What did not happen at the SNV's Christmas reception in Zagreb, where Ivica Dačić came as Vučić's envoy in the capacity of Minister of Foreign Affairs, happened in Davos at the World Economic Forum. It is, of course, about the meeting of two key people from Serbia and Croatia, Aleksandar Vučić and Andrej Plenković. The half-hour meeting was recorded with a joint photo, and the only information we have about the conversation was offered to us by the actors themselves through their own profiles on social networks.
Short and bureaucratically schematized announcements
Aleksandar Vučić wrote: "Very correct conversation about Serbian-Croatian relations. I believe that in the period ahead, we will succeed in making progress, both in terms of the economy and in terms of political relations."
Plenković, on the other hand, published the following text: "In addition to the policy of dialogue and calming tensions, it is necessary to invest additional efforts in solving open issues."
As we can see, the announcements are terse and bureaucratically schematized, with the difference that this time there is no need to delve into the meta-language of diplomatic-bureaucratic announcements, because it is quite clear that in those half an hour they told each other more or less exactly what they conveyed . Vučić with faith in a better tomorrow, and Plenković with the need to invest additional efforts in solving open issues. Although the form of the announcements are short, it is already clear from them that Serbia would prefer to forget the past, that is, it would not discuss it, while Croatia does not want to move on until that past is cleared up.
The problem, however, is that one can agree with both points of view, but they are also flawed. Yes, one really needs to move on and leave the past behind, even if it remains unresolved and irreconcilable. But also, in order for this process of improving relations without confronting the past to be legitimately advocated, the idea of the Serbian world, which for a reason evokes unpleasant memories of the XNUMXs, cannot be the state policy of Serbia that entered official documents.
Another problem arising from the meeting and what was said about it comes from ignoring one's own position, in which both actors wholeheartedly participate. And that's because both of them position themselves as commentators on events and social reality, and not as those who have real political power to influence processes and resolve open issues.
Simply speaking, if nationalism did not still represent a structural fact of those two societies and state authorities, there would be no open questions and political problems between Serbia and Croatia. Therefore, those who have been the most responsible for it in recent years cannot act as if they are falling from Mars and state the current situation. The fact is, and one should be honest and admit it here, that the nationalist discourse is much less pronounced with Plenković than with Vučić, but the same is not true for the HDZ itself.
A long way
In the end, the matter is probably the following: mutual relations can be improved relatively easily, first of all if there is a genuine political will for it. Then the politics of the XNUMXs, as well as the constant return to them as a glorious era, must be left out of political life and cease to be a key topic that ignites the public. And finally, that story should be closed by finding all the missing and accepting that the narratives of the states, societies and nations here about the wars of the nineties are so different, that it is impossible to reconcile them and that no dialogue, conferences and joint publications will help much. If anything, it has been tried many times and always ended up in bubbles of like-minded people who failed to reach the nationalist public.
It would probably be too optimistic to ask for the political and media public to turn to affirming the positive aspects of the common past and what unites us in every possible way, but only with that would the entire process of normalizing relations be definitively brought to an end.
We all know best how long that road is from a formal meeting with good wishes to the final outcome. It is at least thirty years old and there is no end in sight.
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