European Movement: Serbia’s Absence from Summit in Brussels Confirms Collapse of EU Accession Policy

European Parliament (Photo: European Union 2019/EP/Gabor Kovacs)

The European Movement in Serbia expressed concern on Dec. 18 regarding Serbia’s absence from the EU-Western Balkans summit and views that decision as politically wrong, harmful and counterproductive in the long run.

“It additionally weakens Serbia’s credibility in the process of European integration and distances it from democratic values of organized society, thus directly harming the interests of the country and the well-being of its citizens,” the statement reads. For the first time in 14 years, Serbia did not have a representative at the meeting of leaders of the EU and its members with the Western Balkan countries, and this was announced by President Aleksandar Vucic two days earlier.

“This decision confirms the years-long process of collapse of the current policy of joining the European Union, based on simulated reforms, continuous delays in making key strategic decisions and the systematic undermining of fundamental values the European Union is founded on,” the Movement declared in the statement.

Serbia is nowadays objectively farther away from EU membership than in the moment of opening of the negotiations in 2014, while the accession process has de facto been suspended for four years now, they said in the statement, adding that the authorities in Serbia were well aware of the fact that the criteria for EU membership regarding the rule of law, democratic institutions, media freedom, independent judiciary and the fight against corruption and organized crime had not changed since the start of the negotiations.