On July 21, 2008, according to allcitycodes, the Serbian authorities succeeded in arresting R. Karadžić, who had been wanted by an international arrest warrant since 1996; on July 30, 2008 he was transferred to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
In 2011 the former commander of the Bosnian Serbs R. Mladić, who had been wanted for many years, was extradited to The Hague.
In 2009, against the background of the international financial and economic crisis, Serbia received an aid loan of € 3 billion from the IMF. In the same year, the country applied to join the EU. The regret expressed by the Serbian Parliament and President Tadić about the massacres in Srebrenica and Vukovar by Serbian forces contributed to improving relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia in 2010.
Border and customs disputes with violent clashes between Kosovar Serbs and Kosovar police units in 2011 put a strain on the already strained relations with Kosovo, which Serbia still does not recognize as independent. On March 1, 2012, Serbia received the status of an EU candidate country. Romania and Serbia signed an agreement to protect the Wallachians living in Serbia, who are considered to be a Romanian minority by the neighboring state. After this dispute was resolved, Romania gave up its opposition to candidate status for Serbia. This was preceded by difficult negotiations on the relationship between Serbia and Kosovo. Both sides agreed, among other things. to strive for a cooperative management of the border.
In April 2012, President Tadić resigned in order to start early presidential elections. The parliamentary elections on May 6, 2012 were won by an electoral list run by the SPS with 24.0% of the votes, ahead of a list of the DS (22.1% of the votes). In the presidential elections held at the same time, none of the candidates received an absolute majority. As in 2004 and 2008, there was a runoff between T. Nikolić and B. Tadić, which Nikolić surprisingly won. The SPS chairman I. Dačić, as spokesman for the SPS 1992–2000 a mainstay of the Milošević regime, took over the office of prime minister at the head of a multi-party coalition dominated by the SNS and SPS (confirmed by parliament on July 27, 2012).
Government reshuffle took place at the end of August 2013, in the course of which eleven new ministers were appointed. The negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo, which began in 2012 through EU mediation, turned out to be difficult. This was particularly true for the question of the status of the Serbian population in northern Kosovo and the parallel security and administrative structures there. In April 2013, Serbia and Kosovo finally concluded an agreement that provided for the integration of the Serbian communities in northern Kosovo into the security and administrative structures of Kosovo while at the same time a congestion of autonomy. After this breakthrough, the heads of state and government of the EU spoke out in favor of accession negotiations with Serbia at the end of June 2013. In its progress report on Serbia in October 2013, the EU Commission called for judicial reforms and an intensified fight against corruption. The EU accession negotiations began on January 21, 2014.
In order to be able to carry out domestic political reforms more quickly, the government decided to schedule early elections. These took place on March 16, 2014. The electoral list of the SNS under the leadership of A. Vučić was able to win 158 seats.
As in 2012, the SPS electoral list won 44 seats. The parliament elected A. Vučić on April 27, 2014 with 198 out of 250 votes as prime minister at the head of a center-right coalition with the SPS as the most important partner. Although the SNS list had won an absolute majority of the seats, Vučić waived the possibility of governing alone. The previous Prime Minister I. Dačić (SPS) became Foreign Minister and First Deputy Prime Minister in the newly formed cabinet. In November 2014, E. Rama, an Albanian head of government, visited Serbia for the first time since 1948. A. Vučić traveled to Albania on May 27, 2015 for a return visit. Both sides showed themselves despite long-term differences of opinion, v. a. on the Kosovo question, ready for dialogue.
In 2015, Serbia was also affected by the escalating refugee crisis in Europe. After Hungary had sealed off the border with Serbia with a fence until mid-September 2015, Serbia remained a transit country, which from here v. a. Refugees aspiring to Austria or Germany via Croatia. From November 19, 2015, the authorities of Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia only allowed refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan to pass through unhindered, and from March 9, 2016 only people with valid visas and passports. At the beginning of 2017 there were still around 7,500 stranded refugees in Serbia, most of whom wanted to continue their journey to EU countries.
President Nikolić signed a resolution to dissolve parliament on March 4, 2016 and, at the request of the government, scheduled early elections for April 24, 2016. Prime Minister A. Vučić justified the decision by saying that he needed a clear mandate to complete his reform policy. After the determination of irregularities in the elections on April 24th, a total of 14 districts had to be re-elected on May 4th, 2016. A total of twelve electoral lists made it over the 5% hurdle. The strongest parliamentary force was the SNS electoral list »Serbia wins«, which received 48.3% of the vote and 131 seats. The SPS list secured second place in the parliament with 11% of the votes and 29 mandates. The right-wing nationalist SRS, which failed due to the 5% clause in the 2012 and 2014 elections, became the third strongest force with 8.1% of the vote and 22 seats. The list of the Democratic Party (DS) and the protest movement »Enough« (DJB) each won 16 members of parliament. A. Vučić remained head of government at the head of an SNS / SPS cabinet that was ratified by parliament on August 11, 2016. On June 20, 2016, Serbia and Croatia signed a historical declaration on the settlement of their border and property disputes. At the beginning of November 2016, joint military exercises by Russia, Belarus and Serbia met with criticism from Brussels. At the end of 2016, tensions between Serbia and Kosovo increased again.
In the presidential election on April 2, 2017, A. Vučić was able to clearly prevail against 10 other applicants in the first ballot. Vučić’s election victory, which received around 55.1% of the vote, sparked protest demonstrations across the country that were critical of the government. He was sworn in as President on May 31, 2017. Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić (* 1966) took over the post of head of government on an interim basis. On 15 6. 2017 hit Vučić Parliament Ana Brnabić (* 1975), currently Minister of Public Administration, as new prime minister before. On June 29, 2017, she received the confirmation of a majority of the MPs. This was the first time a woman became head of the Serbian government.
