Accession negotiations between Serbia and the European Union

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  • European Union
  • Serbia
  • Kosovo (status disputed)
  • On December 22nd, 2009 the Serbian government applied for membership in the European Union . Serbia has officially been a candidate for membership since March 1, 2012 . Negotiations began on January 21, 2014.

    Stabilization and Association Agreement

    Negotiations begin

    The first talks with Serbia took place immediately after the fall of Slobodan Milošević in 2000, at that time with the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro . Concrete negotiations on a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) began in November 2005. The European Union announced that it was calling for Serbia's full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague . The EU also called for a solution to the ethnic problems in Kosovo and the fight against poverty and corruption in the south of the country.

    The fact that Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić were not arrested at the time made negotiations difficult. On May 3, 2006, the European Union suspended negotiations for this reason. This slowed the pace of Serbia's EU accession and the reform process in Serbia. In July 2006, the Serbian government published an action plan to arrest the ex-generals. The parties agreed on the new government under President Boris Tadić . A National Security Council was created and the Union began to resume negotiations on June 13, 2007.

    Initialing

    On November 8, 2007, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić signed the Stabilization and Association Agreement between the European Union and Serbia in Brussels . Olli Rehn gave the reason for initialing the improved cooperation between Serbia and the International Criminal Court. The Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte reported to the EU that Serbia was cooperating sufficiently with the ICTY. However, Ratko Mladić still has to be extradited before the agreement is signed. On January 14, 2008, however, ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz complained that there was still no full cooperation, and two days later the Netherlands and Belgium decided not to sign the agreement until full cooperation was guaranteed.

    Signing of the SAA

    After lengthy negotiations, the foreign ministers of the 27 member states agreed on April 29, 2008, two weeks before the parliamentary elections in Serbia, to sign the agreement, which Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić undertook in Luxembourg on the same day in the presence of President Boris Tadić . In their resolution, however, the EU foreign ministers stipulated that the agreement will only come into effect if the EU governments “unanimously determine that the Republic of Serbia fully cooperates with the International War Crimes Tribunal”.

    On September 9, 2008, the Serbian Parliament ratified the provisional Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU. However, ratification is conditional on the EU's guarantee of full cooperation with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Among other things, Serbia was expected to extradite the last two fugitive war criminals Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić . The Netherlands in particular were still skeptical, but ratified the SAA on February 27, 2012.

    After Lithuania was the last of the 27 EU countries to ratify the agreement in June 2013 after a long delay, it entered into force on September 1, 2013 as planned. Serbia is now an associated member of the EU , which means that the formal conditions for starting accession negotiations are met.

    Path to candidate status (2008 to 2012)

    Radovan Karadžić was arrested in Belgrade on July 21, 2008, and transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia just nine days later . This development was received very positively in Europe and viewed as a big step for Serbia towards the EU.

    On January 23, 2009 the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Božidar Đelić announced that Serbia would officially apply for membership of the European Union during the Czech EU Council Presidency, which ended on June 30. In the end this did not happen. A new announcement was made in November 2009 by the Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić following a conversation with EU Enlargement Commissioner Rehn.

    On December 7, 2009, the EU foreign ministers approved an interim trade facilitation agreement with Serbia that had been blocked by the Netherlands since it was signed in April 2008. The Stabilization and Association Agreement should also be renegotiated within six months.

    By resolution of the EU interior ministers of November 30, 2009, citizens of Serbia, as well as those of Macedonia and Montenegro, have been able to travel visa-free to the Schengen member states of the EU since December 19, 2009 .

    The Serbian government applied for membership in the European Union on December 22, 2009. In Stockholm, President Boris Tadić handed his country's application for membership to EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn and the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt . On October 25, 2010, the EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg decided unanimously to forward the Serbian membership application to the EU Commission. On January 31, 2011, the Serbian answers to the membership questionnaire were handed over to the EU Commission.

    On May 26, 2011, Ratko Mladić was arrested in Lazarevo . Serbia now expects swift accession to the EU, although the economic and financial crisis also makes it difficult for Serbia to accede to the EU quickly. After the last wanted war criminal Goran Hadžić was arrested on July 20, 2011 , Serbia has now met almost all of the EU's demands. Nevertheless, at the EU summit in Brussels at the beginning of December , the heads of state and government refused to grant Serbia candidate status. Germany in particular vetoed the unanimous decision required for this. This was preceded by the ongoing border conflict between Serbia and Kosovo, the status of which is controversial under international law. In November 2011, Serbian demonstrators attacked soldiers from the NATO-led Kosovo force KFOR in the border region . Numerous German soldiers were also injured. On the sidelines of the 48th Munich Security Conference , the Austrian Defense Minister Norbert Darabos said that Serbia should receive candidate status quickly, as the government in Belgrade is sending clear signals that it is interested in a solution to the Kosovo conflict.

