French-Serbian relations
 |
|
 France |
 Serbia |
|---|---|
French-Serbian relations are foreign relations between France and Serbia. Both countries established diplomatic relations on January 18, 1879, between French Third Republic and Kingdom of Serbia. France has an embassy in Belgrade. Serbia has an embassy in Paris, with diplomat Dr. Predrag Simić. Serbia also has 2 consulates (in Lyon and Strasbourg). Both countries are members of United Nations, Council of Europe, Partnership for Peace, and Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). After a short period of severance caused by the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, France’s diplomatic relations with Serbia (then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) were restored on 16 November 2000. Since 2006, Serbia is an observer on the Francophonie.
There are between 70,000 and 100,000 people of Serbian descent living in France.
Serbia and France have a history of sincere and noble relations. Those where seriously shaken with France participation in 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, and Kosovo war, but have been improving since 2000.
The oldest documented possible contact between the two sides was the marriage of Stephen Uroš I of Serbia and Helen of Anjou. The first important contacts of French and Serbs came only in the 19th century when French travel writers first wrote about this Balkan country. In the 19th century, Karađorđe Petrović, leader of Serbian Revolution, sent a letter to Napoleon expressing his admiration, while in the French parliament, Victor Hugo made a speech asking France to assist Serbia and to protect the Serbian population from Ottoman crimes. Rapid development of bilateral relations followed, so that the people in Serbia saw a great new friend in "mighty France", that could protect them from the Ottomans and Habsburgs. Relations between Serbia and France continued to improve until the First World War, when the "common struggle" against a common enemy reached its peak. Before the war France won the sympathy of the Serbian population by building railways, opening French Schools, a Consulate and a French Bank. Several Serbian kings from this period studied at universities in Paris, as well as large part of the future diplomats. Serbs gained a sense of Francophile because all these activities moved them away from the Ottoman and Habsburg empires. The Serbian-French alliance until 1914 even threatened the traditional inclination towards Russia. Great humanitarian and military assistance was sent by France to Serbia during the First World War, including assistance in the evacuation of children, civilians and military at the end of the war, and the support of French newspaper headlines. Even today, these actions remain deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness of a large number of Serbs.
...
Wikipedia