“Serbia remains on the European path, is making progress in all chapters, and this year it has not opened a single chapter because the European Union has changed its approach to enlargement”, these would be the wrapped up conclusions of the European Integration Committee session.
Members of the Committee considered the current situation in the process of negotiations between Serbia and the European Union, as well as the Report on Accession during the Finnish Presidency in the second half of 2019, which the Government submitted to the Assembly on March 13th this year.
The Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimović was the first in the new convocation to report to the MPs. The Minister spoke for almost 50 minutes, while five members of the committee spent about half an hour repeating that what Joksimović has already said, praising the Ministry, questioning and analysing the actions of the European Union, while there was not a single word of criticism or self-criticism, which speaks enough about the oversight role of the competent Committee.
Minister Joksimović explained that the consideration of the report for last year, when Finland held the EU presidency, was late due to the coronavirus epidemic. She pointed out that the European Commission recognised in its report that, objectively speaking, there were delays in certain areas, but that there was not enough talk about the fact that in the previous year, despite all the challenges, “Serbia has made progress in almost all negotiation chapters.”
“The EC report is often read politically and should be so, especially because it is in line with the new methodology of EU action, where the political criteria are strengthened and where this time members took part in compiling the report more than before, “ said Joksimović claiming that one could sense the attitude of members towards the enlargement policy in the Report, because, as she stated “there are so many EU members that are not in favour of enlargement that their criticisms and objections were reflected in the report on Serbia’s progress”.
She believes that the opening of 18 of 35 chapters in the last five years is not a weak effect, and that much has changed in the accession since the migrant crisis which began in 2015.
It is important that the polls have shown that the majority of Serbian citizens would vote for joining the EU, even though they see problems in the community and sometimes think that unfair conditions have been set for Serbia. The Minister reiterated that Serbia is still the “leading country” in the region and that it is ready to open chapters 2 – freedom of movement for workers, 3 – freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services, 14 – transport, 21 – trans-European networks and 27 – environmental protection and climate change.
As Germany will be presiding for two more months, Minister Joksimović believes that there is still a chance that Serbia will open a chapter at the intergovernmental conference. She also reiterated that the EU did not appreciate enough the fact that Serbia had a special ministry for European integration, but insisted on a chief negotiator, although the negotiating team had existed since 2014 and consisted of representatives of ministries and civil society.
Five MPs asked to take the floor: Dušica Stojković, Dubravka Filipovski, Vesna Marković, Vuk Mičetić and Predrag Rajić, all from the Serbian Progressive Party. They emphasised the successes of the Ministry and the Government, repeated that the stalemate was due to Covid-19 pandemic, analysed the fact that EU policy had changed due to the migrant crisis, praised the continuity in the Ministry that had existed since 2017, and asked about projects and funds. There was not a word about unfulfilled goals and possible accountability, nor was there any mention of any criticism from the European Commission’s report.