    Candidate status

    On March 1, 2012, Serbia received candidate status. Previously, EU member Romania had given up its resistance after a Serbian-Romanian agreement on the protection of minorities had been signed. The Romanian politician Cristian Diaconescu had u. a. Guarantees demanded for the Wallachian minority living in Serbia .

    Serbia's accession prospects were clouded at the beginning of August 2012 when the government of Prime Minister Ivica Dačić ( SPS ), who was newly established at the end of July , let parliament vote on a controversial law. In connection with a historic public deficit of 2.2 billion euros, this should give the government more control over the central bank . 139 MPs voted for the law, 39 against. The International Monetary Fund , the World Bank and the EU had protested beforehand. National Bank governor Dejan Šoškić resigned in protest two days before the vote. The European Union stated that Serbia's efforts to join the EU were thrown back with the passage of the law.

    At the end of June 2013 an EU summit decided that the EU would start accession negotiations with Serbia in January 2014. The prerequisite for this is that the agreements to normalize relations with Kosovo are revived.

    Overview of the progress of the negotiations

    The negotiations began on January 21, 2014 with a press conference in Brussels; the screening was completed at the end of March 2015. Serbia hopes to join the EU in 2020. The next accession conference is planned for the second half of 2018.

    chapter Screening opened completed
    1. Free movement of goods 20th June 2014 - -
    2. Free movement of workers January 30, 2014 - -
    3. Freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services March 13, 2014 - -
    4. Free movement of capital 15th December 2014 December 10, 2019 -
    5. Public procurement law May 13, 2014 December 13, 2016 -
    6. Company law 5th February 2015 December 11, 2017 -
    7. Protection of Intellectual Property Rights September 25, 2014 20th June 2017 -
    8. Competition Law April 2, 2014 - -
    9. Financial Services 17th March 2015 June 27, 2019 -
    10. Information society and media 2nd July 2014 - -
    11. Agriculture and Rural Development May 16, 2014 - -
    12. Food safety , veterinary policy and phytosanitary 12th of February 2014 - -
    13. Fisheries November 14, 2014 June 26, 2018 -
    14. Transport policy February 27, 2015 - -
    15. Energy June 12, 2014 - -
    16. Tax Policy March 6, 2015 - -
    17. Economic and monetary policy March 12, 2015 December 10, 2018 -
    18. Statistics May 21, 2014 December 10, 2018 -
    19. Social policy and employment 12th of February 2014 - -
    20. Enterprise and industrial policy 3rd April 2014 February 27, 2017 -
    21. Trans-European transport network April 30, 2014 - -
    22. Regional policy and coordination of structural policy instruments January 29, 2015 - -
    23. Justice and fundamental rights January 30, 2014 18th July 2016 -
    24. Justice, Freedom and Security January 30, 2014 18th July 2016 -
    25. Science and Research June 12, 2014 December 13, 2016 December 13, 2016
    26. Education and culture 20th February 2014 February 27, 2017 February 27, 2017
    27. Environment November 21, 2014 - -
    28. Consumer and health protection 4th February 2015 - -
    29. Customs Union 4th June 2014 20th June 2017 -
    30. External relations October 9, 2014 December 11, 2017 -
    31. Foreign , security and defense policy October 10, 2014 - -
    32. Financial control November 25, 2013 December 14, 2015 -
    33. Financial and budgetary provisions March 24, 2015 June 26, 2018 -
    34. Institutions not applicable
    35. Other questions: Relations with Kosovo (compulsory recognition required) 22th January 2014 December 14, 2015 -
    completed 34 18th 2
    pending 0 16 32

    As of February 8, 2019

    Negotiation progress:

