Serbia this year's Day Europe welcomes never far from her, and that at the moment when European Union (EU) shows the greatest willingness to accept new members in the last 13 years, announced the National Convention on the EU (NKEU).
The convention assessed that Serbia's European path cannot be sustainable without real democratization of society and restoration of citizens' trust in institutions, stressing that the EU represents a set of values and rules, not just a "foreign policy commitment, logo or flag".
The announcement warns that Serbia, instead of taking advantage of the historic opportunity brought by the accelerated dynamics of European integration of other candidate countries, is stagnating or regressing, while reform processes are reduced to "declarative commitment" without real political will.
"It is increasingly obvious that the goal of the ruling elites is for Serbia to permanently remain in the status of a candidate country, close enough to the EU to use political and economic benefits, but without the intention to build institutions based on the rule of law and the division of powers," states NKEU.
The Convention points out that the implementation of the recommendations of the Venice Commission, the independence of REM, media freedom and the improvement of electoral conditions must not be treated as "political trade" or concessions to the opposition and civil society, but as obligations of the state towards its own citizens.
Of particular concern is the practice of using integration as a formal framework for simulating reforms, while simultaneously collapsing participation mechanisms and making social dialogue meaningless, concludes the NKEU announcement.
Picula: Serbia is regressing
MEP Tonino Picula assessed on the same day that Serbia is stagnating or even regressing in negotiations on membership in the European Union (EU), while neighboring countries such as Montenegro and Albania are making progress.
In Croatian Radio's "Interview of the Week" program, Picula pointed out that the war in Ukraine brought enlargement back into the focus of Brussels, but he rejected the possibility of a new "big bang", i.e. mass admission of new members, because the candidates are in very different stages of the process, the Indeks portal reports.
For four and a half years, Serbia has not opened a single cluster in the negotiations towards the European Union.
The last time it happened was in December 2021.
Source: FoNet
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