European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrived in Belgrade on October 14 for an official visit as part of her Western Balkans tour.
Her first meeting is scheduled for Wednesday with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who welcomed her on Tuesday evening in front of the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade.
“Every visit of hers carries special significance for Serbia and represents another step towards strengthening cooperation and trust between our country and the European Union,” Vučić stated. He added that they will discuss Serbia’s European path, reforms, EU enlargement policy, and maintaining stability and peace in the region.
Prior to Serbia, von der Leyen visited Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Serbia has been an EU candidate country since 2012. Out of 35 negotiation chapters, it has opened 22 and provisionally closed 2. The last chapters were opened in December 2021, alongside three others under the new cluster-based methodology.
According to annual reports from Brussels, Serbia’s main obstacles to EU membership are weak rule of law and misalignment with the EU’s common foreign policy. Normalizing relations with Kosovo is also a precondition for membership.
The European Union highlighted on September 16 that it is concerned about the rule of law in candidate countries and stressed the need for stronger resistance to Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Serbia has not joined EU sanctions against Russia, even though as a candidate country it is expected to gradually align its foreign and security policies with the EU.
