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In the EU, there is no agreement on the opening of membership chapters with Serbia

2024-11-25 18:35:55, Kosova & Bota CNA

In the EU, there is no agreement on the opening of membership chapters with

Despite the great efforts of Hungary - which currently holds the EU presidency - to postpone the opening of the third chapter of Serbia's membership negotiations in the European Union, the member states did not reach an agreement on such a thing on Monday. Meanwhile, Albania is expected to open new chapters.

Some member states estimate that Serbia - although it has made progress in some areas - has not done enough to merit the advancement of membership negotiations.

So far, Serbia has opened 22 out of a total of 35 chapters of negotiations for membership in the European Union. Of those 22, it has temporarily closed 2.

Negotiations between Belgrade and Brussels have been practically frozen for three years now, due to the non-imposition of sanctions against Russia.

The European Commission, meanwhile, has reiterated that Serbia has met the technical criteria for opening the third chapter, but in the Council some member countries say that Serbia should do more in some political issues.

Among the EU countries, which, according to diplomatic sources, were against or had reservations, are the three Baltic states, but also the Netherlands, Croatia, Finland and Sweden.

The reasons that have been most often cited for not giving the green light to Serbia for now are the failure of Belgrade to adapt its positions to those of the EU in the field of foreign policy, especially with the sanctions against Russia, as well as the need for Serbia to do more in the field of freedom of expression and the rule of law.

Some countries have demanded that Serbia do more to bring to justice those responsible for the attacks in Banjska in the north of Kosovo in the fall of 2023.

An armed group of Serbs attacked the Kosovo Police in September 2023 in the village of Zveçan, killing a sergeant. Millan Radoicic, a former Serbian politician in Kosovo, claimed responsibility for the attack. He faces indictment in Kosovo and is believed to be in Serbia.

Kosovo accuses Serbia of having a hand in this attack, which is denied by official Belgrade.

To help reach the necessary consensus for Serbia, Hungary - which presides over the EU presidency - has circulated a non-paper in which it has mentioned some results that Serbia, according to it, has made and the obligations it has undertake to fulfill them in the future.

Radio Free Europe has had access to this non-paper, in which it is stated that next year Serbia will adapt more to the EU in the field of foreign policy and that Serbia has expressed its commitment to respect the obligations arising from The agreement on the path towards the normalization of relations with Kosovo.

But, at the moment, a group of EU countries have not changed their position. This issue, according to sources within the Hungarian presidency of the EU, will remain on the agenda at the meetings of the ambassadors of the EU member states.

Meanwhile, EU member countries have reached an agreement to open new chapters in the process of negotiations with Albania.

They have requested that Albania disclose its negotiating position in order to open the chapters related to the field of foreign policy and defense on December 17.

In October, Albania opened the first chapter of negotiations for membership with the European Union.

The opening of chapters for Albania came after a long wait, as it had applied for membership in 2009 and received the candidate country statute in 2014./ REL