Stephen Wordsworth

The Battle of Cer - 95th Anniversary

Today we are hosting an entry written by Bill Longhurst, Deputy Head of Mission in the British Embassy in Belgrade.

I represented the UK on 23rd August to lay a wreath at the 95th Anniversary of the Battle of Cer – one of the first major battles of the First World War and the first significant victory for Allied forces as Serbia defeated the invading Austro-Hungarian forces.  The participating nations were invited, Serbia and present-day Austria, Hungary, Czech and Slovak Republics, as were Serbia’s WW1 allies.

Although Serbia is rightly proud of this key achievement, the ceremony paid due respect to the 36,000 troops from both sides who perished.  It brought to my mind the death last month of Harry Patch, the last British army veteran of World War I.  As the events of World War I pass from living memory, it will be left to the history books, and events such as these, to ensure we never forget the terrible loss and sacrifice that war entails, nor to take peace and freedom for granted.  

Posted at 14:27 24 August 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[0]

Rugby League in Serbia

Today we are hosting an entry written by Bill Longhurst, Deputy Head of Missionin the British Embassy in Belgrade.

The European Rugby league championships were held last week in Belgrade and I was invited to attend the matches and present the winners with their trophies:  England, France and Wales contested the Championship itself, and Serbia, Scotland and a mixed team called European Celts (made up of Irish, Czechs, Russians and some others) fought over the European shield for emerging Rugby League countries. 

All the matches were held in scorching weather conditions (by UK standards) at the small sports stadium on “Ada Ciganlija”, an island in the Sava river which is covered in lakes, cycle tracks, sports fields and clubs/ restaurants.   Anyone expecting a leisurely kick-around by school youngsters would have been quite surprised.  The average size of the players looked pretty intimidating to me, as did the ferocity and sheer physicality of the tackling. 

The speed, skill and energy levels, especially with the temperature in the high 30s, were very impressive – not surprising  considering that several of the players from the top three countries have already been signed up by professional clubs at home.

England (with the current England senior team coach and former international Tony Smith in charge) met France in the final on Saturday after both teams had defeated the Welsh in hard-fought matches earlier in the week. 

What looked like it was heading for a comfortable victory for England mid way through the second half, suddenly turned more tense as the French hit back with a converted try.  Finally, though, the English kicked a penalty goal to restore a two-score lead of 8 points and held on to clinch the match 22-14.

In the European shield final match between Scotland and Serbia, it was a similar story with Scotland, complete with piper accompaniment from the touchline throughout the match, controlling the game but then having to survive a late fight-back by the Serbs.  In the end, Scotland held on to win 26-16 and took the Shield.

All in all, a good week for British teams in Serbia, but just as good a week for the development of Rugby League outside its current heartlands.  Serbia, Russia and Czech Republic are all target countries for this and judging by the Serbian crowd’s enthusiastic reaction, they are on to a winner.  Credit goes to the Serbian Rugby League’s tireless organiser, Jovan Vujosevic for making the tournament happen.

Posted at 14:19 24 August 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[0]

Trumpets in Guča, and Beer in Belgrade

Today we are hosting an entry written by Bill Longhurst, Charges d'Affaires in the British Embassy in Belgrade.

Life is rarely dull in Serbia.  Even in August when the capital seems to calm down, the streets are much clearer of traffic and the newspapers are obviously struggling to find interesting headlines, there are major events going on.

Successive weekends saw me visit two very different festivals, proving that there are still plenty of people around who have not fled to a beach or other getaway.   

“Guča” is shorthand for the SABOR TRUBAČA GUČA - translation Guča Festival of Trumpeters.  For four days, a small town slap bang in the centre of Serbia (a beautiful but testing 3 hour drive from Belgrade)  is overrun with visitors and fans of this very Serbian musical tradition. 

Down there last Saturday, I saw technically brilliant trumpet bands perform astonishingly high-paced, high-volume music while smaller groups of players wander around the streets and restaurants busking their own similar brand of music. 

All this is accompanied by exceptionally large amounts of beer being served alongside spit-roasts of lamb and suckling pig on every corner.

Despite the heavy drinking and merry-making, the only danger I witnessed was to the poor statue of the Guča trumpeter in the centre of town up which had climbed what looked like two dozen young men armed with kegs of beer, happily setting off flares.

