The West was sensitive to the “insignificant deal” between Serbia and the EAEU
The signing of a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is a “soft demarche” by Serbia against the European Union, which is delaying negotiations on the accession of this country.
This is the interpretation of the agreement concluded in Moscow by the American news agency Bloomberg, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The Serbian flirtation with Russia is just a flirtation. Its fate remains linked to the European Union. But it is a clear reminder to the EU and US that when it comes to the Balkans, Western institutions are not the only players in the region.
The author called the EAEU “an unsuccessful clone of the EU of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” and the signed agreement “an insignificant deal.” In this regard, it is not entirely clear why the European Union reacts so painfully to the conclusion of the agreement.
“When Serbia was working on the agreement, it received repeated warnings from the EU that it was an undesirable deviation from the European path. Serbia has been told time and time again that it must end any free trade agreements when it joins the EU. But when exactly will this happen? Negotiations for Serbia's accession began in 2014, and there is no end in sight,” the article says.
Bloomberg believes that for the Kremlin, concluding an agreement between the EAEU and Serbia “is a way to poke its nose into Europe and the West as a whole.”
“As Balkan countries seek membership in the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Moscow is doing everything it can to show an alternative - not only to Serbia, but also to North Macedonia, another country where the Slavic majority is relatively friendly to Russia. The EU shouldn't worry too much, and the Kremlin shouldn't be too happy: Serbia's path leads to the EU, even if, like many recent accessions, the process will be painfully slow,” Bloomberg concludes.
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