The EU Will Not Let Serbia off the Hook, Says Subotic

Strahinja Subotic (EPC)

The EU may be expected to focus more on issues regarding the Western Balkans in the current year, which represents the start of a new institutional cycle of the EU, but one should not count on lenience in the rule of law, which is an increasingly important field, European Policy Center researcher Strahinja Subotic said on Jan. 13.

He expects that the EU will pay more attention to the Western Balkans seeing as the new "geopolitical" European Commission is to act more seriously in Europe's geostrategic interests, which entails the creation of stronger relations with the region.

Serbia however, in Subotic's words, should not expect that the EU will let it off the hook because of that in 2020, as the matter of rule of law is becoming increasingly important in the EU, as evidenced by an analysis of the new Commission's priorities.

"In other words, even though the EU is increasingly concerned about the influence of third actors in the Western Balkans, such as Russia and China, it doesn't need a new Hungary or Poland," Subotic told EURACTIV.rs and BETA.