Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter Szijjártó, said on Tuesday that Serbia is “ready” to become part of the European Union, adding that its accession to the bloc should not be conditioned on normalizing relations with Kosovo.

In an interview with the Croatian news agency, Hina, he said that conditioning Serbia’s accession to the EU on normalizing relations with Kosovo is “unfair” to Belgrade because “this does not depend solely on Serbia”.

“The isolation of Serbia is the worst possible tactic,” Szijjártó said.

The head of Hungarian diplomacy said that Serbia is “ready to join the EU tomorrow” and that without it, as the “largest and strongest” country in the Western Balkans, “there is no stability in the bloc”.

Szijjártó explained the frequent anti-Western and anti-European rhetoric of Serbia’s President, Aleksandar Vučić, with a sense of disappointment due to the lack of progress towards accession, despite “fulfilled criteria”.

“I believe that Brussels’ approach to Serbia’s bureaucracy needs to change,” the Hungarian minister said.

Serbia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2012, and accession negotiations began in 2014.

The EU regularly warns that the speed of Serbia’s accession process to the bloc will depend on its progress in the dialogue for normalizing relations between Belgrade and Pristina, which is mediated by Brussels.

Szijjártó also said that the EU project will not be completed until all the countries of the Western Balkans become its members.

“Brussels needs the region [the Western Balkans] more than the region needs it,” he said.

Szijjártó announced that during Hungary’s presidency of the EU in the second half of this year, Hungary will emphasize speeding up this process because “this will give the EU new energy and momentum”.