EU states to agree Serbia’s candidacy for membership

EU countries will agree this week to make Serbia a candidate to join the bloc after it resolved some long standing differences with its former province of Kosovo last week.

Granting Serbia EU candidate status is a crucial step towards opening formal accession talks. The negotiation process is aimed at harmonising Serbia’s legislation with EU standards and will take years to conclude.

“It’s done; the conditions set have been met,” French foreign minister Alain Juppe said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.