First statement after the report on Serbia: I'm sorry...

First statement after the report on Serbia: I'm sorry...

However, as Vladimír Bilčík adds, Serbia must make "decisive progress" on that road.

"Decisive progress can be made if and when Serbia takes steps to align with EU foreign policy," Bilčík said in his first statement after voting on the report in the EP's Foreign Affairs Committee.

Bilčík said that a large part of the report on Serbia refers to Russia's aggression against Ukraine, calling on Serbia to make "decisive choice".

"The European road is based on the rule of law, European values, but also compliance with foreign policy. The report emphasizes that Serbia's level of alignment is lowest in the Western Balkans region. We do not want to set an ultimatum, but it should be clear to everyone in Serbia what is expected from this partnership, which is the essence of the European path. We expect Serbia to make some decisions and to be on the right side of history when it comes to this aggression," Bilčík said.

He estimates that "sitting on more chairs" and the continuation of the EU path has become "almost impossible" after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, and points out that it would be useful for Serbia to comply "with the EU" as soon as possible.

As for the part of the text of the report that mentions "mutual recognition" as the basis of the final agreement in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina, Vladimir Bilčík said that there were "difficult negotiations on the text", that "Belgrade's role in the dialogue was praised", along with the assessment that Pristina "has not been a constructive partner" in recent months.

"I am not happy about the mention of mutual recognition in the report, but the majority in the European Parliament recognizes the independence of Kosovo, and the political decision of the majority was to find it in the text. I would like to explain to the public in Serbia that the EP does not decide on the recognition of Kosovo. At the moment, we do not see any steps towards the recognition of Kosovo by the five member states that do not recognize it", Bilčík said.

The rapporteur for Serbia notes that progress has been made in 2021 in opening a cluster of four chapters in Serbia's accession negotiations with the EU, and that there have been positive changes in the rule of law, as reflected in the constitutional amendments adopted after the referendum.

Bilčík called for the swift formation of government bodies after the April 3rd elections, and said that the inter-party dialogue, mediated by the European Parliament, had led to "the government and the opposition sitting at the same table" and "ending the boycott of Serbian politics".