Brussels Formally Proposes Including Obligations from Ohrid in Accession Talks with Serbia

Aleksandar Vucic, Oliver Varhelyi (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The European Commission and the European External Action Service have submitted a proposal to add the fulfillment of the obligations undertaken in Ohrid to Serbia's EU membership negotiating framework.

It is now up to the European Union Council to adopt these changes, which would officially include Serbia's obligations stemming from the dialogue into the process of membership negotiations with Brussels, Radio Free Europe reported on Feb. 3.

Last December, the Council of Ministers asked the EC to add the obligations from the Agreement on the Path to the Normalization of Relations between Kosovo and Serbia to Belgrade's membership negotiations with Brussels. Chapter 35 in the negotiations, subtitled "Other Issues," includes, in Serbia's case, the normalization of relations with Kosovo.

Oliver Varhelyi, European commissioner for enlargement and neighborhood policy, tried until the very last moment to keep the obligations from the agreements reached in Brussels and Ohrid last February and March from being included in Chapter 35 in Serbia's talks with the EU. RFE recalled that European Parliament members had warned of Varhelyi's activities on multiple occasions. Varhelyi is considered a close associate of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.