Is the EU Selling Serbia an Illusory Dream?
HIIA Analysis – Written by Filip Ilankovic
Serbia’s long and increasingly uncertain path toward EU membership reflects how enlargement has lost its strategic significance, turning into a bureaucratic utopia detached from geopolitical realities and justified mainly through hypocrisy and double standards. Despite still formally negotiating, Serbia’s accession process has come to a standstill, constrained by enlargement fatigue, shifting priorities after the start of the war in Ukraine, and unresolved political conditionality—most notably the Kosovo issue. At the same time, the political fast-tracking of the accession of Ukraine and Moldova has undermined the credibility of the EU’s merit-based accession framework. In addition, the prolonged nature of the process and domestic media campaigns have eroded public support for EU membership within Serbia and created space for Russia and China to expand their influence. Without renewed political will and tangible incentives from the EU, the promise of membership remains an illusion sustained by rhetoric rather than real prospects.
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