
Kosovo and Serbia are asked to resume dialogue and implement the agreement on the path to normalization of relations, as well as all previously reached agreements, said European Union (EU) Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi.
Speaking in the European Parliament at the presentation of the 2023 Enlargement Package and progress reports for EU candidate countries and potential candidates, Varhelyi said Kosovo and Serbia should resume the EU-mediated dialogue on normalization of relations as soon as possible.
He said normalization is a prerequisite to both sides’ European integration.
The Commissioner said Kosovo should implement the European draft statute for the Community of Serb-majority Municipalities (CSM), and that the lifting of the measures introduced by the EU against the government in Pristina will depend on the steps taken to de-escalate the situation in the north of Kosovo.
Commenting on the 2023 Serbia progress report, Varhelyi noted that the implementation of the constitutional changes regarding the judiciary has begun, as well as that, before it was dissolved, the Serbian Parliament adopted, as he said, important media laws.
The key issue in Serbia’s progress on the EU path, cautioned Varhelyi, is its failure to align with the Union’s foreign policy, that it, its failure to impose sanctions on Russia, which is cause for concern, he said.
Varhelyi said Serbia has fulfilled the opening benchmarks for cluster 3, which is why the European Commission has recommended to the EU Council the opening of this cluster in accession negotiations with Serbia.
However, N1’s European correspondent Nikola Radisic said that, due to the deadlock in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and to the fact that Serbia has not joined the EU sanctions against Russia, there is little chance that this will happen at the EU Council in December.