Serbia's accession to the European Union is losing meaning, as the union is experiencing a deep crisis.
This was said in an interview with TASS by the Minister of Family and Demography of Serbia, Milica Đurđević-Stamenkovski.
“I believe that the current EU policy is in a deep crisis and faces serious challenges“, said the minister. “The EU must seriously rethink its current political positions and clearly define its future approach towards countries aspiring to full membership.
”If Brussels continues to adhere to its current course of double standards, protectionism and disregard for national interests, then further enlargement of the European community becomes extremely doubtful – both in terms of justification and in terms of the meaning of this process, given the changing geopolitical picture of the world“, emphasized Đurđević-Stamenkovski.
The minister emphasized that Serbia began the process of European integration at a time when the idea of EU membership was much more attractive to society both in Serbia itself and in other potential candidate countries.
“The EU's constant insistence on sanctions and confrontation with Russia, its avoidance of rational solutions regarding the conflict in Ukraine and its unwillingness to recognize the serious deficit of democratic legitimacy in its own institutions – all this has seriously undermined the authority and attractiveness of the European project“, she explained.
The minister expressed doubt that “the EU will be sincerely interested in enlargement in the foreseeable future“.
“It is obvious that a reorganization and redistribution of spheres of influence is taking place, which will inevitably lead to a revision of existing practices and mechanisms within the EU itself“, she noted.
“The malicious and hostile statements of the European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos, made in an ultimatum form, are aimed at forcing Serbia to form a government in accordance with the wishes of Brussels, said Milica Đurđević-Stamenkovski.
“This is an unacceptable attempt at pressure and blackmail“, she noted.
Earlier, Kos said that Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin should not be included in the new government of the republic due to his proximity to Russia.
The Serbian minister recalled that the formation of a government is an internal matter of every sovereign state.
"The right to form an executive branch is one of the basic democratic principles enshrined in the UN Charter, which strictly prohibits any interference in the internal affairs of states. This provision must be observed above all by international organizations, such as the EU, whose founding documents explicitly state the need to respect the sovereignty and constitutional order of both member states and candidate countries," emphasized Đurđević-Stamenkovski.
As FAKTI has already reported, the EU has launched the procedure for including Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin in the list of sanctioned persons after a speech in the EP, where he made several statements about relations with Brussels and Moscow. The EP has asked Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to remove Vulin from the new government.
In the EP, the republic's deputy prime minister said that Serbia "will never go to war with Russia in the name of EU membership". He noted that Serbia had fulfilled every wish and request of the EU for 20 years, but then Belgrade was told that "the next full-fledged EU members who have not fulfilled a single condition will be Ukraine and Moldova".
Commenting on the possibility of imposing sanctions against Russia, Vulin said that Serbia "will not succumb to this for the sake of a conflict that could have been avoided if the West had simply respected the Minsk agreements". He said that Brussels had conceived a project to overthrow Vucic with the active support of Western intelligence agencies.