Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Why Has Serbia U-Turned on Russia?" video.

  1.  @Writeous0ne  He is right thought, joining the EU is a far bigger prize than what Russia offers them, and even thought the money is helpful, the real prize is the reforms of the political and economic system, that encourages a lot more international investment and economic growth, it also adds another check and balance on the political system and for the most part, it works really well as you see with most eastern EU countries that joined that are far better off than the none eastern European countries not in the EU. With all that said, the EU isn't perfect as we see with Hungary and Poland, but one or two bad apples shouldn't discourage the achievement of what the EU and its members have achieved. In any case, Serbia and no other country is going to join the EU until there are reforms of the EU when it comes to the veto rules, which is ironic as Hungary and Poland want the EU to expand more but they are the biggest obstacles on why it won't expand without some major reforms on the EU, reforms that will likely have to be done over the next 5 years or some of those countries on the waiting list might get fed up and look elseware, in other words, the EU can't put treaty change off for long.
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  2. I think it's reality that's dawning on Serbia, at first, they thought they could back Russia, that Russia would do well in Ukraine and Russia could weather the storm. The truth is, it's been a disaster for Russia in Ukraine, it's hitting the Russian economy hard whiles having impact on human life, they are also seeing that the EU and US are in this over the long term and with all the sanctions and banning of oil and gas being put on Russia, it's putting Serbia in a tough spot. Serbia could be thinking, do they want to be on the wrong side of history? They backed the wrong horse but it's clearly not working out and probably what worries Serbia the most is how weak these sanctions could make Russia as it continues to hit the economy, plus Russia being isolated from the world. Serbia likely knows that the EU is going to continue to expand in the future and as more countries join that, Serbia doesn't want to be the meat in the sandwich, with bad relations with the real economic powers on its doorstep. The truth is, Serbia is getting a reality check, they likely see Russia as a declining political and economic power whiles seeing the EU continue to expand eastwards, with Russia going down the toilet and the EU growing in importance as an economic power in the region, many in the Serbian government are likely coming to the conclusion that they can't afford to get on the wrong side of the EU and the west and need to build stronger ties with them. Still thought, it would be interesting to see the EU continue to expand, only to have Serbia surrounded by EU countries, a bit like Switzerland, but in any case, Serbia have got a long way to go to redeem it's self here.
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