Serbia does not yet seem ready to open its third cluster of accession chapters. At least, that was the view of many of the EU27 permanent representatives to the EU on Monday 25 November, following a lengthy discussion on the subject at Coreper II.
A draft official letter, proposed by the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, asked Serbia to prepare a position on the opening of the next phase of accession negotiations, ‘Cluster III’, which covers competitiveness and inclusive growth, according to the media outlet Politico.
The country had to commit to meeting the rule of law criteria by the end of 2025, to aligning its media legislation with that of the EU and to honouring its commitment to Pristina in the context of the normalisation of relations (see EUROPE 13473/10).
However, several Member States expressed disagreement, sharing their belief that Belgrade was not yet ready to make such progress in the accession process, given recent events (see EUROPE 13477/10).
According to several diplomatic sources, nine Member States, including the Netherlands, Finland, Bulgaria and Estonia, have made it clear that they are not prepared to take this next step, citing the fact that the non-paper contains mainly “promises”, whereas concrete results are needed.
Recurrent complaints about Serbia - its problematic and ongoing relations with Russia, issues relating to the rule of law and the lack of progress in normalising relations with Kosovo - were also mentioned as contraindications to sending the letter.
On the other hand, Spain, France, Poland, Greece and Italy supported sending the letter.
For several Member States, setting up an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) with Serbia would only be possible if Belgrade made significant progress and achieved “concrete results”.
“On the whole, it is difficult to imagine Serbia obtaining anything more than a political IGC at this stage”, a diplomatic source declared. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)