MEPs have warned that Serbia’s bid to join the European Union should move forward only if the country delivers measurable and lasting progress on democratic standards and the rule of law, according to a European Parliament report adopted on Wednesday.
The report was approved by 468 votes in favour, 116 against and 79 abstentions, the Parliament said.
Progress towards EU membership requires not only adopting reforms but also implementing them fully, with MEPs pointing to what they described as a persistent gap between Serbia’s alignment with EU rules on paper and the real-world application of reforms.
They said Serbia’s accession negotiations should advance only when there is demonstrable progress on issues including judicial independence, tackling corruption and organised crime, media freedom, public administration reform, the functioning of democratic institutions, and holding free and fair elections.
MEPs also declared each country’s path towards EU integration should be assessed “on its own merits” and that no country should be linked to another in a “package.”
Concerns over foreign policy alignment
The report criticised Serbia’s close ties with Russia and deepening security and defence cooperation with China, raising concerns about the country’s strategic direction, the European Parliament said.
Full alignment with the EU’s common foreign and security policy — including alignment with EU restrictive measures against Russia — remains a requirement for accession, MEPs said.
MEPs also linked Serbia’s domestic political tensions to elections, saying the best way to resolve the country’s political crisis would be to hold genuinely free and fair polls, against the backdrop of mass protests across Serbia since November 2024.
Rapporteur Tonino Picula, a Croatian MEP from the Socialists and Democrats group, said Serbia’s EU accession process had “effectively stalled” and cited democratic backsliding, weakened rule of law, failure to implement key reforms and a lack of alignment with EU foreign policy.
