Head of the European Union delegation in Serbia, Sem Fabrizi, said on Monday that the 28-nation bloc would decide on opening new chapters in Belgrade's accession talks in December, adding that the decision would be based on Serbia's progress in the area of rule of law, and in its dialogue with Pristina, the Beta news agency reported.

Fabrizi has said that the opening of new chapters demands “certain activities and specific work, while the EU, following the accession framework, assesses the rule of law in Serbia and the course of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue.”

He suggested that Belgrade should work as hard as possible on both issues, since the decision on whether to open new chapters should be made next month.

“The decision follows talks with EU member states on the opening of the chapters,” he told a conference on leadership in Belgrade.

The latest news from the European Commission’s report on Serbia which the Radio Free Europe (RFE) said had access to, was not particularly encouraging for Serbia.

On the contrary, many objections prompted speculations that there would not be any new opened chapters this year.

However, both Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and the European Integrations Minister, Jadranka Joksimovic, said they were hopeful Belgrade would open three more chapters by the end of the year.

Serbia’s membership negotiations with the EU started in January 2014, and the country opened 14 out of 34 chapters in its accession negotiations so far. Earlier this year, the European Commission said Montenegro and Serbia could potentially become full EU members by 2025.

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