The European Union is not complete without the Western Balkans, Austria’s EU Minister Karoline Edtstadler said during a press conference with her Serbian counterpart Tanja Miščević in Belgrade on Monday, while stressing that the country should not circumvent EU sanctions against Russia.
On Monday, Edtstadler travelled to Serbia to discuss its “necessary progress in EU enlargement given the war of aggression in Ukraine”, as she had explained before her trip.
“We want a strong and united Europe in which Serbia is also a member and defends the values of the European Union together,” Edtstadler said at a joint press conference with Serbia’s Europe Minister, Tanja Miščević, APA reported.
Edtstadler met with Prime Minister Ana Brnabić in Belgrade. According to a phone conversation with APA, Brnabić assured Edtstadler that Serbia fully supports European values.
Despite being a candidate country for EU membership, Serbia has failed to align with the bloc’s foreign policy, such as enforcing sanctions against Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
Besides noting Serbia’s overall support for Ukraine during the meeting, Edtstadler also said Miščević had expressed concerns about Serbia’s heavy dependence on Russian oil and gas imports.
In favour of rapid EU enlargement progress
Edtstadler also insisted on progress in Serbia’s dialogue with Kosovo.
The ongoing disagreement between Serbia, a former constituent republic of Yugoslavia, and Kosovo, its former province before declaring independence in 2008, hinders their respective paths to the European Union.
Austria supports a rapid EU enlargement process, Edtstadler stressed, adding that the EU would not be complete without the Western Balkan states. She continued that Serbs needed to be also made aware that progress was being made in EU enlargement.
Meanwhile, Austrian public opinion towards EU expansion is hesitant, according to a survey by the Austrian Society for European Politics (ÖGfE), which has been gathering opinions on these matters since 2010.
Bosnia and Herzegovina currently has the highest approval rate at 29%, and Kosovo has the lowest at 16%. However, compared to a July 2022 survey, approval rates for Serbia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Turkey have all increased.
During her visit, Edtstadler also praised the stable bilateral relations between Austria and Serbia, citing their close proximity with a 50-minute flight from Vienna to Belgrade. Austria is a major investor in Serbia, with over 400 Austrian companies creating 22,000 jobs there. The trade volume reached a record high of € 1.93 billion last year.
During her visit, the Austrian EU Minister also plans to pay respects to the victims of a recent attack. The President of Austria’s parliament Wolfgang Sobotka visited Serbia and other Western Balkan countries just a week prior.
(Chiara Swaton | EURACTIV.de)
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Source: euractiv.com