Although it is unquestionably a very Serbian experience, it also somehow manages to have an international feel.  Visiting bands from a number of countries were taking part, including FYR Macedonia, Slovenia and even a marine band from the USA, although not yet from Britain.  We have our own very rich tradition of brass bands and the Mayor of Guča, rightly proud of another successful event with over 600,000 visitors, promised to invite a British participant next time around.  2010 will be the 50th anniversary of the festival and they are setting their sights high on VIP attendance:  Presidents Obama and Medvedev.

Back to Belgrade this week, to the Belgrade Beer Fest on the “Ušće” an enormous park in the centre of town at the confluence of the Sava and the Danube.  Some parallels with Guča – mainly the volume of beer being consumed - but very different music.  

A campaign theme of this year’s event, supported by the British Embassy, is environmental protection, specifically the “I choose to recycle” campaign.  Raising awareness of both the environmental, but also economic, benefits of recycling is not what you would immediately associate with a drinking event, but the sight of several participants carrying bags with empty beer cans (recycle 15 and you get a free beer!) suggested it was making progress.

This is just the first in a series of environmentally themed activities we are planning  this Autumn.  Keep an eye on this blog for further promotion of our green agenda through music, sports (London 2012) and "fashion" (Eko-Diplomatija).

Posted at 09:02 15 August 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[2]

Counting down to EXIT 09...

I went to Novi Sad on 7 July, to hand over a patrol vehicle to the head of the local police. We are just coming up to the annual EXIT rock festival in Novi Sad, and this year, as for the last two years, we are expecting about 9000 Brits to turn up.  They arrive in various ways, some by air via Belgrade or Budapest, others by bus, train or car: many will spend four or more nights camping at a special festival camp site. Altogether, some 100,000 people will attend over the whole period of the festival, but visitors from the UK make up the largest single foreign contingent. Many of the guest bands are British too.

After that I went with the Mayor and police chief to look at the camp site, where many Brits have already arrived. The site is new this year: last year one visitor from Macedonia was killed when a branch fell from a tree at the well-wooded site, and so they had to find somewhere new, and safe. The first idea was to place the camp by the river, but the Danube is very high this year and that site flooded. So the plans changed again, and another site was found, at an old army barracks within the Petrovaradin fortress itself (the festival site). Everything had to be got ready at top speed, but they managed it, and the first arrivals seemed very happy with what they found.

EXIT opens on Thursday; we will have an Embassy team on hand, to help with any consular problems. Let's hope there aren't any serious issues to deal with, and they can just enjoy the music too!

Posted at 09:30 08 July 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[6]

Universiade spirit... or not

The World University Games, or Universiade, opened in Belgrade this week, bringing thousands of athletes and officials from 145 countries to Serbia.  On Monday 29 June we organised a garden party to welcome the British team and officials, and some team members from other countries too.  We also hosted many Serbian guests, of course, including a group of school pupils from the Rade Drainac school who are supporting the UK team during their stay here.  With entertainment from the 'Orthodox Celts' - a local band that plays Irish music - it was a very international occasion.  All the weather forecasts had said it would rain, but they were wrong as usual, and everybody seemed to have a good time.  I was enormously impressed by the enthusiasm of the young UK visitors, none of whom (as far as I could find out) had been to Serbia before, who were all looking forward to their competitions.  They all seemed very happy with their accommodation, and with the welcome they had received.

 
On 1 July I went to the opening ceremony at the Belgrade Arena.  The flags were paraded in one by one to loud cheers and everything seemed to be going well until the flag of the USA appeared.  Then, unfortunately, a large section of the crowd to my left began booing loudly, and there were further boos, though less loudly, when the Croatian flag appeared a few minutes later.  This must have been very hurtful to the young US and Croatian athletes present, who had worked so hard to get to the competition.  It also left all the references to 'sportsmanship' and 'fair play' in the pre-scripted speeches that followed sounding very hollow.  After the speeches there was an entertainment programme.  The young people must have rehearsed hard, but I no longer felt like celebrating and left before the end.

Any Comments? - in Serbian or in English?

Posted at 08:44 02 July 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[3]

Were we cycling the joint European future of the region?

Today we are hosting an entry written by Vladan Avramovic, member of our Projects team, and a 'Danube by Bike' tour participant.

