Serbia-Spain relations are foreign relations between Serbia and Spain. Both countries established diplomatic relations on October 14, 1916.[1] Serbia has an embassy in Madrid. Spain has an embassy in Belgrade. Both countries are member states of the UN, Interpol, COE and OSCE. Spain is member state of the EU since 1986 and Serbia is a candidate country since 2012 negotiating its future membership which Spain is strongly supporting.[2] In relation to third parties, both countries supported position of Argentina in its Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute with the United Kingdom in the past.[3] [4]
Spain is one of five member states of the European Union that does not recognize unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo and is actively opposing its membership in international organisations such as UNESCO and Interpol.[5] [6] In addition, Spain is supporting Serbia's insistence on establishment of Community of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo as provided by the 2013 Brussels Agreement signed under the auspices of the European Union.[7] Serbia strongly supported Spanish territorial integrity during the 2017–2018 Spanish constitutional crisis, with Serbian Foreign Minister stating that Spain is one of the best international friends of Serbia.[8]
After Expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs ruling Castile and Aragon many Sephardi Jews settled in Balkan provinces of what was then Ottoman Empire.[9] With the rise of nationalism among Orthodox Christians of Ottoman Empire they have organised rebellions against Muslim ruling elite starting with the 1804 Serbian Revolution against Ottoman rule. Revolution was running in parallel with the Napoleonic Wars. Process of Decline of the Ottoman Empire will continue until the end of First Balkan War in 1913 with the gradual reconquest of the Balkan peninsula by newly independent states and southward retreat of Ottoman Empire. In 1882 philosopher and senator Ángel Pulido is writing how one Sephardic merchant at the market in Belgrade told him "I am not Spanish from there [Spain], but Spanish from the East."[9] In the same year Milan I of Serbia was awarded with the Order of Charles III on the occasion of his proclamation as the King of Serbia.[9] In 1895 Đorđe Popović-Daničar have published the first translation of Don Quixote into Serbian which according to him was "the best novel in the world".[9] In his translation undertaking he was helped by Sephardi Jew Hajim Davičo.[9] In 1903 Vicente Blasco Ibáñez arrived at Belgrade on the Orient Express service where he stated that city is "relatively cosmopolitan, with trams, cafes, and theaters, but full of nervous military men, women wanting to imitate French fashion and drunk orthodox priests".[9] Since 1910 Spain had one diplomatic representative in the Kingdom of Serbia, Mr Francisco Serrat i Bonastre, who will stay at that function throughout the Balkan Wars all until the 1914 and the beginning of First World War which began after the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, July Crisis and Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.[9]
Serbian Campaign of World War I resulted in Serbia losing a third of its entire population.[9] After the Serbian army's retreat through Albania, which resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, the country's government together with some of its population settled at the Greek island of Corfu.[9] Spain was a neutral power in the war but one which was actively involved in mediation among the conflicting parties.[9] At one point Spain was involved in the provision and protection of 1,500 Serbian children and the release of 100 prisoners of war in Banja Luka in 1917.[9] The Serbian Government on Corfu and Spain established diplomatic relations in 1916 and in the same year the first Serbian ambassador arrived at Madrid.[9]
During the interwar years, famous Serbian poet Jovan Dučić (1919-1921) and Ivo Andrić (1928-1929, 1961 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature) were serving as ambassadors of the newly founded Kingdom of Yugoslavia to Spain.[9] At the same time Kalmi Baruh was in Spain on scholarship received from the Spanish Government studying for the post-doctoral historical studies in the Spanish center of Historical Studies, Madrid.
