Panel: Serbia Negligibly Improves Readiness for Membership in EU in the Past 10 years

BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV

For the duration of talks on membership in the EU over the past 10 years Serbia has "negligibly" improved its level of readiness for membership, and this year's European Commission report on Serbia is realistic, but largely negative, the participants of a Public Reading of the report said on Nov. 14.

EU deputy head Plamena Halacheva said that the report contained negative elements and that it was "honest," and that the Enlargement Package which contained the report on Serbia was "historical" and "ambitious."

"We must get this country closer to the EU. I hope that Serbia and the Western Balkans will be able to see a historical chance and make tangible progress above all in basic areas," she said.

Modern Policy Center executive director Nemanja Todorovic Stiplija said that the level of Serbia's readiness for membership in the EU had been stagnating for eight years and that the country had almost never received good marks in the two most important chapter, chapters 24 and 24, since 2016 when they opened. National Convention on the EU coordinator Bojana Selakovic said that the Report "is realistic and largely negative," and that the content of the report was being manipulated in Serbia and that its findings were being subjected to various interpretations.