Estonia expects Serbia to join sanctions against Russia
Estonia expects Serbia, which is in membership negotiations with the European Union, to respect the EU’s values and join its sanctions against Russia, spokespeople for the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday.
“Estonia supports the enlargement of the European Union in accordance with the framework set out in the treaties and the progress of candidate states in accordance with strict and fair conditions. When it comes to candidate states, we attach importance to steady progress made in the area of the rule of law, fundamental rights, democratic institutions, public administration, and competitiveness of the economy,” spokesman Sten Juur told BNS on Tuesday.
It was also important that prospective new members respected the union’s values, and that they aligned themselves with the EU’s common foreign and security policy. This included the sanctions about Russia, Juur added.
In an interview with Serbia's foreign minister, Ivica Dacic, Serbian daily Danas indicated that the Baltic countries were preventing the opening of the foreign and security policy chapter in Serbia’s EU accession negotiations.
An EU progress report on Serbia states that Serbia regressed last year in terms of aligning its own foreign and security policy with that of the union. According to the report, the share of EU declarations and Council decisions, including those regarding sanctions against Russia, shrank from 65% to 59% in the previous period.
The position of the Estonian government is that a prospective new member needs to be 100% aligned with the EU’s policies before it can be admitted.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn
Source: BNS