Serbian president: not everyone in Europe wants to see Ukraine and Western Balkans in EU
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has stated that he does not believe Serbia will be able to join the EU in the near future.
Source: Vučić in Belgrade at a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Vučić noted that he understands Ukraine's position and its desire to open all the negotiating clusters with the EU as soon as possible.
"But I do not see any possibility above all for Serbia – I'm not talking about Ukraine now – to become a member of the EU in the near future, for many political reasons," he said.
Vučić said he had told Zelenskyy it would be good if Ukraine, Moldova and other countries joined the EU.
"But I don't think it is absolutely certain that all Europeans have a positive view of our countries being members of the EU. And I am always open about this. For us they will find the Croatians, the Bulgarians and the Dutch, and for Ukraine they will find someone else. But at this moment I do not see any possibility of realistically putting this into practice," he added.
Vučić nonetheless stated that Serbia will not obstruct Ukraine's path to EU membership.
"We're not going to say 'Take us first, don't take Ukraine.' Ukraine will never have that problem, at least from one small country such as Serbia," he added.
However, Vučić is also convinced that there will be no strong voice within the EU in favour of fast-tracking the process of European integration.
Background:
- Earlier, Vučić assured Ukraine of his support on its path to EU membership and said he hoped it would open and close all the negotiating clusters.
- Vsevolod Chentsov, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, expects the remaining negotiating clusters for Ukraine to be opened this autumn. In his view, completing negotiations with the EU by the end of 2027 is an ambitious goal, but an achievable one.
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