Check against delivery! 

Thank you.  

Good afternoon, everybody.  

It is really a pleasure to be here in Belgrade.   

Of course, we have had very intensive programs, so very intense discussions. During my visit, I met with President Vucic. I met with the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Parliament, opposition representatives, civil society and also the representatives of the youth.  

As expected, the views are very divergent, but we had a good exchange on issues including Serbia's EU accession, domestic reforms and the ongoing dialogue with Pristina.  

Let me start with EU enlargement. I am deeply committed to encouraging all the Western Balkan countries to really seize the current momentum that we have in enlargement. Yes, this process has been going on for quite some time, but there is always a political momentum, and this political momentum is right now – the united Europe is one vision that we must all work towards.  

From my discussions with the Serbian political leadership, it is clear that EU membership remains a strategic goal. However, I want to emphasize that we need to see actions also to prove and support those words.  

Reforms are how Serbia will advance along its EU path. There are no shortcuts for membership. Real progress must be made here in Belgrade, and the next steps are very clear. They include media freedom, combating corruption, electoral reforms.  

Reforms need to be real, not just ticking the box on the paper. These reforms will bring real benefits for the citizens and people of Serbia, as hundreds of thousands of protesters have been demanding in recent weeks. The autonomy of universities must be respected.  

In our talks we also address border European security concerns. Serbia faces a strategic choice [on] where it wants to be. Serbia’s European future depends on the values it chooses to uphold.   

We also talked about Serbia's relations with its closest neighbour. The normalisation of relations with Kosovo is not just improving ties. It is fundamental for Serbia's European future. It is time to overcome the past and focus on the common future.  

I plan to invite the representatives from Belgrade and Pristina to Brussels as soon as possible to discuss the concrete steps forward. 

I also addressed the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I stressed to President Vucic and other leaders the importance of Serbia's leadership and constructive role in supporting the country's stability.  

The future of the region depends on this.  

Thank you, I am willing to take your questions  

Q&A. 

Q. Three activists in Novi Sad are still in detention where they were sent more than two and a half or two months ago. One of them, according to his lawyer, is in bad condition. He was beaten in detention. Have you discussed this with Serbian authorities during your visit? And the other question with Serbia conditioning dialog on the formation of the association of the Serb majority municipalities and Kosovo demanding the lifting of EU measures. What concrete steps will the EU take to break the deadlock and move the process forward? 

Thank you. Of course, we discussed the issue of the detained people and also how the due process has to be followed. We expect from all the Member States and candidate states to really follow the principles. One of those is human rights, which is what must be followed in all those processes. 

When it comes to your second question, then we are traveling from here to Kosovo. I will not comment on that before I have also sat down with Kosovo and addressed all the concerns that we have with them. I will do that then, thank you. 

Q. You mentioned the dialogue with Pristina. The current format of the dialogue does not work. Does the EU plan to do something about that, to change the format?   

Thank you. We have a new Special Representative for the dialogue that is been appointed for one year. As I am new to the process, we have been mapping what works and what does not work in this process, because what we need is the normalisation of the relations. It is necessary for the future of both. This is what we are working on. Thank you 

Q. I will practically refer to my colleague's question, but I am talking about activists who were allowed to defend their freedom, who were transferred to the domestic court. After that, we had a reaction from the President, who ordered that judges and prosecutors who support, as he said, hooliganism, banditry, injustice and disrespect, will not be judged in Serbia, but only those judges who have the honour and reputation to defend the state of Serbia. Is that, according to European standards, a pressure on the judiciary? And what specific message can Brussels send to the country to be a candidate in which the President treats the judiciary in this way, and it is not the first time that he has had such requests for judges and prosecutors in the last few months? Thank you. 

Thank you. Of course, one of the principles of European Union is also the separation of powers, which means that you have the legislative power, you have you have the governing power, and then you have the legislature, the courts. So, separation [of] powers – and that is what we also expect from our candidate countries. In Europe, we do not comment the work of the courts, because they have to be independent in their work. And we expect this also from the candidate countries. Thank you. 

