Head of EU Delegation to Serbia Emanuele Giaufret told N1 that there are no talks on sanctions against Serbia for not imposing sanctions on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, and that he cannot be more specific about whether Belgrade will have to introduce them after the elections, though he said that the elections on 3 April are very important for Serbia.
“Serbia is a candidate for EU membership, it has taken the same measures as the Union because it opened the door to refugees and provided them with access to the labour market and education. Many positive steps have been taken, and we want the Serbian government and the Serbian people to be with us in opposing the aggression in Ukraine”, said Giaufret.
“Serbia has harmonized its actions with a large number of EU declarations, many restrictive measures have been adopted, and we expect that all countries that have ambitions towards the EU will gradually harmonize with the foreign policy and measures adopted by the Union”, he added.
Asked “what is gradual harmonization” and whether the EU left it to the Serbian authorities to decide on sanctions against Russia after the elections, Giaufret said that this was not the case.
“We have a constant dialogue with the Serbian government, we will continue to talk after the elections. Serbia has increased its level of alignment with European foreign policy. We are moving in the right direction, expectations exist because Serbia has said its strategic goal is to join the Union and there will be talks also with the new government about this”, explained Giaufret, adding: “We know that Serbia is in a delicate position, it is energy dependent on Russia, we have to tackle that.”