Lajcak Says Serbia Joining EU by 2028 Not Impossible

The European Union’s special representative for the Belgrade-Pristina Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

Miroslav Lajcak, the European Union's special representative for the Western Balkans, denied on Aug. 31 a statement by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that Serbia could not become a member of the 27-nation bloc before 2028.

"Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia completed their accession talks in less than three years. Montenegro and Serbia have been negotiating for years, yet they are still far from the middle of the process. But if you are serious, if you start closing chapters, you could do it in two and a half years, then another two years for ratification. This is not unrealistic, but it is the best case scenario," Lajcak told the GLOBSEC regional security conference in Prague.

The special representative warned that the EU had neglected the Western Balkan countries for years and its own promise of EU admission 21 years ago. "The emotion is gone.

It is clear now that enlargement is a geopolitical necessity, but that does not mean that we are ready or that they are ready, because they have been neglected for a very long time, the emotion is gone and sadly devotion to reforms is also almost entirely gone," Lajcak said.

Lajcak added that Montenegro could join the EU in 2028 because everything was in its own hands, while Serbia faced the issue of Kosovo. "If we do not resolve the issue of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, we can forget about Western Balkan integration, not just that of Serbia and Kosovo. I think we have managed to do the best possible thing with the normalization agreement adopted last year in Ohrid, but it was never applied," Lajcak said.