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Hungarian Minister: Serbia's membership in the EU should not be conditional on Kosovo

2024-02-13 15:09:08, Kosova & Bota CNA

Hungarian Minister: Serbia's membership in the EU should not be conditional

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto, said on Tuesday that Serbia "is ready" to become part of the European Union (EU), adding that its membership in the bloc should not be conditional on the normalization of relations with Kosovo.

In an interview for the Croatian news agency, Hina, he said that making Serbia's EU membership conditional on the normalization of relations with Kosovo is "unfair" to Belgrade, because "this does not depend only on Serbia".

"Isolating Serbia is the worst possible tactic," Szijjarto said.

The head of Hungarian diplomacy said that Serbia is "ready to enter the EU tomorrow", and that without it, as the "biggest and strongest" country in the Western Balkans, "there is no stability in the bloc".

Szijjarto explained the frequent anti-Western and anti-European rhetoric of Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vu?i?, with a sense of frustration due to the lack of progress towards membership, despite "met criteria".

"I believe that the approach of the bureaucracy from Brussels must change towards it [Serbia]," said the Hungarian minister.

Serbia has been a candidate to become a member of the EU since 2012, while it opened membership talks in 2014.

The EU regularly warns that the speed of Serbia's accession process to the bloc will depend on its progress in the dialogue on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which is brokered by Brussels.

Szijjarto also said that the EU project will not end until all Western Balkan countries become its members.

"Brussels needs the [Western Balkans] region more than the region needs it," he said.

Szijjarto announced that during the EU presidency in the second half of this year, Hungary will emphasize the acceleration of this process, as "this will give the EU freshness and new momentum"./ REL





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