A team of staff from the British Embassies in Budapest, Zagreb and Belgrade joined in the  'Danube by Bike'  Tour.  Altogether, four hundred people cycled the length of the Danube river in Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania last week. It was an opportunity to bring together people from all over Europe - EU member states, Western Balkan countries and Turkey - to encourage integration and dialogue, whilst raising awareness of the rich cultural heritage of Southeast Europe.

The British Embassy Team cycled from Budapest in Hungary, through Osijek and Vukovar in Croatia and on to Novi Sad and Belgrade in Serbia. The tour left the participants with a sense of pride, and a number of new friends.   We were only cycling – but we feel we contributed a little to the European future of the region.

Serbia leg of the tour

The Serbia leg of the tour started on Saturday 27 June in Novi Sad and took the group to Sremski Karlovci where it boarded the tourist train, “Nostalgia”. Several keen cycling enthusiasts carried on to Slankamen where they were rewarded with what is claimed to be the best fish soup on Danube.   The British Embassy Cycling Team agrees!

The day ended with an astonishing group ride through Belgrade which brought together more that 500 cyclists. It was a celebration of the European diversity and environmental consciousness, and for local, sometimes not very cyclist-friendly, car drivers, a unique opportunity to get the feeling of being an oppressed minority. It might help a few of them to respect cyclists'  rights better in the future!  

We posted news, views, photos and videos on the following Tumblr site throughout the tour, from its start in Budapest on Tuesday 23 June to the grand finale in Belgrade on the evening of Saturday 27 June: http://danubebybike.tumblr.com/.  There is more about the tour on: http://danubebybike.eu/home.html and on the Embassy FlickR pages.

Posted at 15:51 29 June 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[3]

The Armed Forces Day in Belgrade

Today we are hosting a blog by Colonel Nigel Fenn, the Defence Attache of the British Embassy in Belgrade, written on the occasion of the first UK Armed Forces Day.

The British Embassy in Belgrade marked the first United Kingdom's Armed Forces Day by raising a commemorative flag outside the Embassy on Thursday, 25 June.  Britain's Armed Forces day will take place on Saturday 27th June and will be marked by events all over the UK.  The commemorative flag will fly at councils, businesses and homes as well as UK Armed Forces bases all over the world. In recognition of this event the British Embassy in Belgrade is proud to support the event. 

 
Armed Forces Day was created as part of the British Government's initiative to recognise better the contribution made to society by all those who serve and have served in the British Armed Forces. It is part of a wider campaign to raise public awareness, understanding and support for the Armed Forces.
 
The title “Armed Forces Day” has been chosen to reflect the wider Armed Forces Family of serving personnel (both regular and reserve), veterans and the cadet forces. This sense of inclusiveness is reflected in the strap line for the Day: “Honouring Britain’s Armed Forces, past, present and future”.  However, this does not mean that we do not also honour those allies that have fought alongside British Forces in the past; Serbia and the UK have a long tradition for cooperation through two world wars and I hope that we can continue to cooperate for many years to come.
 
This Armed Forces Day allows us to remember and honour not only those in past but the present and equally the future.  We must all work together towards a more secure and peaceful future.

Posted at 09:33 27 June 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[1]

Valleys, caves and monasteries

On 13 June, Culture Minister Bradic organised a tour for members of the diplomatic corps to eastern Serbia - Senjski Rudnik, the Resavska Cave and the Ravanica and Manasija monasteries.  The main business was to announce, in Senjski Rudnik, the launch of a project to assist in the transformation of this small coal-mining village into an 'eco-museum' and regional cultural centre.  The coal is all but exhausted, and there is no other industry in the area, but the region has a long and fascinating history, going back to the beginning of Serbia's industrialisation. The museum project, which is expected to get support from the European Commission and the Council of Europe, will help open up this past to future visitors, and provide future generations in the village with a secure livelihood. 

The two monasteries we saw nearby are well-known in Serbia, but almost unknown outside - I, at least, had never seen a photograph of either of them, or realised how beautiful they are.  Manasija in particular, with its strong walls still standing, is a very interesting place to visit.  And Resavska cave nearby must be one of the most impressive cave systems in Europe, but again seems to be largely unknown outside Serbia's borders.  All these sights are set in beautiful wooded valleys, which were looking at their best at this time of year. 

