The U.S. Embassy welcomes the European Commission’s positive opinion on Serbia's EU candidate status
October 13, 2011
This is an important step for Serbia in its continued progress toward its European future. We strongly support the goal of Serbia’s EU membership, because Serbia’s integration into Europe will benefit not only Serbia, but also the entire region and Europe itself.
We look forward to Serbia’s future progress as it meets the necessary benchmarks for each step forward. As Serbia and the EU work together on the path forward toward EU membership, they will have the continuing strong support of the United States, both politically and through our assistance programs, which have already invested over $810 million in building a better future for Serbia.
Related to EU accession is further progress in the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, which the Commission identified as a key priority for opening accession negotiations with Serbia . We encourage the Governments of Serbia and Kosovo to resume the dialogue as soon as possible so as to continue to engage productively to resolve issues of practical concern that affect the lives of people in the region, and to normalize their relations.