Serbia's EU membership remains a strategic goal, Kallas says

Euronews

22-05-2025

Serbia's EU membership "remains a strategic goal" yet depends on a "geostrategic choice" of direction, Kallas said Thursday after meeting Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and government officials in Belgrade, the first stop on her broader Western Balkans tour.
'From my discussions with Serbian political leadership it is clear that EU membership remains a strategic goal,' Kallas said. 'However, I want to emphasise that we need to see actions also to prove and support those words.'
"Reforms are how Serbia will advance along its EU path," she added. "There are no shortcuts for membership. Real progress must be made here in Belgrade.'
The EU foreign policy chief also touched upon Vučić's trip to Russia for the Victory Day parade in Moscow, a decision widely criticised by Brussels and Kallas, who earlier warned the Serbian leader not to travel to the Russian capital for the 9 May celebrations.
"I really don't understand why it is necessary to stand side by side with (Russian President Vladimir Putin) who is conducting this horrible war in Ukraine," Kallas added. "And President Vučić was explaining his side of the story. So, yes, we had a very extensive discussion about this."
Vučić has previously said that "Serbia and the Serbian people made a huge contribution to the victory over fascism" in World War II, and that he was in the Russian capital to celebrate that fact.
"I talked about it back in October and told everyone I was travelling. I didn't lie to anyone. I announced where I was going, unlike many others who did not announce it, so they ended up there," Vučić explained after meeting European Council President Antonio Costa in Belgrade earlier this month.
Vučić has been criticised for maintaining close relations with Russia and China while formally saying that he wants Serbia to join the EU.
The government in Belgrade has also been under significant domestic pressure following seven months of large student-led anti-corruption protests, which erupted after a train station awning collapsed in the northern regional capital of Novi Sad on 1 November 2024, killing 16.
Kallas said she also met the protesting students and called for Serbia to make serious efforts to promote media freedom, combat corruption and implement electoral reform.
'These reforms will bring real benefits for the citizens and the people of Serbia as hundreds of thousands of protesters have been demanding in recent weeks. The autonomy of the universities must be respected,' she said.
Kallas also emphasised the need to normalise relations with Kosovo, Serbia's former province which declared its independence in 2008. Most Western countries recognise its independence, but Serbia does not.
Brussels-mediated talks between the two have long been frozen, yet Kallas said normalisation is "fundamental for Serbia's European future."
"It is time to overcome the past a focus on the common future,' she said. 'I plan to invite the representatives from Belgrade and Pristina to Brussels as soon as possible to discuss the concrete steps forward."
The six Western Balkan countries are in different phases of accession, with Albania and Montenegro now considered frontrunners. Serbia, North Macedonia and Bosnia remain candidate countries, while Kosovo is still just a potential candidate for EU membership.
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 encouraged Europe's leaders to push for the countries to join the bloc, fearing instability.
Kallas said she is 'deeply committed to encouraging all the Western Balkan countries to really seize the current momentum that we have in the enlargement.'
"I want to see Serbia advancing towards the EU," the EU foreign policy chief reiterated in a post on X following the meeting.
"For that, political leaders must deliver the necessary reforms and clarify the strategic direction. This is best done by restoring trust and staying true to democratic principles," she added.
Eight EU countries on Thursday launched a coalition of the willing on crisis preparedness calling for "urgent, European coordinated action" to make the bloc more resilient to natural and man-made disasters.
Crisis preparedness is a national competence across the EU but the new coalition of the willing - made up of Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, and Sweden - said in a statement that "efforts from member states and the EU's institutions" are needed "as crises have become increasingly cross-border, cross-sectoral and grow in complexity".
"Russia is engaging in destabilising actions that could affect all member states. We can see that this capability could potentially increase if Russia is no longer as involved in Ukraine -- if we reach a peace agreement," Swedish Minister for Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin told Euronews.
"That's why it is very important that all member states work on civil preparedness and strengthening resilience."
"To have a credible military capability, we also need a credible ability to handle crises within our society. We must show that we will never give up. If an adversary were to launch an unjust attack against us, we need to make it clear that we are resilient — and present a robust society that is seen as not worth attacking," he added.
Some of the threats the new coalition says the EU needs to bolster its preparedness and resilience against include military, hybrid, terrorist and criminal threats, foreign manipulation and interference, and other disruptions caused by natural or human-made disasters.
Ministers taking part in the meeting agreed to develop and work on a Joint Coalition Agenda that would see them implement the Preparedness Union Strategy proposed by the European Commission two months ago.
The Commission is arguing there is a need for harmonisation across the 27 member states as levels of crisis preparedness differ widely, due to varying threat assessments based primarily on geography.
The plan by the EU's executive called for increasing stockpiles of essential equipment and supplies including medical countermeasures, critical raw materials, and energy equipment as well as improving cooperation between civilian and military authorities.
The flagship initiative, however, was a call for member states to develop a 72-hour survival kit for citizens. This kit, Crisis Preparedness Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said at the time, ought to include food, water, medicines, a portable radio, a flashlight, spare batteries, chargers, cash, copies of important documents including medical prescriptions, spare keys, warm clothes and basic tools such as utility knives.
The initiative was immediately branded by some as alarmist and fearmongering but a prolonged nationwide blackout in Spain last month saw the Commission partially vindicated.
"In the Netherlands, we are already working hard on resilience, but it is important not to limit ourselves to national borders. Moreover, we can learn a lot from the countries around us that are already more advanced," David van Weel, the Dutch minister of justice and security said, citing Sweden, Denmark and the Baltic states as examples.
"A resilient European Union makes us stronger and ensures that Europe is prepared for disruptions to society caused by different types of crises. It is also not just about emergency kits for EU citizens, but also, for example, repairing the electricity grid or other vital infrastructure. You can think trained citizens as civil protection workers to get destroyed electricity sheds up and running again, put out fires or provide first medical aid in a crisis," he added.
The group plans to meet twice yearly, with the next meeting to be held in Sweden. Euronews understands that Poland and Germany have expressed interest in joining the coalition.