The accession process of Serbia to the European Union has sounded largely bureaucratic for years. Mention is made of harmonising with a large number of laws, implementing reforms, meeting deadlines, and fulfilling obligations. Because of this, it often seems that even though we constantly talk about it, getting answers to simple questions is not always easy: what has Serbia actually achieved, where does it currently stand compared to other candidates, and what else needs to be done?

To provide answers to these questions and make the European integration process more transparent, measurable, and comparable, EUpravo Zato developed EUmeter, a platform that tracks the implementation of Serbia's obligations in the process of alignment with the European Union acquis in one place.

EUmeter starts from the European Commission's qualitative assessment for 2025, quantifies it according to an established methodology, and shows that Serbia had a preparedness score of 3.12, or 53 percent.

Next, it looks at the subsequent period - also analyzed by the European Commission - from September 1, 2025, to August 31, 2026, and shows that Serbia has made progress, but also that a significant portion of its potential remains untapped.

Based on reforms implemented during the observed period, EUmeter's projected score for 2026 is 3.26, or 56.5 percent.

Thus, the trend is positive, but the speed at which reforms are implemented remains one of the challenges.

Serbia ranks second among candidate countries in membership preparedness

According to the European Commission's 2025 assessments, Serbia ranks second among candidate countries in terms of preparedness for EU membership, right behind Montenegro. Serbia holds a score of 3.12, or 53 percent preparedness, while North Macedonia is very close with 3.11 and 52.8 percent. Albania is in fifth place with a score of 2.89.

This result demonstrates that Serbia currently occupies a high position among candidate countries.

Naturally, it must be taken into account that these results are dynamic and represent a snapshot based on the latest European Commission report rather than a final grade. Serbia's new position and that of other candidates will be known with the next annual report.
Nevertheless, the data on Serbia's position indicates that there is a strong foundation for further advancement, which depends on the speed at which this potential can be converted into concrete results.

EUmeter shows that the 2026 plan holds great potential

The progress shown by EUmeter should be viewed in relation to the goal Serbia has set for the final phase of the accession process. In April 2025, the Government of Serbia adopted the "Plan for Fulfilling the Most Important Obligations from the Accession Negotiation Process of the Republic of Serbia to the European Union Until the End of 2026."

The Plan represents an operational framework for realizing key negotiation obligations, featuring measures and deadlines distributed across negotiating chapters on a quarterly basis. Its objective is to fulfill the most important obligations leading toward the conclusion of the negotiation process by the end of 2026.

This is precisely why the 2026 Plan has served as an important baseline for tracking progress, because, among other things, it provides the ability to monitor whether reforms are being implemented on schedule. This is especially important in an accession process where progress is measured not only by the number of adopted laws and implemented reforms, but also by the capacity of institutions to execute undertaken obligations according to the established dynamic.

Serbia has crossed the halfway point in many areas

EUmeter shows that Serbia is not equally successful across all fields. In certain chapters, reforms are implemented significantly faster, while others remain major challenges and, due to their scope, substantially impact the overall result.

Among the more successful areas are competition policy and the customs union. In Chapter 8 – Competition Policy, 100 percent of the obligations covered by the observed sample have been fulfilled, while Chapter 29 – Customs Union achieved 87.5 percent.

Energy is also among the areas showing significant progress. On the other hand, large and demanding chapters such as Free Movement of Goods and Environment and Climate Change currently have around a third of their obligations fulfilled. Transport policy and Agriculture and rural development hover around 20 percent.

When results are viewed by institution, the Ministry of Finance stands out particularly, achieving the best results among the ministries included in the analysis. This demonstrates that the pace of obligation fulfillment can vary significantly from institution to institution and that examples of good practice can serve as models to accelerate reform implementation in other areas as well.

This means that the overall result depends not only on how many reforms have been implemented, but also on the specific areas where progress is being made.

Cluster 3 is Best Rated for Preparedness

When progress is examined through negotiating clusters, the picture looks like this: Cluster 3 – Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth - although still unopened - stands out as the best rated in terms of level of preparedness.

At the same time, the greatest room for improvement exists in areas encompassing a large number of obligations: Cluster 2 – Internal Market and Cluster 4 – Green Agenda and Sustainable Connectivity. Accelerating reforms in these two clusters could strongly influence the overall outcome.

Greatest potential for progress

Among the areas holding the greatest potential for further progress, Chapters 23 and 24, covering judiciary and fundamental rights, and justice, freedom, and security respectively, stand out.

Unlike most other areas, their implementation is not covered by the 2026 Plan in the same manner, so progress is tracked through the National Programme for the Adoption of the EU acquis (NPAA).

Data shows that in Chapter 23, 50 percent of obligations have been fulfilled, but none of them were realized within the projected deadline. In Chapter 24, 25 percent of obligations were fulfilled, while only 8.3 percent were realized on time.

For this reason, the rule of law represents one of the greatest reserves for progress. Accelerating reforms in this area would mean more than just a better score on EUmeter; it would have a broader significance for the quality of institutions, legal certainty, and public trust in the system.

Adherence to deadlines

Out of 280 acts entering the overall snapshot of the 2026 Plan, 122 have been adopted, representing 43.6 percent. However, looking specifically at the 2025–2026 reform period, 35.5 percent of the 245 envisioned acts have been fulfilled.

An even more critical data point is that only 23.2 percent of obligations were fulfilled on time.
This means the problem is not just that some reforms remain unfinished, but also that when obligations are realized, a significant portion of them lag behind the planned schedule.
Consequently, greater discipline in respecting deadlines could be one of the fastest ways for Serbia to improve its performance.

Therefore, the numbers provided by the EUmeter platform indicate that the 2026 Plan is yielding results and that Serbia has taken a step forward, while future progress will depend on how quickly this potential space is utilized.

What next?

EUmeter data shows that Serbia has a solid foundation for further advancement, but also clearly points out the areas where reforms must be accelerated. By implementing the reform measures foreseen by the 2026 Plan, Serbia could significantly increase its level of preparedness for EU membership.

However, simply adopting regulations is not enough for this. Reforms must be implemented with quality and, above all, within the envisioned deadlines.

If the existing potential is converted into concrete results, Serbia can take a significant step forward on its path to the EU by the end of 2026.

(EUpravo zato)