Lopandic on Zelenskyy visit: Belgrade sending signal to Brussels and expecting a reward

Lopandic, a former Serbian diplomat and vice-president of the opposition Serbia Centre (SRCE) party, told N1 the visit was highly symbolic given Serbia's position on Russia's war against Ukraine.

“I would say this is President Vucic boarding the Kyiv train – four years late. Like Milosevic once did, he failed to notice that relations in Europe changed drastically in 2022,” Lopandic said.

He argued that both Serbia's approach to the war in Ukraine and its domestic policies were holding back the country's EU accession process.

“Despite this government telling its voters that Serbia will never impose sanctions on Russia, we hear that there have been arms exports ‘under the table,’ as well as other forms of assistance,” he said.

'A signal to Brussels'

According to Lopandic, the essence of the visit for Belgrade is to signal to the West, particularly Brussels, that Serbia is prepared to make a clearer choice between Moscow and Brussels, as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz previously urged it to do.

He linked the move to Serbia's efforts to open Cluster 3 in its EU accession negotiations.

“But regardless of whether and when Cluster 3 is opened, Serbia is definitely at least a decade behind, both because of its foreign policy and its domestic policy,” Lopandic said.

He argued that geopolitical positioning alone would not secure Serbia's EU membership without domestic reforms.

“No one will be admitted to the European Union simply because they have a particular international position. They must also implement domestic reforms, which have not happened here,” he said.

Lopandic links visit to elections

Lopandic also argued that the visit should be viewed in the context of Serbia's forthcoming elections, suggesting Vucic was seeking to achieve something in his relations with the EU ahead of the vote.

He went further, alleging that Vucic could be seeking to “muddy the waters” ahead of what Lopandic claimed would be large-scale electoral fraud.

Lopandic also suggested that Vucic had concluded that relations with Russia currently offered limited benefits, pointing to sanctions affecting oil company NIS and uncertainty surrounding gas supplies.

“Serbia is showing some signs of moving towards Washington and Brussels. However, as we can always expect from this regime, it is temporary and tactical, because this regime has no real strategy,” he said.

'Results will primarily be symbolic'

Lopandic said he expected the concrete results of Zelenskyy's visit to be primarily symbolic.

He cited negotiations on a Serbia-Ukraine free trade agreement and energy cooperation as possible areas of progress, while describing reports of potential military cooperation as unofficial and the issue itself as “extremely sensitive.”

“I don't believe that any major agreements, particularly those relating to military cooperation, will be reached, but this is certainly a shift by Belgrade towards, primarily, Berlin and Brussels, for which Vucic will then expect some kind of reward,” Lopandic said.

He also suggested Vucic could ask Zelenskyy to lobby on Serbia's behalf with EU countries critical of Belgrade.

“We will see whether the Serbian president even asks Zelenskyy to lobby on his behalf when it comes, for example, to the positions of the Baltic states, Poland or Sweden, which are blocking negotiations with Serbia within the European Union,” he said.

Lopandic concluded that Ukraine had acquired an additional role in this respect and said he believed Kyiv was highly satisfied with the visit simply because it had taken place.