Danish Ambassador: Hard to Say Now Whether Serbia would Open New Cluster by Year’s End

Ambassador of Denmark to Serbia Pernille Dahler Kardel

Ambassador of Denmark to Serbia Pernille Dahler Kardel stated on Nov. 5 that it was hard to say at this time whether Serbia would open a new cluster in the EU membership negotiations by the end of the year because, apart from the European Commission’s assessment of fulfillment of standards, the political assessment of progress by the member states was equally important, primarily in the rule of law and in the process of normalization of relations with Kosovo.

In an interview to BETA, Kardel said that the report of the Commission assessed the fulfillment of particular criteria in the process of reforms and harmonization of the regulatory and legal framework with the rules and regulations of the EU and of the preconditions for opening the clusters, but that, besides this, mainly technical part of the process, there was an equally important one – the political assessment of the member states. 

“These two things must be synchronized in order to truly move forward, and we will see if there is a wish and feeling that Serbia was where it is supposed to be in order to open the new cluster. Therefore, it is a little too early to say whether there would be consensus among the member states. After the Commission’s report, a very intensive debate is beginning, which will last until the meeting of the European Council in the second half of December. I do not want to predict, but let us stay optimistic about Serbia being able to move forward,” Kardel stated.

The EU countries have been stressing all along that sufficient progress had to be made in the reform of the rule of law and that there had to be progress in the process of normalization of relations with Kosovo, Kardel said, recollecting that the EU Council declared in its conclusions about enlargement at the end of last year that progress in these two fields would determine the pace of Serbia’s progress.