EU ambassadors to again discuss opening Cluster 3 in accession talks with Serbia

BRUSSELS - Ambassadors of EU member states will on Monday continue a debate on Serbia's request to open Cluster 3 in its EU accession talks and on General Affairs Council draft conclusions on enlargement, sources in Brussels have told Tanjug.

New discussions on the matter are scheduled to begin at around 6 pm after the ambassadors again failed to agree on Friday to give the green light for opening Cluster 3 (Competitiveness and Inclusive Growth) with Serbia.

At the most recent Coreper II meeting on opening the cluster, a large majority of countries were in favour of the move.

The sources said Serbia's letter for submitting the negotiating positions for Chapters 16 (Taxation) and 19 (Social Policy and Employment) as part of the cluster had been given a positive assessment but had not been adopted because the Netherlands tied it to the adoption of the draft conclusions on enlargement.

The draft conclusions, seen by Tanjug and due to be adopted on December 17, say the Council will accept a European Commission assessment that Serbia is ready for Cluster 3 and that the matter of opening it will be considered based on further progress, especially in terms of rule of law and normalisation of relations with Pristina.

In its 2024 report on Serbia, the European Commission said Cluster 3 was technically ready for opening and that the overall pace of accession talks would continue to depend on rule of law reforms and normalisation of Belgrade-Pristina relations.

Serbia last opened chapters in its EU talks in December 2021.