Printer Friendly Version EU adopts negotiating framework for Serbia @ 23 December 2013 04:40 AM

Belgrade/Brussels, 20 Dec 2013 – President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy officially confirmed today that the accession negotiations with Serbia will start on 21 January of 2014, and that all EU member states approved the negotiating framework for Serbia.

Rompuy told a press conference held after a two-day summit of heads of state and government of the EU in Brussels that at the first intergovernmental conference, the EU will be represented by Greece, which as of 1 January 2014 will take on a six-month presidency of the EU.


He expressed the hope that the first chapters will be opened in the second half of 2014, and added that the negotiating framework adopted today provides the opening of chapters 23 and 24, relating to the judiciary, police, and basic human rights.

He added that Chapter 35 (various issues), including normalisation of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, will be opened at the same time.