Hill: I have found EU good will for Serbia, but not for Serbia's problems

BELGRADE - US Ambassador to Belgrade Christopher Hill told Tanjug in an interview that he had "found a lot of good will for Serbia" in the EU, "but not a lot of good will for Serbia’s problems."

Hill said this in response to a question whether he believed agreements from the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue should become a part of Chapter 35 in Serbia's EU accession talks.

"When Serbia advances – and I do have a sense, having been in Brussels, that enlargement is really something that is becoming much more real than it was, say, a few months ago - so I think that, as they (the EU) look seriously at enlargement and the various stages of enlargement, starting with the idea of a single market, they want to look to make sure countries that are interested in proceeding through this are countries that are able to put to rest, or leave behind, some of these tough problems," Hill explained.

"So, I think the issue of Article 35 – again, I do not want to get into all this stuff. This is really European talk, not American talk, but I think the argument is: ‘Let’s see if there can be an understanding among everybody that when you come in, you have resolved the problems.’ So that is the question: How can Serbia demonstrate that it has resolved, through a process of normalization, these problems and therefore can move ahead with the European Union membership," he said.

Hill also said he believed there was "sympathy for the Serbs living in the north of Kosovo" and that, for that reason, the issue of the Community of Serb Municipalities was "so essential to an agreement."

"That is on the table, and I think people understand that has to be addressed and that has to be agreed, so I think Kosovo has some expectations that they can apply to different international organisations – again, that is on the table. Most of all, if you are in Europe and you are looking out at problems like this, problems elsewhere, you want to see some momentum to a solution," he said.

"You want to see people understanding that, no, they should not be reluctant to talk to each other all the time, but they should understand. ‘Look, we cannot expect the Europeans to take us in as members until we deal with these problems,’" he added.

“So, I am hoping that 2024 will be a year in which we will see some real progress,” Hill noted.