Serbia to wait six years to join EU - Vucic

“We'll probably wait for another six years or so, which is fine. In your countries maybe the EU is so popular, in my country it is not so popular,” Vucic said at a news conference during a summit of leaders of Western Balkan countries and EU in Montenegro’s coastal town of Kotor, as seen in a YouTube video published by Tanjug news agency.

“I know that we will not be part of the European Union, none of us [Western Balkan countries], before Ukraine. When we will enter the EU, whether we will enter together with Ukraine, that is another question,” added Vucic.

Serbia applied for EU membership in 2009 and was granted a candidate member status in 2012. It started accession negotiations in 2014, and out of a total of 35 chapters of EU law, Serbia has so far opened 22, two of which have been provisionally closed.

Ukraine applied for EU membership at the end of February 2022 and was granted a candidate country status in June 2022. EU leaders agreed to open accession negotiations with Ukraine in December 2023.