Q. Have you clarified everything with the President regarding his trip to Moscow, and have you reached any agreement on how Serbia should continue aligning with the EU's security and foreign policy? 

Yes, I had the possibility to discuss the visit to Moscow already in Tirana with President Vucic, and I expressed my views, which are very clear. I really do not understand why it is necessary to stand side by side with the person who is conducting this horrible war in Ukraine. President Vucic was explaining his side of the story. So yes, we had a very extensive discussion about this.  

The other part of the question was about the alignment of the Common Foreign Security Policy. We discussed this with the government as well. And of course, one of the issues that was brought [was] that the normalisation of the relationship with Kosovo is actually hindering the Common Foreign Policy alignment – which, of course, if you look at the elements, is disputable. I would say so. I raised this issue, and this is definitely something that we expect from the candidate countries, to follow the policies. Otherwise, the kind of message it sends is, ‘do you want to be with us’? Because if you are in the European Union, we work together, and this is how we operate. This is what we want to see, also from our candidate countries. Thank you. 

Q. I will refer to what the colleagues asked about the EU response to the move of the leader of the region, the President of Serbia, on his trip to Moscow, or the move of Milorad Dodik to the Republic of Srpska. Many believe that the EU responses were quite weak to this. Where is the red line in that sense, on such moves? Thank you. 

Well, I have heard against me exactly that I have been too strong on this. Because I have been very clear and open about these things. But I mean, I cannot speak for others, I can only speak for myself – and I have expressed my opinion very clearly on this. Thank you. 

Q. Dear Mrs. Kallas, recently there has been a decline in Serbian citizens' trust in the EU. How does the EU plan to restore this damaged trust? 

Thank you. This is a very good question as well. I think what it shows, is, of course, one thing that we require from our candidate countries, but the other part is also what we do ourselves. If the candidate countries are following the path, doing the reforms, but they do not see any progress because we, European Union, are stuck behind our procedures and decision-making process, then it brings frustration. I know for the Western Balkans, the process has been very long, and it brings frustration that people really do not see the tangible benefits from this. But I can tell you first what I said in my introductory remarks, that I really see that this is the political momentum to use. I explained this, coming from a country like Estonia, we also had a small opportunity window that was closed again afterwards, so when we got in. That requires the mindset of people to really do the reforms on the candidate country’s side, but it also requires from our side to do the necessary steps so that there is no frustration. What I want to stress is that European Union enlargement is a convergence machine. Again, coming from a country that you know, GDP per capita was 36% of European average before we joined, four years before we joined. When we joined, it was 48% and now it is close to 90% of the European average. What it means for the people is that the prosperity of people, actually, is increasing. But I agree with you that in order to prevent the frustration, we need to do our homework. Also on the European side Thank you. 

Q. The qualitative media monitoring of Demostat showed that on the public media service of Serbia, RTS, pro-Russian propaganda is dominant and sophisticated. Both on RTS and on other televisions with national frequency, EU is usually portrayed negatively, but on Demostat, it's always neutral. 

How do you comment on that, on RTS and on other frequencies that we have pro-Russian propaganda? 

I do not know to comment on the concrete channels. But what I can say is that the fight with misinformation is a big issue. We need to fight the propaganda, and we also need to fight the narratives that are not true. But it is very hard. Especially nowadays where we are living in this information age. One of my favourite quotes is from Winston Churchill after the Second World War when he said that [a] lie is halfway across the globe before the truth gets its pants on. And now we are in this information age and it is extremely hard. But I think we have tools to fight the misinformation. We also, for example, in Moldova, give them the tools to fight with this. It is media literacy, it is free media. It is also people who recognise the false information and are able to really point this out. And also the counter narratives that we have to really describe. Thank you. 
 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-272441