Bilcik: Serbia Needs to Leave Eurasian Union Before Joining EU

Vladimir Bilcik (Photo: YouTube)

Before it's ready to join the European Union (EU), the agreement Serbia has recently signed with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will need to be annulled, the European Parliament's Rapporteur for Serbia, Vladimir Bilcik, was quoted as saying by the Radio Free Europe (RFE) on Nov. 9.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic signed a free trade agreement with the EAEU in Moscow, on Oct. 25. Among other things, the agreement has expanded a list of Serbian products that the country can export to the EAEU zone without having to pay customs duties. Aside from Russia, the EAEU includes Kazakhstan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

Bilcik, who took the post of the EP rapporteur for Serbia four days before the agreement was signed, said it would have to cease to exist before Serbia's EU accession had been completed.

"There must be a clause to govern the leave. Even before Serbia is ready to join the EU, the trade agreement must cease to exist. It will be one of the conditions for Serbia's full membership of the EU. Harmonization with respect to the customs union, and with the Union's export policy, constitutes a major precondition for EU membership. Serbia will need to adjust its foreign trade policy accordingly," Bilcik said in an interview with the RFE.