Serbia’s Pursuit of Interests in the EU: Ready to Grasp Growing Opportunities?
Serbia’s Pursuit of Interests in the EU: Ready to Grasp Growing Opportunities?

Author(s): Strahinja Subotić
Subject(s): Public Administration, International relations/trade, Economic development, EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment, EU-Legislation
Published by: Centar za evropske politike CEP
Keywords: Serbia; EU integration; National interests; EU opportunities; Foreign policy; Accession process; Regional cooperation; Economic development; Serbia-EU relations;
Summary/Abstract: Serbia has been progressively increasing its engagement with the EU for more than a decade. This has enabled it to get itself well acquainted with the work of the EU institutions, the EU laws and the particularities of the EU association/accession process. The question is whether Serbia could use this to its advantage. Moreover, how the existing “capital” can be used in order to further develop the present network of contacts and reap benefits from being seen as a trustworthy partner. These questions become more pertinent knowing that the interaction between the EU and Serbia is expected to increase in the following phases of the EU accession process. However, the research on how Serbia is pursuing its interests in Brussels is rather scarce and at the same time there is very little policy debate on that issue. That is why this research aimed to explore Serbia’s current administrative, financial and lobbying capacities at the EU level in the context of Serbian EU accession negotiation process, in order to acquire a comprehensive understanding of how Serbia is standing in Brussels today.

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