Serbia’s EU Hopes ‘Depend on Reforms and Kosovo’

At meetings with top Serbian officials in Belgrade on Monday, enlargment commissioner Stefan Fuele backed the country's EU aspirations but reminded them that further progress depended on reforms and solution to the problem of Serb-run north of Kosovo.

"We are looking eagerly at the coming weeks to see further progress in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, particularly on the sensitive issue of the [Serb-run] north of Kosovo," Fuele said at a press conference after meeting Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic.

Fuele also met Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic and deputy prime minister Aleksandar Vucic during his visit which came ahead of the submission of the European Commission's report on Serbia's progress on April 16.

Based on the report, the European Council will decide on June 28 whether to give Serbia a start date for accession talks or not.

Serbia obtained EU candidate status in March 2012.

In December, EU foreign ministers said they would not recommend a date for accession talks until they saw more signs of progress in dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.

Balkan Insight has learned from an EU diplomat that Serbian and Kosovo officials have agreed on the executive powers to be ceded to the Serb-run north of Kosovo but are still at odds over who will appoint judges there.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met Serbian and Kosovo leaders last week to try to resolve the future shape of the judicial system in the north.

The next round of EU-mediated talks between Belgrade and Pristina is due on March 20.