“Tourism in the Balkans is increasing, and so is cooperation between countries”
Interview with Natasja Nikolić-Branković
End of August 2022, Natasja gave a lecture at the symposium “Sultans Trail: Close
Encounters of East and West” in Haarlem, The Netherlands. It was mainly concerned with
the position and attitude of Serbia on cooperation within Europe.
Two years later, we ask her how the Western Balkans have been doing since then. We do
this also because Natasja recently became an advisor to the Academic Council of the
Sultans Trail.
As an academic, Natasja is particularly interested in geopolitical developments in
Southeastern Europe. She studied European Studies and “Public Administration” at the
Haagse Hogeschool and International Relations at the University of Amsterdam.
Several years ago she attended the Summer Academy of the OSCE (the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe) in Vienna, in order to function as an international
election observer. Such observation is an important issue for the OSCE.
Observers assess whether elections are carried out fairly and whether correct democratic
procedures have preceded them.
Natasja develops and presents lectures on European Affairs in many places and on many
occasions, like at the time of the Sultans Trail Symposium. She is also part of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs' “Academy for International Relations” in The Hague, where her
responsibilities include regional studies including on the Western Balkans. It is important that
diplomats sent to that region be familiar with the history, culture and political position of those
countries in order to do their jobs well.
The same ministry has a “pool” of election observers.
Natasja is mostly deployed “on the edges of Europe,” also because of her knowledge of the
Russian and Serbian languages. Recently she was an observer in two elections in Serbia
and in the presidential elections in Turkey.
Let’s dwell a little on her personal history.
She tells how her mother, as a young woman, girl actually, came to The Netherlands in the
1970s as part of the “guest worker program” of the Netherlands. The Netherlands had made
an agreement for this purpose with the then Yugoslavia. As was also the case with Morocco
and Turkey. Dutch industry and services needed more cheap labour than was available “at
home” .
Natasja's mother started working for “Red Band”, a company in the sweets sector, and lived
with a whole group of colleagues in a former monastery near Roosendaal (Brabant in the
south of the country). She came to stay in the Netherlands, “out of love”. Natasja's father,
who was also from Yugoslavia, worked in the shipping sector, in Rotterdam.
As a recent development in Southeast Europe, Natasja sees a marked increase in tourism in
that region. That seems to contradict opinions, or assumptions, that the war against Ukraine
and other political upheavals such as in Hungary and Kosovo would prevent that. But
Natasja knows her figures and data.
She thinks that this growth is mainly because tourists are getting a little tired of traditional
holiday destinations such as Spain, Portugal and France. They are now opting more for other
still unknown parts of Europe, with unspoiled and beautiful nature, splendid cities and
picturesque landscapes.
There are also more “hikers” for all kinds of exciting and adventurous trails available there.
So the market for the Sultans Trail can grow there as well.
Geopolitically speaking, cooperation with Europe for the region should be higher on the
agenda, but the same applies vice versa. The EU should recognize that Southeast Europe is
very important for its own development and position.
It is wonderful that Croatia became a member of the European Union in 2013. But other
players, such as China and Russia, are going to cooperate with Balkan countries much more
than before and make a political point of it.
Particularly in Serbia, Russian propaganda seems to be greatly stepped up. That Russian
influence is mainly cultural and religious in nature. Since the start of the war against Ukraine,
many Russians have fled to Serbia and live and work there. Their number is estimated at
200,000.
China is the biggest investor from outside Europe, in mining, infrastructure and trade. More
and more people even want to learn Chinese because of that cooperation.
The EU's financial contribution is still the largest, and larger than that of Russia and China
combined. But the perception of this is the other way around, both in the region and in the
EU itself. And the media highlight EU contributions less than those of Russia and China
example.
So the European Commission and the European Council have a bad PR policy here.
Natasja herself says she considers this misrepresentation of great importance and she
always makes reference to it in her lectures.
There are sensitivities in Southeastern Europe, including in Serbia and Hungary, that stem
from older history but also from more recent periods, such as the 20th century. That century
is sometimes referred to by historians as the most violent ever. Those sensitivities resemble
victim’s feelings: “The others don't understand us”.
Visitors and tourists should be aware of this and act with care.
These sensitivities also apply to the heritage of the Ottoman Empire, whose value is still
often ignored.
On a positive note, Natasja says that in the region as a whole there has been an increase in
mutual, international cooperation. A “Regional Cooperation Council” has been established for
this purpose. It promotes mutual tourism, for example, and funds projects of and by young
people. The headquarters is in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Natasja is strongly convinced that it is very important that this mutual cooperation be firmly
stepped up and that the EU, through cultural and economic cooperation with the region,
pursues the great importance of Europe as a geopolitical player.
Ton Waarts
Academic Council Sultans Trail
August 2024
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