During the visit of European Commissioner for Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn to Serbia on Wednesday 7 February, the EU and Serbia signed two financial agreements worth a total of €44 million.
The first agreement, for €28 million, is a contribution to the country's sectoral budget for integrated border management. The second, for €16 million (from the trust fund for Syria, and signed with the minister for labour) is expected to help Serbia address the challenges linked to the Syrian crisis. Hahn stated that the country was hosting many Syrian refugees and that the EU had already supported Serbia to the tune of €77 million to help manage this migration crisis.
Hahn also visited Serbia to ensure the after-sales service of the Commission's adoption the previous day of the strategy on the Western Balkans (see EUROPE 11955). In this strategy, the Commission deems it realistic for Serbia to become a member of the EU by 2025. This is an "indicative" date, Hahn stated, while Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic said it provided good "motivation".
Vucic recognised that difficult tasks awaited his country. The EU wants an agreement between Serbia and Kosovo before Belgrade can join the Union. "We must be serious and courageous", and resolve this issue, Vucic said. But the president also described an agreement with Pristina as "a mountain of obstacles". "Serbia will not accept obtaining nothing when the others have everything", Vucic said, adding that there should be "a compromise where the two lose something before being able to start again from zero". Speaking in front of Serbia's Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, Hahn recognised that it will involve "difficult and intense negotiations". And in a speech on 8 February, he added that he hoped the strategy on the Balkans "would open a window of opportunity for Serbia and Kosovo" to resolve their conflict "once and for all". "The moment for doing it is now", he added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)