Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Oskar Benedikt said that as an Austrian and a witness to recent presidential election in his country he felt free to say that the pro-European approach had proven to be the best, despite the fact that nearly 47 percent of the electorate had voted for the right-wing candidate.
In his speech delivered at the session “Belgrade Dialogues: Europe between nationalism, populism and enlargement,” Benedikt said that “in the past 20 years the enlargement has proven to be the most successful of all EU foreign policies,” adding that the EU remains committed to enlargement.
“Certain difficulties remain and current public opinion in EU countries is not the most favourable one due to economic hardships arising from the 2008 crisis, but we will soon witness a more favourable environment and growth,” Benedikt said.
He said that Serbia had made considerable progress, adding that it will open new chapters in addition to four it had already opened.
“The opening of chapters is a mere symbol of the progress,” Benedikt said, citing the example of chapters 23 and 24.
“When it comes to those chapters, we have defined what needs to be done, the deadlines within which the reform should be implemented. It would be bad if the next Report found that no progress was made in certain chapter. Serbia’s failure to deliver would spark a negative reaction,” Benedikt said.
“We should not be afraid of the populism or the future, we should look to it optimistically and build as many barriers for populists as possible so that they cannot break through them,” Benedikt said.
