From 1 January 2011, Serbia abolished compulsory conscription, starting the full professionalization of the armed forces. This decision is part of the defense modernization directives drawn up by the Cvetković government (2008-12), in cooperation with the European Commission and NATO. In addition, a study of the Serbian Defense Forces was launched in 2007, which, two years later, led to the adoption of a new national security and defense strategy. In addition to the professionalization of the armed forces, government documents identify the need to reduce the number of soldiers in the Serbian army, today the first in size in the western Balkan region. Belgrade is also encouraged to take measures to bring the army back under the control of civilian power.
Although Serbia believes that part of its territory – Kosovo – is illegitimately occupied by international forces, in September 2006 then President Tadić signed a historic agreement on the status of military forces (Sofa) with the United States, which recognizes and regulates the presence of US soldiers in Kosovo. The parties also committed to increased military cooperation. In the same year, Serbia joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program. Despite this, Serbian public opinion remains strongly hostile to a possible deepening of relations with the Atlantic Alliance, accused of having illegally supported the Kosovar independence request and of having bombed the country during the 1999 military campaign.
In addition to maintaining relations with the US and NATO, Serbia has maintained solid relations, including military ones, with the Russian Federation. In fact, on the occasion of the visits of President Nikolić to Moscow (September 2012) and Putin to Belgrade (October 2014), Serbia and Russia signed some military cooperation memorandums, in which the special relationship between the two countries was reaffirmed.
Serbia and the migrant issue
Between August and September 2015, Serbia was engaged in managing an important flow of displaced persons and refugees from the main crisis areas of the wider Middle East (in particular from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan). A situation that became emergency following the decision of the Hungarian government to build a wall along the border with Serbia. Although Serbia represents only a step in the so-called Balkan migrant route, the emergency has put a strain on the weak national accommodation facilities. In fact, the country has only two centers suitable for managing the incessant flow of migrants: Belgrade and Miratovac, near the city of Preševo, in southern Serbia, where refugees and refugees enter Serbian territory via Macedonia. According to the Serbian Ministry of Labor, Over 100,000 migrants were registered in 2015, of which at least 10,000 who expressed their intention to remain in Serbia. The intensity of the flow, as well as the willingness of the Serbian government itself to direct this movement of people towards the Croatian and Hungarian borders, has fueled tensions with the governments of Budapest and Zagreb. If the situation along the Hungarian crossings (Subotica, Kelebia, Horgoš-Roszke) seems to have stabilized, the greatest tensions have been recorded along the Croatian border, in particular near the Berkasovo-Bapska pass, where most of the migratory flow directed towards Austria, Germany and northern European countries. The intensity of the flow, as well as the willingness of the Serbian government itself to direct this movement of people towards the Croatian and Hungarian borders, has fueled tensions with the governments of Budapest and Zagreb. If the situation along the Hungarian crossings (Subotica, Kelebia, Horgoš-Roszke) seems to have stabilized, the greatest tensions have been recorded along the Croatian border, in particular near the Berkasovo-Bapska pass, where most of the migratory flow directed towards Austria, Germany and northern European countries. The intensity of the flow, as well as the willingness of the Serbian government itself to direct this movement of people towards the Croatian and Hungarian borders, has fueled tensions with the governments of Budapest and Zagreb. If the situation along the Hungarian crossings (Subotica, Kelebia, Horgoš-Roszke) seems to have stabilized, the greatest tensions have been recorded along the Croatian border, in particular near the Berkasovo-Bapska pass, where most of the migratory flow directed towards Austria, Germany and northern European countries.
