Council of the EU Expecting of Serbia To Align with EU Foreign Policy  

European Parliament (Photo: European Union 2019/EP/Gabor Kovacs)

The Council of the European Union (EU) on Dec. 13 said it deeply regretted Serbia’s backsliding in alignment with EU common foreign and security policy, notably the non-alignment with EU sanctions against Russia and Belarus, as well as its foreign policy actions contrary to the EU common approach.    

In its conclusions on enlargement and stabilization and association process, the Council of the EU expressed strong expectation of Serbia to fulfil its commitment taken in the negotiating framework and to step up its alignment with EU common foreign and security policy. Serbia also needs to fulfil its commitment to align with EU visa policy, according to the document.

The Council calls on Serbian authorities to communicate objectively and unambiguously on the EU, and to actively engage in preventing and tackling all forms of disinformation and foreign information manipulation in all media channels. The Council also noted the progress made by Serbia in some areas of the rule of law but also the overall limited progress and continued delays in a number of other areas, and encouraged Serbia to demonstrate political will to further accelerate reforms.  

“The Council reiterates its serious concern about the lack of progress on improving the overall environment for freedom of expression and the independence of the media, also impacting voters’ possibilities to make fully informed electoral choices,” it is said in the conclusions.  

As regards the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, the Council said it expected both sides to engage in the EU-facilitated dialogue in good faith and in the spirit of compromise to achieve a comprehensive legally binding agreement in accordance with international law and EU acquis with no further delay.