Case studies: the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Serbian Progressive Party

The major shifts that occurred on the Serbian party scene in the post-Milošević era were all closely linked to Serbia’s EU membership ambitions. Their protagonists have been two key Serbian political parties that have reformed and embraced European integration: the SPS, which experienced internal transformation post 2004; and the SNS, a progressive wing of the hard-line nationalist SRS, controlled by the ICTY indictee Vojislav ešelj, which broke away in 2008 from the SRS and established a new pro-‘Europe’ party.

4.2.3.1 The Socialist Party of Serbia: from hard-line nationalist to EU advocate

The SPS made several attempts to reform the party agenda in the post-Milošević era. The general direction of these reforms was twofold: it developed an internal critique of the party’s authoritarian heritage and it sought to renew the party leadership. The pro-reform faction within the party, led by Ivica Dačić, prevailed during the Sixth Congress held in January 2003.

This party makeover was already visible between 2004-2007, when the SPS supported the minority government of Koštunica. The SPS silently backed the government’s moves directed at the arrest and handing over to The Hague of those indicted by the ICTY, as well as its pro-European agenda. The change of leadership was finalised after the death of Milošević in March 2006. The Seventh Congress of the SPS was held in December 2006, and the delegates elected Dačić as the new party leader.

The Seventh Congress of the SPS also adopted modifications in the party programme, particularly with regard to the issue of European integration. The change sat in stark contrast with the party’s 2002 platform, when the Socialists were still very critical of the EU and its role in Serbia:

The participation of European countries in the aggression, which is a manifestation of American imperialist strategy, has tarnished the face of the Old Continent. Blindly obeying the US administration, whose policy is a disgrace for the American people as well, Europe has become accomplice in the destruction of its own interests, as well as of universal civilisation values, such as freedom, equality, cultural heritage and humanism.²⁰⁵

The document leaves the issue of Serbia’s future EU membership untouched. However, four years later, the 2006 party’s manifesto begins to consider the possibility of a European future for Serbia, albeit under certain conditions:

The Socialist Party of Serbia [...] believes that Serbia must be committed to crossing the road of integration into the community of European nations and states, in a manner that will secure Serbia’s vital national interests and facilitate its economic development. [...] The Socialists are against the unconditional domination of international law, which has not been ratified and approved by our parliament... This is why we do not recognise the Hague Tribunal, and cannot call it either a court or justice. [...] We are firmly against the cultural and spiritual degradation that our country is sinking into, accepting values coming from outside unconditionally and indiscriminately, in total disregard of our culture and tradition. [...] Based on the positions and

205 Party’s programme: “A Contemporary Patriotic Party of the Left” (“Savremena patriotska partija levice”), chapter

“Response to International Challenges” (“Odgovor na međunarodne izazove”), Belgrade, 13 June 2002.

principles set forth herein, the SPS is committed to European and other integrations, as well as to the process of accession to the European Union.²⁰⁶

The complete break with the ‘old’, EU-hostile rhetoric occurred in the SPS programme adopted at the Eighth Party Congress in December 2010. At that time, the SPS was already the indispensable part of the pro-European government steered by Tadić's DS. The 2010 programme signalled an even more radical ideological shift of the party on the European question:

Serbia’s pro-European foreign policy is rooted in our country’s close links with the member states and the nations of the European Union, with whom we share a history, civilisation, values, and traditions, as well as economic interests. The Socialists believe that Serbia should and could contribute to building a common European homeland and, accordingly, we fully support and endorse Serbia’s accession negotiations with the European Union.²⁰⁷

The policies of the Serbian government – formed by the SPS with the SNS in 2012, and led by Dačić as Prime Minister – only confirm this ‘U-turn’ of the party on ‘Europe’. Following the 2012 elections, the new Serbian government faced the challenge of striking the right balance between implementing all the agreements reached by Serbia in the framework of the EU-sponsored dialogue with Kosovo – all politically very sensitive – and simultaneously demonstrating that none of these measures represent a de facto recognition of Kosovo – in line with the official country’s position on the matter. Unlike the previous government, dominated by Boris Tadić, which agreed to participate in the EU-mediated talks with Pristina, made considerable progress in reaching agreements and then failed to implement them, the new Serbian government can be said to have taken bold steps and to have actually delivered on the implementation of the EU’s conditions.

For example, the Integrated Border Management agreement, which established borders and customs between Serbia and Kosovo, as well as the deal on telecommunications and energy, started to be put into actual practice. Moreover, the government began working with the Serbs in Northern Kosovo to overcome their opposition to cooperation with EULEX and KFOR. Furthermore, Serbia proved its commitment to the dialogue with Kosovo when it agreed to raise the profile of the talks from a technical level, conducted by second-tier diplomats, to that of Prime Ministers. This amounted to a full sense of political recognition by Serbia of the Kosovo government. Finally, the final rounds of the dialogue, held during March and April 2013, tackled the most sensitive issues for Serbia (that is, the integration into Kosovo institutions of the Serb-dominated North). This process culminated on 19 April 2013 with the signing of the “First agreement on principles governing the normalisation of relations”²⁰⁸ between Serbia and Kosovo, complemented in May 2013 by a comprehensive implementation plan.

