EP: Reforms, Foreign Policy Harmonization Required for Opening Chapters

European Parliament (Foto:Wikimedia)

The European Parliament (EP) adopted a report on Jan. 18 on the implementation of the joint foreign and security policy for 2022, which reads that new chapters in the accession negotiations with Serbia should only be opened after it strengthens its dedication to reforms and fully harmonizes with the EU's foreign policy.

The report of the chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, David McAllister, also expressed "deep concern" over claims about the commissioner for neighborhood policy and enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, deliberately attempting to go around and undermine the central importance of democratic reforms and rule of law reforms in countries that want to join the Union.

The EP urges the Commission to launch an independent and unbiased investigation into whether the action of the commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement and the policy he advocates represented a violation of the code of conduct of members of the European Commission and his obligations, it is stated in the report.

In the vote for the report, 407 MEPs were in favor, 92 against and 142 abstained. In the document, the EP stressed the importance of the Western Balkan countries' full harmonization with the EU's foreign and security policy, particularly its policy of sanctions against third countries. The European Parliament regrets the continuously low level of Serbia's harmonization with the common foreign and security policy, especially in the context of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the report reads.