Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem falling within the competence of the Government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem does not fall within our competence, we will forward your message to the competent institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Implementation of new enlargement methodology for Serbia should be shaped as soon as possible

Belgrade, 8 December 2020

Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic stated today that the implementation of the new methodology for Serbia's EU accession process should be shaped as soon as possible, as the process is overdue due to the fact that the EU Member States and the European Commission obviously cannot agree on negotiating frameworks for North Macedonia and Albania.

Joksimovic stated that, considering that the Enlargement Conclusions proposed by the EU Council have not been adopted by the working bodies of the European Commission, it is very likely that they will not be adopted at tomorrow's meeting of the General Affairs Council either.

In that case, the last chance to convene an intergovernmental conference with Serbia is 9 December, when committees of permanent representatives of the EU Member States is held.

According to Joksimovic, it would be good if the German presidency showed leadership regarding the new methodology and the enlargement policy.

The Minister explained that according to the new methodology, the opening of individual chapters is no longer the main instrument of the accession process, but rather fulfilling criteria for the opening of clusters of related chapters.

She pointed out that for Serbia it would be an important signal to hold a special political intergovernmental conference for our country, which is obligatory under the principles of the new methodology after the publication of the Enlargement Conclusions.

The Minister said that if this doesn't happen, what remains is a meeting at the highest political level of the Stabilisation and Association Council, scheduled for 17 December, at which the most important aspects of political and economic relations of Serbia and the EU can be evaluated.