Giaufret: EU Remains Fully Committed to Serbia’s EU Accession, Reforms to Be Stepped Up

Emanuele Giaufret (BETAPHOTO/MILAN ILIC)

The outgoing head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret, said that the European Union remained fully committed to supporting Serbia on its path to the EU, and emphasized the need for Serbia to speed up key reforms, particularly in the areas of rule of law, media freedoms, and the fight against corruption.

“Although I am leaving, the European Union remains fully committed to walking side by side with Serbia on its path to EU membership,” Giaufret said in a written statement released on July 18 by the EU Delegation in Serbia.

Giaufret stressed that Serbia’s progress toward the EU remained a key shared goal and highlighted the importance of Serbia’s role in shaping the future of the Western Balkans within the European family. He said the EU wanted to continue building a Europe based on democratic values together with Serbia and its citizens.

The EU diplomat added that the principles of human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, and respect for human rights were at the core of what the EU stood for and expressed confidence that these are the values that Serbian citizens also aspired to. Giaufret was appointed head of the EU Delegation to Serbia in 2021 and ended his term on July 15. A day earlier, he held separate meetings with Serbia’s top officials—President Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister Djuro Macut, National Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabic, and Foreign Minister Marko Djuric.