In Europe, they wonder if this man is a sincere Westerner at all, they think he is too weak on Russia, they criticize him because he doesn't know where to go since the shooting in Ukraine. The description can be applied to both German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his guest on Wednesday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
There isn't a pen of the German press that didn't lash out at the chancellor, and is late in sending weapons, and is cowardly afraid of Putin's threats with atomic bombs, and everyone knows it's a bluff. Paradoxically, Social Democrat Scholz hit a nerve with his reluctance to put Germany right on the front line - public opinion is not enthusiastic about sending weapons to Ukraine. However, he seems lonely next to the more militant Greens and Liberals with whom he shares power.
Vučić, on the other hand, choosing between two evils for Serbia and his cult of personality, seems to have chosen to use the boulevard press to open a space for the introduction of some kind of sanctions against Russia. We don't know what kind, and Vučić probably doesn't know either.
In calmer times, Scholz would have welcomed Vučić as a male copy of Angela Merkel, full of understanding for cheap Russian gas and the Slavic soul. These are not those times. What would Americans say? shit rolls downhill: what they transfer to Solca, he will transfer to Vučić.
As a prelude to him, the conclusion of the Bundestag from last week - which certainly does not please Scholz - where more weapons for Ukraine are eagerly sought. In point 19, in just one sentence, it is implied that the EU's pre-accession aid for candidate countries (read: Serbia) that "undermine" the sanctions should be "reviewed".
The fact that Aljbin Kurti and Miroslav Lajčak were invited to Berlin, and that the two of them will have a separate meeting with Vučić, shows that the Kosovo problem has not fallen into the background due to Russian aggression. On the contrary, he comes in a package, and that should be demonstrated now.
Germany cares about patching the Balkan holes through which Russian influence penetrates. Berlin holds the important position of High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this Government for the first time introduced the position of special commissioner for the Western Balkans.
In a black-and-white world where, from the Western point of view, Kosovo is on the "right" side, and Serbia (for now) is on the "wrong" side, Vučić cannot hope that Solz will twist Kurti's arm and force him to finally create the Community of Serbian municipality.
But Scholz is a cold, rational man who knows how to work with numbers. The price of energy and jobs is a language he understands. In Scholz's world, sanctions are not a matter of morality, as Eurofanatics in Serbia (and Germany) suggest. Vučić can trade with Šolc. Who did not notice, the haggling started when Serbia voted three times against Russia in the UN, and in return, the Oil Industry of Serbia was exempted from sanctions.
If it were up to Scholz, he would probably offer the region quick EU membership - he has repeatedly, since the beginning of the war, unquestioningly said that the promise made to the Balkan countries must be "kept".
In this way, the question is more about what Serbia can lose, than what it can gain. Surely Vučić will inform us about this in detail on Friday, in an address that he postponed for seven days, precisely because Scholz invited him to Berlin. Kanda and Vučić think that an important day awaits him in the Chancellery.
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