Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has been trying hard for months to contact US President Donald Trump. After a total failure in May in Florida, from where he suddenly returned to Serbia under still mysterious circumstances due to "chest pains", the diplomatic campaign that could also be called "I want to meet Trump" has continued.
Serbian government leaders have repeatedly spoken about a kind of strategic dialogue with America and the return of relations between the two countries to “their previous level.” Thus, in early August, a meeting took place between Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which the American side practically did not comment on, but Djuric nevertheless assessed the meeting as “historic.”
The Serbian President's wishes were joined by former President of Republika Srpska Milorad Dodik, who also wants to meet with Trump and who described his dismissal as "an attempt to prevent him from talking to Trump."
This culminated in the moment when the RS Assembly was calling for a “referendum on Dodik,” the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Željka Cvijanović, launched a proposal to award Trump the Nobel Peace Prize.
Dodik believes that he is "being undermined" by the so-called "Bidenists" and that everything would have been different if he had informed Trump of all the details of events in the region.
Based on some previous actions, it is possible to assume that Vucic and Dodik would try to present themselves in America as “conservative MAGA Europeans” who, like Trump, are being bullied by left-wing globalist forces.
Trump – the defender of autocracy
Foreign policy commentator Boško Jaksić tells DW that Aleksandar Vučić is so eager to meet Trump "because he sees him above all as the defender of autocracy." While the European Union, "despite the sometimes calculating approach of Germany and France," still insists on some values of liberal democracy.
"After the Russian and Chinese presidents, Vučić also sees Trump as an ideological ally and this is why Vučić is distancing himself from Europe. But there is a hitch here, because Trump is pragmatic and business-oriented and is not interested in ideological proximity. While in this business area, Serbia has practically nothing to offer," Jakšić emphasizes.
Milorad Dodik uses the same model as Vučić, our interlocutor continues, adding, “that they see Trump as a kind of savior, but I have previously warned that there will be disappointment after the slogans 'Trump, Serb'. When you look at the fact that Serbia has been punished with a fairly high tariff of 35 percent, which is a consequence of Serbia's proximity to China, we see that there is very little room for maneuver to change anything significantly,” emphasizes Boško Jakšić.
Nothing can be fixed or changed just by Vučić and Dodik meeting with Trump, says historian and former ambassador to Washington Milan St. Protić. According to him, America has much more important things to do in the world than meeting with Vučić and Dodik.
Even if such a meeting were to occur, Milan St. Protić is not clear about what they want from Trump and adds that this was also seen in Vučić's meeting with Trump in his first term.
"Vučić didn't even dare to ask for a good chair, but sat on a bench and seemed lost in space. I think they would only embarrass us further, because with their work so far they have shown that they are not worthy of the position they hold," believes Protić.
Israel as a side gate
As part of these efforts, there has been an increasing turn towards Israel, in an effort to gain stronger American support. Aleksandar Vučić almost boasted that Serbia was the only European country supplying weapons to Israel, and revealed that it has a significant military contract for the purchase of weapons from Israel worth $1.64 billion.
In early July, the Speaker of the Serbian Parliament, Ana Brnabić, also went on a three-day visit to Israel, stating that this was the beginning of more intensive political and economic cooperation between the two countries.
The assumption of the authorities in Belgrade is probably this: Trump uncompromisingly supports Israel, and thus we will indirectly gain American favor. Both interlocutors draw attention to the fact that even at the first meeting between Vučić and Trump, which was supposed to be dedicated to Kosovo, in the end it turned out that the main topic was Israel.
Boško Jakšić believes this is an attempt by Vučić to reach Trump through a back door, but it could seriously cost Serbia. "Vučić's boast that Serbia is the only country selling weapons to Israel, at a time when many say a 'genocide' is taking place in Gaza, threatens to make Serbia an accomplice in it. This is a very high price to pay for getting closer to Trump. I can imagine that Israel and Washington are not at all interested in Vučić," Jakšić tells DW.
Why is Vučić ignoring Europe?
Europe is still criticizing the repression in Serbia, albeit less so, but with increasing force. Therefore, the Serbian authorities are increasingly turning to America. Members of the regime no longer hesitate to respond harshly to European officials, which may be a sign that they no longer consider Europe a serious political actor. They hope to remain in power with the help of Trump and America.
Milan St. Protić says this is a miscalculation. “Europe is our environment and a decisive factor for us. Trump will finish his term, American politics will quickly return to normal, while Europe will remain where it is. Both Vučić and Dodik are opponents of democracy and for this reason they are looking for interlocutors where they think there is a basis for an agreement, regardless of democratic institutions,” warns the former Serbian ambassador to America.
Such an increasingly obvious disregard for Europe, which Vučić is demonstrating, “is dangerous and strategically very wrong,” says Jakšić. “Not only because of geography, but in the current arrangement of world relations, there is not only a political and economic, but also a moral obligation to be on the side of Europe instead of America, Russia or China. Vučić has only one calculation here – how to stay in power and so that no one condemns the repression in Serbia. So this is a very dangerous tendency for which Serbia is already paying, and will probably continue to pay, a high price,” Jakšić concludes./DW
