BALKANS: Can’t Beat NATO, Join It

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Apr 17 2008 (IPS) - One way or another, NATO still figures in everyday political life in Serbia. And that will make sure that reforms to the Serbian military continue.

Heated views against independence for Kosovo are no more backed by military muscle. The Serbian army is nothing like that force of 250,000 in former Yugoslavia.

Serbia has been a member since 2006 of the Partnership for Peace Programme (PfP), a stepping stone to membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). But internal political turbulence has left it lagging behind its neighbours such as Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, full NATO members, or PfP members Bosnia and Macedonia who are entering the so-called “intensive dialogue” that leads to full membership.

“The issue of PfP or NATO membership is being abused by politicians now,” State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence Dusan Spasojevic told IPS in an interview. “The Army of Serbia (VS) is staying out of it, and continues all the necessary professional reforms undertaken years ago in order to become an expert defence force that fits into the international security surrounding.”

Serbia is now amidst heated political campaigning for early parliamentary elections May 11. Its loose coalition government, made of the conservative Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica and the reform-oriented Democratic Party (DS) fell last month over disagreements over the declaration of independence by Kosovo.

DSS and Kostunica stood for cutting all relations with institutions and nations that helped and recognised independent Kosovo. The DS part of government was against such a step. The DS is headed by Serbian President Boris Tadic.

In the electoral campaign, Kostunica insists that “Kosovo is a NATO-created state” because the NATO bombing campaign in 1999 ended Serbian direct rule over the majority ethnic Albanian populated Kosovo province. But few say the military can be anything more than neutral.

“The word ‘army’ is often used in electoral rhetoric, but the Army of Serbia cannot be and is not part of the electoral campaign,” chief of staff Zdravko Ponos said at a press conference last week. “Early or frequent elections cannot have a negative influence on our reforms.”

According to Dusan Spasojevic, the VS has undergone “profound and irreversible” transformation since 2000, including changes necessary when Serbia joined the PfP in 2006.

There is no conscription, and the military strength is down to 38,000. “This includes 8,000 civilians employed by the army, such as doctors, teachers and administrative staff,” Spasojevic said. Reforms began in 2003, so that Serbia could join the PfP in 2006, he said.

“Prior to that, the army resembled a neglected social institution,” Spasojevic said, referring to the fact that the army in former Yugoslavia attracted many people due to safe, well-paid jobs, and privileges in housing, health and pension care. In the 1990s it was abused by regime, kept on life support systems, and almost went bankrupt.

The reforms, apart from the huge number of personnel retired and the creation of a more professional military environment, include crash courses in English, Internet training, provision of new equipment, and “general modernisation”, as Spasojevic calls it.

There are few military personnel older than 50. A centre has been set up to train personnel taking early retirement in setting up small businesses.

Re-integration into international engagement means that Serbian military personnel are now a part of United Nations-led missions in Liberia, Congo and Cote d’Ivoire.

“Although there are sometimes suggestions that we are scaling down our participation in the PfP, at all times we have 60 officers abroad attending advanced training, including 10 in the United States,” Spasojevic said.

“In 2007, we participated in 83 PfP activities and programmes, in 2008 there will be 104 activities in 25 fields, including operational aspects, standardisation of army etc. What is most important is the fact that people in the military are now aware that this is the only future for us.”

Recent public opinion surveys by Medium Gallup show that support for NATO membership has dropped from 35 percent to some 25 percent, but “that does not mean much, because there is no alternative to NATO membership for Serbia,” says analyst Aleksandar Radic.

“In the near future, Serbia will be surrounded by NATO members, and cannot remain in quarantine,” Radic wrote in the daily Press. “It remains for politicians to explain to people that the old division into NATO and Warsaw Pact (of former communist East European countries) does not exist any more and that the times of former Yugoslavia keeping the balance between the two is history.”

“Joining NATO after PfP would only improve the international position of Serbia,” analyst Zoran Dragisic told IPS. “All decisions in NATO are adopted by consensus, and Serbia, once a member, could keep watch over things related to Kosovo. At the moment, it is Albania that will do that instead – becoming a member next year.”