Serbia was not among the four candidate countries included in the EU's intergovernmental enlargement conferences on July 14, as member states failed to reach a consensus on opening the third negotiation cluster, EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos stated, according to Report's European bureau.
Marta Kos said that the EU was receiving signals from Serbia indicating its readiness for closer strategic alignment with the European Union. She added that if the country fulfilled the necessary conditions, the process would continue.
The EU Commissioner emphasized that the progress of any candidate country depends on several factors – including the implementation of required reforms by the candidate itself and the readiness of EU member states to support further advancement in negotiations.
Kos did not provide a forecast on when consensus might be achieved regarding the opening of a new negotiation cluster with Serbia.