EU: Serbia Needs to Work to Meet All Requirements from Negotiating Chapters

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Serbia, as a candidate for membership of the European Union (EU), should work to meet every requirement in every chapter in the negotiations with the Union and to leave each behind, one after another, Commissioner for Promoting our European Way of Life Margaritis Schinas said on Dec. 10.

"If you ask me, Serbia is in the League of Champions, compared to the other Western Balkan states, and the fact that it is a candidate for the EU, requires a certain form of delivery," Schinas said at an annual meeting of the EURACTIV network in Brussels.

According to the commissioner, for Serbia it is not a matter of "broadening the debate" on where it wants to be or what it wants to look like, but rather how to be able to respond to the standards and requirements named in each of the 35 negotiating chapters.

Schinas said that in the pre-accession process it was all about practical work on "35 tasks," each involving its own demands. "It's what Serbia should do, attack one chapter after another, get things done, leave them behind and complete all 35 [chapters]. This is not the case with Albania and North Albania, which haven't opened negotiations yet, even though they should have, Schinas told EURACTIV.rs.