Serbia's Ambassador to the EU: Cluster 3 Could Be Opened by the End of July, But It’s a Political Decision

"Serbia has not slowed its path toward the EU; rather, certain EU member states have not given their consent to open Cluster 3, which has been ready for three and a half years. This is despite four recommendations from the European Commission stating that Serbia is ready to open Cluster 3,” Apostolovic said on the show "Open Your Eyes," adding that in the past four years, there has been no assessment of “backsliding” in any area.

According to him, recent visits by high-ranking European officials to Serbia are extremely important, and he described them as a strong message of support for Serbia in the accession negotiations process.

"The key messages were that the EU’s doors are open to Serbia, that Serbia belongs in the Union, and that the country should accelerate the reform process to take advantage of the current favorable momentum for enlargement," said Apostolovic.

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He added that guests from Brussels were assured that Serbia will remain a constructive partner in dialogue with Pristina and will strive to increase its alignment with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.

Speaking to Newsmax Balkans, he reminded that the importance of the EU’s enlargement policy gained momentum after the start of the war in Ukraine. "Over the past three and a half years, the main obstacle to opening Cluster 3 and advancing Serbia’s EU integration process has been the failure to impose sanctions on Russia. So, unfortunately, the geopolitical situation has been the determining factor in our case," Apostolovic emphasized.

He added that he wants to believe Cluster 3 could be opened by the end of July but reminded that Serbia was close to opening it in December last year — and it still didn’t happen.

"The opening of each cluster is, in practice, a political decision. All 27 member states must give their consent. While you’ll often hear from EU officials that the accession negotiation process is purely merit-based, that’s only partly true. These processes are politically, that is, geopolitically driven. If it were purely merit-based, our Cluster 3 would have been opened three and a half years ago," Apostolovic stressed.

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