Serbia and the US open a strategic dialogue and sign two memoranda
In Washington, Serbia and the US have opened a “strategic dialogue” and signed two memoranda, a step Belgrade is celebrating as historic. Foreign Minister Marko Đurić spoke of a strategic partnership. Observers are asking whether Serbia is thereby abandoning its years-long policy of balancing between East and West.
The Serbian government is staging the launch of the dialogue as the start of a new chapter: Đurić congratulated citizens on the “strategic partnership” with the US, and Kosovo's Koha soberly confirms the signing of two memoranda. The independent Serbian outlet N1, by contrast, asks whether Belgrade is really breaking with its “four pillars” policy among Washington, Moscow, Beijing and Brussels. The analyst Kostić argues on N1 that Serbia will continue to balance so as not to anger Russia, especially as long as the dispute over the mostly Russian-controlled and US-sanctioned oil company NIS remains unresolved. Thus the state-aligned Serbian success narrative, the skeptical independent view and the Kosovar-Albanian observation stand side by side. How far the rapprochement will carry depends on tangible questions such as energy, investment and Kosovo.