Pejic-Nikic: Serbia’s Council of Europe Membership a Requirement for EU Accession

Photo: Beta/Amir Hamzagic

A decision to leave the Council of Europe is not a valid option, and it should not be considered at all, a senior researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, Jelena Pejic-Nikic, said for the BETA Daily European Service.

In a comment on statements by Serbian top-ranking officials that Serbia might leave the Council of Europe in response to a decision to give Kosovo a seat in the organization, the researcher underlined that membership of the Council of Europe was a requirement for Serbia’s EU accession, which, according to the National Security Strategy, was one of the vital national interests.

“If Serbia leaves the organization the accession talks with the European Union will be suspended, with economic, legal and political consequences all Serbian citizens would feel,” Pejic-Nikic has warned.

The Security Policy Center’s representative underlined that by giving up its seat in the organization Serbia would also lose the protection of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and the support of expert bodies like the Venice Commission, GRECO and others, very important in overseeing the reform process in the country.

“In the end, Serbia would leave a community of states, and a community of values we should rely on and defend, better from within, than from the outside,” Pejic-Nikic concluded.