Romania–Serbia relations

Romanian-Serbian relations

Romania	Serbia

Romania–Serbia relations are the

Although Serbia unofficially opened a kind of diplomatic agency in Bucharest in March 1836,[1] officially, the first Serbian diplomatic agency in Bucharest was established in February 1863, with Kosta Magazinović, as its first diplomatic agent. Reciprocally the first Romanian diplomatic agency in Belgrade was established on 12/24 March 1863 and the first diplomatic agent was Teodor Calimachi.^[2]

In 1879, as a consequence of the independent state status, the diplomatic agencies from Belgrade and Bucharest became legations and the diplomatic agents, resident ministers. Thus on 14/26 April 1879 the Romanian diplomatic agency in Belgrade became legation, having Lascăr Catargiu as its first resident minister.^[3] In the summer of 1879 Milan A. Petronijević became Serbia's first resident minister in Romania.^[4] Later, after Romania and Serbia became kingdoms, in 1881 and 1882, their diplomatic representatives became "extraordinary envoy and plenipotentiary ministers". It was only in 1939 when the legations from Belgrade and Bucharest became embassies.

However, a gradual cut-off of international relations between Romania and Serbia (in that time Yugoslavia) happened in May 1941, after Romania recognized the independence of the German-controlled Independent State of Croatia, due to Romania being an Axis power at the time.

Modern relations

Modern relations between Romania and Serbia began right after the

This, inadvertently, led to one of the biggest illegal trafficking network in Europe at the time. As the embargo prevented Yugoslavia from purchasing fuel, Romanian citizens, impoverished by the internal crisis inadvertently caused by the fall of the communist regime, began illegally crossing the Danube in order to sell petrol, diesel and other forms of fuel to their Serbian neighbours. During a two years period, between 1993 and 1995, a lot of Romanians in the villages on the Danube shore got rich by illegal means, helping their Serbian counterparts. Any form of gas in Yugoslavia was around five times more expensive than in Romania. The network abruptly shut down in 1995, and it is believed that, despite their position, the Romanian government involved in it. Around ten to twenty people were killed during those years, either by the Romanian border guards or other smugglers.^[5]

Politic relations got even worse during the late years of the same decade, when Romania, on its way of accession to

After the end of the Yugoslav Wars, relations gradually improved, with Romania supporting Serbia's integration with the international community. Nowadays, symbolizing the good relations between Romania and Serbia, there is in the former a sentence that says "Romania only has two friends: the Black Sea and Serbia". However, this phrase and the state of the relations between both has been disturbed by the Romanians in the Timok Valley in Serbia, where they are known in Serbian as "Vlachs", claiming a separate ethnic identity from the Romanians.^{[7] [8]}

Romania-Kosovo relations

Relations between Romania and the Republic of Kosovo are nonexistent as of 2024. Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia caused debates and outrage in Romania. The country is one of the states in the world that is strongly opposed to Kosovo's independence.^{[citation needed]} Romania is among the five countries part of the European Union who does not recognize Kosovo, and one of the seven countries boycotting Kosovo's admission to the Council of Europe in 2023.

The main reason for this is the Székely Land problem that Romania faces: it is considered that, if Romania would recognize Kosovo's independence, Székely Land, with a majority of ethnic Hungarians and Székelys, would seek to obtain its autonomy or independence, with some public nationalist individuals such as Corneliu Vadim Tudor claiming that Székely Land would instantly follow joining neighbouring Hungary, country that used to control the area for hundreds of years.^[9]

A vote was held on 18 February 2008 in the Parliament of Romania, the day after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, to determine if Romania would recognize Kosovo as an independent country. The result was a landslide against, with 357 ”No” votes and only 27 ”Yes” votes, most votes in favor coming from an ethnic-Hungarian party UDMR. (Hungary recognized Kosovo's independence on March 19 of the same year.) Furthermore, both the president Traian Băsescu and prime minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu were opposed.^[10][11]

A potential policy change emerged during the leadership of Victor Ponta, who stated that ”Romania must follow EU's lead" after the European Union urged Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and Spain to reconsider their decisions regarding Kosovo. However, after his resignation in 2015, the Government of Romania never addressed a change in recognition.^[12]

Romania maintains a liaison office in Pristina, but not an embassy.

Romania-Kosovo football match in 2023

Relations between Romania and Kosovo worsened after a football match between the two national football teams in 2023. Their two national teams were drawn into the same group for the qualifiers to the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament.

During the second-leg match between the teams at

The Romanian gendarmerie removed the banners, but not the hooligans; the Kosovar players refused to return to the pitch.^{[citation needed]} Match play eventually restarted 50 minutes later; Romania won 2-0.

After the match, the Football Federation of Kosovo filed a report against the Romanian Football Federation to UEFA, demanding that Kosovo be awarded a 3-0 victory because of the events. The complaint was denied but the Romanian Football Federation was fined 52,000 Euros and ordered to play its next home match (against Andorra) without fans.^{[14] [15]}

Diplomatic missions

Romania has an embassy in Belgrade and a consulate-general in Vršac and Zaječar. Serbia has an embassy in Bucharest and a consulate-general in Timișoara.

Memberships

Both Romania and Serbia are members of the:

• Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe
• Central European Initiative
• Southeast European Cooperative Initiative
• Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation

Romania's position in Serbia's accession to the European Union

Serbia borders four European Union member states while not being itself a member state. Out of 1343.4 kilometers of border, 546.4 are of shared border with Romania, which is considered to be one of Serbia's key allies in its European Union integration path.^[17]

Serbia officially

Romania has not recognized Kosovo's independence from Serbia despite European Union's general support for Kosovo's self determination. In order for Serbia to become a European Union member state, it is considered that it should recognize Kosovo's legitimacy, thing that was completely unacceptable for any Serbian government ever since Kosovo's declaration of independence or since Serbia applied for European Union membership. Kosovo itself tries to become a European Union member state but opposition from some European Union member states, as well as its disputed status, is making this very hard.

Both Serbia and Romania are firm with their positions regarding Kosovo, thus making Serbia's accession to the European Union a harder mission. The 35th chapter of the negotiations between Serbia and the European Union regard the relations with Kosovo, and while some progress has been made, neither Belgrade's or Pristina's positions are clear.

However, despite any of those reasons, with the progress that has been made, Serbia is widely believed to be the next country to join the European Union (maybe in the same time as Montenegro), somewhere between 2025 and 2030 (between 12 and 17 years since the last country, Croatia, joined the European Union).

Serbs of Romania

The Serbs of Romania are a recognized ethnic minority. According to the 2011 census, there were 18,076 Serbs in Romania (~0.1%). Serbs mostly live in western Romania, in the Romanian part of the Banat region, where they constitute an absolute majority in two communes and a relative majority in one other.

Romanians of Serbia

• Romania has an embassy in Belgrade and consulates-general in Vršac and Zaječar.
• Serbia has an embassy in Bucharest and a consulate-general in Timișoara.

• 
  Embassy of Serbia in Bucharest

See also

• Foreign relations of Romania
• Foreign relations of Serbia
• Accession of Serbia to the European Union
• Romania–Serbia border
• Banat
• Romania's reaction to the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence
• Romanians in Serbia
• Serbs of Romania
• Romania–Yugoslavia relations

References