The relations between Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Kingdom of Spain were relatively cordial since the end of Francoist period in Spain.[10] They were mostly kept at the diplomatic level as Spain was focusing on its integrations into European Community and NATO.[10] Some among the Spanish politicians were considering the option to follow the Yugoslav Non-Aligned Movement way like Malta and Cyprus did at the time.[10] Future Spanish foreign minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos served in Belgrade as a young diplomat in the 1980s.[10] Spanish presence in Yugoslavia would later be transferred to Serbia and would not be completely cut of even during the years of Sanctions against Yugoslavia.[10]
In 1991, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain Francisco Fernández Ordóñez proposed to the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Community to initiate a quick recognition and enlargement procedure with Yugoslavia as the only way to prevent the breakup of the country.[11] Spain preferred to be perceived as the neutral player in the region during the conflict but its foreign policy was generally sympathetic towards Serbia which was perceived as the core state of former multinational and diverse Yugoslav state.[11] It was against Spanish political instincts to recognize independence of Croatia and Slovenia at the time of Breakup of Yugoslavia, yet as a new member state of the European Community country was reluctant to break the European unity.[10] At the time, newly united Germany was the strongest advocate of independence for Croatia and Slovenia with all 12 members of the European Community, as well as Austria and Switzerland following German push for recognition.[12]
Under the leadership of José María Aznar, the Spanish Government had decided that the Spanish Armed Forces would be a part of the coalition enacting the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Out of 16 NATO member states at the time, 13 took part in the intervention. The member states that did not partake in the bombings were Iceland, which maintained no standing army; Luxembourg with a very small standing army; and Greece as the only major member state which expressed strong opposition to the intervention. 38% of Spanish citizens supported the participation of Spain and 42% of them opposed it.[9] At the same time all of the Spanish political parties in parliament, with the exception of the radical left which held 23 out of 350 seats, voted in favor of Spanish participation in NATO intervention.[11] Javier Solana was the NATO Secretary-General at the time of intervention.[11] Spanish F-18s were among the first planes to strike targets in Serbia; Aznar's Government supported subsequent interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq as well.
On 17 February 2008 Assembly of Kosovo adopted its second unilateral declaration of independence. Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija was not under de facto control of Government of Serbia at the time of unilateral declaration of independence and was under the control of the United Nations UNMIK and NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force missions. Spain, together with Greece, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia among the European Union member states refused to recognize independence of Kosovo on the basis of unilateral declaration without agreement reached through the negotiations with the central government in Belgrade fearing the potential consequences of the Kosovo independence precedent for the world order. By mid-September 2009 Spain finished its complete withdrawal from the KFOR mission as it was no longer ‘status-neutral’.[10] The press and experts criticized the withdrawal but 70% of Spanish citizens viewed thewithdrawal from Kosovo as a positive move.[10] Two weeks after announcing the withdrawal from KFOR, the Spanish government announced its decision to withdraw the nine Spanish policemen that where part of EULEX mission.[10]
On 11 January 2009 Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain Miguel Angel Moratinos urged the Government of Netherlands to unblock Serbia's Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union which at the time was already signed but its implementation had been blocked by the Netherlands.[13] After the Council's recommendation of 28 February 2012, Serbia received full candidate status on 1 March. On 28 June 2013 the European Council endorsed the Council of Ministers conclusions and recommendations to open accession negotiations with Serbia. Spain is strongly supporting Serbia's accession negotiations.[14] [15] During the 2017–2018 Spanish constitutional crisis, Serbia expressed strong support for the territorial integrity of Spain and for the actions of Spanish Government.[16] On the meeting of European External Action Service in 2018 Spanish representatives together with some of those from Visegrád Group required to get actively involved in the EU facilitated Belgrade–Pristina negotiations.[17]
Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić visited Spain on 23 February 2022, with scheduled meetings with king Felipe VI and prime minister Pedro Sánchez, seeking to seal the purchase of two military aircraft C-295.[18] On 29 July 2022, in the wake of a visit to the Western Balkans (including Belgrade) of Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez and a meeting with Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić, the former stressed the Spanish support to the advance in Serbia's EU membership negotiations, also declaring that "international law and the territorial integrity of nations must be respected" in relation to Kosovo.[19]
In his novel "Danube: A Sentimental Journey from the Source to the Black Sea", Italian novelist Claudio Magris is describing 1734 settlement of Spaniards in the town of Bečkerek in modern-day Vojvodina where they have established a so-called New Barcelona.[20] Northern Serbian city of Zrenjanin is mentioned in the novel "Waiting for Robert Capa" (under its old name of Petrovgrad) of Spanish author Susana Fortes.[21] Jewish protagonist's brothers who are running from persecution, are settling in Petrovgrad, just on the border with Romanian, because as protagonist claim, there was never tradition of antisemitism in Zrenjanin.[21]
Joint Spanish-Serbian Chamber of Commerce (Spanish; Castilian: Camara de Comercio Hispano-Serbia, Serbian: Шпанско-српска привредна комора) was established in Madrid on July 6, 2017.[1] As its first president Oscar de la Heras was elected, and Serbian Ambassador in Spain Danko Prokić as its first honorary president.[1]
| Trade | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Serbian export to Spain | 128,500,000 € | 181,700,000 € | 183,200,000 € | 165,000,000 € |
 Spanish export to Serbia | 141,800,000 € | 173,600,000 € | 200,000,000 € | 247,000,000 € |