On Wednesday 23 October, at the invitation of the Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić, the prime ministers of Poland and Greece, Donald Tusk and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, travelled to Belgrade, where they are expected to discuss Serbia’s accession to the European Union.
Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party is an associate member of the European People’s Party, of which Donald Tusk and Kyriakos Mitsotakis are the representatives at European head of state level.
Officially a candidate for EU membership, Serbia had its reform plan adopted by the European Commission on Wednesday (see other news).
However, its desire to maintain strong links with Russia and its refusal to follow the EU in imposing sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s regime is complicating relations between Serbia and the EU, to the point of compromising its membership prospects.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will also be visiting Belgrade on Friday, as part of a tour of the Western Balkans, to present the European Union’s spending plans for the region (see other news). (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)