The Government of Serbia has appointed Ambassador Danijel Apostolović as chief negotiator in the process of Serbia’s accession to the European Union, while a meeting with representatives of negotiating groups was held in Belgrade to discuss further reforms and the opening of new clusters.
The Government appointed the Head of the Mission of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union, Ambassador Danijel Apostolović, as chief negotiator in Serbia’s EU accession talks, as published in the Official Gazette.
At the same time, a meeting of the Operational Team for the EU accession process - led by Apostolović - was held in Belgrade with the chairs and members of the negotiating groups.
The meeting was attended by 34 chairs of negotiating groups, who reported on legislative and strategic activities in the process of alignment with European Union standards and regulations.
Discussions focused on the activities required to open Cluster 2 - Internal Market and Cluster 5 - Resources, Agriculture and Cohesion, while, according to the European Commission’s assessment, Cluster 3 - Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth is ready to be opened.
The pace of fulfilling recommendations from the European Commission’s Annual Report, as well as the implementation of steps from Serbia’s Reform Agenda, were also discussed.
The position of chief negotiator had previously been held by the Minister for European Integration, Nemanja Starović, who, by a Government decision of 26 March, was appointed a member of the Negotiation Support Team.
Operational team for the EU accession process
After years of slower progress towards EU membership, Brussels has increasingly been signalling that Serbia has a “window of opportunity” that should be seized, as it will not remain open for long. It is precisely in this context that a special operational team has been established, intended to accelerate the fulfilment of obligations under the Reform Agenda and demonstrate that Belgrade has both the political will and the administrative capacity to seriously tackle reforms.
The idea is that a small but operational team - with clearly defined tasks and daily communication - will speed up work in areas that have for years been bottlenecks in negotiations with the European Union, particularly in the field of the rule of law.
Danijel Apostolović, Head of Serbia’s Mission to the European Union in Brussels, has been appointed chair of the operational team. Other members include government ministers Starović, Mali and Vujić, as well as the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ana Brnabić.
The operational team is expected to consist of between eight and ten members and to remain in constant contact, including through daily conference calls.
The President of Serbia will also be fully involved in the work through daily reports on achieved results.
Steps Serbia will take to accelerate progress towards the EU
At a session held on 3 October 2024, the Government of Serbia adopted the Reform Agenda - a document aimed at accelerating all ongoing reforms as already outlined in EU accession negotiations. It was prepared through cooperation between 37 institutions of the Republic of Serbia and the European Commission, in response to the European Union’s offer to fast-track membership preparations through the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans.
Serbia’s Reform Agenda is an extensive strategic document detailing all the steps and measures that Serbian institutions will undertake to accelerate reforms across numerous areas on the path to EU membership, while also enabling the country to access funds allocated to it from the European Growth Fund.
Across four reform areas, 98 measures or steps are envisaged, the implementation of which will be a condition for disbursement.
Based on results achieved so far, the Republic of Serbia has officially received approval from the European Commission for the disbursement of the first tranche in the amount of €56.5 million.
(EUpravo zato.rs)
