Europe should shed Serbia stereotypes

Once again Serbia has been making headlines across the world. Indeed, in the past few months, the country has undergone historical changes that have firmly set it on a new path, one that should lead it to European Union membership.

The European Union countries have signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with Serbia, an unambiguously pro-European coalition led by President Boris Tadic has won the election and put in place a forward-looking government, and the former Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Radovan Karadzic was extradited to the UN war-crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Yet, there are still many widespread prejudices about Serbia in the international media and public opinion.

The two most well known are that the majority of Serbs continue to harbour essentially nationalist and anti-European views, and that the Serbian state's co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is reluctant and incomplete.

The extradition of Karadzic is an appropriate backdrop against which to address both of these prejudices. Beliefs about irreducible nationalism of the Serbian people are rooted in the memories of the Balkan wars and often enhanced by mental inertia and outdated thinking on the part of some international observers and analysts.

They overlook the fact that in two presidential elections, in 2004 and 2008, the democratic pro-European candidate Boris Tadic won against the ultra-nationalist candidate Tomislav Nikolic from the Serbian Radical Party. They also ignore the fact that the Serbian Radical Party has been continuously out of power since Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown in October 2000.

Change in politics

When other parties, formerly belonging to the democratic pro-European political block, decided to join the Radicals during the parliamentary and local elections in May 2008, they all lost. By any conceivable measure, the politics of nationalism and isolation are a losing ticket in Serbia today. The real winner of these elections has been the pro-European coalition, led by Mr Tadic.

This victory was particularly remarkable when you consider that less than three months after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia this coalition named the "List for European Serbia" received 10 percent more votes than the Serbian Radical Party.

One has to keep in mind that Kosovo is understood by the majority of Serbs as the cradle of the Serbian nation and its history. There is no doubt that the formal separation of Kosovo from Serbia (it has been under international rule from June 1999) and the recognition of this new state by the US and the majority of the European Union member states remain a genuine trauma for the Serbian people. Yet they have made a principled choice to stick to the European path in the most difficult of circumstances. It was a significant test, and Serbia passed.

On 11 May not only the parliament and the government of Serbia changed, but the entire political map of the country did. The Serbian Radical Party used to be the single strongest party in at least two-third of municipalities across the country. Now, it is the "List for European Serbia." Defeated at the ballot box, the Radicals are also broken following their post-election split and the decision of one of their most influential leaders to form a new pro-European party.

Serbian politics are being permanently realigned around the democratic and European vision of President Tadic. If one tries to understand how important this change might be for the future of the country and the entire Balkan region, one should also pay attention to the fact that 70 percent of the Serbian population steadily supports the perspective of joining the European Union, according to successive opinion polls.

The ICTY issue

It is true that there is still widespread suspicion of the ICTY in Serbia, but this is not generated by the desire to shield those responsible for war crimes. On the contrary, it stems from a widespread belief that it has been anything but impartial in the application of justice. Many believe that the ICTY treats Serb indictees much more harshly than it treats indictees of other nationalities.

The fact that both former Bosnian Muslim military officer Naser Oric and the former prime minister of Kosovo Ramush Haradinaj were recently cleared of charges against them, damaged once again the credibility of this court in the whole region and especially in Serbia.

Nevertheless, it is simply false to argue that Serbia is not cooperating with ICTY. In fact, until now, 43 indictees have been sent to The Hague, with only two still at large. After the arrest of Radovan Karadzic everyone, including his strongest supporters, believes that it is only a matter of time before Ratko Mladic joins him in the dock.

It is important to stress that the protest meeting against the arrest and extradition of Karadzic did not gather more than 15,000 participants out of a population of more than 10 million. This was many fewer that international observers had been expecting and only a fraction of those who would have turned out a few years ago.

Why is it that the Serbian people have made such a strong choice in favour of Europe and democracy? Why is it that even those opposed to the extradition of war-crime indictees did not take to the streets after Karadzic was sent to The Hague?

The answer is that the majority of citizens have rejected the backward looking politics of nationalism and made a genuine commitment to a different kind of future based on European values. In doing so, they have proved to be more mature and politically responsible than a great part of their political class.

If the European Union understands this message it will do its utmost to help President Tadic and his government strengthen the European perspective of Serbia. The Serbian people have made a conscious decision to turn their backs on the prejudices of the past. The question now is whether the EU will choose to embrace them in the same spirit.

Sonja Licht is the president of the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence and a well known civil society leader in Serbia and South Eastern Europe