EP Foreign Policy Committee Adopts Report on Serbia

Tonino Picula (BETAPHOTO/European Parliament/Fred MARVAUX)

The European Parliament’s (EP) Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) adopted a report on Serbia on June 3, in which rapporteur Tonino Picula indicated that reforms that pertain to the process of EU accession had been significantly slowed down or were backsliding, especially in the fields of rule of law and democracy.

During the vote, 51 AFET members were in favor, 14 against and 10 abstained. Ahead of the vote, Picula stated that the report reflected the common stance of the EP about the “very, very sensitive situation” in Serbia.

The report will be presented to the EP in the form of a resolution at the last plenary session before the summer recess, which will be held in Strasbourg from July 6 to 9. The document covers events from 2025 and more recent ones, including the visit of AFET’s mission to Serbia from Jan 22 to 24, 2026.

While presenting the report at the AFET session of March 17, Picula stated that the situation in Serbia had additionally deteriorated since the previous report, that it was “extremely polarized and full of tension” and that “the overall accession tempo has been stagnating for years.” Picula said that EU accession reforms had been significantly slowed down or were backsliding, especially in the rule of law and democracy, and that the policy of looking the other way and insisting on stability as an alibi, by some European actors, had not yielded results but only pushed the country away from membership.