Eight European Union member states have blocked a European Commission proposal to open a new chapter of accession negotiations with Serbia. Serbia applied for EU membership in 2009 and has held candidate status since 2012.
Diplomats report that Serbia’s EU membership bid was blocked by Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and Sweden; all opposed opening the negotiating cluster on the EU single market.
The European Commission argued that Serbia had made sufficient progress and addressed previous areas of concern, but several capitals rejected that assessment. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos remains one of the strongest advocates of advancing Serbia’s accession process, a position also backed by Germany.
Denmark, Latvia, and Luxembourg were also reportedly unconvinced that Serbia had met the necessary conditions, citing concerns over corruption, media freedom, and Belgrade’s refusal to align with EU sanctions against Russia.
Because every stage of the accession process requires unanimous approval from all 27 member states, the opposition was enough to halt the proposal.
Serbia applied for EU membership in 2009 and has held candidate status since 2012.
One anonymous diplomat said the level of resistance made it “impossible” for the negotiations to move forward in the near future.
