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The Council of the European Union did not give the green light to open new chapters in Serbia before the end of the year
The Council of the European Union did not reach an agreement on the opening of any new chapter in the negotiations on the accession of Serbia at the end of this year, RTS reported on its website.
Photo: Benoit BOURGEOISAt the time of finalizing this issue of our document, it was unknown whether the Draft EU Council Conclusions on Enlargement had been adopted, which, among other things, suggested that our country focus on “the most important and urgent reforms”, especially complying with the criteria of Chapters 23 and 24, which include “the construction of an independent and efficient judiciary, constitutional reform, the fight against corruption and organized crime.”
RTS reported that the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Bulgaria did not give the green light to open the chapter to Serbia, “citing deficiencies and delays in the rule of law reforms and the recent annual report of the European Commission.”
This means that, for the first time since January 2014, when it started accession negotiations, Serbia will not open any negotiating chapter for a year.
Regarding the non-opening of the chapter on Serbia, Viola von Cramon Taubadel, Green MP and rapporteur for Kosovo in the European Parliament, told Danas: “We believe this is an important signal and that it is good news for an effective approach to merit-based enlargement. “
When asked how significant it is to open new chapters, as Serbia has accepted the new EU Enlargement Methodology, our interlocutor states: “The chapters are still opened individually, but according to the new Methodology, they are treated together, in larger groups. “
– The opening of a new chapter is a sign that the process is moving forward in the accession negotiations. Therefore, Mr Vučić would like to show that everything is going well in Serbia and that the country is making progress in the process of European integration. However, EU Enlargement Commissioner Varheji has repeatedly stressed that “essentials come first”, which means that if there are problems with essential democratic institutions in a country, the enlargement process should not continue. Unfortunately, that is the case in Serbia. The very essence of democratic principles has been compromised by the behavior of the Vučić regime. We see the non-opening of the chapter as a clear encouragement for those who strive to achieve and defend human rights standards, says von Cramon Taubadel.
Backlash from Serbian officials
It should be remembered that Viola von Cramon Taubadel recently evaluated the news on her Twitter account as good that Serbia will not open new chapters, given the deterioration of the state of democracy. Some Serbian officials reacted violently to the comment, including the director of the Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Petar Petković, who called it an “inadvertent outburst by MEPs”. The Serbian Minister of European Integration, Jadranka Joksimović, assessed that the MEP is openly politically inspired against the Government of Serbia and that her tweet does not go beyond the political bias that has been established among some deputies of certain political groups of the EP. It should be remembered that the SNS is an associate member of the ruling European People’s Party, while Von Cramon is from the Green Group, the fourth largest in the EP.
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