Brussels Summit to Look at EU Status for Serbia
EU leaders will consider Serbia’s bid for member status, with the country expected to get a green light for accession talks. At a summit Thursday, EU leaders pledged 6 billion euros over two years for youth unemployment.
On the second day of the summit, officials will discuss Serbia’s efforts toward member status. Leaders may also discuss association negotiations with Kosovo, which Serbia has agreed to as a condition to progress toward EU membership. Spain, Slovakia, Cyprus, Romania, and Greece do not recognize Kosovo’s status as an independent nation.
In an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt, Martin Schulz, the center-left president of the European Parliament, which has to approve EU enlargement decisions, warned against unrealistic expectations. Schulz told the newspaper that, “in the foreseeable future,” he did not expect any new accessions other than Croatia, set to join on July 1, pointing to “enlargement fatigue” and institutional weaknesses.