Serbian President Aleksandar Vučič announced that Serbia will not participate in the summit of the EU and the Western Balkans in Brussels. He described the decision as personal and protecting the interests of the country.
The representatives of Serbia will not participate in the summit of the representatives of the European Union and the countries of the Western Balkans, which will take place on Wednesday in Brussels, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučič said. He called the decision not to participate in the summit personal. The opposition criticizes this decision. TASR informs about it according to the report of the POLITICO portal.
- President Vučič refused to participate in the EU-Balkan summit.
- He described the decision as protecting the interests of the Republic of Serbia.
- Serbia is lagging behind in the process of joining the European Union.
- The opposition criticizes Vucic’s decision as emotional blackmail.
- Slovak Prime Minister Fico supports Serbia’s protest against the EU.
“For the first time in the past 13 or 14 years, neither I nor anyone else will go to the intergovernmental conference. No one will represent the Republika Srpska, so the Western Balkans will be without the Republika Srpska,” Vucic said. According to him, it was a personal decision and he claimed that this step “protects the Republika Srpska and its interests, because we need to show what we have achieved.”
Little progress towards the EU
POLITICO notes that Serbia has made little progress in its bid to join the EU, despite having already obtained candidate status in 2012. As of 2021, according to the portal, no significant milestones in the accession process have been achieved.
In a statement, Serbian Minister for European Integration Nemanja Starovic supported Vučić’s decision and accused the EU of a “short-sighted lack of willingness” to recognize Serbia’s reforms and make progress in the accession process. According to him, this attitude sends a negative signal to Serbian citizens. According to him, Serbia’s non-participation in the aforementioned summit is defending the dignity of the Serbian people and the “integrity of the accession process and the credibility of the European idea in Serbia.”
Criticism of the opposition
Opposition politicians criticized the decision not to participate in the summit. Aleksandar Radovanovic of the opposition Movement of Free Citizens (PSG) says this is “an attempt at emotional blackmail because Vucic is unhappy that Albania and Montenegro have made progress and are likely to become additional EU member states.” Pavle Grbovič, also from PSG, said that this is “a manifestation of deep political cowardice and an attempt to avoid unpleasant questions and references”.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico also informed about Vučič’s non-participation at the summit on Wednesday at the meeting of the Committee of the National Council (NR) of the SR for European Affairs. He will do so “in protest” and the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic announced that he will act in favor of Serbia. “What they are doing to Serbia has nothing to do with common sense,” he said in connection with Serbia’s preparations for joining the EU. According to him, the Union is in a deep crisis “even in such elementary things” as its expansion. According to him, the EU cannot punish a country for its sovereign views and create new conditions and new obligations for it.