This progress in Serbia-Kosovo relations was broadly perceived as historic.²⁰⁹

In conclusion, after eight years of continuous internal reform, the SPS had become a party devoted to the goal of Serbia’s EU membership. Three groups of factors have contributed to this shift:

(1) ideational: slow but gradual awareness of the mistakes of Milošević’s authoritarian rule and its harsh consequences (even if the process of dealing with the past has not been fully completed in the SPS); (2) office aspirations: the party leadership sought to return to governing positions, offer its members the benefits of being in government and keep the organisation together. To this end, the SPS needed to soften the nationalistic rhetoric and formulate moderate, achievable and acceptable

206 Programme Declaration of the Seventh Congress of the SPS, 2006.

207 Programme of the SPS, adopted at the Main Board meeting on 11 December 2010.

208 See full text of the Agreement at http://bit.ly/17Cb6fE, last accessed on: 26 November 2013.

209 See some of the reports: “Serbia and Kosovo reach landmark deal”, available at:http://bit.ly/XZQSNT, “Serbia and Kosovo sign historic agreement”, available at: http://bit.ly/1aW3k4g, “The deal between Serbia and Kosovo that changed history... or did it?”, available at: http://ind.pn/13xMTIu, or “EU brokers historic Kosovo deal, door opens to Serbia accession” available at: http://reut.rs/103R5d7, all last accessed on: 26 November 2013.

party goals in order to make the party a desirable coalition partner to other Serbia political actors;

(3) the spirit of time: despite setbacks, EU integration became over time the only game in town, while opposing Serbia’s accession gradually assumed the character of political extremism. All political parties who opposed the EU membership goal increasingly fell out of favour with the electorate or began to be side-lined by their domestic counterparts. Thus, the SPS’s transformation effectively amounted to a strategic adaptation of the party to new political realities for the purpose of survival.

4.2.3.2 The SNS: a new party ‘cut from old cloth’

The SNS was formed in 2008 when 21 MPs of the ultranationalist SRS²¹⁰ established a separate parliamentary group called Progressive Serbia, which began its independent activity in the Parliament. The SNS was officially established at the end of 2008, with Tomislav Nikolić and Aleksandar Vučić, the two most prominent political leaders of the SRS, becoming the President and Vice-President of the new party, respectively.

In its early days, and in stark contrast to the isolationist and ultranationalist SRS, the SNS opted for a moderate nationalistic and more flexible position in regard to Serbia’s European integration ambitions and to Kosovo, but also closer relations with other great powers, including Russia, China, EU, and the US. Both Nikolić and Vučić have been keen on shedding their anti-EU image. However, their newfound European vocation was cautious and reserved, with occasional nationalistic outbursts reminding of their ‘old’ ways inside the SRS.

In the run up to the 2012 elections, the SNS increasingly strengthened its pro-European stance.

Nikolić promised that if the SNS were to decide on where the country should go, it would opt for the direction of the EU, where the people could have a better life.²¹¹ Then, at the height of the pre-election campaign in 2012,²¹² the SNS’s presidential candidate, Nikolić, vowed to “[…] do whatever it takes to join the EU within ten years.” ²¹³

The fact that in previous election cycles (that is, 2004 and 2007), the SRS managed to secure the majority of parliamentary seats but failed to form or participate in the government has arguably contributed to the realisation in the party that something had to give. This impression only intensified after the major blow to the right-wing parties at the 2008 general elections, when Tadić and his coalition scored a landslide victory on the pro-EU ticket. In other words, the SNS arguably arrived at the conclusion that if it wanted to remain a relevant party in Serbian politics, it needed to abandon its ultra-nationalist gimmicks, such as on the Kosovo and the ICTY issues but also on the EU and European reforms, and to transform its image from the party of (former) warlords to an appealing and benevolent partner for the governmental parties. Thus, the adoption of a pro-EU stance was perhaps more the result of the need to attract as wide a public support as possible, rather than the outcome of a fundamental shift in the value system of the party leaders.

Still, from the moment the SNS rose to power, the political pledge of Aleksandar Vučić, who became the new party leader and the Vice-President of the government, was to change the corrupted party and political system in Serbia, in line with the EU’s political conditionality. To that end, and after seizing control over all security services in the country, Vučić launched a major and compressive

210 The Serbian Radical Party (SRS) was formed in 1991 as an ultranationalist party led by Vojislav ešelj, who has been held in the ICTY’s Detention Unit since 2003 under charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war. During the war, the SRS organised its own paramilitary units and many of its members were subsequently indicted for war crimes. The SRS was among the main allies of Slobodan Milošević during his 12-year rule.

211 See full statement by Tomislav Nikolić, available at: http://bit.ly/1b2ws6A, last accessed on: 26 November 2013.

212 The elections of 6 May 2012 included general and local elections, as well as the first round of the presidential elections.

213 See full statement by Tomislav Nikolić, op. cit.

corruption campaign in Serbia, often acting outside the state institutions. Some high profile cases, including that of the richest Serbian tycoon, Miroslav Mišković, arrested in December 2012 on corruption charges, brought Vučić immense popularity and the highest public approval ratings that any politician enjoyed over the past decade in the country. Moreover, the political views of Vučić with regard to the issues of Kosovo and European integration demonstrated much more flexibility than those of Nikolić, the former SNS leader and current President of Serbia.²¹⁴

The SNS was the first Serbian party established as a result of the public polarisation over Serbia’s strategic political orientation towards the EU. The SNS and its leaders sought to distance themselves from the autistic, inward-looking and nationalistic approach to the resolution of the Kosovo problem and embraced EU reforms as the only realistic opportunity to fix Serbia’s broken political and economic system.