European Parliament adopts resolution: Donations and money to Serbia only if it imposes sanctions on Russia

The European Parliament adopted a resolution in Strasbourg saying that accession negotiations with Serbia should only move forward if Belgrade supports sanctions against Russia and makes significant progress on reforms. MEPs also voted in favour of conditioning EU funding to Serbia in the same way.

No alternative should replace enlargement, and the decision-making process in the accession process should be reformed to accept new members by qualified majority instead of unanimity, the European Parliament’s website reports. They add that accession negotiations with candidate countries should be concluded by 2030, N1 reports.

“MEPs are demanding that democratic reforms and the rule of law be at the forefront of the enlargement process, along with improved monitoring, reporting, evaluation and conditionality.” Recommendations for a new EU enlargement strategy adopted by MEPs call for EU funding to be made more visible in candidate countries. They also want the EU to work on preventing third party interference in the political, electoral and other democratic processes of candidate countries,” the Communication says.

The European MP assessed that this is a non-binding resolution, but a strong political message in which direction the EU is thinking.

The resolution’s author, MEP Tonino Picula, said that the European Parliament has always been the most important advocate of enlargement.

“By adopting firm recommendations on how future enlargement policy should be implemented, we can reset the tone and standards that will allow the EU to grow and prosper.” We want to ensure that the EU remains an evolving community of European countries, open to accession by like-minded democracies sharing common values and interests,” said Mr Picula.

The resolution was supported by 502 MEPs, with 75 against and 61 abstentions./Danas/