Serbia expresses dissatisfaction with Ukraine's accelerated EU accession

The European Union, which has accelerated Ukraine's membership application, has never provided such support to the Balkan countries.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic expressed dissatisfaction with the acceleration of Kyiv's EU accession process in an interview with the Financial Times (FT), Lenta.ru reports.

"I have nothing against the Ukrainians. However, the level of EU support for Ukraine, granting it candidate status within a year of its application and possibly starting membership talks next year, shows a level of support we have never had," the politician said.

He added that the delay of his country's admission to the EU does not reflect the real situation in the country, although Serbia is now better off than Romania and Bulgaria in 2007, when they joined the union. Vucic said Belgrade had heard about plans for its accession in 2025, but now Brussels is already talking about 2030.

"Who knows what will happen in seven years? The absorption capacity of the EU is not bigger than it was. You have 10 donors and 17 countries taking money from them. None of them would like to have more countries on their payroll," the Serbian leader said.