ЕВРОПА И ДУНАВ: Дунав у геополитичким стратегијама европских земаља

Abstract

Proceedings from the international scientific conference held on 26. and 27. June 2023 in Belgrade, “Europe and the Danube: the Danube in the geopolitical strategies of European countries”, edited by Zoran Milošević and Miša Stojadinović.
There are 44 countries in the world without access to the sea and the world’s oceans, and Serbia is among them. This fact and how it reflects on the geopolitical possibilities of the state, as it limits it in a number of factors (from economic to security). Also, a landlocked country is not considered a complete country. However, Serbia has the Danube.

It was this fact that caused the West from the beginning of the 19th century to try to deny Serbia access to the sea and oceans, about which there are several excellent monographs and studies. Of course, the separation of Montenegro from Serbia, as an undoubtedly ethnically Serbian country, can also be added to that policy. The meaning of this separation is actually preventing Serbia from having access to the Adriatic.

Nevertheless, Serbia has the Danube, which enables it to move towards the North and Baltic Seas, i.e. towards the Black Sea. However, even that does not suit the Western powers, and they started supporting the separatists in AP Vojvodina in order to take away this river route to the seas from Serbia. It is no secret that NATO is behind everything and the desire to turn the Danube into an inland waterway that is exclusively controlled by this militaristic alliance, with the desire to use this communication for further penetration into the East, i.e. Caucasus.

In this sense, the European Union adopted a Strategy for the Danube, but it should be added that the member states also have their own geopolitical strategies concerning this river. Therefore, the organization of an international scientific conference on the geopolitical strategies of European states related to the Danube seemed to us a responsible reaction to current events.

Also, based on the insight into the bibliography presented by Dajana Lazarevic, it can be seen that Serbian scientists did not pay particular attention to the Danube, i.e. that a very small number of works on geopolitics. 

26 papers were published in the collection. Here are some:

Milomir Stepić, The Danube in the context of the current European and world geopolitical regrouping;

Zoran Milošević / Ema Kraktus, The Danube, NATO and the strategy of the European Union for the Danube;

Braco Kovačević, The Danube in geopolitics;

Vanja Glišin, The Danube in the vision of Germany of geopolitics;

Kirill Shevchenko, Oleg Kazak, The Danube in the geopolitical plans and socio-political thought of Austria and Hungary in the interwar period (1918-1938);

Aleksandra Kolaković, The Danube in the geopolitical strategies of France: the role of science and scientists in the historical and current perspective;

Emil Milanov, The importance of the Danube River for the formation of geopolitical and geoeconomic strategies of the countries along the Danube;

Dragan Trailović, The importance of the Danube for the Chinese “Belt and Road” initiative, potential benefits and possible challenges;

A. V. Baranov, The importance of the Danube in Russian geopolitics from the 18th to the beginning of the 21st century;

Eduard A. Popov,  DANUBE – THE ETERNAL RETURN OF RUSSIA: Historical retrospective and geopolitical perspective;

Vakulina Elena, Belous Natalija, Perspectives of Russian interests on the Danube;

Vakhitov Rustem Rinatovich, Eurasian the picture of the Danube;

Dajana Lazarevic, The topicality of the geopolitics of the Danube in contemporary Serbian science.