Serbia’s bid to join the European Union could stall unless the government speeds up reforms of the judiciary, media and election laws, European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos has said.
“Without these changes, Serbia cannot advance,” Kos said on April 29 after talks in Belgrade with Prime Minister Djuro Macut, adding that she planned to meet students and civic organisations the following day.
Serbia has seen months of anti-government protests after 16 people were killed when a railway station roof collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad in November, triggering accusations of widespread corruption and negligence.
The protests have now included students, teachers and farmers as well as opposition activists and they have posed a major challenge to populist President Aleksandar Vucic.
“What we [the EU] are looking for is very close to what the people [protesting] on the streets in Serbia are looking for,” Kos said.
Macut, who took over as PM on April 16 following the previous government’s collapse amid the continued street protests, said Serbia remained committed to EU integration.
“However, that is a long process,” he added.
Serbia gained the status of EU membership candidate in 2012.
Earlier on April 29, Vucic said Serbia’s economic growth was expected to slow to 2.1 per cent in the first quarter, mainly due to a fall in tourism that he said was a result of the protests.
“Tourism recorded a 22.8 per cent fall in the first three months and this is a direct consequence of the criminal blockades and the criminal destruction of Serbia, coming both externally and internally,” he told reporters.
In its regional Western Balkan report on April 28, the World Bank cut its growth figure for Serbia this year to 3.5 per cent from 4.2 per cent.
Vucic, who was scheduled to meet Kos later on April 29, said he expected “nothing special” from her visit.
Serbia is juggling its EU bid with close historic ties to Russia. Vucic said he would attend a May 9 military parade in Moscow marking the anniversary of the end of the Second World War and that he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
