Serbia takes first steps on the long road to EU membership

Serbia is at the beginning of its journey to become a member of the European Union. On Monday, Prime MInister Aleksandar Vucic and representatives of the EU opened the first two of 35 stages of negotations for Belgrade to join the bloc. One is on Serbia’s normalisation of relations with its breakaway territory of Kosovo, the other is on financial control. (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3”; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));Serbia moves a step closer to EU membership. What do you think the country would bring to the EU? http://www.euronews.com/2015/12/15/serbia-takes-first-steps-on-the-long-road-to-eu-membership/Posted by euronews on Tuesday, 15 December 2015 Belgrade at present does not recognise the sovereignty of Kosovo however, last August the two agreed a deal. It included a plan to avert further confrontations in the divided city of Mitrovica by allowing freedom of movement and rules to use a contentious bridge. It also provided for 10 municipalities with a Serbian majority to have their own assembly with an elected president, and flag while remaining subject to Kosovo law. Although there has been limited implementation of the deal, a new pragmatism is shaping EU in the light of the migration crisis and Russia’s presence in the Balkans, prompting the EU to rethink plans to stop expanding.