European Union High Representative Josep Borrell said after a meeting with Serbia's Prime Minister Ana Brnabic in Brussels on Tuesday that progress in human rights and dialogue with Pristina would decide the pace of further pre-accession talks.

He added that there was no place in the EU for those who publicly supported genocide, war crimes, and war criminals.

“I would like to underline the following – there is no place in Europe to deny genocide, there is no place in Europe to celebrate war crimes and war criminals, there is no place in Europe to publicly support those who support genocide and celebrate war crimes, who undermine the integrity of countries in the neighbourhood, who threaten regional stability and reconciliation – all this cannot go with European values and aspirations. We presented this to the Prime Minister of Serbia, and we are sure that Serbia will continue, under her leadership, along the European path,” Borrell told reporters in Brussels.

Brnabic participated in the EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Council meeting and had separate talks with leading Union’s officials.

He added that “we reviewed Serbia's progress on the road to the EU, and this is a good moment because we opened a cluster in December.”

Recalling the voters in Serbia confirmed the Constitutional changes related to the judiciary in the referendum, he said that reforms were important for Serbia's people “to have better guarantees of their rights, to have a better judiciary, to fight corruption better and to achieve a better standard of life.”

Borrell added he was very grateful for Serbia's quality contributions to all EU missions abroad and said the bloc very well cooperated regarding security.

“We have seen that the harmonisation of foreign policy has been increasing lately, and I hope that this will reflect a sustainable degree of adjustment to our foreign policy, which will be translated into concrete deeds,” he said.

He said he talked with Brnabic “about the (Belgrade – Pristina) dialogue we are mediating.”

“We welcome Serbia's readiness to continue the dialogue and expect Kosovo and Serbia to make progress in the dialogue and continue to reach a comprehensive agreement,” Borrell said.

He added that the EU expected Belgrade and Pristina to fulfil their obligations, stressing that both sides had to implement what was agreed upon.

“The progress of human rights and normalisation with Kosovo will decide on the rhythm of further pre-accession negotiations,” Borrell said, adding that Brnabic and he spoke about the normalisation of relations and good neighbourly cooperation.