Serbia Praised for Endorsing EU Criticism of ‘Unfair’ Belarus Elections

The EU and US ambassadors to Belgrade hailed Serbia’s decision to back an EU declaration saying that the recent presidential elections in Belarus were “neither free nor fair” and criticising the crackdown on post-electoral protests.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko with Serbia’s Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, December 2019. Photo: EPA/Andrej Cukic

Sam Fabrizi, the head of the EU delegation in Serbia, praised the country on Wednesday for endorsing the bloc’s declaration saying that the presidential elections in Belarus were not free or fair and that “the people of Belarus deserve better”“.

“I welcome Serbia for joining EU Declaration on Presidential Elections in Belarus,” Fabrizi wrote on Twitter.

US ambassador in Serbia Anthony Godfrey also hailed Belgrade’s decision. “It is great to see that Serbia stands by its European environment,” Godfrey wrote on Twitter.

The declaration by EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrel, published on August 11, also criticised the repressive measures that President Alexander Lukashenko’s administration has used against protesters who have been demonstrating against the election results, which they claim were falsified to maintain his rule.

Official results said Lukashenko got 80 per cent of the votes and his opposition challenger Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya only ten per cent. EU officials accused the authorities of electoral fraud and of violently repressing post-election protests.

“We call on the Belarusian authorities to release immediately and unconditionally all detained. Furthermore, credible reports of domestic observers show that the electoral process did not meet the international standards expected of an OSCE participating state,” the EU declaration said.

Although the declaration was signed by Serbia two weeks ago, no state official has mentioned it publicly.

Serbia’s Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic on August 21 even said that the political crisis in Belarus is an internal issue and that Serbia will not interfere in it.

“The only thing we want is for all things to be resolved in a peaceful way and through dialogue. We will not help him [Lukashenko] to fall or stay,” Dacic said.

Serbia and Belarus have traditionally had friendly relations. Belarus has consistently opposed the recognition of Kosovo’s independence and voted against Kosovo joining UN cultural body UNESCO in 2015.

Serbia also has warm relations with Russia, which is part of a ‘union state’ with Belarus. Moscow is opposed to the current pro-democracy demonstrations in neighbouring Belarus.

Lukashenko has made several visits to Serbia since he came to power 26 years ago, one of them was in April 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, a move seen as support for then-leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Relations between Serbia and Belarus grew closer after the Serbian Progressive Party came to power in 2012. Lukashenko visited Serbia most recently in December 2019 and gave a speech in the Serbian parliament, where he responded to criticism about the lack of democracy in his country, saying that elections in Belarus cannot be more democratic than they already are.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic during the visit stressed that since Lukashenko came to power, Belarus “never voted against Serbia” and “had always been with us”.

Vucic emphasised that Belarusians would always have “a sincere friend in Serbia”.

“And whenever we can do anything for you in international institutions and forums – you can always count on our help,” he added.

Other Balkan countries to back the EU declaration on the situation in Belarus are North Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania, which are all EU membership candidates, plus potential membership candidate Bosnia and Herzegovina.