Check against delivery

I have just handed to the Prime Minister the 2018 annual report of on Serbia which the European Commission adopted earlier this afternoon – as part of the Enlargement package.

I informed the Prime Minister that the main purposes of this year’s Report are two:

– Firstly – to assess the progress made so far in the accession process, a reality check. In some fields, it is positive, and in others it pinpoints shortcomings, on the basis a transparent, fair and objective assessment.

– Secondly – and more importantly, the Report is an encouragement for a wider and deeper reform process that will allow Serbia to seize fully the unique opportunities offered by the Western Balkans Strategy, in particular for your Country.

In this respect, I encourage the Prime Minister’s to continue an ambitious reform agenda.

There is no time to lose. 2018 and the years to come will be the crucial years, if the Country wants to reach the accession objective within the timeframe set out by the Western Balkans Strategy.

It will be extremely important that Serbia put the reforms at the centre of its agenda, without delays, without shortcuts, as this is a merit-based process. Adequate financial and human resources have to be ensured to enhance the pace of reforms.

The report is very detailed. It consists of 100 pages and annexes. I will not go into details.

The Report looks at two main criteria – political and economic – and indicates the reforms that will need to be tackled in priorities areas where important shortcomings have been identified.

Political criteria

The report notes:

– The commitment to the EU’s path of the current Government;

– that while some progress were made on the preparation of the judicial system, the scope of political influence over the judiciary needs to be addressed – inter alia – in the modification of the Constitution;

– that while some progress were made, corruption and organised crime remain a serious problem. Sustained track record on investigations, indictments and final convictions in high-level cases is needed to demonstrate concrete results of an efficient fight;

– that there has been no progress on freedom of expression to create an environment that conduce to the full exercise of this fundamental right.

The Report also indicates that Serbia plays a positive role in regional cooperation. On Kosovo and the Dialogue particularly – Serbia needs to make more efforts to implement the existing agreements and contribute to the full normalisation which should be defined in a legally binding agreement. The internal Dialogue launched by the President is welcome.

This assessment covers the political criteria, of which the Rule of Law, including the role of the Parliament in oversighting of the Executive.

Economic criteria

Good progresses are reported on the economic side. Especially strong are the fiscal results, where Serbia moved to a budgetary surplus. It will be important to maintain this stability, possibly by introducing more binding fiscal rules.

The economic growth, although lower than expected to close the development gap (1.9%), is based on sound fundamentals and we are optimistic that it will increase in this and next years.

There are other good developments: exports expanded, foreign direct investments increased, and some improvements were made in the business environment. These positive results are recognised in the report.

However, efforts will be needed on further structural reforms, in particular in public administration, the tax authorities, and state‑owned enterprises.

We also wish to see more efforts in the enforcement of fair competition (in particular state aid), and a reduction of the size of informal economy.

But I wish to stress that Serbia has achieved strong results in a number of economic areas.

In short these are the main findings of the 2018 annual report on Serbia.

The EU is already by far Serbia’s number one trade partner, largest investor, and first donor. Serbia and the EU have visa free travel for their citizens since 2009, have entered the Stabilisation and Association Agreement since 2013, and negotiating accession since 2014.

Serbians are every day closer to the EU. I encourage Serbia to embrace the path to the EU as a part of a wider process of modernisation and reforms, not because the EU is asking for it, but because it is in the best interest of this Country and its citizens.

This Report is part of a wider objective to bring the Western Balkans at the centre of the EU agenda, from the adoption of the Western Balkans strategy, the landmark visit of President Juncker in March, the upcoming visit of Federica Mogherini this week, to the WB summit in Sofia in May.

I want to conclude by stressing that this objective – as said by the HRVP Mogherini earlier this afternoon – is the interest of Serbia as well of the European Union.