A Troubled or a Troubling Candidate – Serbian Accession to the EU

Abstract

This article analyzes Serbian accession bid to the EU. Although a candidate country as of March 2012, Serbia will have to manage some painstaking reforms before being admitted into the Union. Even if negotiations over Serbian entry start next year, and date of entry negotiations is still unknown, it seems realistic that Serbia will not join the EU by the end of this decade. In that respect, main argument of this article is that Serbian entry to the EU is dependent on the following issues: battling systemic corruption and (organized) crime; relations with Kosovo; and change of political culture.