Serbia will not receive a roadmap to guide it through the process of accession to the European Union.
The European Commission will publish roadmaps for Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, and Moldova at the end of October, as these countries have made the most progress in the accession process.
This officially confirms that Serbia has lost the position it once held as one of the leading countries in the European integration process.
“Serbia will have to meet more conditions. After the elections, we will see how serious its government is, whether it will merely talk about its desire to become an EU member or take concrete steps in that direction,” said European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos.
For Strahinja Subotić of the Belgrade-based non-governmental organisation Centre for European Policy, the fact that Serbia will not receive a roadmap constitutes a serious warning and evidence that the country is stagnating in the European integration process.
He said that this deadlock is no longer reflected solely in the fact that Serbia has not opened any new negotiating clusters for years and is unable to benefit from funds under the Growth Plan.
“Now, essentially, we are being sent the message that we could also lose many of the benefits associated with gradual integration into the EU,” he said.
The roadmaps will be part of the enlargement package that the European Commission plans to adopt on October 28. Serbia has not opened any new negotiating clusters in its EU accession talks since December 2021.
Meanwhile, the rule of law situation has also deteriorated, further complicating Serbia’s efforts to overcome years of stagnation in the European integration process, TCH reports.
According to experts, under this approach, Serbia risks remaining where it is now, at the bottom of the list of countries aspiring to join the European Union.
