Brussels, 15/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - During the evening of Monday 14 December, Serbia opened the first two negotiation chapters with a view to its accession to the EU - Chapter 32 on financial control and Chapter 35 on relations with Kosovo.
“This is a big day for us - a big day on which we are writing a few pages of our history”, said Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic at a press conference. He said he wanted his country to conclude its accession process by 2018-2019. “We said that we will fulfil all our obligations by the end of 2018, possibly 2019”, he added. This is an objective that European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn believes is “very ambitious”. Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn stated that “without courageous decisions from the authorities of Belgrade in signing the key 25 August agreements, we would not be on the point of opening these chapters”. Vucic said that Chapter 35, which deals with this subject, would not be an easy chapter for his country.
In their conclusions on Tuesday 15 December, the EU foreign affairs ministers hailed the opening of this chapter. The ministers also highlight that progress in all the negotiations must be accompanied by progress in the chapters on the judicial apparatus and fundamental rights (23) and on freedom, security and justice (24) - which could be opened in the first six months of 2016 - and with the normalisation of relations with Kosovo. Hailing the progress as part of this dialogue with Pristina, the Council of the EU asks Belgrade to implement the agreements already obtained “as quickly as possible” and to “cooperate constructively with Kosovo in developing the future agreements and implementing them”.
The ministers encourage Serbia to step up its legislative reforms and to implement them effectively in the areas of the judicial apparatus, fighting corruption and organised crime, and reforming the freedom of expression and of the media. The EU ministers also say that further attention must be paid to the respect of fundamental rights. “Further progress is needed on the independence of democratic institutions, the public administration, development of a viable market economy and the improvement of the business environment”, the ministers add. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)