Serbia is granted EU candidate status

The European Council yesterday agreed to grant Serbia the status of candidate country, following a recommendation by the General Affairs Council on 28 February.

It endorsed the Council's conclusions, which confirmed that Serbia has continued to show credible commitment and achieved further progress in the implementation of agreements reached in the dialogue with Kosovo, including on integrated border management. The Council noted that an agreement has been reached on inclusive regional cooperation, and that Serbia has actively cooperated to enable the EU's EULEX and the UN's KFOR missions to execute their mandates. Serbia applied for EU membership in December 2009. The Commission delivered an opinion in October 2011.