Wednesday

31st May 2023

Croatia and Serbia sign pledge to cooperate

  • Croatia's Grabar-Kitarovic (l) and Serbia's Vucic symbolically met on a bridge on the Danube. (Photo: Croatian presidency)

Croatia and Serbia on Monday (20 June) signed a declaration on improving relations aimed at protecting their respective minorities and definitively define their common border.

The text is "the first step in the thawing relations between Croatia and Serbia," Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vucic said.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"The agreement deals with essential, serious, strategic issues for Serbia and Croatia. We should try to talk more with each other, show greater respect for each other," he said.

Croation president Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic said the signature showed "a genuine willingness on both sides to move forward in resolving outstanding issues".

The signature was part of a day of symbolism to demonstrate good relations between the two former Yugoslav countries who each other fought in the 1990's. Until a few weeks ago, their relations were strained by Croatia's blocking of Serbia's EU accession talks.

Grabar-Kitarovic and Vucic first met on a bridge on the Danube. Then they visited the village of Serbian mathematician Milutin Milankovic in Croatia and went to Serbia to sign the declaration.

Under the declaration, the two countries committed to actively initiate or accelerate processes aimed at enhancing bilateral protection of minorities - Serbs in Croatia and Croats in Serbia.

The text also plans to start negotiations to define the border line between the two countries according to international law and to accelerate the implementation of a 2001 agreeement on life after Yugoslavia.

The two countries also commit to make effort to search for missing persons from the wars.

The impact of the declaration will however depend on the situation in both countries.

The Croatian government has just collapsed after infighting in the coalition and the parliament dissloved itself while Grabar-Kitarovic was meeting Vucic. Next elections could take place in September.

In Serbia, their is still no government after elections in April. Vucic said he would announce his cabinet in June but he has still not done it.

War crimes law poisons Serbia accession talks

Croatia wants its neighbour to scrap a law on universal juridiction in the former Yugoslavia. The request is delaying the opening of a new chapter of negotiations.

Croatia and Serbia in war of words

The 1990's wars are again straining relations between Croatia and Serbia amid reinterpretation on both sides of World War Two memories.

Analysis

Croatian election fuels regional tensions

Despite some conciliatory voices, Croatia's latest election has been overshadowed by nationalistic rhetoric, irking its neighbour, Serbia.

Column

What a Spanish novelist can teach us about communality

In a world where cultural clashes and sectarianism seems to be on the increase, Spanish novelist Javier Cercas (b.1962) takes the opposite approach. He cherishes both life in the big city and in the countryside.

Opinion

Poland and Hungary's ugly divorce over Ukraine

What started in 2015 as a 'friends-with-benefits' relationship between Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, for Hungary and Poland, is ending in disgust and enmity — which will not be overcome until both leaders leave.

Latest News

  1. Germany unsure if Orbán fit to be 'EU president'
  2. EU Parliament chief given report on MEP abuse 30 weeks before sanction
  3. EU clashes over protection of workers exposed to asbestos
  4. EU to blacklist nine Russians over jailing of dissident
  5. Russia-Ukraine relations the Year After the war
  6. Why creating a new legal class of 'climate refugees' is a bad idea
  7. Equatorial Guinea: a 'tough nut' for the EU
  8. New EU ethics body and Moldova conference This WEEK

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us