BRUSSELS – Joining the EU is “a matter of endurance and not a competition,” Serbian PM Ana Brnabić told the Euractiv.com portal in an interview.
“For Serbia, joining the EU is like a marathon. When you run a marathon you are not competing against anyone else but yourself. In that sense, I don’t think any country should be bothered by who is the front or second runner,” she said.
She highlighted the progress made by Serbia over the last three years to regain macroeconomic stability and fiscal discipline.
When asked whether she agreed with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who recently said Montenegro and Serbia could join the EU by 2025, she said the date of accession should not be talked about.
“For me, the journey is as important as the destination itself,” she said, adding that she expected Serbia to close all negotiation chapters in 2020-2022.