Fico: Serbia Ready to Join EU, But Double Standards a Problem

Belgrade/Bratislava, November 22 (TASR) - Serbia is ready for its EU membership, but the accession process has been hamstrung by the EU's use of double standards towards Belgrade, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told Serbian state RTS television on Friday. Fico would like Slovakia, Serbia and Hungary to form a cooperating group similar to the Visegrad Four (V4: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia). He praised the dialogue with Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, claiming that their opinions overlap, as they all promote what he sees as "sovereign policies". In addition, Fico voiced praise to Serbia over the work Belgrade has done to protect EU borders. In 2025, when Slovakia will hold the V4 presidency, he plans to open up a discussion of forming a V5 format by having Serbia join the group. In his interview for RTS, Fico underlined that Slovakia is against the recognition of Kosovo's independence because "no one can just up and declare independence". He assured Serbia that it will enjoy Slovakia's full support in its bid to join the EU, even though he didn't wish to speculate when the accession might happen in light of the stance of some "big players in the EU". Fico stated that Slovak soldiers showed willingness to rejoin the NATO-led KFOR mission in Kosovo. "That's very important for us because we will receive objective information about developments in Kosovo, which we can't get from the media," said the Slovak Prime Minister. Fico expects that the main trait of future US President Donald Trump's policy will be the protection of US economic interests. That might lead to a "slightly harder" approach towards China, but also lower levels of US involvement in various conflicts. In Fico's view, Trump will play a pivotal role in the way the war in Ukraine develops. The Slovak Prime Minister confirmed his intent to travel to Moscow at the invitation from Russia together with Vucic in May 2025 to commemorate Victory Day. mf/mcs