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BELGRADE — Serbian President Aleksandar Vuvic appeared on Friday to push back against German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s push for Serbia to join European Union sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, saying he did not believe that the sanctions were “effective”.

Scholz, who is on a two-day tour of the Western Balkans, said that as a candidate for EU membership, Serbia should join the bloc in its moves against Moscow, that all of its members were required to follow.

Speaking at the same press conference in Belgrade, Vucic said that Serbia was in a difficult position and that the EU should consider that Serbia and Russia have longstanding special ties.

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“When it comes to sanctions, we have a different position…. We remember the sanctions (against Serbia) and we don’t think the sanctions are effective,” Vucic said.

He did not say whether Serbia planned to introduce sanctions against Russia.

During his trip, Scholz promised to help the Western Balkans revive their long campaign to join the European Union, a move aimed at easing regional tensions and fending off the influence of rival powers such as Russia.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given a new sense of urgency to the process of bringing Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo closer to the EU in 27, whether through full membership or an alternative community.

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Speaking alongside Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Pristina earlier on Friday, Scholz said his government had made Kosovo’s EU membership a priority and would also support its aspiration for EU visa liberalisation.

“It is very important to send a new signal of confidence and hope that this accession process is very seriously wanted by the EU, and that it also has a realistic chance if everyone makes an effort “Scholz said.

Ukraine and neighboring Moldova have been pushing to fast-track their own EU membership bids since the invasion, raising the question of whether their membership should be fast-tracked or should wait their turn after Western Balkan countries .

EU countries, including Germany, have said there can be no shortcuts to Ukraine’s membership.

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“We are also in favor of Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Of course, Ukraine has all the attention and it is in the hearts of everyone who wants peace and democracy because there is a terrible war going on there, an unprovoked and unjustified war,” said Kurti.

“But I believe there has to be both (to join the EU), Ukraine and the Western Balkans,” Kurti said.

Scholz’s visit follows that of European Council President Charles Michel and before the EU-Western Balkans leaders’ summit on June 23.

DISILLUSIONMENT

The prospect of EU membership was for years the main driver of reform and greater cooperation in the region after a decade of war and upheaval in the 1990s, until the EU expansion is bogged down, creating disillusionment.

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Unresolved conflicts have recently given rise to new tensions there, such as the secession plans of the pro-Russian Bosnian Serbs.

“We will not abandon this region in the heart of Europe to the influence of Moscow,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said during her visit to the Western Balkans in March.

Florian Bieber, a Balkan expert at Austria’s University of Graz, said the lack of progress in the region’s EU membership bids was partly to blame.

“The fact that this hasn’t happened is a real problem and the growing influence of other countries like Russia and China is a result of this process not developing,” Bieber said.

He said it now remained to be seen whether Scholz’s government, which took office in December, will move the process forward or “get confused” as former Chancellor Angela Merkel did in professing support for the region but doing little to move it forward.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was also due to visit Serbia this week, but his visit was canceled when neighboring countries closed their airspace to his flight.

Scholz is due to travel to Thessaloniki in Greece later to meet with representatives of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP), a Balkan regional body made up of 12 countries.

On Saturday, he will travel to North Macedonia and Bulgaria, which are embroiled in a dispute preventing the start of EU membership talks. (Reporting by Sarah Marsh in Berlin and Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade; Additional reporting by Fatos Bytyci, Editing by Alex Richardson and Raissa Kasolowsky)