Soft power and Serbia ...
The EU response to the invasion of Ukraine has been impressive, much more than expected and its use of soft power has been very important.
Often derided, soft power, is slow to work, not spectacular, in fact almost invisible but the results can be impressive.
Yesterday the EU repeated its call for Serbia to join with it in imposing sanctions against Russia. It said that accession countries, and Serbia has been applying to join the EU for more than a decade now, are expected to align on foreign policy.
The EU went on to say; Serbia aligns with Russia despite the EU being its largest donor, and biggest investor and trading partner.
This sounds quite vague and gentle; so let me translate:
Your country is pro Russian and pro Putin, not pro European and it is refusing to act against a foreign invasion that threatens Europe.
But your economy is dependent on us, totally dependent on us. The decision to let you join the EU is in our hands, totally in our hands and not yours.
Ot to put it more more pithily.
“ Fit in or fuck off.”
Economics, trade and Brexit, not necessarily in that order but the dog always comes first.