- Political relations
Germany never recognised Serbia as a real equal partner. Main conclusions of the German Ministry of Foreign affairs are that bilateral relations are close. German policy towards Serbia focuses on providing support for political and economic reform in the country. The aims are to further the process of democratic change, to promote the rule of law in Serbia and to achieve progress in the country’s EU accession process.
From German point of view the overarching goal of development cooperation with Serbia is to provide support with reforms for EU accession. Since October 2021, the focus has been on implementing the green agenda, specifically on developing renewable energies and increasing energy efficiency as well as transforming the economy in a socially just and economically viable manner. To this end, Germany has agreed a strategic climate partnership with Serbia and the Western Balkans region. Other issues include vocational education and training, support of the Serbian private sector and good governance. Since 2000, the German Government has provided approximately 2.3 billion euro for all these issues, making Germany the largest bilateral donor.
High level dialog. During last 5 years it was a state visit to Berlin of the President of Serbia Alexander Vucic (05.05.2022), as well as a telephone conversation on 13.05.2024. On the other side there are not German high level visits in Serbia.
Serbia and Germany have different positions on Kosovo’s independence, (which is recognised by Germany, but not yet by Serbia), as well as on western sanction against Russia because of the war in Ukraine.
Germany is presenting itself as a key partner of Serbia in the EU. In addition, there are close ties between Germany and Serbia on account of the large number of Serbs and people of Serbian origin residing permanently in Germany. Different estimates put the total number of people of Serbian descent currently living in Germany at between 400,000 and 800,000.
- Economic relations
When we are talking about economic interests, Germany has been one of Serbia’s main economic partners for years. More than 900 companies with German capital employ some 79,000 people. The German-Serbian Business Association has over 400 member companies.
Trade relations are very extensive. In 2022, Germany exported goods for $4.74 billion to Serbia. The main products that Germany exported to Serbia are Copper Wire ($254M), Packaged Medicaments ($241M), and Cars ($213M). During the last 16 years the exports of Germany to Serbia have increased at an annualized rate of 6.99%, from $1.61B in 2006 to $4.74B in 2022.
In 2022, Germany did not export any services to Serbia.
In 2022, Serbia exported goods for $4billion to Germany. The main products that Serbia exported to Germany were Insulated Wire ($550M), Electric Motors ($398M), and Electric Motor Parts ($286M). During the last 16 years the exports of Serbia to Germany have increased at an annualized rate of 11.7%, from $681M in 2006 to $4B in 2022.
In 2019, Serbia exported services to Germany worth $708M, with Other business services ($250M), Transportation ($146M), and Computer and information services ($122M) being the largest in terms of value.
Comparison. In 2022, Germany ranked 5 in the Economic Complexity Index (ECI 1.78), and 3 in total exports ($1.6T). That same year, Serbia ranked 36 in the Economic Complexity Index (ECI 0.75), and 70 in total exports ($30.3B).
The main implementing organisations and instruments of Germany for economic influence in Serbia are the German Development Cooperation (GDC) and KFW development bank. The funds of Development Cooperation with Serbia are primarily from the budget of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The projects span the entire territory of Serbia.
In a publication of the GDC Serbia is a country playing a key role in the political stability of South-Eastern Europe and represents one of the most important partner countries for German development cooperation in the region.
Economic cooperation between Germany and Serbia is focused on three key areas agreed jointly by the governments of these countries. The goal of German support has been to bring Serbia closer to the European Union and to strengthen the efficiency of the economy, to improve the living standards of citizens.
Following documents of GDC and the KFW, the main area for support are:
Good Governance. The declared goals in this area of cooperation are improving public services for citizens and enhancing their opportunities for social participation through strengthening the efficiency and effectiveness of public administration, ensuring transparency and participation and claiming and enforcing rights.
Climate & Energy (Environment). Serbia has committed itself to the European Union’s climate goals. This includes a pledge to align the national climate and energy policy with the European Green Deal. The joint cooperation contributes to the fulfilment of these EU requirements with a special focus on the topics „energy“ and „environment and climate change“. Germany is supporting Serbia on this path with different instruments and on different levels as strategy and policy formulation, elaboration of technical and administrative framework conditions as well as provision of required investment programs, knowledge transfer and skills development. Germany finances and supports projects to increase the share of renewable energy sources, higher energy efficiency and for setting the framework for decarbonisation. Moreover, Germany finance the construction of state of the art water and waste-water treatment plants. The Serbian Ministry of European Integration (MEI) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) have agreed on the importance of a strengthened effort towards a climate-oriented transformative process. Both countries are convinced that a Strategic Climate Cooperation is of mutual benefit towards the better achievement of the Paris Agreement goals, the EU Green Deal and the implementation of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans.
Sustainable Economic Development and Employment. The transition to a climate-neutral, environmentally friendly and inclusive economy is a main requirement for accessing the EU. In this context, Germany supports the private sector, especially small and medium sized enterprises, and the Serbian workforce to adapt to the new challenges and needed skills.
A Task Team comprising of members from GDC and KfW has been established in order to support the implementation of the Climate Partnership. The Team’s main tasks refer to providing tailored ad-hoc support to partner structures as well as enhanced coordination of financial and technical support of ongoing development cooperation.
As prerequisites for sustainable development, gender equality and women empowerment are being advanced in German Development Cooperation through the 2030 Agenda and cross-sectoral strategy on gender equality, gender mainstreaming, women empowerment and consideration of different needs of men and women in all relevant areas of work reflect the high commitment of German Development Cooperation to the topic.
- Cultural relations
Cultural life in Serbia is rich and wide-ranging, and cultural cooperation with Germany is close. The Goethe-Institut Belgrade offers an extensive and highly attractive programme, with well-attended events such as exhibitions, lectures, concerts and plays and a great demand for German language classes. German is firmly established as the second most popular foreign language after English and is learned by almost half of pupils.
The small remaining German minority (known as Danube Swabians), of which there are 4064 members registered in the group’s National Council according to the 2011 census, has 14 cultural associations. With more than 750 members, St. Gerhard in Sombor is the largest association.
Comments: Germany never recognised Serbia as a real equal partner. German policy towards Serbia focuses on providing support for political and economic reform in the country. Nevertheless, German economic interests in Serbia are significant: Germany exported $4.74B to Serbia; more than 900 companies with German capital employ some 79,000 people; the German-Serbian Business Association has over 400 member companies.
This explains the rather close relationship between the previous German leadership in the person of Chancellor Angela Merkel and the trust (to the extent possible) demonstrated by Aleksandar Vucic towards her. Chancellor Scholz’s government definitely does not have the same attitude towards Belgrade, but when things come down to a choice between Belgrade and Pristina, economic interests have their say.
