Baerbock: Germany wants Serbia to become fully fledged EU member, and will help Serbia and Kosovo achieve a historical deal after the Serbian elections

34 comments

  1. A more detailed article can be found [here](https://rs.n1info.com/english/news/baerbock-germany-wants-serbia-in-eu-but-reforms-needed/).

    “We want Serbia to be a full member of the EU. We are convinced the Serbs have the right to life in our common home, that requires reforms in rule of law. We will support Serbia sincerely,” she told reporters after a meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic.

    “We created the post of special envoy for the Western Balkans who will be my eyes and ears in the region and make sure the Western Balkans get the attention it deserves,” Baerbock said, adding that Germany will increase its presence in the region.According to her, Serbia’s vote in favor of the UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia’s aggression against Ukraine was received well in Berlin. “Our common values are peace, freedom and prosperity. Whoever shares those values can’t be on the sidelines,” Baerbock said.

    She said that Serbia spoke clearly about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war adding that this was the clearest condemnation of war.

    Baerbock said that Germany wants to help with the deal between Serbia and Kosovo after the Serbian elections ([source](https://rs.n1info.com/vesti/berbok-zelimo-da-srbija-bude-punopravni-clan-eu-iskreno-cemo-vas-podrzati/)).

  3. A lot of people were upset about Serbia not imposing sanctions on Russia, and general Russian sympathies expressed by some elements of Serbian society.

    If you want something to be done about that, IMO the answer is to give Serbia and Serbians a real alternative to Russia. Strong economic cooperation, a market to trade in, acknowledgement that they are welcomed in the European community, an actual hope for the future.

    The country has many problems yes, but it’s also a relatively small country. The European community has the means to effectively employ soft power in the region to drive positive change and convince the people that their interests and future prosperity are best aligned with the West, if it willed it.

  6. A historical deal ? So we are moving the occupying forces away and recognizing Serbia in their UN borders

    You know, sivereignity and teritorial integrity we uphold in Ukraine, international law and all. Otherwise, nothing will happen and we continue being hypocrites.

  8. Serbia should never be allowed to join the EU. Will always vote against it, they also allow russian planes as a loophole for sanctions, demonstrations in support of russia. Glad its all in the open now.

  9. Serbia is just another trojan horse for putin at this point. I see no chance of them being a constructive member till they prove it. They are aligned with russia and china and can be so.

  10. Serbia needs to redeem themselves for quite some time. Its just orbans Hungary on steroids at this point. We better invest to Ukraine a country which really values the possibility to be here.

  15. Yes, but we need to reform the EU first to stop possibilities for gridlock that may emerge if one or two or even three countries decide to try to sabotage it from the inside. We are already having trouble with Hungary and Poland. I want to believe that Serbia will distance itself from Russia and shift its loyalties towards the EU, but for now, Serbia has close ties to Russia and if it can effectively sabotage the EU from inside, Russia could give it strong incentives to do so.

  17. Please do it quickly, so we can have another competitor for worst place in EU statistics already. (along with Romania)

  19. Ah so we’re gearing up for a double whammy with northern macedonia and serbia where we start ignoring blatant disregard for values/conditions in favor of geopolitical german interests. Sorry Serbia, you’re probably gonna get screwed with the negotiations and have to face a lot of consequences before you can consider the benefits.

  20. But..but…Reddit told me we was gonna get sanctioned and and lose the candidate status and shiet..

  23. Controversial opinion perhaps but I believe this will do more harm than good. Serbia is a borderline rogue state, it takes the opposite side of the EU in almost every political issue. If they join, they won’t magically become a great member state, they will instead be like how Turkey is in NATO, a problematic at best member.

    Not to mention the Euro has been declining in value for the past 8 months or so and shows no signs of slowing down. Almost a 10% decrease, which is significant. Adding an economy like Serbia to the Eurozone will immediately exacerbate this if they are added.

    Especially if the EU is already considering adding Ukraine and it’s 44 million people/ wartorn economy, that’s already going to be a major strain, not even considering all the aid packages that will undoubtedly be needed for Ukraine once the war is over. Not to mention the refugee aid packages already being talked about now for places like Poland.

    The Euro can’t be allowed to just slide completely into the abyss for the sake of some vain hope the Serbians will turn a new leaf if offered EU membership.

    Maybe in years when the EU is more stable and has less on it’s plate this would make sense, but not now, certainly not now. The Serbians make a very small difference anyways not participating in sanctions, their economy is very small. Russia wouldn’t miss them even if they joined us.

  25. >after the Serbian elections

    All you need to read here. Fuck off Baerbock! This is clear support for Vučić dictatorship, in continuation of cynical CDU policies.

  26. But surely they need to recognize the independence of Kosovo to make that possible, no? That’s never going to happen.

  27. >Germany wants Serbia to become fully fledged EU member, and will help Serbia and Kosovo achieve a historical deal after the Serbian elections

    ​

    >after the Serbian elections

    Translation: We are gonna help Vučić rig the election.

  28. I can only approve of this (if the Kosovo matter gets handled in a good matter ofcourse). Quite good academics there, so I’d love to see how Serbia would develop under EU wings.

  30. Serbia should not join EU. Serbia fully supports Putin and China. They would be a trojan horse undermining the EU.

  31. Serbia is so not rdy for EU idk about this one.

    These ppl be having pro Russia protests in the streets

  32. Ngl joining EU will be the best day of my life just because I will be able to see all of the redditors from this sub crying 24/7 and bitching like there is no tommorow. Bunch of outcasts 😂

  33. Not a great fan honestly. I don’t think this is the right time, considering we first have to deal with Poland and Hungary, before thinking about admitting another potentially problematic member.
    Also, corruption in Serbia is still a pretty big problem, the rule of law is sometimes questionably applied and its ongoing conflict with Kosovo is pretty problematic.

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