’ identity in the eyes of EU member states.

Perverted Conditionality: The Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the European Union and Serbia

The accession strategy based on the conditionality principle has turned out to be the European Union (EU)'s most successful external governance tool. It provides the civilian power EU with the means to Europeanize the continent, that is, to project her identity beyond the borders, making acceding countries similar to herself. Yet, the South-East European (SEE) enlargement currently suffers from defections, fake compliance, and blockades. The case of Serbia is particularly interesting, since Serbia holds the key to providing peace and stability to the entire region. The research question therefore reads: To what extent has the EU's conditionality strategy been effective in the Serbian case? The theoretical argument is based on identity theory. In this perspective, the EU's (problematic) behaviour vis-à-vis Serbia stems from her uneasiness to come to terms with the 'near other' of the Western Balkans. Conversely, Serbia still struggles to find her place in Europe. In order to highlight this identity mismatch, the negotiations on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) will be examined in detail. It will be demonstrated how the Kosovo question and the war criminals' affair overshadow Serbia's accession. The hypothesis is that the EU's conditionality strategy is overstrained since the EU pursues too many different goals and the EU's inconsistent rhetoric resonates badly in the Serbian discourse. As a consequence, the conditionality principle has degenerated to a policy of farce.

The importance of competitiveness measuring in the light of Serbia's accession to European Union

The 2000 Lisbon European Council defined competitiveness as the main strategic goal and prerequisite for sustainable economic growth, high employment and social cohesion. However, the economic crisis encouraged the adoption of the new strategy called “Europe 2020” to ensure new impetus for dynamic and sustainable growth, reemphasizing competitiveness as the main tool for growth as well as an important issue within macroeconomic surveillance. Considering that Serbia wants membership in European Union, foundations on which EU is built and current goals must be the direction in which development of Serbia should be steered. Mean for that is the strategic document entitled “Serbia 2020” defining the basic elements of socio-economic development of Serbia until the year of 2020. It follows the structure proposed and adopted by the European Commission, taking into account the specific conditions of the Republic of Serbia. In accordance to that, this paper will present overview of the most important competiveness indexes. It will include detailed analysis of Serbia low ranking and possible ways for improving its competiveness. The paper will consider different strategies for better monitoring of level of competitiveness of Serbia. It will also benchmark different competiveness indicators with targets of EU strategies, especially Europe 2020.