Members of the European Parliament on Tuesday discussed unsatisfactory developments in accession negotiations with Serbia, and called on Serbia to work on democratic standards and the rule of law as well as to align with EU sanctions against Russia.

During a plenary session in Strasbourg, MEPs discussed the report on Serbia submitted by the European Parliament’s rapporteur for Serbia, Vladimír Bilčík, who said that significant progress requires significant reforms.

He said that Belgrade is supposed to make more efforts in strengthening the rule of law, the fight against organised crime and media freedom.

He added that dialogue with Kosovo must bring about results and that Serbia is expected to align its foreign and security policies with European policies.

This Slovak MEP said that the wars from the 1990s remain a defining point of Serbia's politics.

Bilček's report reads that “Serbia must respect the full integrity and sovereignty of all neighbouring countries and must refrain from influencing their domestic politics; strongly condemns the repeated presence of high-ranking Serbian government officials at the illegal celebrations of the Republika Srpska day in Bosnia-Herzegovina, aimed at undermining the country’s statehood.”

EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi also described Serbia's failure to align with the European Union's foreign policy as a serious issue and criticised Serbia for failure to prosecute war crimes.

In Europe, only Serbia and Belarus have not yet imposed sanctions on Russia after it launched the war of aggression against Ukraine.