Serbian FM: Serbia will be ready to join EU by 2027

“Our strategic positioning, and the path we are taking is that to full membership in the European Union. By 2027, Serbia will complete all the essential reforms, political, institutional, economic and legal. And it will be ready to become part of the European family,” Djuric told an interview with the Italian agency Nova.

However, he warned that becoming a full member also means “full and equal access to electoral rights and decision-making processes,” shared duties and responsibilities.

“In other words, we are not willing to be a European Puerto Rico,” explained Djuric in the interview published on Wednesday.

He said that Serbia carefully monitored the recent EU elections and that the new composition of the European Parliament is “certainly an opportunity to build a new network of friends.”

“Obviously there were many people in the previous makeup who were not politically similar to us. Now we wish to exploit the potential of the new circumstances and actively proceed with building relationships,” said the Serbian Foreign Minister, adding he hopes the process of enlargement to the Western Balkans will return to the center of attention of European institutions.

Serbia won’t be the only one to benefit from EU membership, said Djuric.

“The Union will become stronger, because it will have an additional economy, a stable and rapidly growing economy, but also a strategic position that our country holds in the south-eastern quadrant of Europe,” he explained.

Introducing Djuric as the new foreign minister, the Italian agency reported that his programmatic manifesto can be summed up as follows: to achieve strategic goals while honoring core national interests and to move past the lingering prejudices from the 1990s so as to present Serbia as it is today.

“We want to portray Serbia as a country of the future, of prospects and new technologies, with a stable and growing economy. As a country capable of being a solid partner across all sectors, committed to peace, stability, and adherence to international law,” stated Djuric.

He added that the image of Serbia created in the 1990s is a thing of the past.

“We must eliminate the prejudices inherited from the past and show our country as it really is today,” said Djuric.
He also pointed out that “Serbia can boast friendships dating back to the era of the Non-Aligned Movement, with countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America,” adding that this will also be a strong contribution to the EU.

However, precisely some of the “historic friendships” are currently a point of friction between Belgrade and Brussels, reported the Italian agency Nova, adding that, in the opinion of many observers, Serbia’s refusal to introduce sanctions against Russia risks slowing down its European integration process.

Minister Djuric responded by recalling that, since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Serbia has voted for all the UN resolutions in favor of Kiev's territorial integrity.

“Serbia is committed to peace and a ceasefire. We are trying to express solidarity with the Ukrainian people: we understand their suffering well, as we too had to face difficult times in the 1990s. I would like to highlight that 93 percent of all aid from the Western Balkans sent to Ukraine comes from Serbia. Ukraine is a friendly country, one which respects our territorial integrity and national sovereignty,” he emphasized, adding that, due to its specificities, Serbia does not have the same foreign policy as other EU member states.

“Serbia takes pride in its traditionally good and friendly ties with both countries involved in the conflict. Russia has not only refused to recognize Kosovo's unilaterally declared independence but also supports Serbia on various other matters. Serbia will continue to seek every opportunity to advocate for peace, with the hope that the armed conflict will end as soon as possible,” stated Djuric.