Serbia still does not align its policy on chemical weapons and Iran with the EU

Serbia is once again the only candidate country for European Union membership in the Western Balkans that has not respected the three new foreign policy decisions of the EU Council on restrictive measures against Iran and on the proliferation and use of chemical weapons.

As announced yesterday by EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, the EU Council adopted two decisions on restrictive measures against Iran on October 9 and 16, (CFSP) 2023/2126 and (CFSP) 023/2195 .

On October 9, the Council of the EU adopted the decision on restrictive measures due to the proliferation and use of chemical weapons (CFSP) 2023/2129, which extends their validity.

With the three new EU Council decisions, all EU candidate countries in the Western Balkans except Serbia – North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina – have complied, ensuring that their national policies are in line the EU takes this commitment into account and welcomes it, the announcements said.

Serbia is among the few countries in Europe that have not imposed sanctions on Russia and has offered direct flights with Moscow since Russia began its occupation of Ukraine.

In the past, Serbia has had problems in relations with the European Union due to visa liberalization with some third countries such as Iran, Tunisia, Cuba, China, Burundi and some other countries whose citizens are required to have a visa to enter the EU. This has led to the citizens of these countries entering Serbia without visas and illegally entering EU countries, which leads to an increase in the number of asylum seekers from these countries.

/TheGeopost/