  • Screening completed
  • Chapter opened
  • Chapter completed
  • literature

    • Ljubica Đorđević: Serbia and the EU: State Reform and European Integration , Nomos, 2007, ISBN 3-8329-2987-8 .
    • Achim Rogmann and Zlatko Stefanović: Serbia on the way to the EU. The little-known integration process for the key nation of the Balkans , in: AW-Prax 2009, Heft 11, pp. 351–356.
    • Andrej Ivanji: Serbia: Return to Europe? , IDM, 1997.
    • Wolfgang Tiede: Croatia and Serbia on their Road to the EU Accession - Halfway There? in: South East Europe Review (SEER), 01/2007, pp. 7-25.
    • Heiner Timmermann & Aleksandar Jakir: Europe's tragedy: Ex-Yugoslavia between hope and resignation , LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster, 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6527-4 .
    • Hanna Marwedel: The Stabilization and Association Agreement between the EU and the Western Balkans , LIT Verlag, 2012, ISBN 978-3-643-11458-7 .
    • Christoph Czauderna, Mike Falke: Serbia before the opening of EU accession negotiations: challenges to legal and judicial reforms . WiRO , 2014, 33 ff.
    • Wolfgang Tiede, Julia Spiesberger, Clemens Bogedain: Kosovo and Serbia on the way to the European Union? , Europarecht (EuR) 01/2014, pp. 129–144.

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. Serbia receives EU candidate status , SZ, March 1, 2012. Accessed March 11, 2020.
    2. Accession negotiations begin: Serbia continues on its way into the EU , tagesschau.de, January 21, 2014. Accessed April 16, 2016.
    3. Serbia moves one step closer to Europe Neue Zürcher Zeitung, April 29, 2008
    4. ^ [1] Status of the ratification process
    5. Serbia to become "associate member of EU" on Sept. 1. On: www.b92.net, July 29, 2013 (English)
    6. Belgrade announces application to join the EU. In: derStandard.at. November 5, 2009. Retrieved December 5, 2017 .
    7. No visa requirement for Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia , agency report, December 21, 2009.
    8. zeit.de: Serbia submits an application to join the EU
    9. http://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/serbien-tuer-zur-eu-oeffnet-sich-1617332.html
    10. ^ "Key dates in Serbia's path towards the EU" ( Memento of August 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
    11. Ratko Mladić arrested - Serbia demands speedy EU accession
    12. http://www.europaeische-bewegung.de/news/die-eu-brauch-träger-die-sich-an-die-eu-anhaben-nicht-andersherum/
    13. Croatia signs EU accession agreement at n24.de, December 9, 2011 (accessed December 9, 2011).
    14. Croatia signs membership agreement at faz.net, December 9, 2011 (accessed December 9, 2011).
    15. Darabos: Serbia deserves EU candidate status
    16. Herzog, Martina: Serbia is officially a candidate for membership of the European Union at Abendblatt.de, March 1, 2012 (accessed on March 2, 2012).
    17. European Union: Serbia becomes a candidate for EU membership at Abendblatt.de, March 2, 2012 (accessed on March 2, 2012).
    18. Looming national bankruptcy: Serbia restricts the National Bank's rights at Spiegel Online , August 4, 2012 (accessed on August 4, 2012).
    19. Controversial law passed despite EU criticism: Serbia curtails independence of the central bank at tagesschau.de, August 4, 2012 (accessed on August 4, 2012).
    20. EU accession negotiations with Serbia from January 2014 at euractiv.de , June 27, 2013 (accessed on July 22, 2013).
    21. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/de/press/press-releases/2018/06/25/eighth-meeting-of-the-accession-conference-with-serbia-at-ministerial-level-luxembourg -25-June-2018 /
    22. a b c http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2014&mm=01&dd=30&nav_category=1262&nav_id=806067
    23. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/de/press/press-releases/2018/06/25/eighth-meeting-of-the-accession-conference-with-serbia-at-ministerial-level-luxembourg -25-June-2018 /
    24. Serbian legislation regarding financial control is pretty much aligned with EU legislation - InSerbia News
    25. ^ A b Andreas Ernst: Serbia begins EU accession negotiations. Finally at the beginning in nzz.ch on December 14, 2015. Retrieved on December 20, 2015
    26. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/de/press/press-releases/2018/06/25/eighth-meeting-of-the-accession-conference-with-serbia-at-ministerial-level-luxembourg -25-June-2018 /
    27. B92 : "Chapter 35 on Kosovo cannot open new topics". January 23, 2014, accessed January 23, 2014 .
    28. Serbia: Accession Negotiations - Summary Chapter Status . Retrieved October 19, 2019.