Serbia’s aspirations to join the EU are delayed due to a lack of political will, Vice-President of the European Movement in Serbia Vladimir Međak, declared at a presentation on Monday.

He said Serbia’s European integration had begun to slow down due to the unwillingness to begin changes that are “not popular and which will essentially change Serbia and direct it toward the EU.”

These comments came during a presentation in Belgrade of his publication “An Analysis of the EU Enlargement Policy and Serbia’s Progress so Far in the Process of Accession Negotiations in the Period 2014-2020.”

“The Western Balkans have in 16 years received €28.5 per capita from pre-accession funds, while Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) has received €13 [per capita], which means we are getting more money from the EU, but there is no credibility of the completion of the negotiations like there was in CEE,” said Međak, adding that “the money is not the problem, political will is.”

According to research, Serbia annually loses €1.1 million in grants because it is not part of the European Union. The Serbian government, as Međak put it, has no time to do anything fundamental in European integration because of next year’s “expiration date”, “especially in pandemic conditions,” when funds are focused on combating the pandemic.

Source: Euractiv.com