Hungary\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3, said on Tuesday that Serbia is \u201cready\u201d to become part of the European Union, adding that its accession to the bloc should not be conditioned on normalizing relations with Kosovo.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Croatian news agency, Hina, he said that conditioning Serbia\u2019s accession to the EU on normalizing relations with Kosovo is \u201cunfair\u201d to Belgrade because \u201cthis does not depend solely on Serbia\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe isolation of Serbia is the worst possible tactic,\u201d Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 said.<\/p>\n
The head of Hungarian diplomacy said that Serbia is \u201cready to join the EU tomorrow\u201d and that without it, as the \u201clargest and strongest\u201d country in the Western Balkans, \u201cthere is no stability in the bloc\u201d.<\/p>\n
Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 explained the frequent anti-Western and anti-European rhetoric of Serbia\u2019s President, Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107, with a sense of disappointment due to the lack of progress towards accession, despite \u201cfulfilled criteria\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that Brussels\u2019 approach to Serbia\u2019s bureaucracy needs to change,\u201d the Hungarian minister said.<\/p>\n
Serbia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2012, and accession negotiations began in 2014.<\/p>\n
The EU regularly warns that the speed of Serbia\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 also said that the EU project will not be completed until all the countries of the Western Balkans become its members.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrussels needs the region [the Western Balkans] more than the region needs it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 announced that during Hungary\u2019s presidency of the EU in the second half of this year, Hungary will emphasize speeding up this process because \u201cthis will give the EU new energy and momentum\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hungary\u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3, said on Tuesday that Serbia is \u201cready\u201d 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\u2019s accession to the EU […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":66001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[250],"tags":[308,1648,1721,300,1929,243,151,301],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n