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The EU still has no agreement on the changes to the negotiating framework for Serbia

2024-04-01 10:48:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The EU still has no agreement on the changes to the negotiating framework for

Although two full months have passed since the European Commission and the EU's External Action Service (EEAS) submitted their proposal for changing the conditions from chapter 35 of the negotiating framework in the process of membership negotiations with Serbia, to the Council of the EU has not yet reached the necessary consensus for the approval of these changes.

"Radio Free Europe" learns that among the member countries there are still differences in attitudes and the Belgian Presidency of the European Union is making efforts to overcome these differences. According to the same sources, the first proposal of the European Commission for these changes was not accepted by some states. Then, some member countries made their own proposals and they were discussed in the working groups of the Council dealing with the Western Balkan region and the enlargement process.

Diplomatic sources in the EU claim that during the month of April this issue will be discussed by the EU ambassadors in COREPER, which is the Committee of permanent representatives of the member states in the EU.

The purpose of changing this framework is to include the implementation of the Agreement on the path towards the normalization of relations with Kosovo, reached in February 2023, in chapter 35 of the membership negotiations, as a specific condition for Serbia.

Even so, the normalization of relations with Kosovo for Serbia is included in this chapter, but it requires progress in the normalization process. It is intended that the implementation of the agreement should now be mentioned as a condition.

At the last meeting in December 2023, the member countries had asked the European Commission to submit the proposal for changing the negotiating framework for Serbia by the end of January this year at the latest.

Two days after this deadline expired, at the beginning of February, the European Commission and the EU External Action Service submitted their proposal.

The delays in the Commission's proposal had come, according to diplomatic sources in the EU, due to the efforts of the Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, to obstruct this proposal. Hungary, the country from which this commissioner comes, according to diplomatic sources, continues to be among the member countries that prevent the approval of these changes in the EU Council.

The 35th chapter of the accession negotiations, which is called "other matters", is not related to EU legislation, but in this chapter, the specific things that the EU or any member country are looking for are decided. In the case of Serbia, it also includes the normalization of relations with Kosovo.

This chapter was one of the first to be opened in December 2015, to follow through it the progress towards the normalization of reports. Until the fall of last year, the European Commission has usually evaluated Serbia's behavior in the dialogue as "constructive" and has concluded that in this way it fulfills the criteria to advance in the process of membership negotiations. However, in the Progress Report from the fall of 2023, it was found that Serbia, in some areas, has taken steps backwards in respecting the obligations from the dialogue for the normalization of relations with Kosovo.

For the lack of progress in the implementation of obligations, the EU has reprimanded Kosovo, even imposing restrictive measures against it. These measures are still in force.

The diplomats of several EU member states have warned that the EU should as soon as possible ensure the approval of the changes to the negotiating framework for Serbia, because otherwise it will be frivolous about the implementation of the Agreement which it had mediated and had called it a great success.

The agreement on the path towards the normalization of relations between Kosovo and Serbia, as well as the Annex for its implementation reached in Ohrid in March 2023, were not signed by the parties because the Serbian side had rejected it.

However, the EU continues to insist that, even though it has not been signed, this Agreement has been accepted by the parties and it represents a legal obligation for them. Its implementation, according to EU officials, is a condition for advancement in the EU integration process.

This agreement, of 11 articles, provides, among other things, a level of self-management for the Serbian community in Kosovo and mutual recognition of state symbols, while it requires Pristina and Belgrade to also implement all previous agreements reached. during the dialogue.

Precisely due to the fact that more than a year has passed since this agreement was reached, as well as from the EU's warning that its implementation will be a formal part of the negotiating framework for Serbia, the approval of these changes in the Council by the member countries, is considered necessary and is intended to be achieved as soon as possible.

The EU's negotiating framework is the basic document on which the process of membership negotiations with a candidate country takes place. The negotiating framework for Serbia was approved by the council in December 2013, while Serbia opened membership negotiations with the EU in January 2014. So far, Serbia has opened 22 out of a total of 35 chapters for negotiation. Due to the non-support of EU sanctions against Russia, Serbia has not opened any chapter since 2021./ REL