Croatia Continuing to Block Serbia’s EU Accession Negotiations

Serbia hopes to open new negotiating chapters by the end of the month, but Croatia and Great Britain have not given their consent.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić said it was unacceptable for Croatia to stop Serbia’s European path “since we have met all the requirements”, report Jutarnji List and tportal.hr on June 28, 2016.

Commenting on the conclusions of the Working Group for the Neighborhood, Enlargement and the Western Balkans, that the Croatian consent to the opening of chapters was absent “due to substantial reasons”, while Britain had not given its consent due to “technical issues” – situation with the Brexit referendum results, Serbian President said that “fortunately”, the EU was made up of countries where there is some common sense.

“Whatever we do, and we have done a lot, Croatia always make a move to demonstrate that the time has come when it can influence Serbia’s fate. It is unacceptable that one country can stop another country to join the EU”, said Nikolić.

Head of the Serbian negotiating team with the EU Tanja Miščević said earlier that Croatian representatives claim that the decision to open chapters was a political decision. The official position is that Zagreb cannot give a “green light” at this moment, since the Croatian government is now a caretaker government, said Miščević.

She added that the declaration which was recently signed by Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić and Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović “brought a major change”, but that “it was now in question whether the caretaker government in Zagreb can do what was agreed”. Miščević added that “there was still a chance that Chapters 23 and 24 could be opened by the end of the Dutch presidency on 30 June”.

Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovač commented on the situation. “We will see whether the United Kingdom will participate in these decisions concerning the negotiations on Serbia’s EU membership. As far as Croatia, our demands are known. What I hear from our negotiators is that we are close to all Croatian requirements being met, integrated in the EU’s negotiating positions, and if that happens then we will be able to open this chapter. Croatia is not the only country which has some demands”, said the Minister.

 

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