Serbian parliament speaker and former prime minister Ana Brnabić said the European Union’s current approach to the bloc’s enlargement is unfair and noted that the situation has changed since Serbia began accession talks, writes Politico.
Brnabić told Politico during the GLOBSEC forum in Prague on the 21st of May that the EU is changing its position on the bloc’s enlargement, and it is clearly becoming an increasingly hot issue. She added that the change in position is especially visible in the context of Russian aggression, and in connection with Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The politician explained that when Serbia began negotiations in 2014, it was about gradual integration into a common foreign and security policy, and before becoming a member of the bloc, this had to be done 100 percent; Now the rules of the game have changed, and Brnabić does not believe that this is fair.
Serbia obtained the status of an EU candidate country in 2012, and began negotiations in 2014. Asked whether Serbia’s tense relations with Moscow complicate the accession process, Brnabić admitted that this does not make the process easier, and this is more than visible, since since 2021 Serbia has not started a new round of the integration process to get closer to the EU. The politician pointed out that other Western Balkan countries, such as
Montenegro and Albania, have advanced in the negotiations, while Serbia’s negotiations have stalled.
This is not because Serbia is not ready, but because the country has not aligned its approach with the EU’s foreign and security policy.
The former prime minister said she considered the narrative of Serbia’s democratic collapse unfair, and that Serbia was singled out because it had a different view on foreign affairs. She cited Albania as an example, where recent opposition-led protests ended in clashes between protesters and police: “We saw, for example, interestingly, tear gas and water cannons used against protesters in Albania, but no one said a word.” Brnabić said that, in her opinion, Albania had aligned its foreign and security policy 100 percent with the EU’s position, and that was why the bloc was turning a blind eye to what was happening. “Whereas in case of Serbia, you do push to quite a large extent false narratives and you do apply a different kind of standard,” she added.
The EU is considering cutting Serbia’s pre-accession funds by as much as 1.5 billion euros, citing the country’s declining democratic standards.
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