Bilcik: EU membership negotiations with Serbia will not be frozen

PHOTO: TANJUG/ TARA RADOVANOVIC

The rapporteur of the European Parliament for Serbia, Vladimir Bilcik, said that negotiations with Serbia will not be frozen, but stressed the importance of aligning Belgrade's foreign policy with the EU.

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The Foreign Policy Committee of the European Parliament adopted a report on a new EU enlargement strategy, which, among other things, demands that negotiations with Serbia should not continue until Belgrade aligns with European sanctions against Russia.

The author of the report, Croatian socialist Tonino Picula, says that the European Parliament does not demand suspension of negotiations with Serbia, but makes their continuation conditional on Serbia imposing sanctions against Russia.

"The lack of harmonizing with EU foreign policy has its own political and financial price. Now it is up to Belgrade to 'read' this political signal from the European Parliament and adapt to it. One should bear in mind that on the European continent, only three countries have not imposed sanctions agaisnt Russia: Turkey, Belarus and Serbia. With such a low level of compliance with the common foreign policy, the question arises whether Serbia really wants to be a member of the EU," Picula said in Brussels.

The EP rapporteur for Serbia, Vladimir Bilcik, told RTS that this is not about putting pressure on Belgrade - but that Serbia is expected to confirm its choice in favor of EU membership.

Bilcik stressed that negotiations with Serbia will not be frozen and that there is a lot of work within the already opened chapters on which progress can be made, including work on Cluster 4 on energy and the environment, where the EU can help improve Serbia's air quality and energy transition of the country.

"However, in order to open new chapters and clusters, very clear decisions from Serbia will be needed. In order for the negotiations on Serbia's membership to really progress, we need a clear signal that Serbia is serious when it talks about its European path, and that it is working with us. That is why alignment with (EU) foreign policy is a critical issue," Vladimir Bilcik told RTS.

Bilcik assessed that it is Europe that can help citizens of Serbia to achieve a more prosperous future for all, not Russia or China.

"We want Serbia to make the right choice. This is the period when the history of Europe is being written. Russia is losing this war, Europe will win and we want Serbia to be on the side of the winner," Bilcik said.

The report supported by the Foreign Policy Committee of the European Parliament states that "the EU should make it a priority to align the candidate countries with its foreign policy and continue negotiations with Serbia only if it aligns with EU sanctions against Russia and achieves significant progress in reforms related to the path toward the EU."

The report on the new enlargement strategy calls for a change in decision-making methods and broader use of majority instead of unanimous decision-making in order to avoid unjustified process blockades.

It is proposed that the candidate countries that progress faster should be "rewarded" with earlier admission to the common European market, with the use of advantages and funds that are available only to member countries.

The enlargement report's final adoption in the form of a resolution of the European Parliament is expected at a plenary session in November.

The resolution has no binding force, but will be sent as a recommendation to the European Commission and to member countries.

(Telegraf.rs)