2021 Serbia: New internal and external challenges
2021 Serbia: New internal and external challenges

Author(s): Not Specified Author
Subject(s): Politics, Security and defense, Welfare systems, Health and medicine and law
Published by: Mednarodni inštitut za bližnjevzhodne in balkanske študije IFIMES
Keywords: Serbia; 2021; internal challenges; external challenges; COVID-19;
Summary/Abstract: In its response to the Covid-19 pandemic the Republic of Serbia introduced state of emergency on 15 March 2020 and then terminated it on 6 May 2020. From the start of 2020 until the declaration of state of emergency around 400,000 persons entered Serbia, of which around 40,000 persons in the week before the introduction of state of emergency. Majority of them came from high-risk countries affected by the Covid19 pandemic, such as Italy. This required quick decisions of the authorities with respect to the Covid-19 pandemic in order to prevent a collapse of the health care system and a health disaster like the one in Bergamo, Italy. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the world in many aspects. As the pandemic gained pace, Serbia modified its response and calibrated itself to the newly emerged circumstances. The key actors on the international stage used soft power to pursue their foreign policy and geopolitical interests and goals. During the pandemic the European Union was slow and cumbersome, as a result of what other countries tried to seize and fill the created gap. Serbia managed to turn the crisis caused by the Covid19 pandemic into success. In addition to the assistance it provided to other countries at the outbreak of the pandemic, particularly Italy, Serbia also led the mission of saving of human lives in the region. It assisted all the countries in the region, and later embarked on production of vaccines.

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