Serbia must align more with the EU's common foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia, but that cannot be a reason for suspending the accession negotiations, Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said on Wednesday.

In the current geopolitical circumstances, Serbia must increase its alignment with the European foreign policy, including declarations and sanctions against Russia, he said in Brussels, presenting an enlargement and progress report for EU accession candidates and potential candidates.

The Commission today presented an enlargement package, including a progress report for six Western Balkan countries and Turkey.

Since accession negotiations, according to a new methodology, can be suspended and returned to the beginning if progress is not sufficient, reporters asked Varhelyi if the negotiations with Serbia could be suspended, given that it refuses to impose sanctions against Russia and the percentage of alignment over the past year has dropped considerably.

Varhelyi said that was cause for concern, but that the rules were such that the negotiations could not be suspended for that reason.

The report notes that Serbia and Russia signed a document on joint political priorities in 2023-24 on the fringes of the UN General Assembly last month. Some statements and moves by high-ranking Serbian officials are in direct opposition to the EU’s foreign policy, including that document, the report says.

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Montenegro followed the EU and imposed sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, only Serbia and Turkey have not.

The report calls on Serbia’s authorities to take responsibility for pro-active and objective communication with the EU, its main political and economic partner, in line with its declared strategic goal to integrate with the EU.

All Western Balkan countries are called upon to overcome the past and solve the disputes dating back to the 1990s wars.

Important outstanding bilateral issues must be solved, including border issues, ensuring justice for war crimes victims, identifying the remaining disappeared, and establishing accurate evidence on past crimes at regional level, the report says, adding that a rhetoric of incitement and the glorification of war criminals have no place in the EU.