BELGRADE – Serbia’s European integration will gain full momentum after the opening of Chapters 23 and 24 in the accession talks, but EU membership should not be expected to come soon, says Eduard Kukan MEP. Kukan, who is visiting Belgrade as a member of the informal Friends of Serbia group of MEPs, told Tanjug that they had encouraged the Serbian authorities to continue preparations for EU membership, noting that Serbia had many friends in the European Parliament who sincerely wanted to see it in the EU.
He said that he had heard in Belgrade that the Serbian authorities were very committed to European integration but that they knew that the process was not easy and that it required reforms, which he said would pay off in the future as EU membership would bring many advantages to the citizens.
However, EU membership should not be expected to come soon, he said.
Asked how Brexit would affect the enlargement process, Kukan responded that he did not believe the enlargement process and developments in the wake of Brexit would affect one another.
However, the UK was a supporter of the enlargement and we have lost a large country that could have played a positive role in the process, he noted.