Serbia to open two chapters in negotiations with EU on December 10

This Monday, December 10, Serbia will open two new chapters in the accession negotiations with the EU in Brussels, namely, Chapter 17 – Economic & Monetary Policy and Chapter 18 – Statistics.

Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, will attend the EU-Serbia intergovernmental conference, the EU announced on its website.

Serbian Minister for European Integration Jadranka Joksimovic recently said that seven chapters were technically prepared for opening.

According to her, 19 EU states have approved the opening of at least three chapters, some countries have approved the opening of four or five chapters, some have approved the opening of only one chapter, and some are against the opening of any of the chapters, but as the decision is made through a consensus, an agreement was reached for two chapters to be opened.

Citing diplomatic sources, Radio Slobodna Evropa reports that the member states at one point seriously considered the possibility of not opening any of the chapters due to the insufficient progress made in the rule of law.

These diplomatic sources also underline that the larger EU member states generally believe that the opening of new chapters would serve to avoid jeopardizing the potential success in the dialogue with Pristina.

Serbia has so far opened 14 of the 35 chapters in the EU accession negotiations, whereas two have been temporarily closed.

Ministarstvo za evropske integracije Republike Srbije

Ministry of European Integration

European integration

EU integration

EU negotiations

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter on Economic & Monetary Policy

Chapter on Statistics

Johannes Hahn

Jadranka Joksimovic