Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 02/2010

Serbia - Stepping into Calmer or Rougher Waters?

Djordje Popović

November 2009

Austrian National Defence Academy

Abstract

The May 2008 elections in Serbia showed that the majority of the voters opted for European integration. However, difficulties in forming the government in the period after the elections proved that Serbian society is still highly divided. The polarization between pro-Europeans and traditionalists became so intense that it provided a coalition potential to Milošević’s Socialist Party of Serbia that even they did not expect. After an exhausting period of negotiations the Socialists decided to join the pro-European bloc, for the time-being.