On June 2nd, 2023, the Center for European Studies at Epoka University organized the 2nd Graduate Seminar on “Serbia’s EU Integration: Issues and Challenges” with guest lecturer Dr. Ivana Radic Milosavljevic from the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Belgrade, Serbia.
Firstly, Dr. Milosavljevic engaged in discussion with participant graduate students on EU’s enlargement policy, its approach to Western Balkans region, and the reasons and consequences behind the package approach followed in the accession process of Albania and North Macedonia recently.
Dr. Milosavljevic, in the second part of the seminar, offered an overview of Serbia’s EU integration steps pointing out the issues and challenges in each step. Domestic challenges related to democratic values, Serbia’s alignment with CFSP of the EU, rising Euroscepticism in Serbia, and the normalization of relations with Kosovo currently dominate the EU integration agenda for Serbia. The normalization of relations with Kosovo appears as the most important factor in this process and has even overshadowed improvements and the need for domestic reforms according to Dr. Milosavljevic.
We thank Dr. Milosavljevic for her insightful information on Serbia’s EU accession path and for sharing her own perspective on the topic with the graduate students.