Vucevic Signs SNS-CCP Cooperation Memorandum in Beijing

Serbian Progressive Party leader Milos Vucevic signed a memorandum of cooperation between SNS and the Communist Party of China in Beijing on 25 May.

The ceremony took place while Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic was in the Chinese capital on an official state visit. The document was signed on Youth Day.

SNS headquarters said the memorandum formalises an allied relationship between the two political movements. It opens the door to joint education and cadre programmes.

The SNS delegation, travelling in parallel with the state protocol, included members of the party’s Main Board and representatives of the SNS Socialist Youth Union. Before the signing, the delegation toured the Museum of the Communist Party of China.

In a press statement, Vucevic described China as a model of wisdom, strength, and development. SNS said the party’s most important international partnership had been found precisely in the CCP.

What kind of cooperation the memorandum envisages

The full text of the memorandum has not been published. According to the SNS post-ceremony statement, the document covers several forms of cooperation:

• regular consultations between the two party leaderships
• cadre exchange through party schools
• joint working groups on digital transformation
• a programme of study visits for youth members between Belgrade and Beijing

According to our information, a permanent contact office in Beijing is also envisaged, under the SNS Socialist Youth Union. A specific budget framework was not part of the released portion of the document.

The memorandum is not a bilateral treaty between two states, but an act between two political parties. Under international law it does not commit the Serbian state to specific policies. SNS stressed that the document does not change Serbia’s foreign policy course and does not enter the competence of state organs.

What the opposition asks about party parallelism

From the opposition coalition Serbia Centre, leader Zdravko Ponos said:

The memorandum raises the question of which direction Serbia is really heading. The ironclad friendship between the two states is turning more and more into an ironclad embrace, where Serbia enters ever deeper economic and now party dependency.

Democratic Party leader Zoran Lutovac said a memorandum with a party that runs a one-party system is asymmetric by definition. It raises questions about the freedom of action of the Serbian political scene.

From the government side, National Assembly speaker Ana Brnabic described the memorandum as a logical continuation of strategic partnership. She noted that Serbia already has developed inter-party cooperation with parties in Hungary, Republika Srpska, and Italy.

Constitutional law professor Vladan Petrov told Vreme on 27 May that inter-party agreements in Serbia are governed by the Law on Political Parties. They do not require ratification by the National Assembly.

What follows the visit

During the visit, Vucevic toured the CCP Central Committee Party Studies Centre. He discussed the organisational structure and education programmes of the Chinese ruling party with his hosts.

The visit also included several large Chinese companies with interest in the Serbian market, according to SNS headquarters.

The SNS Beijing visit ended on 26 May, while President Vucic’s state protocol continues through 28 May. SNS headquarters announced the memorandum will be reviewed at a session of the party Presidency in the first week of June. The first concrete steps in implementation will be defined there.

Will the SNS diaspora in Asia gain a new organisational unit as part of this cooperation?