Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has been trying to reach out to US President Donald Trump for months, almost in a panic. After the May fiasco in Florida, from where he abruptly returned to Serbia under still mysterious circumstances due to "chest pains", the diplomatic campaign that could be called "I want to meet Trump" has continued.
Government leaders at the time persistently spoke of some kind of strategic dialogue with America, and of returning relations between the two countries to their "former level." Thus, in early August, a meeting was held between Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Đurić and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which the American side practically did not comment on, but the minister nevertheless described the meeting as "historic."
The Serbian President's wishes were joined by the now former President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, who also wants to meet with Trump, and who described his dismissal as "an attempt to prevent him from talking to Trump."
This culminated when, while the National Assembly in Banja Luka was calling for a "referendum on Dodik", the Serb member of the BiH Presidency, Željka Cvijanović, launched a proposal to award Trump the Nobel Peace Prize.
Dodik believes that he is being undermined by the so-called 'Bidenites', and that everything would be different if he informed Trump of all the details of events in the region.
Based on some previous actions, it is possible to assume that Vučić and Dodik would try to present themselves in America as "conservative MAGA Europeans" who, like Trump, are being harassed by leftist-globalist forces.
Trump - protector of autocracy
Foreign policy commentator Boško Jakšić tells DW that Aleksandar Vučić is so dramatically eager to meet with Trump "because he sees him, above all, as a protector of autocracy," while the European Union, "regardless of the sometimes calculating approach of Germany and France," still insists on some values of liberal democracy.
"After the Russian and Chinese presidents, Vučić also sees Trump as an ideological ally, hence Vučić's move away from Europe. But there is a catch here, because Trump is pragmatic and business-oriented, and he is not interested in ideological closeness. And in that business field, Serbia has practically nothing to offer," Jakšić points out.
Milorad Dodik uses the same matrix as Vučić, our interlocutor continues, adding, "that they see Trump as some kind of savior, but I have previously warned that there will be disappointment after the slogans 'Trump, Serbs'. When you look at the fact that Serbia has received quite high tariffs of 35 percent, which are a consequence of Serbia's closeness to China, we see that there is very little room for maneuver to change anything significantly," emphasizes Boško Jakšić.
"Pinky saw Trump"
Nothing can be fixed or changed just by Vučić and Dodik meeting Trump, historian and former ambassador to Washington Milan St. Protić told DW:
"It reminds me of the story 'Pinki saw Tito'. They want to see him because it boosts their importance, and they somewhat infantilely believe that something is achieved by such meetings with the most powerful people in the world. America has far more important things to do in the world, and all of this is, to say the least, an expression of political amateurism," Protić said.
If such a meeting were to hypothetically happen, Milan St. Protić says that "it's really hard to say what they planned to say to Trump," but that as far as Vučić is concerned, we have an example of how he behaved during his first meeting in the White House with the same American president.
"He didn't even dare ask for a decent chair, but sat on a stool, acting as if he were lost in space. I think they would only embarrass us further, because their work so far has shown that they are not worthy of the position they hold," Protić believes.
Israel as a side gate
As part of these efforts, there is also an increasing turn to Israel in an attempt to gain stronger American support.
Aleksandar Vučić almost boasted that Serbia was the only European country that supplies weapons to Israel, and a significant military contract to purchase weapons from Israel worth $1,64 billion was recently disclosed.
In early July, the Speaker of the Serbian Parliament, Ana Brnabić, also went on a three-day visit to Israel, stating that this was the beginning of more intensive political and economic cooperation between the two countries.
The assumption of the authorities in Belgrade is probably the following: Trump uncompromisingly supports Israel, and thus we will achieve American favor in a roundabout way. Both interlocutors draw attention again to the first meeting between Vučić and Trump, which was supposed to be dedicated to Kosovo, but in the end the main topic was Israel, a third party that has nothing to do with it.
Boško Jakšić notes that "this is an attempt to reach Trump through a back door, but it could seriously cost Serbia":
"Vučić's boast that Serbia is the only country that sells weapons to Israel, at a time when what many are already calling a 'genocide' is happening in Gaza, threatens to make Serbia an accomplice in it. That is too high a price to pay to get closer to Trump, and I can only imagine how much the Israeli authorities care about lobbying for Vučić in Washington," Jakšić told DW.
Vučić ignores Europe
Europe is timidly but increasingly vocally criticizing the repression in Serbia, which is why the Serbian authorities are increasingly turning to America. Members of the regime no longer hesitate to respond harshly to European officials, which could be a sign that they no longer consider Europe a serious political actor, and that they think that in the end the regime will be maintained with the help of Trump and America, who have the final say.
Milan St. Protić believes that "this is a short-sighted view of the world, because neither Europe has been written off, nor is America that powerful."
"Europe is our environment and a crucial factor for us. Trump will finish his term, that policy will quickly return to normal, and Europe will remain where it is. Both Vučić and Dodik are opponents of democracy, and that is why they are looking for interlocutors where they think there is a basis for an agreement independent of democratic institutions," warns the former Serbian ambassador to America.
Such an increasingly noticeable ignoring of Europe, which Vučić is demonstrating, "is dangerous and strategically very wrong," says Boško Jakšić.
"Not only because of geography, but in the current arrangement of world relations, there is not only a political and economic, but also a moral duty to be on the side of Europe instead of the side of America, Russia or China. Vučić has only one calculation here, and that is to remain in power, and that no one condemns the repression in Serbia. So this is a very dangerous tendency for which Serbia is already paying, and will probably continue to pay, a high price," concludes Jakšić.
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