Stephen Wordsworth

Respect for the past and great ideas for the future

I visited Vranje on 14/15 October with my Swedish colleague, as part of our 'Outreach' programme - a series of visits by EU Ambassadors in Belgrade to other cities in Serbia.  We usually meet local political leaders, media representatives and businesspeople, and visit schools. The purpose of the trips is to talk to local people about the issues that interest them, to listen to their views and to learn from them, and to give them an opportunity to ask us in return any questions they want about the EU, and about our governments' policies towards this region and towards Serbia in particular.

Mayor Stojicic was very generous with his time, and explained in detail the challenges he is facing, in a city where several of the main industries have closed down (an important exception is the British American Tobacco factory, the UK's biggest single investment in Serbia).  He explained what he is doing to overcome the difficulties he is facing and to attract new investment, with a clear focus in particular on environmental issues. My Swedish colleague and I agreed on the importance of this.  Cleaning up the environment is central to the task of encouraging new investment, particularly in the area of tourism where Serbia has so much to offer. It's also an important part of the EU integration process.  As my Swedish colleague pointed out, some 40 per cent of the existing EU laws and regulations which new members are expected to adopt relate to the environment.

We also visited 'Bora Stankovic' school, and met a group of around 20 students and their teachers. The students had worked hard to prepare for the meeting, with each student making a short speech, in excellent English, about what most concerned them. Many of the presentations were about the environment, and the students clearly (and rightly) felt very strongly about the subject. Their pride in their country and its natural beauty came through clearly.  On European issues, it was encouraging how many of them approached the subject on the basis of trying to set out what Serbia could offer the EU, rather than, as so often, the other way around. The answer, of course, is 'a lot' - well-educated people, a functioning administration, important cultural and scientific achievements, a central geographical location in the region and a lot of development potential. But it was also striking how several of them talked about 'Serbia' and 'Europe' as though these were two quite different places. As I said to them, Serbia is already part of 'Europe' - Serbia was Chairman of the Council of Europe in 2007, successfully hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, belongs to many European cultural, sporting, scientific and commercial organisations, and stands on the threshold of an agreement which will allow Serbian citizens to travel without visas throughout most of Europe. I understand that the EU integration process can seem frustratingly slow at times, but the important point I tried to get across to the students is that, whether the integration process takes Serbia five years or a bit longer, they will spend by far the greatest part of their lives as citizens of the EU. And from what I saw and heard, they will be a credit to their country, and to the Union.

While in Vranje, I also took the opportunity to lay a wreath at the monument to the doctors and nurses of the Scottish medical mission, who came to Vranje in 1915 to care for wounded Serbian soldiers during the typhus outbreak that year.  Mission members also worked in Kragujevac, Mladenovac and in other locations around Serbia. Sadly, some of them lost their own lives to typhus.  Their sacrifice is still remembered by local people, even after so many years. Every year I have been invited to commemorative ceremonies, including in Mladenovac last week, where I was honoured to be asked to open a new public hall which has been named after the leader of the medical team there at that time, Dr Elsie Inglis. In Vranje, many of the doctors, nurses and other staff of the local hospital turned out to pay their respects to their medical colleagues of 1915.

The EU grew out of the recognition of leading Western European countries after the Second World War that a new framework was needed, to prevent Europe from being destroyed again. It has, of course, since become much more than that - a whole new way for European countries to support each other, work together, and build a better future. In Vranje - as, I am sure, in many other places across Serbia - the local people seem to have managed to keep alive a sense of respect for the past, while combining this with some very positive ideas about their future in Europe. 

Posted at 22:23 16 October 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[1]