Despite Zagreb’s announcements that it will again block Belgrade’s negotiations with the EU unless it doesn’t abolish the Law on Universal Jurisdiction, the real threat to Serbia’s European integration actually lays in Chapter 35, which refers to Kosovo.
Chapter 35, which has the same weight in the Negotiation Framework as recently opened Chapters 23 and 24, provides a mechanism for the monitoring of implementation of reached agreements in the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina.
Chapter 35 was formally open on 14 December last year, however the European Commission on its own initiative or upon a request of the two-thirds of member states can block the closure of this Chapter. This depends on the assessment whether there were significant delays in normalization of relations with Kosovo, that is, implementation of the Brussels agreements, due to Serbia’s intentional moves.
