Kos: Brussels increasingly concerned about Serbia, new payments being assessed

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said the European Commission is still praising whether Serbia meets the conditions for <x0-page payments based on European Union financial instruments”.
“We are increasingly concerned about what is happening in Serbia. From laws undermining the independence of the judiciary, to the oppression of protesters and repeated interventions against independent media”, Kos stressed the daily Politico.

She wrote that Serbia faces the possibility of losing up to 1.5 billion euros in financial means from the European Union and that the European Commission is considering the possibility of suspending them due to Belgrade's democratic setback and close ties with Russia.

It is recalled that Serbia is not an EU member, but, since it has started membership negotiations in 2014, it has the right to benefit funds and grants to help Belgrade implement reforms.

In recent weeks, within the EC there has been an initiative to halt these funds to Serbia, four EU officials working with countries in the enlargement process, whose names have not been made public, have said.

Also, Danijel Apostolovic, Serbia's ambassador to the EU and chief negotiator for membership, is reportedly convinced that there will be no suspension of funding and that Serbia is not giving up on the goal of becoming a full-fledged member of the European bloc.

Changes Contrary to Laws of Justice

The EU has publicly criticised legal reforms postponed by Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, recalls Politico.

When the amendments disputed in the laws for justice were adopted in January, Kos warned that this constituted a serious step back, as these amendments were adopted very quickly and nontransparently”.

Brussels called this “a vote for limiting the independence of the judiciary”.

The Venice Commission, the Council of Europe's legal advisory body, is expected to give its opinion on these legal changes in late April.

That opinion could serve as an incentive for the European Commission to freeze funding for Serbia, two EU officials for Politico have said.

They also stressed that Kos has declared it would require Serbia to harmonise its laws with the Venice Commission's recommendations.

Politico also included in the writing the claim of Apostolovic that Belgrade has made clear that it will follow the Venice Commission's recommendations once they are published.

Concern even about relations between Belgrade, Moscow

The EU has allocated more than 586m euros in non-renewable grants from 2021 to 2024, as well as an additional 1.5 billion euros, funds dependent on reforms.

According to government data from Serbia, the country has received more than 70 billion euros in EU funding and investment since 2000, writes Politico, adding that Serbia “has long walked on a thin rope in relations with the EU, simultaneously keeping closer ties with Moscow while taking money from Brussels”.

“As a candidate country, we also expect Serbia to be with us in foreign policy and to be more harmonised with our” positions, Kos said of that, not to mention Russia in an exclusive way.

Politico added that Vuciqi, who has maintained close ties with Moscow throughout the war in Ukraine, has complained about the slow pace of EU membership negotiations.

“The EU has lost patience with Belgrade over the past few months, following a critical report on the country's enlargement process in November, warning of setbacks and evils at the EU's highest Serbian policy level”, writes Politico.

Tensions escalated further in December, when Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vuciq, did not participate in the EU-Western Balkans summit, Politico reported.

Politico added that in March Serbia faced criticism after reports of violence and irregularities during local elections, which were held in ten municipalities, as well as after police intervention at the Belgrade University Rectorate, when there were clashes between protesters and police.

The EU's Growth Plan for the Western Balkans was approved by the European Commission at the end of 2023, and aims to strengthen the region's accession process with the EU, as well as promote reforms and regional co-operation.

Due to the failure to meet the obligations this plan envisions, Serbia has already received about 50m euros less.

Meanwhile, for four years, Serbia has not opened a new chapter in negotiations for EU membership. /Radio Free Europe/