Travelling around the area, I was struck by the many similarities between eastern Serbia and my home region of South Wales.  There too we have beautiful scenery; an old mining village converted into a modern tourist attraction, at "Big Pit" a beautiful network of underground caves, at Dan-yr-Ogof; and monasteries, at Neath and Margam (though in our case they are ruins, thanks to King Henry VIII).  And just as, if you go a little further in eastern Serbia, you can get to the medieval castle of Golubac, or the Roman remains at Felix Romuliana, South Wales has castles such as Raglan, or Roman remains at Caerleon.  The two areas have a lot in common, but in Wales tourism is much more developed, and has created a lot of jobs.  Maybe I need to think how we can get some Serbian officials responsible for tourism development to go across to South Wales, to see what ideas they can pick up there.

Any Comments? - in Serbian or in English?

Posted at 16:51 15 June 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[1]

An e-Debate on the EU-largement

The Embassy and the British Council in Belgrade are hosting a first gathering this weekend of people from across the region who have studied in the UK under our various scholarship schemes - nine different societies or groups in all. 

I spoke at the afternoon session on 3 April about the prospects for EU integration, and some of my comments were picked up by a BETA journalist and inspired a discussion on the B92 website.  Some people, who had not heard the full presentation, thought that I was suggesting that EU integration was vanishing into the distance.  Not at all - as I am now explaining on the B92 site as well.

I have not heard any EU political leader question the principle that all the countries of this region have a future in the EU.  And the accession processes for each country, supported by European Commission funding (around €200m for Serbia this year) and bilateral projects from individual member states, are continuing.  The point I was making was that the second half of this year will be difficult for the EU internally, as we wait to see if the Irish Government can persuade its people to support the Lisbon Treaty in a new referendum, after which the EU must complete the process of appointing all the new Commissioners.  But none of this need have any significant impact on when a country such as Serbia actually joins the EU.  Accession is a multi-year process, with support continuing along the way.  I am sure that Serbian citizens, just like the people in the countries that joined the EU in the last two enlargement rounds, will see constant progress and the real value of this process, as they draw closer to the EU.  The speed with which any country moves through the process depends heavily on the technical competence of the individual state, and here Serbia is in a comparatively good position.  But, as I said at yesterday's conference, all would-be members will have to think harder about how they can show that their membership will be good for the EU as a whole, not just for them.

Any Comments? - in Serbian or in English? 

Posted at 11:02 04 April 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[2]

Doom But Not Gloom

I was in London all last week at our annual Ambassadors' conference.  Discussions were, inevitably, dominated by the global economic crisis, and the plans for the G20 Summit, which is being held in London on 2 April.  The aims of the Summit are easy to sum up:

·        To stabilise financial markets, and so enable families and businesses to get through the recession;

·        To reform and strengthen the global financial and economic system, to restore confidence and trust;

·        To put the global economy on track for sustainable growth.

Achieving these goals will be much more difficult.  No-one is suggesting that this meeting - which builds on the foundations laid at the November 2008 Washington Summit - will provide all the answers.  Indeed, some press commentators, always on the look-out for disaster stories, are already predicting failure (as one speaker last week put it, at least we don't have the problem of excessive expectations!).  My sense is that it will be a step forward, and that the world's leaders will come away with, at least, a better sense of what the answers are going to be, and what we all need to do to reach a 'global deal' on new, sustainable growth.

We also talked a lot last week about the prospects for EU enlargement, and the so-called 'enlargement fatigue'.  But amidst the gloom, there was some better news, including for countries like Serbia that want to join the EU. I wrote this up in 'Politika' (English language version here).  Skimming through the comments this morning in the on-line version of the paper, I seem to have annoyed some of the paper's more nationalistic readers.  But I hope that others, who haven't commented, will have got the overall positive message. 

Any Comments? - in Serbian or in English?

Posted at 17:52 01 April 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[4]

Want to Save €600 Million?

I made the opening speech on 31 March at a conference to mark the conclusion of a two-year project we have been running, with the NGO Transparency Serbia, to help the Serbian authorities improve their public procurement procedures.

It might sound dull, but it matters.  Every year, the Serbian public sector buys about €4 billion worth of goods and services.  The rough rule of thumb from other countries is that better planned public procurement procedures, with increased transparency, competition and control and reduced opportunities for malpractice and corruption, can save 10% - 15% of the total bill.  That's €400 million - €600 million, of Serbian taxpayers' money.  That's worth saving, particularly now.  

