The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, held a meeting in Belgrade today with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, where they discussed the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue and the process of Serbia’s accession to the European Union.
Vucic said that the dialogue with Kosovo should continue “in a constructive tone”. He described EU membership as a “strategic commitment and foreign policy priority” of Serbia.
“I believe that it can be continued in a constructive tone. I don’t want to use this opportunity to criticize anyone, I just want to say that it takes two to tango”, declared Vucic.
On the other hand, Von der Leyen stressed that it is the right moment for Serbia to take concrete steps towards membership, emphasizing reforms in the rule of law, media and democracy.
She stated that the EU is ready to support Serbia in this process and invited the country to include the entire society in the implementation of reforms.
“Now is the right moment for Serbia to take concrete steps towards membership” in the European Union. We expect Serbia to move towards the EU. The whole admissions process is about this. It has to do with the implementation of reforms related to the European Union (EU) and of course these reforms must be carried out by pulling the whole society behind them. Everyone should be involved in that reform process because it changes the country for the better and builds a strong democracy. It should include the entire political spectrum and also important parts of civil society,” she said.
The President of the European Commission also spoke about EU investments in the Western Balkans, emphasizing the importance of the growth plan that opens the door to the single European market and the development of sectors such as artificial intelligence.
“This is the principle of our growth plan, because the growth plan opens the door to the sectors of the single market. It is as if the countries of the Western Balkans are already member states of the European Union. We do this by investing in those countries and in return, reforms are implemented so that we have a single and fair market. In the EU, we have artificial intelligence factories, that is, high-level computer centers that we opened for our companies startups, and they take certain models, develop them, use data and take advantage of the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence factories,” she said.
Vucic, for his part, added that Serbia will continue cooperation with the EU for the development of energy infrastructure and the diversification of energy sources.
