Krzalovski: The Resolution on Srebrenica damaged relations with Serbia, but I expect tensions to calm

Aleksandar Krzalovski, director of the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC), stated that North Macedonia's co-sponsorship of the Resolution on the Srebrenica Genocide has strained relations with Serbia. However, he expects President Davkova and the new government to work on calming these tensions.

"The goal of any government is to maintain good relations with all its neighbors. This new government is generally expected to have good relations with most or all neighbors, although the priorities are Bulgaria and Greece due to the EU accession blocks. What happened with the Resolution has affected relations with Serbia, but this action was not unexpected, as several moves made by North Macedonia, such as recognizing Kosovo and addressing border issues, were in line with EU policy alignment. Furthermore, the new government led by VMRO-DPMNE is part of the same political bloc in the EU with the European People's Party, just like Vucic's party, so good cooperation can be expected, especially after July 1, when Hungary will preside over the EU. It is anticipated that the triangle of Orban's party, Vucic's party, and VMRO-DPMNE will have better cooperation. Additionally, New Democracy and Bulgaria's GERB, expected to win, will also contribute. Therefore, yes, there will be steps taken to calm the tensions that arose over the Resolution," said Krzalovski.

He added that President Davkova's recent message, stating she was not consulted about the UN vote, was more of a message to Serbia than to Albanian politicians or the former government.

"In this context, it is likely more directed towards Serbia, so to speak, although, as far as I recall, the co-sponsorship happened before she was elected, so she wasn't consulted. However, the vote was held after her inauguration, and by protocol, she should have been consulted to have a unified stance. This has been a problem before, as it turned out that the previous technical prime minister, i.e., the president of SDSM Kovachevski, and former president Pendarovski, stated that this was not done in joint consultation, which is unacceptable for steps of this magnitude. But again, generally speaking, it cannot be said that this was not expected given the current policy frameworks within the EU," he explained.