Hungary’s push for Serbia EU accession talks stalls due to its refusal to impose sanctions on Russia and its ties with China

Serbia’s refusal to impose sanctions on Russia has been one of the main obstacles preventing the country from moving to the next stage of accession talks.

Several diplomats told Euronews that Hungary’s request to take accession negotiations with Serbia to the next stage was rejected by a significant group of EU countries, making it impossible to reach the required unanimity.

The debate took place on Monday during a closed ambassadorial meeting.

Among the opponents were Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden. They pointed to Belgrade’s unclear record on fundamental rights, tense relations with neighboring Kosovo and, in particular, Belgrade’s refusal to continue to impose sanctions on Russia.

The proposal put forward by the Hungarian EU presidency aimed to bring Serbia closer to opening Group 3 of the accession process, which includes eight individual chapters related to competitiveness and economic growth, such as taxation, monetary policy, employment, customs and scientific research.

Serbia had previously unlocked five of these eight chapters, but Brussels changed the rules in 2020 to create the thematic groupings, which must now be fully opened after a number of preliminary standards have been met.

According to the European Commission, Serbia has met the standards and is “technically ready” to start talks under Group 3, with the final decision in the hands of member states, who must get a unanimous green light at each step of the process.

No consensus was reached on Monday after Hungary, a staunch supporter of Serbia’s European integration, tabled the Group 3 proposal. The opposition group acknowledged Serbia’s progress on its membership application, but insisted that “concrete results are needed” before proceeding, a diplomat said.

A major cause for concern around the table was Belgrade’s apparent lack of alignment with EU foreign policy, particularly with regard to the numerous sanctions the bloc has imposed on Russia over its large-scale invasion of Ukraine, the diplomat said.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said he was not ashamed of maintaining “traditionally very good relations” with Moscow and rejected Western restrictions.

“No one in Europe agrees with me on this issue, but everyone in Europe understands my position,” Vucic claimed in September.

Belgrade is also under scrutiny for its free trade agreement with China, which came into force on July 1 and immediately lifted 60% of tariffs between the two sides. It is unclear how a country with a free trade agreement with China can become part of the EU, as the bloc’s trade policy is unified and determined by Brussels.

Serbia “maintains high-level relations with the Russian Federation and has intensified its relations with China, raising questions about Serbia’s strategic orientation,” the Commission wrote in the enlargement report published last month.

Vucic’s policy is similar to that of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who broke up with his EU colleagues in order to maintain good relations with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping. Orbán’s highly controversial “peace tour” in the summer, which took him to Moscow and Beijing, sparked accusations of disloyalty.

Progress in the accession talks with the Western Balkan candidates is one of the top priorities of Hungary’s EU Council Presidency, which ends on December 31.

“We promised the countries of the Western Balkans twenty years ago that we would grant them access, and it is time to keep this promise,” said Orban.

While Brussels approaches the enlargement process as “merit-based”, the decisions of the member states are essentially political. Hungary, for example, was reluctant to accede to the request of Ukraine, which is currently in a virtual standstill (a situation in which there is no visible activity or change)./The Geopost/