Staying its course regarding adherence to the European Union’s (EU) Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), in the first half of 2023, Serbia aligned with the Union on only 52 percent of issues, which is slightly higher than a year ago, but still below the alignment rate of all other EU membership candidates in the region, Beta reported.

In the first half of 2022, Serbia’s alignment was 44 percent, while its total rate for last year was 48 percent – which are again record-lows among other Western Balkan candidate countries.

According to the International and Security Affairs Center (ISAC)’s Analysis of Serbia’s alignment with the EU’s foreign policy declarations and measures for period from 1st January to 30th June 2023, the latest improvement in this statistic is the result of the EU’s “less intense pace” of introducing new packages of restrictive measures against Russia.

The analysis notes that the alignment percentages are merely a descriptive category that indicates the general alignment trend, whereas the topics with which Serbia has failed to align are essentially more critical.

ISAC research director Igor Novakovic told BETA’s Daily European Service that not all of the EU’s foreign policy declarations and measures hold equal weight and that “at the moment, the issue of the war in Ukraine is most important.”

The ISAC analysis indicates that, in the first six months of 2023, Serbia continued to avoid aligning with declarations and measures against the Russian Federation and China, their citizens, entities or interests.

“One of the main reasons for this attitude is the issue of Kosovo, and Serbia is still seeking the support of both Russia and China in various international forums,” reads the report.

From January 1 to end of June 2023, the EU issued 65 declarations for which it called candidates, potential candidates, and partner countries to align. Serbia aligned with 34 declarations and consequent measures.

Grouped around the topic of declarations Serbia did not align with, 13 declarations refer to the war in Ukraine, 7 to Iran, 4 to EU’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, and one each concerning the following countries/topics: Mali, Belarus, Syria, Moldova, and terrorism.