The European Commission has denied that it has halted funding to Serbia, contradicting remarks made days earlier by enlargement commissioner Marta Kos, who suggested payments had been stopped over concerns about judicial backsliding.
Kos said last week the EU had paused disbursements under the Growth Plan, the EU’s cash-for-reform scheme for Western Balkan candidates.
“For the time being, we have stopped all payments from the Growth Plan because it was backsliding in the judiciary,” she said last Thursday in Switzerland. “As long as this is not repaired, they will not be able to get European financial support,” she added at an event in Fribourg.
Serbia has been an EU candidate since 2012 and opened accession talks in 2014, but its membership bid remains stalled over slow progress on rule-of-law reforms, media freedom, and normalisation of relations with Kosovo, as well as limited alignment with EU foreign policy.
Yet on Monday, Markus Lammert, a Commission spokesperson said “no decision” had been taken to freeze funds, adding conditions are under continuous review.
Pressed on the contradiction with Kos’ remarks, Lammert said he did not have her “exact words at hand” but insisted no decision to freeze funds had been taken.
Kos’ cabinet referred questions to the Commission’s spokesperson service, which reports to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Von der Leyen has previously urged Serbia to step up reforms and strengthen the independence of its media regulator.
Marta Kos had already signalled possible funding changes when addressing MEPs in the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee last month.
“We are currently assessing whether the country still fulfills the conditions for payments under the EU’s financial instruments,” she said in April, adding the EU would continue to support Serbia’s accession path as long as it aligns with rule-of-law and media freedom standards.
(cs)
Source:
www.euractiv.com