In addition to the work that we have funded directly through Transparency Serbia, we have also worked with the European Commission and the OSCE, organising events such as an exchange visit last year by representatives of the Serbian Public Procurement Office to the UK Office of Government Commerce and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply.  Serbian Government representatives who were at the meeting stressed the importance of carrying on with this work.  We hope to be able to continue our support in the future in some way too. 

'Any Comments? - in Serbian or in English?

Posted at 14:04 01 April 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[1]

Join in and switch off

Today I shall host the entry written by Bill Longhurst, Deputy Head of Mission

This Saturday will see the third "Earth Hour" at 8-30pm Belgrade time.  This is a WWF sponsored event which began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. The 2009 target is for one billion people to send a symbolic message on the importance of energy conservation and carbon reduction by simultaneously switching off at work or at home.  It will be interesting to hear afterwards whether Serbia's electricity power generation saw a significant slump in demand for power at this time.

High-profile campaigns like this serve to remind us of the importance of conserving energy in all its forms.  Of course, this is something for everyone to do all day every day.  Even for those sceptical of the impact of climate change, or who think that there is nothing that can be done, energy conservation is surely a good thing - making our scarce resources and budgets go further. 

In Belgrade, I frequently notice open windows in office buildings even when the heat is on full blast in winter or with air-conditioning in the summer - valuable energy being wasted.  Someone explained the heat issue to me by saying that the system of charging per square metre means that consumers do not take care in how much they use, since it does not affect their bills.  If we can ever reach a point where we can all, individually, be responsible for the full cost of the energy we consume whether it is at work or at home, it will focus our minds much better on the need for economy and sparing use.

In the meantime, we in the Embassy here will do our small bit by turning off all unnecessary lights on Saturday.  Longer-term we have also introduced recycling of paper, glass, cardboard etc. and fitted light sensors in our main buildings so that lights automatically go out after a few minutes when rooms are unoccupied.  A campaign to get people to switch off photocopiers and printers in the office and electronic appliances at home (not leaving them in standby mode) overnight can also save astonishingly large amounts of electricity.

So join in and switch off this Saturday! 

Posted at 11:26 27 March 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[0]

ENTITY in Belgrade

I spoke on Wednesday morning - 11 March - at a press conference to publicise the Belgrade Dance Festival next month.   The Belgrade Festival is continuing to grow in importance, and this year Wayne McGregor and Random Dance are coming from the UK .  Their performance is part of a sell-out tour across Europe, taking in the UK , Italy , Spain and Germany , as well as Belgrade . 

Posted at 14:11 12 March 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[0]

Goodby-ee, Goodby-ee, Wipe a Little Tear from Your Ey-ee...

On Tuesday evening - 10 March - I spoke at a farewell reception hosted by my Defence Attaché for James Sutherland-Smith.  James has been working here for some six and a half years, supported by the British Council, to develop English language teaching for the Serbian armed forces. 

Posted at 14:01 12 March 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[1]

PPP: Benefits, Risks and Lessons Learnt

I gave a short speech this morning (10 March) to open a conference on Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), organised under the auspices of the Foreign Investors' Council.  The United Kingdom was one of the first countries to recognise the potential of PPP. 

One of the commonest forms of PPP in the UK involves contractors paying for the construction costs of a project - say, a road, a school, or a hospital, or even a new Embassy, as with the British Embassy in Berlin - and then renting the finished project back to the public sector.  By requiring the private sector to put its own capital at risk, and to deliver clear levels of public service to the public over the long term, PPP can help deliver high quality public assets and services and ensure that they are delivered on time and to budget.  But I also pointed out that the process can be controversial.  The risk is that governments may be tempted to pursue projects that they cannot really afford, for short-term political advantage.  So it's more important than ever, with PPP, to assess the potential projects rigorously, to be sure that they are needed, and that the promised benefits are real. 

There are advantages for Serbia, if it goes down this path; but the government will need to take its time and to learn from the experience, including the mistakes, of others.  It was good that a number of senior Serbian Government representatives were there; I hope they will find it useful.

Posted at 19:40 10 March 2009 by Stephen Wordsworth  |  Comments[0]